Help...Fussy, and I mean VERY Fussy girl...

julie2105

My almost 3yr old loves rolls! i have only recently introduced them and she'd have them all day every day if i let her, she started getting fussy with other food and refusing to eat them, so i cut them out completely and concentrated of giving her a diet of chick and veg or mince/bolgnese and veg, no carbs and this would be lunch and tea, sometimes veg soup for lunch but i am still in the middle of it, she is getting a little better, and much better with her salad veg than cooked but i present the same things to her over and over again, she was perfectly happy with them 6 mths ago so i don't see why anything would change! i am the same, my kids get weetabix, bran flakes, porridge for bkfst at the weekend they get a real treat and are allowed coco pops but they do not get anything 'sweet' during the week, and only if they're good at the weekend. Also yoghurt covered raisins/raisins in general make sure she eats them with a meal, they're just like chewy jelly sweets and can ruin her teeth!! (ps my daughter is just over the stone)

rozmister

There's a really interesting programme on bbc iplayer atm called Junk Food Babies. While it doesn't sound like you're like two of the families on it (chips for toddlers for every meal!!) there is a child on it who is EXTREMELY fussy like won't eat anything and they take him to a special class to encourage him to eat fruit & veg. The points they make are really interesting & the techniques are like previously mentioned touching & joining in rather than just placing it in front of the little one.

It said on the programme that kids use all their senses to explore food rather than just putting it in their mouth so it's important to allow them to do this. It also said kids take 16 tastes to truly know if they like something so don't be disheartened if they say they aren't keen first time.

Personally I was the youngest of three & there was no time for anyone to fuss over what I ate so I ended up eating most things. I think the more attention you give to a child's eating habits the more fussy they get. Put the food on the table, tell them they have to eat it and then get on with normal dinnertime conversation. It's all just a big power struggle otherwise & this creates food hang ups in my mind (they hate a food partly because their subconcious associates it with drama & fuss at the table). Like everyone's said if a kid's truly hungry they'll eat.

Princess_Coupon

She sounds almost identical to my DD same weight same age same fussiness, mine can chew the same mouthful for 20 mins it's so draining. A strange question but can I ask was she low birth weight?

JC9297

Claire_Bear wrote: »

I've read that if you involve a child in making food then they'd be a lot more willing to taste it afterwards, for instance if you got your daughter to help you make a fruit salad, she could peel a banana, then pick some grapes off the bunch, and pour some juice on and stir it around, you could then have this for dessert and say to everyone 'look, *name* has made us a lovely fruit salad for dessert' Of course a fruit salad might be a big leap from where she is now, but it was just an example of way to get her to feel more included in mealtimes. Plus when you're cooking, show her what you're doing, have her smell and touch some of the ingredients, things that aren't too strong like onions, but carrots smell nice and sweet, rice is nice to put your hand in, an orange skin is rough and bumpy etc and it might encourage her to try the taste as well.

Lots of people suggest this but with my son (now 14) it would never work, there is no way you could persuade him to touch a piece of fruit or veg willingly! Although he did have to make a fruit salad at school in DT if I remember correctly, he certainly never ate any of it.
I decided a long time ago it wasn't worth the trauma for any of us to make a big deal of his 'limited diet' as long as he is fit and healthy, which he is - rarely ill and growing fine.

neneromanova

She was 7lbs 3ozs where as DD2 was 9lbs 1.5ozs (.5ozs makes all the difference )

mishkanorman

My eldest is a very fussy eater too, he is now 7 and the same height as his about to be 6 year old brother and his friends, his daily intake is;

breakfast : hot cross bun, 2 marshmellows, + strawberry milkshake
Lunch : cheese sandwich, choc bar, satsuma (sometimes) hot cross bun
Dinner : chicken in white sauce with rice or chips and sausages or roast potatoes with chicken/pork + carrots
pudding : ice cream, goo, strawberries + choc treat of some kind.

He will have fads that normally last 6 - 10 months and will only eat 1 thing in his sandwich, prior to cheese it was plain ham prior to that it was tuna. The same happened with breakfast, it was toast + butter a few months back.

I have tried all the 'tricks' we have cooked and shopped together which works fine - he will add what he chooses onto the list and bumps one of the others as he then claims to no longer like it !?!

Ive learnt to choose my battles - he isnt stuffing crap into his face all day long and he wont get afters without eating a decent portion for dinner, he also must once in a while try new things.

Good luck OP, try to not feel its 'you' nor is it your child - you just need to find a happy medium

pinkclouds

neneromanova wrote: »

She would rather go to bed with nothing. Is this normal?

Totally normal. My little sister used to do this.

Have you tried peanut butter or a portion of nuts as a quick protein fix? Nuts are dense, high calorie so not much needs to be consumed. (I think!)

xoxo_2

Try not to worry about her. She will eat if she's hungry.

She eats a more varied diet than I do and i'm a lot older I just don't like food. Maybe she's the same. You could take her to the doctors to rule out anything serious if you want to put your mind at rest. She's probably just picky though

Mojisola

JC9297 wrote: »

I decided a long time ago it wasn't worth the trauma for any of us to make a big deal of his 'limited diet' as long as he is fit and healthy, which he is - rarely ill and growing fine.

Meal times are such an important family time that I also wouldn't get into battles over food. It should be a pleasurable time when the family can come together and talk through what's happened during the day.

Don't let food turn into a power issue.

We once had a neighbour who was a strapping, rugby-playing GP - so he was fit, healthy and very intelligent. He had never eaten fruit or salads and ate very limited veg - just didn't like them.

When you look at the different diets that humans survive on all over the world, there is plenty of space for variation.

narabanekeater

Op-Ive been there and can very much relate to the degree I took DD to the HV. She suggested a trip to the GP to rule out any medical probs which I never imagined there would be. It turned out my DD had the largest tonsils the GP had ever seen.
6 weeks later they were out and DD is like a different child. Its just a thought