2 year old being fussy

threemuttleys

charlieann wrote: »

Mine went through simular at that age.
Would only eat certain foods after previously eating anything given. We always made him a meal of what we knew he would eat, with some of what everyone else was having on the side.
We ate at my mum's house and he had food previously refused when I cooked it. Got him involved in choosing the meal and preparing it (putting veg in empty pan etc) and he now eats anything again.
He should still be drinking plenty of milk at that age also.

See your health visitor if your concerned though.

He does drink quite a bit of milk (3 cups per day, and one yoghurt) plus anything that gets at the CM

charlieann

threemuttleys wrote: »

He does drink quite a bit of milk (3 cups per day, and one yoghurt) plus anything that gets at the CM

He'll still be getting calories through the milk so keep trying him with different foods, although dont make a fuss over anything he leaves or picks out. He'll grow out of it soon enough!

jellyhead

I've been through it with both of my children. With the eldest it turned into a big stressy battle and we ended up seeing a dietician. With youngest we did what Charlieann said and gave him something that we knew he'd eat, and some of what we were having, so if he hated what we were having he wouldn't go hungry.

jellyhead

As for whether you're doing the right thing you will get divided opinions! The dietician told me the most important thing was to reduce the stress and power around mealtimes and for him to be relaxed about food. Perhaps for a child who is not in a horrible battle where the parent has got into bad habits and neither will back down the advice would be different though.

masonsmum

My eldest who is now 6 was a fab eater when he was a baby, any fruit veg, meat fish and then he seemed to develop his own little opinion and didnt want to eat things like that anymore and would have lived on super noodles and potato waffles! But probably for around the last 2 years he is a great eater again, stews, curries, fruit, veg anything - I personally think its just a stage they get once they have a mind of their own.

DS2 is 18 months and again eats anything, just waiting on all that going to pot too :rotfl:

newcook

I agree with Masonsmum – I think its their own way of gaining a bit of independence!

I think the only things I still wont eat these days are mushrooms and couscous

pinkshoes

It's probably a control thing to see if they can get their own way.

If my DS (almost 2) refuses to eat something that I know he likes, then I just smile and say "ok", then ignore him and carry on chatting/eating. He does NOT get anything else. He then gets a very small version of pudding.

If it's something he's never had before, then so long as he tries it, he can have his pudding.

If he refuses to even try something, then I just go with the assumption that he's not hungry, say "that's ok if you're not hungry, just leave it", and carry on as normal.

I know very well he's trying to get a reaction or get me to make him something else, but it's not going to work!!

Gra76

My (now 4 year old) son was awfully picky when he was 2-3 years old and would sit and sulk if you put something in front of him that he didn't like. In the end we realised we couldn't force him to eat anything he didn't want to, but managed to coax him into eatting things by rewarding him for eatting all his dinner. We'd mark a calendar and buy him a little treat at the end of the week if he ate all his dinners and teas up all week. We also kept dropping hints about "big boys eat all their dinner, you're a big boy aren't you?" and it seems he's now snapped out of the phase he was having and will now eat just about anything!

We were getting fed up of it, but it seems to have sorted itself out now!

Fire_Fox

Pasta, rice and bread are nutritious as long as they are wholegrain, if they are white they behave much the same as sugar in the body.

notanewuser

My little girl is 2 and has days where she picks at things but doesn't really eat. Oddly she's not a fan of pasta, bread or rice at all. She loves fruit though, and has 2 bottles a day so I don't worry too much.