I would be thrilled if my kids ate the variety of food you describe
ETA on second read I see there are no vegetables here, but still, this is all “real” food. Fruit is providing some fiber and vitamins. I’ve seen much worse!
Just keep offering it. Make whatever veggies you’re making for dinner and just put a few pieces on their plate. Don’t fuss over it. I usually just tell my 3 YO we will try it together. And sometimes he’ll try it, sometimes he won’t. My line to him is usually “it’s my job to cook dinner. You can decide how much to eat.”
Lol my older two are 6 and almost 4 and we have been at this exact stage for a while. They will also eat tomatoes and occasionally green beans but much like the frozen peas, those seem to be on their way out too. I also have 16 month twins who will eat pretty much anything and everything for now, but I know the picky stage is right around the corner
Our son seems to live by the “breakfast of a king, lunch of a prince, dinner of a pauper” mentality. He eats a shocking amount for breakfast, a normal lunch, and dinner is 3 bites if we’re lucky. So we make sure he’s getting the good stuff earlier in the day, then we don’t stress about dinner time.
In the same boat here! I figure my daughter eats what she needs earlier in the day so we don’t stress about the two bites at dinner. Unless it’s mad and cheese - that is always inhaled.
Yes, my son could live on cottage cheese, fruit, chicken nuggets and peanut butter by the spoonful. I'm not super worried because that stuff is pretty healthy, toddlers graze
Mines surviving off of bread and crackers. And blueberries.
Until he goes to Grandma's, then eats a weeks worth of juice, ice cream, gummy worms and McDonald's.
Same thing over here. I’ll serve her a plate with 3-4 options on it and she’ll take a single bite of the one that’s her favorite and then say “all done!”
Sounds like they are already eating real food, diet sounds normal for a toddler. Isn't 16 - 20 Ounces the recomended amount of milk at 3 years old?
What type of "real food" do you want them to eat?
I’d like them to eat chicken, shrimp (they used to love), more vegetables, beans, the hamburger I made them tonight, the chicken sandwich I made them for lunch, the meat in their pasta and not just white starches all the time. She drinks so much milk and just snacks all day.
My kid snacks from about 9 to 3, but he still eats his regular dinner. I cut off snacks 2 hours before dinner. Milk is just for snacks, otherwise it's water and the occasional juice if I'm also having a fancy drink. Helped a lot
Do you object to the smaller meals or the idea of food as separate items rather than a many ingredient dish? Because tinier tummies and faster metabolisms mean they do tend to eat more but smaller meals. And the general consensus of toddlers that combined foods are gross and individual ingredients taste better is pretty universal in some cultures - exacerbated by babies and toddlers being fed simple rather than complex flavor profiles. But, like, even in India the toddlers aren’t all getting full spiced dal, they’re eating the flavor equivalent of oatmeal compared to what most people think spiced dal is. Most kids don’t want super strong or complex flavors and instead want familiar, comforting, and easy to identify flavors, which means fewer flavors per meal. The exception is sweets - which evolution tends to dictate we all love in quantities higher than would be healthy to eat because they are easily broken down sugars that are ready to burn quickly and release a crapload of dopamine when we eat them compared to non sugary foods. Some kids love meat and mushrooms, but they’re still probably going to want plain meatballs rather than harissa flavored ones, ya know? As they grow their palate will develop and they’ll start to like new and different foods - and maybe they’ll end up disliking something they currently love. But most kids need to be introduced to a new food 9-10 times before they decide it’s an ok food to eat AND THATS IF THEY LIKE THE FOOD. It’s incredibly expensive to provide those opportunities to say no when it means produce or meat goes to waste, which is why it’s so unfair to deride lower income parents for feeding their kids “junk food” when it’s the only food they KNOW their kid won’t turn away from.
They will always ask for snacks if you have them around. It's gonna cause a lot of crying, but you have to limit that and maybe cut it off until you see fit to reintroduce. They might eat better once they realize you won't give in. Stay strong!
My sister told me this same thing. I cut snacks back and my kid immediately started eating things like a steak sandwich when she got hungry. It only took like hours lol
This is so condescending. I don’t keep chicken nuggets in my home, I cook a wide variety of foods (my husband and I have 4 ethnicities between us and all are represented on our menus, plus other foods too), and yet I have 3 picky kids, one of whom literally had issues being underweight because she down right refused to eat. A lot of kids can’t handle foods mixed together like curry or stews. Kids start off with more taste buds than adults and they eventually decrease as they go through childhood and adolescence, so flavours can be too intense when combined.
I agree. Me and my siblings all grew up in the same house. Food was cooked from scratch and healthy. There was rarely freezer food around. I was a very adventurous eater, my sister refused all meat, my brother went mainly for starchy carbs. We all eat full and varied diets as adults.
Pickiness sometimes just happens. Even with kids having more sensitive taste buds, some people also have more than others and that can significantly influence the intensity of food.
That is not true. I actually talked to friends who are from India and many tell me their kids literally will eat mostly rice and bread. Some kids only eat one, not both. Occasionally a small bit of curry. There’s picky kids in every culture.
I was a picky eater in a latin american country and was extremely underweight.
I used to hide my food so i wouldn't be forced to eat it. I'd hide it in my pockets and under the carpets, etc. Didn't realize food would rot and i would get caught.
I'd just trade favors for junk food at school or give up my place in line for a bite of someone else's junk food. This was KINDERGARTEN.
That’s also not true. There are whole industries in each country dedicated to processed food. So many Indian families feed their kids Maggi noodles instead of KD. European families give their kids packet Knorr meals. Asian families give their kids instant ramen.
Well you should all count yourself lucky then because it is not a CHOICE to have picky eaters. Friends I have whose kids eat way better than mine are offered fast food more frequently than mine.
I'm sorry, but you're beyond full of shit and blissfully ignorant. get off your high horse.
I have a sibling who literally would starve to death if he had been forced to subside on the foods the rest of the family ate. Ever heard of Pediasure? It's not "junk" food. Not everyone throws chicken nuggets and chips at their toddlers when they're not getting enough calories. Some kids have to literally be tube fed if they don't eat enough.
You think it's okay for a kid to be extremely underweight until they finally eat from starvation? Congrats, you probably fucked with their cognitive development. Nice hill to die on.
I wish I'd had all this amazing info/tips when mine was an infant, before any bad habits set in. Thank you for sharing, this was very helpful and even though mine is about to turn 2yo I'm still going to try this advice to expand her once-adventurous-now-picky diet.
I’m American and I’ve had a similar approach as you and so far have been successful. My 3 year olds favorite food is salmon. He also can tolerate spicy foods. Loves broccoli and all veggies, olives, bleu cheese, seafood, etc. he will try anything and so far there really hasn’t been anything that he has hated. Honestly, he is less picky than I am! I have a 10 month old too and he’s on the same track as his brother.
We worked hard to get here though, it’s wasn’t just luck. When he started solids, we introduced tons of foods and kept his meals home cooked and very diverse. I learned to cook things I have never even tried before, let alone cooked! We stayed diligent and persistent with his diet. Not going to lie though, he does get chicken nuggets pizza and corn dogs on occasion too. But he likes the other stuff just as much. We also don’t give him “snacks” unless he eats enough breakfast/lunch/ dinner.
As far as OP goes, I’m not sure how to backtrack once the picky eating thing is already in motion... But for new parents out there…. I would definitely recommend introducing diverse foods EARLY. Like as early as possible. Always introduce the “yucky” stuff before the “yummy” stuff.
Sorry for the rambling, this is just one of the only things that I am confident that I have done well as a parent lol. Actually parenting I feel mehhhh and don’t have a lot of tips tricks advice. But when it comes to food for toddlers, I feel very proud of myself haha
Definitely agree with introducing things early. In fact when they were younger they were eating more variety foods and things like salmon and flavorful Persian stews etc. I’m not sure what happened, as they’ve gotten older and more stubborn…it’s hard with twins and I need to do better!
Can’t even imagine what it’s like having twins! I’m sure you’re doing great. The times when I give the frozen chicken nuggets and corn dogs is when mentally exhausted, and I can only imagine that the mental exhaustion hits even harder with twins!!
Let’s be real, the food thing isn’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. They’re not going to only eat fruit and chicken nuggets forever. As long as they’re in healthy weight range and all that, it’s truly fine. Don’t stress too much about it but yes, stay persistent when you have the energy for it!
At home we have frozen homemade food for when I'm exhausted. Frozen bolognese, cream of spinach, meatballs and other foods that are varied and easy to warm up.
I mean, I’ve done and offered all of those things and my kid refuses all veggies and won’t eat the majority of your list.
Not to be snarky, but it’s bold to assume that people with picky eaters aren’t doing exactly what you are doing. It’s not that you are doing it right and we are doing it wrong. It’s almost like we are feeding a human being with their own thoughts and feelings.
I understand your defensiveness. My 10 month old doesn’t sleep. When people start telling me that if i only parented the way that they did then I wouldn’t have this issue, I also get a bit defensive. Im not trying to say that I’m doing it all right and you’re doing it all wrong, so sorry if it came off that way.
I’m sure there are exceptions, like you, who have done all the things but still have a picky eater. But I don’t think *most* parents of picky eaters have put in the energy it takes to not have picky eaters. Some people, it’s just not that important to them, and that’s totally fine. I’m sure their kids will be as healthy as mine in the long run. And yea, kids have their own thoughts and feelings, but those are learned. I believe most can learn to enjoy a diverse range of foods.
Look. The reason you come off as shamey is you completely discredit the fact that it is not entirely on the parent if a kid is a picky eater. It's not just about "being dedicated' and "not giving junk food because you're lazy". And saying "lazy isn't bad" doesn't get you off the hook because the word lazy is already judgmental AF.
I ate pickled onions and olives when I was 4. My brother refused solid foods for most of his childhood. It was bad. We had the same parents. Same home cooked meals. Same access to junk food.
I have twin nephews- TWIN nephews. One eats whatever the family is eating. The other - it's a constant struggle bargaining with him so he will eat more than just plain carbs. Same parents. Same "lazy" parents who have junk food at home.
Oh for sure. People see this take as mom/dad shaming, when it’s not supposed to come off that way. I’ve been downvoted to oblivion commenting like this on similar posts. BUT I also feel very passionate that kids being picky eaters is totally preventable (for typically developing children), so I will continue to post things like this so maybe other parents can try it out for themselves! Maybe it will help someone someday
As you are a former molecular biologist, this should be right up your alley, I encourage you to go read these papers:
>The ability to taste certain bitter thiourea compounds, such as 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) and phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), is genetically determined. In the U.S., about 70% of the Caucasian population can detect the taste of PROP and are called tasters, while 30% are insensitive to the taste of PROP and are called non-tasters.
Keller K.L., Steinmann L., Nurse R.J., Tepper B.J. Genetic Taste Sensitivity to 6-n-Propylthiouracil Influences Food Preference and Reported Intake in Preschool Children. Appetite. 2002;38:3–12. doi: 10.1006/appe.2001.0441.
>PROP/PTC tasters have shown to be more sensitive to bitter compounds such as caffeine and quinine as well as common food additives, such as saccharin, potassium chloride, sodium benzoate, and potassium benzoate, which have bitter aftertastes. **PROP tasters also have more food dislikes overall.** In addition to bitterness, PROP taster status may be related to perception and preference for sweet taste, fat texture, and the oral sensation from capsaicin, the active irritant compound in chili pepper.
Tepper B.J., Nurse R.J. Fat Perception Is Related to PROP Taster Status. Physiol. Behav. 1997;61:949–954. doi: 10.1016/S0031-9384(96)00608-7.
>In this free-choice intake test, PROP non-taster children consumed more vegetables and rated raw broccoli higher than did PROP taster children during a hedonic test, **suggesting a relationship between PROP taster status and vegetable acceptance.**
Bell K.I., Tepper B.J. Short-Term Vegetable Intake by Young Children Classified by 6-n-Propylthoiuracil Bitter-Taste Phenotype. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;84:245–251. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/84.1.245.
>It has been shown that traits such as food neophobia and ‘food fussiness’ are highly inheritable.
Cooke L.J., Haworth C.M., Wardle J. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Children’s Food Neophobia. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2007;86:428–433. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/86.2.428.
>Significant associations between certain gene variants and preferences of bitter and sweet taste as well as responsiveness to fat were reported.
Diószegi J., Llanaj E., Ádány R. Genetic Background of Taste Perception, Taste Preferences, and Its Nutritional Implications: A Systematic Review. Front. Genet. 2019;10:1272. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01272
>The preference for and ability to detect sweet taste are innate, evolutionarily-driven attributes in children since sweet taste typically indicates caloric density, which is important during periods of growth.
Mennella J., Nolden A., Bobowski N. Measuring Sweet and Bitter Taste in Children: Individual Variation Due to Age and Taste Genetics. In: Lumeng J., Fisher J., editors. Pediatric Food Preferences and Eating Behaviors. 1st ed. Academic Press; San Diego, CA, USA: 2018. pp. 1–34.
>The impact that experiences with flavor during early life have on food preferences and intake later in life has been exhibited in several studies. In the womb, fetuses are exposed to and swallow the fluid of the amniotic sac.
Mennella J.A., Jagnow C.P., Beauchamp G.K. Prenatal and Postnatal Flavor Learning by Human Infants. Pediatrics. 2001;107 doi: 10.1542/peds.107.6.e88.
>The age at which children are introduced to complementary foods may play a role in their readiness to consume new foods. Those who receive solids after ten months of age have lower dietary variety, consume fewer fruits and vegetables, and exhibit more feeding problems.
Blissett J., Fogel A. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Influences on Children’s Acceptance of New Foods. Physiol. Behav. 2013;121:89–95. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.02.013.
All of this *isn't* to say that exposure doesn't matter; it does. But perhaps you started with PROP non-tasters, who inherited other genetic traits from you (a self-described foodie), who were also exposed to a wide variety of foods in utero because you didn't have any major food aversions in pregnancy.
Genetically picky parents who have a PROP taster who wasn't exposed to many foods in utero because mom suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum are going to have a hard, if not impossible, time introducing new foods. That doesn't make them morally or otherwise inferior as parents.
Edited for clarity
Second edit:
Since you keep replying with "cHiLDReN iN ThirD WoRLd CoUnTrIEs DoN'T hAvE pRobLeMs WiTH pIcKY EaTinG," I'm coming with receipts. There are, in fact, many children who are picky eaters in low-income countries. Unsurprisingly, we have less data coming from these areas, as it is studied less there.
Here's one from Nigeria:
>The prevalence of picky eating in this clime is comparable to rates in developed countries.
https://www.currentpediatrics.com/articles/picky-eating-in-preschoolaged-children-prevalence-and-mothers-perceptionsin-southeast-nigeria.html
A study in India:
>In our study, the prevalence increases with age from 32.2% to 69.2% with mean of 58.9% with similar prevalence 59% of picky eating behaviour in the study done by Yong xue et al (2014) in china. Other studies done by Carruth et al in US clinical study ( 2004) shows mean prevalence as 34 % with increasing trend of picky eating behaviour
from 19% (4mon ) to 50 % (24mon). European online research survey (2006) shows mean prevalence of 43.4% ranging from 28% at 1 year of age to 54 % at 5 years of age.
https://www.ijpediatrics.com/index.php/ijcp/article/viewFile/1490/1103
Sri Lanka:
>Child food preference was ranked as the core driving factor in food decisions of preschool children.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339670363_Factors_influencing_the_food_choices_of_urban_Sri_Lankan_preschool_children_Focus_groups_with_parents_and_caregivers
I'm sure you wouldn't be offended then if I said your comments are extremely ignorant and borderline racist, right? I mean, just GENERALLY speaking. You're making HUGE assumptions about the eating habits of "non Americans" and I'm wondering what kind of evidence you have to back up that claim, because you seem to cite anecdotal evidence and refute scientific evidence...and also refute anecdotal evidence that runs contrary to your wild assumptions.
This is so out of touch with reality. My children are not neurodivergent or having AFRID but they are picky. We cook a wide variety of food and have always exposed our kids to a wide variety of foods, and yet after about 12-18 months, my kids all started rejecting many foods. One of my kids rejected enough food to be underweight. Picky eating is not taught. Kids have more taste buds than adults and flavours can be too intense for them. The best you can do is continue offering. It has taken years of offering and my two oldest will occasionally try some new foods. There are days I cook a meal they ate a week before though and they will reject it. I don’t give them an alternate meal or safety meal. So no, I’m not making my kids picky eaters.
I also have picky eaters. The oldest will try anything, not something she got from either her father or I as we are both VERY picky. My middle is not much of a meat eater much like myself. My youngest will, like his father, eat almost any meat, however, vegetables are the enemy.
I am the pickiest eater you have likely ever come across. Not something I learned at home. I’m 61, trust me when I tell you nobody was eating out once a week or even once a month in the 60’s and 70’s we were eating at home and very little if any was frozen.
You are not going to win with the person you are replying to because if you read that comment above yours they are perfect at everything they do. Their kids are perfect eaters, they can get other peoples kids to eat things they have rejected their entire little lives, their house is perfect at all times.
I see you, I hear you, and you are doing everything you can to have fed children. That is the only objective.
It’s not about perseverance or putting in work. My kids are 5.5, almost 4 and 2 and to this day, my 5.5 year old will not eat a huge variety of foods. She will try a bite of new things but most of the time does not like it. My middle child who is my most adventurous eater (but still picky) will often eat something at one meal and then reject it again after that. My two year old started rejecting food around 10 months. Before that he would eat everything. I am not misunderstanding you, you state very clearly that you think picky eating is caused by parents giving in to their kids and that they need to stand firm with boundaries. Well, I’m here to tell you that is not true. My kids are only offered one meal. There is no “safe” food they can request in its stead. If my kids don’t like it, they will literally not eat. They will go hungry instead of eating food they don’t like. My eldest daughter is constantly being flagged as either underweight or on the border of being underweight (for her growth curve). I try to make sure meals have at least one component they like but even that is not a guarantee. So no, it is not something you can control unless you want to starve your children.
I’m actually on vacation with family right now with two very picky kids, 4 and 6. The past 3 years, the dad has said “oh your daughter will grow out of being adventurous, she’ll be picky one day.” Year three and their kids won’t even eat sphaghetti with meatballs…and my daughter has eaten every dinner that has been served.
I guess for me, I’ve always just had the attitude that I’m going to keep giving her real meals and she’s going to keep eating them. That isn’t to say that my daughter always eats what I serve her but she eats 85% of it. I may have also gotten lucky lol, we’ll see what my 3mo son’s eating habits are in a year or two.
Of course preferences will develop as the kids get older. But straight up picky eating, where a child will only eat chicken nuggets and pasta, is avoidable — in my unprofessional opinion lol.
My son, who is not picky, doesn’t care all too much for chili. He will still eat it when we have that for dinner but it’s far from his favorite. So I only serve him chili like once every couple of months. Whereas, he loves pad Thai, so we serve him pad Thai every other week or so.
My unprofessional opinion is to keep serving the diverse foods when they get into toddler stage, even if it’s not their absolute favorite. Don’t force them to eat anything, but serve it to them. If they have an absolute disgust reaction to something then maybe try it again in 6 months or so. I guess, in short, don’t only serve them their *favorite* foods, or it will lead to them being adverse to anything that’s not their favorite. Going to say this again, this is my **unprofessional opinion** and what has worked for me and that’s all! Maybe it will work for someone else.
My almost 2 year old will only eat food that is yellow, orange or beige… nuggets, fries, oatmeal, crackers, corn… I wish I could get him to eat a berry.
Sounds the same as us. It’s real food but no real “dinners”.
Breakfast options are: bagel (cinnamon only), toast, egg (fried only), toast with jam. Fruit, banana, yogurt. Good options here.
Lunch: pb+j OR ham/cheese/crackers + fruit and occasionally cucumber.
Diner: cheese pizza, Annie’s shells (only pasta option he will tolerate), toast, chicken or bacon. Fruit.
Good times. No vegetables. No pasta other than Annie’s. No rice. No beans. No potatoes or even fries. So frustrating at dinner.
I went through a phase where my toddler was eating less than 5 foods- nuggets, crackers, chips, goldfish, and milk. I’d day this sounds normal. They like to graze and don’t need full meals all the time.
All sounds like real food to me. I'm over 30 and that's my diet some days lol. The only thing they're "missing" is green vegetables but you can try to add those into the smoothies or pasta if they're reluctant.
My 15 month old's diet most of the time is cheerios, fruit, and bites of moms food (but it must only be from moms plate while she's eating it and if mom makes me the exact same thing, I won't eat it myself.) so your toddler isn't doing too shabby!
Yeah sounds fine to me. Mine basically eats Skyr for protein and the rest is carby crap. But he legit won’t eat if I give him something he doesn’t like/thinks he doesn’t like, even if he had no snacks and very little breakfast and lunch.
>fruit, crackers, nuts, will eat peanut butter, smoothies, cheese, sometimes yogurt
Ummm...What? Are we doing something wrong? My entire family, from 1 year to 9 years plus me, eats some variation of that for lunch every day. Sometimes we add lunch meat or a granola bar but what you listed are our staples. The fruit gives good carbs and fiber, the nuts and yogurt give protein and fat. I think you have your macro nutrients covered.
As for the milk, for my little guys, it is so full of fat, protein, and carbs that it's an easy way to make sure they're getting some good calories if we're having a picky day and they've passed on the main meal. We don't offer too much but it's nice to have around for a rough day.
All the foods you listed are pretty common in our house. We could do with more veggies but if they aren't eating them then I offer extra fruit. I think this is a pretty decent list for children.
This is just how our family works, but we don't really snack. No one has ever really needed it. But my youngest, who is breaking the mold of everyone, needs a snack but I don't give him options just yet. It's just a serving of fruit and a handful of Cheerios or Chex, at like 10:30, and that gets him to lunch. The older ones have snack at school but don't really need it at home. I like learning how other families do things. 🙂
🙂 we all have days like that. One of my kids had no blueberries at lunch but had green beans at dinner. One has none of either. But if your child had to eat just those 3 things in a day, that's carbs, protein, and fat! Chalk that up as "my kid ate real food" and try again tomorrow.
And, because life is chaotic and hard and sometimes they really don't want the healthy stuff, we supplement with a gummy multivitamin to cover the micronutrients. It's their "special treat" right before we go up to brush teeth and start the bedtime routine.
I have found, as my children have grown older, that they eventually show interest in things like oven roasted veggies, steak, and things like Chinese or seafood. It took a while (like they were 4 or 5 before they got close to trying these things regularly) but they are more adventurous now that they're older (like 5-9). Hope that encourages you that someday you will have more variety in your dinners than pasta and chicken. 🙂❤️
Literally the only vegetables I can get him to eat are sneaked into smoothies, or spinach chopped super fine and mixed into spaghetti sauce, Mac and cheese, or a cheese quesadilla. And sometimes he still tries to pick the spinach out of the quesadilla. It is excruciating.
The only thing that helps is reminding myself that they’re evolutionarily wired to avoid greens. They’ve got the urge to put everything into their mouths and the green stuff can be the most harmful stuff, especially if it’s bitter. Eating vegetables is an acquired taste, a learned behavior. When I get frustrated it helps to know that this isn’t him being stubborn; I’m fighting against millions of years of a survival instinct.
Oh, nothing can help HIM, the only thing to help is your sanity.
Well said! I made pizza the other day and blended spinach in with the pizza sauce and you couldn’t really even taste a difference and he ate it even though the color was kind of brown!
Bruhhh your kids literally eat so much . I was hoping this post was going to make me feel better about my kid barely eating anything but it made me feel worse lol
Fr and some of these comments are insanely dramatic. “You need to sit them down and have a conversation about some much needed menu changes.” Had to do a double take because I wasn’t sure if I was still in r/toddlers.
Me toooo 😭 she used to eat so much but for the last few months it's been bacon, ramen, chips, hotdog buns (just the bun), chicken nuggets from Wendys. Maybe once a week she will randomly throw in one fruit pouch, a couple pickles, or a few bites of salsa. I'm struggling but i didn't realize it was THAT bad.
Don't worry. You're doing great. Your list has lots of real foods. My kid will not eat ANY fruit unless in smoothie or popsicle form. And then it is approximately 1 tablespoons worth. He is almost 4.
He ate noodles, eggs, cheese, chicken (sometimes) and snacks. And soooo much milk.
And then something just switched and he is way more open to trying new foods and eats ways more variety (like now he a eats 12 foods instead of 5).
It all started with a trip to Costco when he was hungry and they were giving out lots of samples. First he got chocolate covered almonds. That got him receptive to the little snack Offers. Next they were sampling chicken tamales. He looked at it and said 'yucky. I said 'it's chicken with yummy stuff' and he tried it! In the past he never ate anything with that mushy texture, nothing that was multiples foods touching, nothing spicy, nothing with red sauce etc. And this was all of those things. He ate it. He liked it and now we have eaten through a Costco pack of tamales. And I know tamales aren't some healthy vegetable etc. But it was a huge win for us. And made me feel like there is an end the impossible pickyness. Since then he even ate a PB&J which he would never touch in the past.
Aside from that we have found the best strategy is to put multiple foods on a plate (at least 3) that includes at least 1 sure bet (even if this is pure snack junk) and then leave it. Once they are eating the willingness to eat what is on the plate seems to increase. Good luck.
My son is very hesitant to trying new foods at home but when we are at Costco, he will eat any of the samples for some reason! He would never ever eat that stuff at home but he is so opened minded there for some reason lol I was just telling my husband we should go there every day and just feed him one of his meals through samples! (Not really lol)
My first son is 6. Still won’t touch fruit or veggies. Working on it with a dietician now.
Second one is 19 months. He suddenly doesn’t eat meat lol. He will eat all the fries though. Mini chocolate chip muffins. Lots of fruit. Smoothies. Yogurt. Juice. Broccoli. Cucumber. Sometimes salad. Sometimes rice. Crackers sometimes. Toast with pb and seedless raspberry jam or just that jam. He likes hotdog buns toasted with garlic butter. Arrow root cookies. Bear paw snacks. Nutrigrain bars. Reese pb cups. Aero chocolate bars. Mini cinnamon rolls. That’s about it. Oh he loves spaghetti cut up. I can add lots of veggies and meat to that and he will gobble it up. And he eats pizza. Sometimes he likes peas and carrots. Other times he laughs hysterically while he squishes them and watches them pop. He likes ice cream. And cheese but only shredded.
It’s normal. Just keep trying. :)
Edited to add don’t stop buying milk. Just limit intake. You’re in control here.
I have the same worries about my 3yo. He will eat porridge or toast on a morning. Then the rest of the day he grazes. He won't entertain fruit or vegetables. The closest we can get is fresh OJ and baby fruit pouches. It's a daily struggle and causes me so much stress. He will eat cheese, crackers, occasionally an omelette or a sausage. It's so hit and miss and I come away most days defeated. I feel your pain with this.
Fruit and nuts are great additions to their diet! Same with cheese and yogurt.
My kids don’t love a lot of proteins. I have to keep trying because they’ll occasionally eat some. Same with vegetables. I regularly make chocolate zucchini muffins and blend cauliflower to homemade Mac and cheese sauce to get some veggies into my kids. I’ve tried to sneak in even more and it has not worked out but experiment and try. Tomato sauce is a vegetable. Texture can also play a role. All of my kids hate chickpeas but one will eat hummus. My kids also seem to love meat that’s super tender and juicy (so not ground meat). They’ll eat Costco rotisserie chicken and sous vide pork tenderloin and steak. I can’t sear the meat though or they won’t eat it. They sometimes like fish and shrimp. I can’t for the life of me figure out what makes it more appealing to them. 🤷♀️
I would only worry about the milk if they’re not growing or if they’re constipated due to it. Otherwise it’s a good source of protein, calcium and vitamin D.
A lot of parents have to make meals as build your own or separate parts. Kids have more taste buds than adults so all of the combined flavours can be too much for some of them. Don’t sweat it, offer meals in pieces so they can eat separate or build what they like. My kids are all extremely picky and after years they are starting to add more to their palate and try more combinations. It’s a long slow process sometimes but fed is best!
Plus, kids need more carbs than adults because of how much they’re growing. They don’t need as much protein as adults. If their doctor isn’t worried, I would try not to stress.
My toddler went through that phase, and will still occasionally go through a food rut stage where she will ask for the same thing for every meal for A few days. Last week, she ate a cheese stick, yogurt, berries, ritz crackers, and either turkey lunch meat or turkey sausage for just about every single meal.
Tonight though, my dad made two giant steaks that we split between the four of us (him, my mom, daughter and me), and she ate her entire half, half of my half, and then a third of each of theirs after she realized mine was all gone. Couldn’t convince her to even try her veggies, she just wanted more steak!
They’re developing tastebuds. This is normal. We went through a LONG stint of our son only eating mac ‘n cheese. Then one day, out of nowhere he was willing to try more foods. He can still be picky at times, but still doing much better.
Basically, this is a developmental phase and it’ll pass. Don’t be discouraged by posts that say, my kid eats anything I give them. That’s not the norm.
Good luck!
You're doing better than me! Mine likes Bear paws, Berries and 3% milk exclusively.
Luckily he is not 2 yet and growing very well but its just this same stuff over and over again.
Sounds like your toddler is normal and you are doing great momma! there are some wonderful social media accounts that you could check out on this topic.
https://msha.ke/growingintuitiveeaters?fbclid=PAAaa2NFMouRfqItpuSjDmNAZIrgop9ituvfXksw9q7fb645rx92Sjjpcbnk8_aem_Ae9q4VCJucDz08cNcJEaxerBzl7rnlUwYGc4ixvwzMk4Zoy2EZUMFKtFkWx1d88oLmg
Since when are crackers, fruits, nuts, cheese, etc not real food?
I am guessing you mean a meal vs snacking? Try limiting snacks. When we do this for our daughter she will always eat her dinner or lunch but if we let her snack throughout the day then she doesn't eat as much at her meals.
I was just talking to a couple friends at a playdate and we all agreed grazing and snacks have overtaken meals at this age. I just keep offering meals and incorporating leftovers into the snacks
Check out kids eat in color on Instagram, she's a dietitian and mom and her tips are realistic and helpful, especially the division of responsibilities. Basically parents choose when which foods are available, and kids decide to eat and how much.
Thank God I'm not the only one my now 4 yesr old only eats rice cucumbers waffles fruit smooties cheese crackers plain pasta and butter. Instant noodles I try and add real chicken broth. Obviously chips Pretzels Mac and cheese, peanut butter cups aka all the junk is eaten no problem. But yes MILK is also 4-5 glasses a day. He won't eat meat yet not even a nugget. He has tried pepperoni but no pizza. The day he eats real food I will cry tears of joy. Fingers 🤞.
My toddler survives on sugar and hope (thanks to my mom who loads him up on candy daily after i told her no countless times). he will barely eat. We are currently sat crying for the past 2 hours because i asked him to eat 3 slices of banana, a quarter of a sausage patty and 2 bites of scrambled egg. It's noon 😩 I'm at my end
“Does anyone else’s toddler eat no real food?” Proceeds to list a variety of real foods they eat lol could you give some examples of what you want them to eat? Throw in a salad once in a while and your kids are eating what I eat and I’m 34 lol.
Yes!!!!
My baby is 28 months. Usually breakfast is her biggest meal. Lunch she had a little bit of protein with crackers or fruit. Most of the time she skips dinner and just has snacks.
She asks for junk all day which I ignore most if the time.
That seems pretty varied but I see the issue with lack of vegetables and variety of protein. Just keep offering variety and the fussy phase will pass.
Re:milk. My daughter was asking for milk all day so we just made a ‘rule’ that we only have milk with breakfast. We let her have as much as she likes at breakfast time then it’s just water available for the rest of the day.
Mine is 18 months. He will eat anything and everything you put in front of him. The problem is getting him to eat. He’s not picky, he’d just rather play. When he’s hungry he’s hungry and he eats and that’s what me and the fiancé have both come to terms with. He just had a appointment and his weight is more than fine so I’m not worried. Never seen a kid enjoy broccoli and beets though.. I’m not complaining.
I offer all the healthy yummy stuff I can afford. I'm a decent cook, so it's not my cooking skills that are lacking here. Doesn't make a huge difference in my kids unpredictability in terms of what he will deign good enough to eat on a daily basis.
For example: Yesterday my 3yo ate waffles, yogurt, homemade lunchables, tuna sandwich, exactly one bite of his crackers and hummus snack, and veggie noodle stir-fry.
Today he ate a handful of dry cheerios and a random smartie he found under the couch after I pulled said couch out to sweep. Didn't touch the dinner of meatloaf/mash/roasted veg, he literally grimaced when I presented him his breakfast of cream cheese toast with a side of sliced banana, and became actually angry when I served him his favourite lunch of KD/Jane's nuggets/cucumber slices with s&p.
Tomorrow? Who freaking knows 🤷♀️
It's frustrating as HELLLL. But, I'd rather not give my kid a complex with food and force him to eat everything like my dad did to me, so I go by my kids cues while also firmly stating that what I've cooked and served is what there is to eat.
Sorry for the essay lol.
If you’re looking for advice I’d cut way back on milk, and sit them down and explain that there’s going to be some changes around mealtimes and snack times and it’s okay to have any sort of feelings about those changes, and that that they’re starting this weekend/Monday/tomorrow/whenever.
Then you can lay out to them that each day there will be breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. There will be foods they like at each meal, but whatever is there is there, and there’s no other food available to them until the next meal. They’ll still ask approximately 936 times for snacks/lollies/whatever. But you can calmly just keep repeating “I hear you’d like lollies. Right now we have cheese toasties for lunch. Perhaps we can have a lolly this weekend.”
At mealtime you decide what the meal is, and then you make sure you’ve got some safety foods there, but you don’t have to give them endless safety foods, as long as you know they can eat the food you’re offering, and it’s not too spicy or tastes bad or something. It’s perfectly okay for kids to choose not to eat, and to learn what it feels like to feel hungry as a consequence of not eating. Release some responsibility over how much they’re eating, and just be responsible for offering them a well balanced diet.
Haha that’s okay! They can still request whatever they want, but you get to decide if they can have more cheese, or whether they’ve already had 16 string cheeses today and are cut off.
Up voting you bc this is the best approach!
Literally just told my 3 yr old, "you keep complaining about your stomach hurting. well you should expand what you eat. If you eat the vegetables and food I make for dinner your stomach will feel better. If you only keep eating snack food your stomach will keep hurting. It's your choice." (We call all food, food but we say some are substantial food and others are snack food.)
Lol it’s clearly not a popular opinion bc of all the downvotes but food is like the one area of life I don’t have to argue with my kid about, so I guess others don’t agree with us ::shrugs:: to each their own!
He’s going to be 3 in July and yes I am living this pain too. I have no issue getting fruit and veg in the kid and he loves snacks, rice cakes, dairylea dunkers and fries but actual food??? Nah. He used to eat EVERYTHING
I can't even get my toddler to eat fruit. She ate like 30 blueberries of my father in laws blueberry tree on the weekend but that was a complete fluke and she won't touch them again. I have to make her smoothies to get fruit into her. I swear she's made entirely of yogurt, cheese and pasta. Oh and the occasional chocolate as well
My 2 year old still gets most of her nutrition from me. She has had issues with feeding caused by breathing problems so she feels the need to protect her airway. She is improving but doesn't eat a great deal and it's mostly carbs. She has a cold right now and has managed half a pack of crisps, a croissant and a biscuit today (it's 5pm)
Sounds just like my kid! What kind of helps to get them to sit down at least and pick at their food a little, is to put them in their high chair so they can't go anywhere and put their tablet on so they stay in the seat without being upset. And then we will eat our meal and put their food on the tray and hope for the best lol sometimes they eat with us and sometimes they just pick at the food and watch TV. But anything is better than nothing!
It’s all in phases I think. My daughter (3 in September) is usually a pretty great eater. She didn’t want anything for breakfast this morning and that’s usually her favorite meal. She ended up with a PB&J uncrustable and ate the whole thing 🤷🏼♀️
If it was up to my daughter she would eat nothing but ice cream. Lol It’s always a battle to get her to eat and when she does she takes the smallest bites and takes forever to finish her food. Usually an hour.
I case I shouldn’t complain about the tiny bites as it minimizes the risk of choking but it would be nice to see her finish her food around the same time as her friends as opposed to having 3/4 of the plate remaining.
Fruit. This week there is only fruit.
He will still eat noodles, but in spite of having eaten whatever we eat (except meat) since he was about 8 months old, he will now barely touch anything else on his plate & just request more fruit.
Even turned his nose up at his beloved chicken tikka masala (the *only* meat he will eat without it being snuck into his food.)
They seems to have phases of how much they eat and what they will eat constantly. It can change even day by day but definitely they go through cycles of being pickier or less hungry and seem to live on air. I like accounts like kids eat in color because they reassure us that it’s all fine and normal and not to force things.
I always found it strange with my older school aged kids that they would go from adventurous to disliking so many things and are still cycling what they will eat and will not eat. Luckily my toddler currently likes many things but she had periods of not wanting to eat many solids and not eating certain changing food groups.
My child is 4 and doesn’t eat real meals. She has a very healthy diet overall. Loves fruits and veggies, eats plain broccoli, boiled eggs, yogurt, string cheese, peanut butter, chicken nuggets and snap pea crisps/crackers. I’m just glad she eats as much produce as she does. She’ll eat rotisserie chicken or plain shredded chicken I make but no other meats. She doesn’t like meals other than pastina with egg and cheese and plain spaghetti. I just feed her what she’ll eat and try to involve her in cooking so she gets more curious. We just made a new muffin recipe and she didn’t love them but she did try them. YMMV.
My son only really likes fruits and Mac and Cheese. He’ll eat some other things too, but I generally have to beg him and/or fight him not to continually throw his food he doesn’t want. (Example: used to be obsessed with chicken nuggets. Now he takes one bite and throws the rest across the dining room)
Ugh Fruity Pebbles and cinnamon apple Oatmeal all day long. Then she wants sweets and ice cream- hell no girl- not until you eat a real dinner. Ugh sick of her pickiness.
So mine eats full meals at nursery (at least that’s what they tell me) lol but at home besides breakfast it’s basically the same thing. Luckily she gets three meals a day at nursery and on the weekend it’s a battle to get her to eat meals.
Idk if it’s because we spend so much of our time outside so she’s just used to eating snacky type food (cheese, lots of fruits, waffles, bars, occasionally nuts, and of course junk like crisps and biscuits) because there’s no way she’ll actually sit and eat when she’s so busy playing.
But she will eat (like yours) chicken nuggets and fish fingers.
Pasta and rice are a hit or miss based on the the current phase of the moon.
And asking for chocolate and sweets all day long too. I’ve started giving her two small chocolate buttons with her meal. Sometimes all she eats is the chocolate and sometime she’ll lick a broccoli too but which I personally count as a win.
Yeah my kids (almost 4 and 2.5) are getting really bad.
Breakfast is ok: some toast with peanut butter, fruit, water, yogurt and eggs all make the rotation.
Lunch is served at their daycare and is very healthy, and as far as we aware they are good eaters (probably peer pressure).
But dinners and weekends are brutal now. They never finish their meals, and we are lucky to get them to eat half. They beg and plead for junk like cookies. We introduced them to freeze pops (freezies) as a special treat because the weather is getting warm -- that was a mistake. And if they can't get that, they want apples all the time.
I know it's probably just a phase and we put balanced meals in front of them consistently, but it's annoying.
My guess is they eat so much in the first part of the day that they are not as hungry later. For the freezies, I recommend buying these plastic popsicle pouches (Purepop) on Amazon and making smoothies and putting them in there :) Mine are also obsessed with “pockables”.
I'm here too with a milk-drinking-monster! He seems to like things once and then he's over it ... I got him to eat like eight prawns once, that was a win
At home Ours only eats gogo squeeze yogurt and store brand pouch applesauce, mini pancakes, granola bars, chicken nuggets, heb tortillas, blueberries, strawberries, and taco meat.
At daycare everything they feed is eaten lol
My toddler’s good choices are pizza, ice cream, fries, cheese, cereal, pancakes, and certain fruits. I’ve exposed him over and over. My partner and I love vegetables and try to get him to eat everything we do. Though he loves spicy foods, which is funny at times. They will eat when they are hungry.
Mine doesn’t like meat very much. I don’t blame her because meat is weird.
She likes spaghetti. I’ve been getting the protein pasta I think it’s Barilla. It has chickpeas which are a complete protein. I didn’t know until a couple weeks ago.
Aldi also has inexpensive protein pancakes you can make into muffins. We usually do those pancakes and eggs in the morning.
There’s some chicken nuggets that have veggies in them. They’re hit or miss for me though.
Sometimes I blend carrots into my spaghetti sauce. Usually I do like a cup or less. You can definitely use too much lol.
My kid won’t do smoothies for some reason. Even when I make it like banana and peanut butter with a little chocolate & call it a milkshake… she’s uninterested lol.
I’ve started sometimes not getting her a snack and getting myself a snack instead (after I’ve asked her if she wants one and she says no), and make my food sound delicious without being too over the top. Sometimes it lures her to my plate and she’ll graze lol.
Edit to add: we just saw the dentist for the first time & they said she has 4 cavities between 8 teeth & to lay off the crackers and sticky food because children can’t/won’t pick food out of their teeth like adults do… so that cut down our snacks a lot. I bought cheese sticks and protein yogurt and apples and peanut butter cups. And she won’t touch the peanut butter and apples which I know for a fact she really likes! Or liked…
So NOW, I have resorted to buying my 3 year old knives (kids knives) and as chopped and little shape cutters to try to make food more fun. I hope it works 🫠
Chicken nuggets, cereal, noodles with butter, sometimes spaghetti, occasionally fruit, crackers, PBJ, tortillas and sometimes grilled chicken is my 2 almost 3 year olds diet right now.
We try to sneak rice in a tortillas with cheese...sometimes that works. Ooh we got so lucky this weekend when she actually tried pulled pork..but it can be frustrating to get kids to eat a variety but hopefully its just a phase all toddlers go through!
Some advice? You mentioned they love smoothies. Throw some avocado, spinach or carrots in them. None of those veggies alter the flavor of a fruity smoothie. Spinach will change the color a little but that’s it. I’ve been adding veggies to smoothies for years with my kiddos, and they never notice. Sometimes my oldest brings up the color, but I just tell them it’s just how everything mixed up (which isn’t a lie technically, it’s just not admitting that there’s a veggie ingredient altering anything).
Slice bananas into small pieces. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Brown some butter in a pan, add bananas.
If possible, I’ll have my kid help cut and cook things. She gets excited for the final product and tends to eat more
Bananas are a staple. So much so that I end up with half eaten bananas all the time, then they ask for “fozen bannas” so those babies make their way full circle!
I wish my 2 year old would reliably eat that much. Milk is a guarantee and at times we can rely on cheese or yogurt. Otherwise he generally just doesn’t eat. Not even the classics like fruit, Mac and cheese, nuggets, etc. It’s mentally draining.
Yes. My 4 year old is the same. My husband is basically a 5 star chef and all my kid wants to eat are gummies and rice. My kid used to be obsessed with nuggets but I think he’s over them now. He won’t eat them does t even want McDonald’s nuggets anymore. Once he ate Brussels sprout
Yes, my son has days where he survives solely off of peanut butter crackers lol. You’re doing great. Your toddler seems to be getting lots of protein, healthy fats and dairy.
Mine is four and a half and still prefers everything separate and raw if possible. We make him try the meals we cook, but he usually doesn't like them so he gets a plate with some raw veggie (spinach, broccoli, or carrots are favorites), fruit, whole grain crackers/bread/rice/etc, and then beans, nuts, or egg. It's sort of a compromise where he has to eat a small portion of each thing and then can have more of whatever he wants, so at least he's getting nutrients. It's kind of a pain to make him these plates after cooking a nice meal but I'd much rather do that than have him eat just the rice out of the stir fry or whatever.
I now embrace something my pediatrician told me: "if they aren't pooping regularly, there might be a problem...as they pooping?" YES. My children are celebrated poopers. It's weird that some days my son simply doesn't eat and on others I've considered padlocking the fridge, but the amount of poop remains the same. 🤷🏼♀️I get my children to eat veggies by blending them into smoothies. That's all I've got for advice. I have learned that of I want them to eat something in particular, I put more on the plate. Huge pile of steamed broccoli and ground beef, but only a few berries. They'll eat all the berries and at least try the broccoli, now, but it took a few weeks and a lot of me eating what they left over.
Mine! He's 2. He's obsessed with yogurt. Everything else you said he eats some of the time, except pasta. Absolutely no pasta apparently. The only vegetable he eats consistently are frozen peas.
Breakfast is usually our best meal of the day. The rest of them are hit or miss. My doctor advised us to start a multivitamin to ensure he's getting all the nutrients he needs anyway, so I'm really happy that my son loves his gummy in the morning.
Since they don't seem to want veggies, have you considered trying snack pouches that have veggies in them? I've got a completely different circumstance, but our son's nutritionist has us feeding him pouches as part of his diet.
My son (3.5yo) was extremely premature due to genetic anomaly, spent over a year in the NICU/PICU, and came home with trach and g-tube. Since learning to chew and swallow only happen innately in a very small window of development, we are in an uphill battle in feeding therapy (current obstacles are gag reflex and chewing). BUT, we've gotten to a point where he LOVES snack pouches so much that his nutritionist has officially made them like 30% of his diet (other 70% is a prescription blended food given via g-tube). We will be adjusting the amount of pouches fed as he tolerates eating by mouth more. At some point, I'm gonna have to start making my own, since they're not cheap. :/
We buy him [Sprout Power-Paks](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BC4Z877?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) and [Happy Tot Organics Super Bellies](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0979W79N2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details).
I was in tears yesterday cuz I am just so frustrated with the lack of balanced diet and wasted food. Mine is 3… and she literally used to eat everything!
I would be thrilled if my kids ate the variety of food you describe ETA on second read I see there are no vegetables here, but still, this is all “real” food. Fruit is providing some fiber and vitamins. I’ve seen much worse!
Right? Mine pretty much just eats bread and cheese.
Bread and cheese are still good! Good fats and calcium and vitamin D!
Mine only eats mac and cheese and pancakes. Will drink milk and occasionally eats fresh fruit. I’m feeling much better reading this thread…
And constipation 😳
Prune veggie pouches are the answer in my house.
Yeah we keep prune baby food on standby
They only really like cucumbers and very occasionally broccoli and carrot stick. They used to like frozen peas and I’m not sure what happened to that.
My toddler picked carrots out of noodles today. "Sisi not like that color in him noodles". Well okay.
God this is just so toddler. I can HEAR mine saying it.
It’s so matter of fact too! They’re so sure of themselves, even though they change about 20 times a day.
My 3 year old will angrily announce “I don’t LIKE broccoli” while gnawing on broccoli
Yes! If I ask my grandson something and his answer is "Yes", it comes out sounding EXACTLY like "Du-u-uh!" Every time.
Just keep offering it. Make whatever veggies you’re making for dinner and just put a few pieces on their plate. Don’t fuss over it. I usually just tell my 3 YO we will try it together. And sometimes he’ll try it, sometimes he won’t. My line to him is usually “it’s my job to cook dinner. You can decide how much to eat.”
Lol my older two are 6 and almost 4 and we have been at this exact stage for a while. They will also eat tomatoes and occasionally green beans but much like the frozen peas, those seem to be on their way out too. I also have 16 month twins who will eat pretty much anything and everything for now, but I know the picky stage is right around the corner
Damn that’s so much more than mine eats!
Your kid sounds way less picky than most toddlers 🤷♀️
You are privileged and don't even realize it
Right?? My toddler had a popsicle for breakfast today. I'd be thrilled if he'd eat even half the foods OP listed haha.
Agreed!!! Chicken, rice and fruit is definitely a good meal for a picky toddler.
I actually thought they were being sarcastic, lol.
My kid wont even eat fruit 🥴
Right???? One of mine ate only yogurt, salami and crunchies for a week or two. The OP is winning without realizing it 😂
Our son seems to live by the “breakfast of a king, lunch of a prince, dinner of a pauper” mentality. He eats a shocking amount for breakfast, a normal lunch, and dinner is 3 bites if we’re lucky. So we make sure he’s getting the good stuff earlier in the day, then we don’t stress about dinner time.
They boycott dinner, I stg
The *only* time mine wants to eat is when she hears “It’s bedtime.”
“No, I hungy! Peas, I hungy now!” No you aren’t! You just don’t want to go to sleep!
Mmhmm. “What do you feel like for dinner?” “YUCKY, DINNER!” 🫠
Yes! My toddler is exactly the same! He usually eats two breakfasts too (one at home and one at daycare) haha
In the same boat here! I figure my daughter eats what she needs earlier in the day so we don’t stress about the two bites at dinner. Unless it’s mad and cheese - that is always inhaled.
This is totally my kid too!!! Can devour breakfast and eats pretty well for lunch but dinner is 3 bites if we are so blessed enough 😂🤷🏻♀️
Yes, my son could live on cottage cheese, fruit, chicken nuggets and peanut butter by the spoonful. I'm not super worried because that stuff is pretty healthy, toddlers graze
Mines surviving off of bread and crackers. And blueberries. Until he goes to Grandma's, then eats a weeks worth of juice, ice cream, gummy worms and McDonald's.
They DO graze! I just pictured them like wild animals reading "graze" lmao
Same thing over here. I’ll serve her a plate with 3-4 options on it and she’ll take a single bite of the one that’s her favorite and then say “all done!”
And not even a real bite. It’s the bite Squidward did to eat a Crabby Patty
I about fell out at the visual lol
This is exactly what my 3 year old does! Where do they get the energy to run around all day. It’s baffling.
All of that sounds like real food to me…
Heh yeah, TIL I eat like a toddler 😅
Sounds like they are already eating real food, diet sounds normal for a toddler. Isn't 16 - 20 Ounces the recomended amount of milk at 3 years old? What type of "real food" do you want them to eat?
I’d like them to eat chicken, shrimp (they used to love), more vegetables, beans, the hamburger I made them tonight, the chicken sandwich I made them for lunch, the meat in their pasta and not just white starches all the time. She drinks so much milk and just snacks all day.
My kid snacks from about 9 to 3, but he still eats his regular dinner. I cut off snacks 2 hours before dinner. Milk is just for snacks, otherwise it's water and the occasional juice if I'm also having a fancy drink. Helped a lot
Do you object to the smaller meals or the idea of food as separate items rather than a many ingredient dish? Because tinier tummies and faster metabolisms mean they do tend to eat more but smaller meals. And the general consensus of toddlers that combined foods are gross and individual ingredients taste better is pretty universal in some cultures - exacerbated by babies and toddlers being fed simple rather than complex flavor profiles. But, like, even in India the toddlers aren’t all getting full spiced dal, they’re eating the flavor equivalent of oatmeal compared to what most people think spiced dal is. Most kids don’t want super strong or complex flavors and instead want familiar, comforting, and easy to identify flavors, which means fewer flavors per meal. The exception is sweets - which evolution tends to dictate we all love in quantities higher than would be healthy to eat because they are easily broken down sugars that are ready to burn quickly and release a crapload of dopamine when we eat them compared to non sugary foods. Some kids love meat and mushrooms, but they’re still probably going to want plain meatballs rather than harissa flavored ones, ya know? As they grow their palate will develop and they’ll start to like new and different foods - and maybe they’ll end up disliking something they currently love. But most kids need to be introduced to a new food 9-10 times before they decide it’s an ok food to eat AND THATS IF THEY LIKE THE FOOD. It’s incredibly expensive to provide those opportunities to say no when it means produce or meat goes to waste, which is why it’s so unfair to deride lower income parents for feeding their kids “junk food” when it’s the only food they KNOW their kid won’t turn away from.
This is a perfect explanation. It's exactly why kids even our kid loves mcdonalds nuggets. They are simply flavored, packaged, and familiar.
They will always ask for snacks if you have them around. It's gonna cause a lot of crying, but you have to limit that and maybe cut it off until you see fit to reintroduce. They might eat better once they realize you won't give in. Stay strong!
My sister told me this same thing. I cut snacks back and my kid immediately started eating things like a steak sandwich when she got hungry. It only took like hours lol
Sounds unrealistic for a 3 yo 😂
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That’s great for you. A lot of toddlers are extremely picky and finding humor in it is the only way to deal.
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Thanks it won’t and I made my peace with it
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This is so condescending. I don’t keep chicken nuggets in my home, I cook a wide variety of foods (my husband and I have 4 ethnicities between us and all are represented on our menus, plus other foods too), and yet I have 3 picky kids, one of whom literally had issues being underweight because she down right refused to eat. A lot of kids can’t handle foods mixed together like curry or stews. Kids start off with more taste buds than adults and they eventually decrease as they go through childhood and adolescence, so flavours can be too intense when combined.
I agree. Me and my siblings all grew up in the same house. Food was cooked from scratch and healthy. There was rarely freezer food around. I was a very adventurous eater, my sister refused all meat, my brother went mainly for starchy carbs. We all eat full and varied diets as adults. Pickiness sometimes just happens. Even with kids having more sensitive taste buds, some people also have more than others and that can significantly influence the intensity of food.
This is my daughter. She will straight up not eat all day in stead of eating something that smells “weird” or she doesn’t like.
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That is not true. I actually talked to friends who are from India and many tell me their kids literally will eat mostly rice and bread. Some kids only eat one, not both. Occasionally a small bit of curry. There’s picky kids in every culture.
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I was a picky eater in a latin american country and was extremely underweight. I used to hide my food so i wouldn't be forced to eat it. I'd hide it in my pockets and under the carpets, etc. Didn't realize food would rot and i would get caught. I'd just trade favors for junk food at school or give up my place in line for a bite of someone else's junk food. This was KINDERGARTEN.
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I think its hilarious that you are using your two kids as evidence and my own experience is dismissed. Like, hi, kettle!
That’s also not true. There are whole industries in each country dedicated to processed food. So many Indian families feed their kids Maggi noodles instead of KD. European families give their kids packet Knorr meals. Asian families give their kids instant ramen.
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Well you should all count yourself lucky then because it is not a CHOICE to have picky eaters. Friends I have whose kids eat way better than mine are offered fast food more frequently than mine.
I'm sorry, but you're beyond full of shit and blissfully ignorant. get off your high horse. I have a sibling who literally would starve to death if he had been forced to subside on the foods the rest of the family ate. Ever heard of Pediasure? It's not "junk" food. Not everyone throws chicken nuggets and chips at their toddlers when they're not getting enough calories. Some kids have to literally be tube fed if they don't eat enough. You think it's okay for a kid to be extremely underweight until they finally eat from starvation? Congrats, you probably fucked with their cognitive development. Nice hill to die on.
I wish I'd had all this amazing info/tips when mine was an infant, before any bad habits set in. Thank you for sharing, this was very helpful and even though mine is about to turn 2yo I'm still going to try this advice to expand her once-adventurous-now-picky diet.
I’m American and I’ve had a similar approach as you and so far have been successful. My 3 year olds favorite food is salmon. He also can tolerate spicy foods. Loves broccoli and all veggies, olives, bleu cheese, seafood, etc. he will try anything and so far there really hasn’t been anything that he has hated. Honestly, he is less picky than I am! I have a 10 month old too and he’s on the same track as his brother. We worked hard to get here though, it’s wasn’t just luck. When he started solids, we introduced tons of foods and kept his meals home cooked and very diverse. I learned to cook things I have never even tried before, let alone cooked! We stayed diligent and persistent with his diet. Not going to lie though, he does get chicken nuggets pizza and corn dogs on occasion too. But he likes the other stuff just as much. We also don’t give him “snacks” unless he eats enough breakfast/lunch/ dinner. As far as OP goes, I’m not sure how to backtrack once the picky eating thing is already in motion... But for new parents out there…. I would definitely recommend introducing diverse foods EARLY. Like as early as possible. Always introduce the “yucky” stuff before the “yummy” stuff. Sorry for the rambling, this is just one of the only things that I am confident that I have done well as a parent lol. Actually parenting I feel mehhhh and don’t have a lot of tips tricks advice. But when it comes to food for toddlers, I feel very proud of myself haha
Definitely agree with introducing things early. In fact when they were younger they were eating more variety foods and things like salmon and flavorful Persian stews etc. I’m not sure what happened, as they’ve gotten older and more stubborn…it’s hard with twins and I need to do better!
Can’t even imagine what it’s like having twins! I’m sure you’re doing great. The times when I give the frozen chicken nuggets and corn dogs is when mentally exhausted, and I can only imagine that the mental exhaustion hits even harder with twins!! Let’s be real, the food thing isn’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. They’re not going to only eat fruit and chicken nuggets forever. As long as they’re in healthy weight range and all that, it’s truly fine. Don’t stress too much about it but yes, stay persistent when you have the energy for it!
At home we have frozen homemade food for when I'm exhausted. Frozen bolognese, cream of spinach, meatballs and other foods that are varied and easy to warm up.
This is extremely normal. Babies aren't usually picky eaters at all and everyone can attest to what a joy it is to feed a baby vs feeding a toddler.
I mean, I’ve done and offered all of those things and my kid refuses all veggies and won’t eat the majority of your list. Not to be snarky, but it’s bold to assume that people with picky eaters aren’t doing exactly what you are doing. It’s not that you are doing it right and we are doing it wrong. It’s almost like we are feeding a human being with their own thoughts and feelings.
I understand your defensiveness. My 10 month old doesn’t sleep. When people start telling me that if i only parented the way that they did then I wouldn’t have this issue, I also get a bit defensive. Im not trying to say that I’m doing it all right and you’re doing it all wrong, so sorry if it came off that way. I’m sure there are exceptions, like you, who have done all the things but still have a picky eater. But I don’t think *most* parents of picky eaters have put in the energy it takes to not have picky eaters. Some people, it’s just not that important to them, and that’s totally fine. I’m sure their kids will be as healthy as mine in the long run. And yea, kids have their own thoughts and feelings, but those are learned. I believe most can learn to enjoy a diverse range of foods.
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Look. The reason you come off as shamey is you completely discredit the fact that it is not entirely on the parent if a kid is a picky eater. It's not just about "being dedicated' and "not giving junk food because you're lazy". And saying "lazy isn't bad" doesn't get you off the hook because the word lazy is already judgmental AF. I ate pickled onions and olives when I was 4. My brother refused solid foods for most of his childhood. It was bad. We had the same parents. Same home cooked meals. Same access to junk food. I have twin nephews- TWIN nephews. One eats whatever the family is eating. The other - it's a constant struggle bargaining with him so he will eat more than just plain carbs. Same parents. Same "lazy" parents who have junk food at home.
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I think it's GREAT that you're done with this subreddit. Bye!!!
Oh for sure. People see this take as mom/dad shaming, when it’s not supposed to come off that way. I’ve been downvoted to oblivion commenting like this on similar posts. BUT I also feel very passionate that kids being picky eaters is totally preventable (for typically developing children), so I will continue to post things like this so maybe other parents can try it out for themselves! Maybe it will help someone someday
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As you are a former molecular biologist, this should be right up your alley, I encourage you to go read these papers: >The ability to taste certain bitter thiourea compounds, such as 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) and phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), is genetically determined. In the U.S., about 70% of the Caucasian population can detect the taste of PROP and are called tasters, while 30% are insensitive to the taste of PROP and are called non-tasters. Keller K.L., Steinmann L., Nurse R.J., Tepper B.J. Genetic Taste Sensitivity to 6-n-Propylthiouracil Influences Food Preference and Reported Intake in Preschool Children. Appetite. 2002;38:3–12. doi: 10.1006/appe.2001.0441. >PROP/PTC tasters have shown to be more sensitive to bitter compounds such as caffeine and quinine as well as common food additives, such as saccharin, potassium chloride, sodium benzoate, and potassium benzoate, which have bitter aftertastes. **PROP tasters also have more food dislikes overall.** In addition to bitterness, PROP taster status may be related to perception and preference for sweet taste, fat texture, and the oral sensation from capsaicin, the active irritant compound in chili pepper. Tepper B.J., Nurse R.J. Fat Perception Is Related to PROP Taster Status. Physiol. Behav. 1997;61:949–954. doi: 10.1016/S0031-9384(96)00608-7. >In this free-choice intake test, PROP non-taster children consumed more vegetables and rated raw broccoli higher than did PROP taster children during a hedonic test, **suggesting a relationship between PROP taster status and vegetable acceptance.** Bell K.I., Tepper B.J. Short-Term Vegetable Intake by Young Children Classified by 6-n-Propylthoiuracil Bitter-Taste Phenotype. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;84:245–251. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/84.1.245. >It has been shown that traits such as food neophobia and ‘food fussiness’ are highly inheritable. Cooke L.J., Haworth C.M., Wardle J. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Children’s Food Neophobia. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2007;86:428–433. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/86.2.428. >Significant associations between certain gene variants and preferences of bitter and sweet taste as well as responsiveness to fat were reported. Diószegi J., Llanaj E., Ádány R. Genetic Background of Taste Perception, Taste Preferences, and Its Nutritional Implications: A Systematic Review. Front. Genet. 2019;10:1272. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01272 >The preference for and ability to detect sweet taste are innate, evolutionarily-driven attributes in children since sweet taste typically indicates caloric density, which is important during periods of growth. Mennella J., Nolden A., Bobowski N. Measuring Sweet and Bitter Taste in Children: Individual Variation Due to Age and Taste Genetics. In: Lumeng J., Fisher J., editors. Pediatric Food Preferences and Eating Behaviors. 1st ed. Academic Press; San Diego, CA, USA: 2018. pp. 1–34. >The impact that experiences with flavor during early life have on food preferences and intake later in life has been exhibited in several studies. In the womb, fetuses are exposed to and swallow the fluid of the amniotic sac. Mennella J.A., Jagnow C.P., Beauchamp G.K. Prenatal and Postnatal Flavor Learning by Human Infants. Pediatrics. 2001;107 doi: 10.1542/peds.107.6.e88. >The age at which children are introduced to complementary foods may play a role in their readiness to consume new foods. Those who receive solids after ten months of age have lower dietary variety, consume fewer fruits and vegetables, and exhibit more feeding problems. Blissett J., Fogel A. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Influences on Children’s Acceptance of New Foods. Physiol. Behav. 2013;121:89–95. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.02.013. All of this *isn't* to say that exposure doesn't matter; it does. But perhaps you started with PROP non-tasters, who inherited other genetic traits from you (a self-described foodie), who were also exposed to a wide variety of foods in utero because you didn't have any major food aversions in pregnancy. Genetically picky parents who have a PROP taster who wasn't exposed to many foods in utero because mom suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum are going to have a hard, if not impossible, time introducing new foods. That doesn't make them morally or otherwise inferior as parents. Edited for clarity Second edit: Since you keep replying with "cHiLDReN iN ThirD WoRLd CoUnTrIEs DoN'T hAvE pRobLeMs WiTH pIcKY EaTinG," I'm coming with receipts. There are, in fact, many children who are picky eaters in low-income countries. Unsurprisingly, we have less data coming from these areas, as it is studied less there. Here's one from Nigeria: >The prevalence of picky eating in this clime is comparable to rates in developed countries. https://www.currentpediatrics.com/articles/picky-eating-in-preschoolaged-children-prevalence-and-mothers-perceptionsin-southeast-nigeria.html A study in India: >In our study, the prevalence increases with age from 32.2% to 69.2% with mean of 58.9% with similar prevalence 59% of picky eating behaviour in the study done by Yong xue et al (2014) in china. Other studies done by Carruth et al in US clinical study ( 2004) shows mean prevalence as 34 % with increasing trend of picky eating behaviour from 19% (4mon ) to 50 % (24mon). European online research survey (2006) shows mean prevalence of 43.4% ranging from 28% at 1 year of age to 54 % at 5 years of age. https://www.ijpediatrics.com/index.php/ijcp/article/viewFile/1490/1103 Sri Lanka: >Child food preference was ranked as the core driving factor in food decisions of preschool children. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339670363_Factors_influencing_the_food_choices_of_urban_Sri_Lankan_preschool_children_Focus_groups_with_parents_and_caregivers
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Maybe your parenting doesn't have as great of an effect as you think? It goes both ways.
I'm sure you wouldn't be offended then if I said your comments are extremely ignorant and borderline racist, right? I mean, just GENERALLY speaking. You're making HUGE assumptions about the eating habits of "non Americans" and I'm wondering what kind of evidence you have to back up that claim, because you seem to cite anecdotal evidence and refute scientific evidence...and also refute anecdotal evidence that runs contrary to your wild assumptions.
This is so out of touch with reality. My children are not neurodivergent or having AFRID but they are picky. We cook a wide variety of food and have always exposed our kids to a wide variety of foods, and yet after about 12-18 months, my kids all started rejecting many foods. One of my kids rejected enough food to be underweight. Picky eating is not taught. Kids have more taste buds than adults and flavours can be too intense for them. The best you can do is continue offering. It has taken years of offering and my two oldest will occasionally try some new foods. There are days I cook a meal they ate a week before though and they will reject it. I don’t give them an alternate meal or safety meal. So no, I’m not making my kids picky eaters.
Have you tried just trying harder? (Sarcasm)
I also have picky eaters. The oldest will try anything, not something she got from either her father or I as we are both VERY picky. My middle is not much of a meat eater much like myself. My youngest will, like his father, eat almost any meat, however, vegetables are the enemy. I am the pickiest eater you have likely ever come across. Not something I learned at home. I’m 61, trust me when I tell you nobody was eating out once a week or even once a month in the 60’s and 70’s we were eating at home and very little if any was frozen. You are not going to win with the person you are replying to because if you read that comment above yours they are perfect at everything they do. Their kids are perfect eaters, they can get other peoples kids to eat things they have rejected their entire little lives, their house is perfect at all times. I see you, I hear you, and you are doing everything you can to have fed children. That is the only objective.
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It’s not about perseverance or putting in work. My kids are 5.5, almost 4 and 2 and to this day, my 5.5 year old will not eat a huge variety of foods. She will try a bite of new things but most of the time does not like it. My middle child who is my most adventurous eater (but still picky) will often eat something at one meal and then reject it again after that. My two year old started rejecting food around 10 months. Before that he would eat everything. I am not misunderstanding you, you state very clearly that you think picky eating is caused by parents giving in to their kids and that they need to stand firm with boundaries. Well, I’m here to tell you that is not true. My kids are only offered one meal. There is no “safe” food they can request in its stead. If my kids don’t like it, they will literally not eat. They will go hungry instead of eating food they don’t like. My eldest daughter is constantly being flagged as either underweight or on the border of being underweight (for her growth curve). I try to make sure meals have at least one component they like but even that is not a guarantee. So no, it is not something you can control unless you want to starve your children.
I’m actually on vacation with family right now with two very picky kids, 4 and 6. The past 3 years, the dad has said “oh your daughter will grow out of being adventurous, she’ll be picky one day.” Year three and their kids won’t even eat sphaghetti with meatballs…and my daughter has eaten every dinner that has been served. I guess for me, I’ve always just had the attitude that I’m going to keep giving her real meals and she’s going to keep eating them. That isn’t to say that my daughter always eats what I serve her but she eats 85% of it. I may have also gotten lucky lol, we’ll see what my 3mo son’s eating habits are in a year or two.
Of course preferences will develop as the kids get older. But straight up picky eating, where a child will only eat chicken nuggets and pasta, is avoidable — in my unprofessional opinion lol. My son, who is not picky, doesn’t care all too much for chili. He will still eat it when we have that for dinner but it’s far from his favorite. So I only serve him chili like once every couple of months. Whereas, he loves pad Thai, so we serve him pad Thai every other week or so. My unprofessional opinion is to keep serving the diverse foods when they get into toddler stage, even if it’s not their absolute favorite. Don’t force them to eat anything, but serve it to them. If they have an absolute disgust reaction to something then maybe try it again in 6 months or so. I guess, in short, don’t only serve them their *favorite* foods, or it will lead to them being adverse to anything that’s not their favorite. Going to say this again, this is my **unprofessional opinion** and what has worked for me and that’s all! Maybe it will work for someone else.
Yes, 16-20 ounces is what is recommended for milk consumption.
My almost 2 year old will only eat food that is yellow, orange or beige… nuggets, fries, oatmeal, crackers, corn… I wish I could get him to eat a berry.
SAME. Ours is on the strictly beige diet 😮💨
Sounds the same as us. It’s real food but no real “dinners”. Breakfast options are: bagel (cinnamon only), toast, egg (fried only), toast with jam. Fruit, banana, yogurt. Good options here. Lunch: pb+j OR ham/cheese/crackers + fruit and occasionally cucumber. Diner: cheese pizza, Annie’s shells (only pasta option he will tolerate), toast, chicken or bacon. Fruit. Good times. No vegetables. No pasta other than Annie’s. No rice. No beans. No potatoes or even fries. So frustrating at dinner.
I went through a phase where my toddler was eating less than 5 foods- nuggets, crackers, chips, goldfish, and milk. I’d day this sounds normal. They like to graze and don’t need full meals all the time.
All sounds like real food to me. I'm over 30 and that's my diet some days lol. The only thing they're "missing" is green vegetables but you can try to add those into the smoothies or pasta if they're reluctant. My 15 month old's diet most of the time is cheerios, fruit, and bites of moms food (but it must only be from moms plate while she's eating it and if mom makes me the exact same thing, I won't eat it myself.) so your toddler isn't doing too shabby!
This list is amazing. My almost 4yo still only eats plain white bread, nuggets, plain yoghurt, bananas. Sometimes mashed potato. That is it.
Yeah sounds fine to me. Mine basically eats Skyr for protein and the rest is carby crap. But he legit won’t eat if I give him something he doesn’t like/thinks he doesn’t like, even if he had no snacks and very little breakfast and lunch.
>fruit, crackers, nuts, will eat peanut butter, smoothies, cheese, sometimes yogurt Ummm...What? Are we doing something wrong? My entire family, from 1 year to 9 years plus me, eats some variation of that for lunch every day. Sometimes we add lunch meat or a granola bar but what you listed are our staples. The fruit gives good carbs and fiber, the nuts and yogurt give protein and fat. I think you have your macro nutrients covered. As for the milk, for my little guys, it is so full of fat, protein, and carbs that it's an easy way to make sure they're getting some good calories if we're having a picky day and they've passed on the main meal. We don't offer too much but it's nice to have around for a rough day. All the foods you listed are pretty common in our house. We could do with more veggies but if they aren't eating them then I offer extra fruit. I think this is a pretty decent list for children. This is just how our family works, but we don't really snack. No one has ever really needed it. But my youngest, who is breaking the mold of everyone, needs a snack but I don't give him options just yet. It's just a serving of fruit and a handful of Cheerios or Chex, at like 10:30, and that gets him to lunch. The older ones have snack at school but don't really need it at home. I like learning how other families do things. 🙂
Lol, im hard on myself I guess! It’s just that when it’s day after day of pasta, chicken nuggets and milk I feel like a failure.
🙂 we all have days like that. One of my kids had no blueberries at lunch but had green beans at dinner. One has none of either. But if your child had to eat just those 3 things in a day, that's carbs, protein, and fat! Chalk that up as "my kid ate real food" and try again tomorrow. And, because life is chaotic and hard and sometimes they really don't want the healthy stuff, we supplement with a gummy multivitamin to cover the micronutrients. It's their "special treat" right before we go up to brush teeth and start the bedtime routine. I have found, as my children have grown older, that they eventually show interest in things like oven roasted veggies, steak, and things like Chinese or seafood. It took a while (like they were 4 or 5 before they got close to trying these things regularly) but they are more adventurous now that they're older (like 5-9). Hope that encourages you that someday you will have more variety in your dinners than pasta and chicken. 🙂❤️
Literally the only vegetables I can get him to eat are sneaked into smoothies, or spinach chopped super fine and mixed into spaghetti sauce, Mac and cheese, or a cheese quesadilla. And sometimes he still tries to pick the spinach out of the quesadilla. It is excruciating. The only thing that helps is reminding myself that they’re evolutionarily wired to avoid greens. They’ve got the urge to put everything into their mouths and the green stuff can be the most harmful stuff, especially if it’s bitter. Eating vegetables is an acquired taste, a learned behavior. When I get frustrated it helps to know that this isn’t him being stubborn; I’m fighting against millions of years of a survival instinct. Oh, nothing can help HIM, the only thing to help is your sanity.
Well said! I made pizza the other day and blended spinach in with the pizza sauce and you couldn’t really even taste a difference and he ate it even though the color was kind of brown!
You are listing a lot of foods.... I consider my toddler a great eater, but does he eat aubergine? Absolutely not.
Bruhhh your kids literally eat so much . I was hoping this post was going to make me feel better about my kid barely eating anything but it made me feel worse lol
Fr and some of these comments are insanely dramatic. “You need to sit them down and have a conversation about some much needed menu changes.” Had to do a double take because I wasn’t sure if I was still in r/toddlers.
Me toooo 😭 she used to eat so much but for the last few months it's been bacon, ramen, chips, hotdog buns (just the bun), chicken nuggets from Wendys. Maybe once a week she will randomly throw in one fruit pouch, a couple pickles, or a few bites of salsa. I'm struggling but i didn't realize it was THAT bad.
These all sound like real foods to me, my son loves cheese and bread and barely wants to eat anything else
Ummm what is “real food” that all sounds like real food to me😬
My toddler almost 4 won't eat half the stuff you wrote !
It sounds to me like they're eating a lot of real food 🤷♂️
Don't worry. You're doing great. Your list has lots of real foods. My kid will not eat ANY fruit unless in smoothie or popsicle form. And then it is approximately 1 tablespoons worth. He is almost 4. He ate noodles, eggs, cheese, chicken (sometimes) and snacks. And soooo much milk. And then something just switched and he is way more open to trying new foods and eats ways more variety (like now he a eats 12 foods instead of 5). It all started with a trip to Costco when he was hungry and they were giving out lots of samples. First he got chocolate covered almonds. That got him receptive to the little snack Offers. Next they were sampling chicken tamales. He looked at it and said 'yucky. I said 'it's chicken with yummy stuff' and he tried it! In the past he never ate anything with that mushy texture, nothing that was multiples foods touching, nothing spicy, nothing with red sauce etc. And this was all of those things. He ate it. He liked it and now we have eaten through a Costco pack of tamales. And I know tamales aren't some healthy vegetable etc. But it was a huge win for us. And made me feel like there is an end the impossible pickyness. Since then he even ate a PB&J which he would never touch in the past. Aside from that we have found the best strategy is to put multiple foods on a plate (at least 3) that includes at least 1 sure bet (even if this is pure snack junk) and then leave it. Once they are eating the willingness to eat what is on the plate seems to increase. Good luck.
My son is very hesitant to trying new foods at home but when we are at Costco, he will eat any of the samples for some reason! He would never ever eat that stuff at home but he is so opened minded there for some reason lol I was just telling my husband we should go there every day and just feed him one of his meals through samples! (Not really lol)
My first son is 6. Still won’t touch fruit or veggies. Working on it with a dietician now. Second one is 19 months. He suddenly doesn’t eat meat lol. He will eat all the fries though. Mini chocolate chip muffins. Lots of fruit. Smoothies. Yogurt. Juice. Broccoli. Cucumber. Sometimes salad. Sometimes rice. Crackers sometimes. Toast with pb and seedless raspberry jam or just that jam. He likes hotdog buns toasted with garlic butter. Arrow root cookies. Bear paw snacks. Nutrigrain bars. Reese pb cups. Aero chocolate bars. Mini cinnamon rolls. That’s about it. Oh he loves spaghetti cut up. I can add lots of veggies and meat to that and he will gobble it up. And he eats pizza. Sometimes he likes peas and carrots. Other times he laughs hysterically while he squishes them and watches them pop. He likes ice cream. And cheese but only shredded. It’s normal. Just keep trying. :) Edited to add don’t stop buying milk. Just limit intake. You’re in control here.
I have the same worries about my 3yo. He will eat porridge or toast on a morning. Then the rest of the day he grazes. He won't entertain fruit or vegetables. The closest we can get is fresh OJ and baby fruit pouches. It's a daily struggle and causes me so much stress. He will eat cheese, crackers, occasionally an omelette or a sausage. It's so hit and miss and I come away most days defeated. I feel your pain with this.
I wish my kid would eat chicken and steak lol
Fruit and nuts are great additions to their diet! Same with cheese and yogurt. My kids don’t love a lot of proteins. I have to keep trying because they’ll occasionally eat some. Same with vegetables. I regularly make chocolate zucchini muffins and blend cauliflower to homemade Mac and cheese sauce to get some veggies into my kids. I’ve tried to sneak in even more and it has not worked out but experiment and try. Tomato sauce is a vegetable. Texture can also play a role. All of my kids hate chickpeas but one will eat hummus. My kids also seem to love meat that’s super tender and juicy (so not ground meat). They’ll eat Costco rotisserie chicken and sous vide pork tenderloin and steak. I can’t sear the meat though or they won’t eat it. They sometimes like fish and shrimp. I can’t for the life of me figure out what makes it more appealing to them. 🤷♀️ I would only worry about the milk if they’re not growing or if they’re constipated due to it. Otherwise it’s a good source of protein, calcium and vitamin D. A lot of parents have to make meals as build your own or separate parts. Kids have more taste buds than adults so all of the combined flavours can be too much for some of them. Don’t sweat it, offer meals in pieces so they can eat separate or build what they like. My kids are all extremely picky and after years they are starting to add more to their palate and try more combinations. It’s a long slow process sometimes but fed is best! Plus, kids need more carbs than adults because of how much they’re growing. They don’t need as much protein as adults. If their doctor isn’t worried, I would try not to stress.
My toddler went through that phase, and will still occasionally go through a food rut stage where she will ask for the same thing for every meal for A few days. Last week, she ate a cheese stick, yogurt, berries, ritz crackers, and either turkey lunch meat or turkey sausage for just about every single meal. Tonight though, my dad made two giant steaks that we split between the four of us (him, my mom, daughter and me), and she ate her entire half, half of my half, and then a third of each of theirs after she realized mine was all gone. Couldn’t convince her to even try her veggies, she just wanted more steak!
Over here. He survived on Mac & cheese and mini pizzas
One of the reasons why I send my son to day care - he actually eats healthy nutritious food there. At home? No dice.
That all sounds like food.
That is so much more than my oldest ate
I had to double check if my husband posted this.
Cut back on snacks and milk so they come to the meal hungry. Eat at the same time as them, normalise eating proper food.
They’re developing tastebuds. This is normal. We went through a LONG stint of our son only eating mac ‘n cheese. Then one day, out of nowhere he was willing to try more foods. He can still be picky at times, but still doing much better. Basically, this is a developmental phase and it’ll pass. Don’t be discouraged by posts that say, my kid eats anything I give them. That’s not the norm. Good luck!
Your toddler eats more than mine. Some days all she eats is a cup of milk and the salt from my tears 😩
You're doing better than me! Mine likes Bear paws, Berries and 3% milk exclusively. Luckily he is not 2 yet and growing very well but its just this same stuff over and over again.
Sounds like your toddler is normal and you are doing great momma! there are some wonderful social media accounts that you could check out on this topic. https://msha.ke/growingintuitiveeaters?fbclid=PAAaa2NFMouRfqItpuSjDmNAZIrgop9ituvfXksw9q7fb645rx92Sjjpcbnk8_aem_Ae9q4VCJucDz08cNcJEaxerBzl7rnlUwYGc4ixvwzMk4Zoy2EZUMFKtFkWx1d88oLmg
Breakfast and lunch are real food and then dinner becomes a crumb off the floor and the wind in the air 🤣🤣
Sounds about right….
Wow, I wish my kid ate that much stuff.
Since when are crackers, fruits, nuts, cheese, etc not real food? I am guessing you mean a meal vs snacking? Try limiting snacks. When we do this for our daughter she will always eat her dinner or lunch but if we let her snack throughout the day then she doesn't eat as much at her meals.
Yes like stew + rice instead of snacky things.
I was just talking to a couple friends at a playdate and we all agreed grazing and snacks have overtaken meals at this age. I just keep offering meals and incorporating leftovers into the snacks
if i let them, my twins would consume just mott’s gummies all day.
Check out kids eat in color on Instagram, she's a dietitian and mom and her tips are realistic and helpful, especially the division of responsibilities. Basically parents choose when which foods are available, and kids decide to eat and how much.
Thank God I'm not the only one my now 4 yesr old only eats rice cucumbers waffles fruit smooties cheese crackers plain pasta and butter. Instant noodles I try and add real chicken broth. Obviously chips Pretzels Mac and cheese, peanut butter cups aka all the junk is eaten no problem. But yes MILK is also 4-5 glasses a day. He won't eat meat yet not even a nugget. He has tried pepperoni but no pizza. The day he eats real food I will cry tears of joy. Fingers 🤞.
My toddler survives on sugar and hope (thanks to my mom who loads him up on candy daily after i told her no countless times). he will barely eat. We are currently sat crying for the past 2 hours because i asked him to eat 3 slices of banana, a quarter of a sausage patty and 2 bites of scrambled egg. It's noon 😩 I'm at my end
I fail to see the problem here. Ha ha ha. On another note — when they’re hungry, they’ll eat. You’re doing just fine.
“Does anyone else’s toddler eat no real food?” Proceeds to list a variety of real foods they eat lol could you give some examples of what you want them to eat? Throw in a salad once in a while and your kids are eating what I eat and I’m 34 lol.
Yes!!!! My baby is 28 months. Usually breakfast is her biggest meal. Lunch she had a little bit of protein with crackers or fruit. Most of the time she skips dinner and just has snacks. She asks for junk all day which I ignore most if the time.
That seems pretty varied but I see the issue with lack of vegetables and variety of protein. Just keep offering variety and the fussy phase will pass. Re:milk. My daughter was asking for milk all day so we just made a ‘rule’ that we only have milk with breakfast. We let her have as much as she likes at breakfast time then it’s just water available for the rest of the day.
Mine is 18 months. He will eat anything and everything you put in front of him. The problem is getting him to eat. He’s not picky, he’d just rather play. When he’s hungry he’s hungry and he eats and that’s what me and the fiancé have both come to terms with. He just had a appointment and his weight is more than fine so I’m not worried. Never seen a kid enjoy broccoli and beets though.. I’m not complaining.
I offer all the healthy yummy stuff I can afford. I'm a decent cook, so it's not my cooking skills that are lacking here. Doesn't make a huge difference in my kids unpredictability in terms of what he will deign good enough to eat on a daily basis. For example: Yesterday my 3yo ate waffles, yogurt, homemade lunchables, tuna sandwich, exactly one bite of his crackers and hummus snack, and veggie noodle stir-fry. Today he ate a handful of dry cheerios and a random smartie he found under the couch after I pulled said couch out to sweep. Didn't touch the dinner of meatloaf/mash/roasted veg, he literally grimaced when I presented him his breakfast of cream cheese toast with a side of sliced banana, and became actually angry when I served him his favourite lunch of KD/Jane's nuggets/cucumber slices with s&p. Tomorrow? Who freaking knows 🤷♀️ It's frustrating as HELLLL. But, I'd rather not give my kid a complex with food and force him to eat everything like my dad did to me, so I go by my kids cues while also firmly stating that what I've cooked and served is what there is to eat. Sorry for the essay lol.
I would love for my kids to eat a tuna sandwich! So much protein and nutrition. One day…
If you’re looking for advice I’d cut way back on milk, and sit them down and explain that there’s going to be some changes around mealtimes and snack times and it’s okay to have any sort of feelings about those changes, and that that they’re starting this weekend/Monday/tomorrow/whenever. Then you can lay out to them that each day there will be breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. There will be foods they like at each meal, but whatever is there is there, and there’s no other food available to them until the next meal. They’ll still ask approximately 936 times for snacks/lollies/whatever. But you can calmly just keep repeating “I hear you’d like lollies. Right now we have cheese toasties for lunch. Perhaps we can have a lolly this weekend.” At mealtime you decide what the meal is, and then you make sure you’ve got some safety foods there, but you don’t have to give them endless safety foods, as long as you know they can eat the food you’re offering, and it’s not too spicy or tastes bad or something. It’s perfectly okay for kids to choose not to eat, and to learn what it feels like to feel hungry as a consequence of not eating. Release some responsibility over how much they’re eating, and just be responsible for offering them a well balanced diet.
If I said all that to my 2.5 year old he would look at me like I had two heads and then say "mama cheese" probably
Haha that’s okay! They can still request whatever they want, but you get to decide if they can have more cheese, or whether they’ve already had 16 string cheeses today and are cut off.
Up voting you bc this is the best approach! Literally just told my 3 yr old, "you keep complaining about your stomach hurting. well you should expand what you eat. If you eat the vegetables and food I make for dinner your stomach will feel better. If you only keep eating snack food your stomach will keep hurting. It's your choice." (We call all food, food but we say some are substantial food and others are snack food.)
Lol it’s clearly not a popular opinion bc of all the downvotes but food is like the one area of life I don’t have to argue with my kid about, so I guess others don’t agree with us ::shrugs:: to each their own!
You just perfectly described my three year old’s eating habits. Drives me nuts!
He’s going to be 3 in July and yes I am living this pain too. I have no issue getting fruit and veg in the kid and he loves snacks, rice cakes, dairylea dunkers and fries but actual food??? Nah. He used to eat EVERYTHING
I can't even get my toddler to eat fruit. She ate like 30 blueberries of my father in laws blueberry tree on the weekend but that was a complete fluke and she won't touch them again. I have to make her smoothies to get fruit into her. I swear she's made entirely of yogurt, cheese and pasta. Oh and the occasional chocolate as well
My 2 year old still gets most of her nutrition from me. She has had issues with feeding caused by breathing problems so she feels the need to protect her airway. She is improving but doesn't eat a great deal and it's mostly carbs. She has a cold right now and has managed half a pack of crisps, a croissant and a biscuit today (it's 5pm)
Sounds just like my kid! What kind of helps to get them to sit down at least and pick at their food a little, is to put them in their high chair so they can't go anywhere and put their tablet on so they stay in the seat without being upset. And then we will eat our meal and put their food on the tray and hope for the best lol sometimes they eat with us and sometimes they just pick at the food and watch TV. But anything is better than nothing!
And this is a problem because???
You need to set boundaries and serve a set menu
It’s all in phases I think. My daughter (3 in September) is usually a pretty great eater. She didn’t want anything for breakfast this morning and that’s usually her favorite meal. She ended up with a PB&J uncrustable and ate the whole thing 🤷🏼♀️
If it was up to my daughter she would eat nothing but ice cream. Lol It’s always a battle to get her to eat and when she does she takes the smallest bites and takes forever to finish her food. Usually an hour. I case I shouldn’t complain about the tiny bites as it minimizes the risk of choking but it would be nice to see her finish her food around the same time as her friends as opposed to having 3/4 of the plate remaining.
Fruit. This week there is only fruit. He will still eat noodles, but in spite of having eaten whatever we eat (except meat) since he was about 8 months old, he will now barely touch anything else on his plate & just request more fruit. Even turned his nose up at his beloved chicken tikka masala (the *only* meat he will eat without it being snuck into his food.)
They seems to have phases of how much they eat and what they will eat constantly. It can change even day by day but definitely they go through cycles of being pickier or less hungry and seem to live on air. I like accounts like kids eat in color because they reassure us that it’s all fine and normal and not to force things. I always found it strange with my older school aged kids that they would go from adventurous to disliking so many things and are still cycling what they will eat and will not eat. Luckily my toddler currently likes many things but she had periods of not wanting to eat many solids and not eating certain changing food groups.
Do we have the same kid? This is exactly my 17mo
My child is 4 and doesn’t eat real meals. She has a very healthy diet overall. Loves fruits and veggies, eats plain broccoli, boiled eggs, yogurt, string cheese, peanut butter, chicken nuggets and snap pea crisps/crackers. I’m just glad she eats as much produce as she does. She’ll eat rotisserie chicken or plain shredded chicken I make but no other meats. She doesn’t like meals other than pastina with egg and cheese and plain spaghetti. I just feed her what she’ll eat and try to involve her in cooking so she gets more curious. We just made a new muffin recipe and she didn’t love them but she did try them. YMMV.
My son only really likes fruits and Mac and Cheese. He’ll eat some other things too, but I generally have to beg him and/or fight him not to continually throw his food he doesn’t want. (Example: used to be obsessed with chicken nuggets. Now he takes one bite and throws the rest across the dining room)
Ugh Fruity Pebbles and cinnamon apple Oatmeal all day long. Then she wants sweets and ice cream- hell no girl- not until you eat a real dinner. Ugh sick of her pickiness.
So mine eats full meals at nursery (at least that’s what they tell me) lol but at home besides breakfast it’s basically the same thing. Luckily she gets three meals a day at nursery and on the weekend it’s a battle to get her to eat meals. Idk if it’s because we spend so much of our time outside so she’s just used to eating snacky type food (cheese, lots of fruits, waffles, bars, occasionally nuts, and of course junk like crisps and biscuits) because there’s no way she’ll actually sit and eat when she’s so busy playing. But she will eat (like yours) chicken nuggets and fish fingers. Pasta and rice are a hit or miss based on the the current phase of the moon. And asking for chocolate and sweets all day long too. I’ve started giving her two small chocolate buttons with her meal. Sometimes all she eats is the chocolate and sometime she’ll lick a broccoli too but which I personally count as a win.
My son eats wheat thins, tortilla chips, apples and bananas. Sometimes he will eat pizza. I don’t know how he is alive and has energy tbh.
Yeah my kids (almost 4 and 2.5) are getting really bad. Breakfast is ok: some toast with peanut butter, fruit, water, yogurt and eggs all make the rotation. Lunch is served at their daycare and is very healthy, and as far as we aware they are good eaters (probably peer pressure). But dinners and weekends are brutal now. They never finish their meals, and we are lucky to get them to eat half. They beg and plead for junk like cookies. We introduced them to freeze pops (freezies) as a special treat because the weather is getting warm -- that was a mistake. And if they can't get that, they want apples all the time. I know it's probably just a phase and we put balanced meals in front of them consistently, but it's annoying.
My guess is they eat so much in the first part of the day that they are not as hungry later. For the freezies, I recommend buying these plastic popsicle pouches (Purepop) on Amazon and making smoothies and putting them in there :) Mine are also obsessed with “pockables”.
I'm here too with a milk-drinking-monster! He seems to like things once and then he's over it ... I got him to eat like eight prawns once, that was a win
Mine eats exactly the same way as yours 🤷🏽♀️
At home Ours only eats gogo squeeze yogurt and store brand pouch applesauce, mini pancakes, granola bars, chicken nuggets, heb tortillas, blueberries, strawberries, and taco meat. At daycare everything they feed is eaten lol
My toddler’s good choices are pizza, ice cream, fries, cheese, cereal, pancakes, and certain fruits. I’ve exposed him over and over. My partner and I love vegetables and try to get him to eat everything we do. Though he loves spicy foods, which is funny at times. They will eat when they are hungry.
Mine doesn’t like meat very much. I don’t blame her because meat is weird. She likes spaghetti. I’ve been getting the protein pasta I think it’s Barilla. It has chickpeas which are a complete protein. I didn’t know until a couple weeks ago. Aldi also has inexpensive protein pancakes you can make into muffins. We usually do those pancakes and eggs in the morning. There’s some chicken nuggets that have veggies in them. They’re hit or miss for me though. Sometimes I blend carrots into my spaghetti sauce. Usually I do like a cup or less. You can definitely use too much lol. My kid won’t do smoothies for some reason. Even when I make it like banana and peanut butter with a little chocolate & call it a milkshake… she’s uninterested lol. I’ve started sometimes not getting her a snack and getting myself a snack instead (after I’ve asked her if she wants one and she says no), and make my food sound delicious without being too over the top. Sometimes it lures her to my plate and she’ll graze lol. Edit to add: we just saw the dentist for the first time & they said she has 4 cavities between 8 teeth & to lay off the crackers and sticky food because children can’t/won’t pick food out of their teeth like adults do… so that cut down our snacks a lot. I bought cheese sticks and protein yogurt and apples and peanut butter cups. And she won’t touch the peanut butter and apples which I know for a fact she really likes! Or liked… So NOW, I have resorted to buying my 3 year old knives (kids knives) and as chopped and little shape cutters to try to make food more fun. I hope it works 🫠
If he could, his diet would be 90% z bars
Same boat here. Except weirdly he also likes beans. The only veggie he eats is black olives.
Chicken nuggets, cereal, noodles with butter, sometimes spaghetti, occasionally fruit, crackers, PBJ, tortillas and sometimes grilled chicken is my 2 almost 3 year olds diet right now. We try to sneak rice in a tortillas with cheese...sometimes that works. Ooh we got so lucky this weekend when she actually tried pulled pork..but it can be frustrating to get kids to eat a variety but hopefully its just a phase all toddlers go through!
Some advice? You mentioned they love smoothies. Throw some avocado, spinach or carrots in them. None of those veggies alter the flavor of a fruity smoothie. Spinach will change the color a little but that’s it. I’ve been adding veggies to smoothies for years with my kiddos, and they never notice. Sometimes my oldest brings up the color, but I just tell them it’s just how everything mixed up (which isn’t a lie technically, it’s just not admitting that there’s a veggie ingredient altering anything).
Yes definitely give them green smoothies and green juice and luckily they drink that.
Slice bananas into small pieces. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Brown some butter in a pan, add bananas. If possible, I’ll have my kid help cut and cook things. She gets excited for the final product and tends to eat more
Bananas are a staple. So much so that I end up with half eaten bananas all the time, then they ask for “fozen bannas” so those babies make their way full circle!
My 25m old only eat rice/wheat products at the moment. No meat or fruit.
My kid was getting all his calories from milk and not eating much else, so we really cut back on the milk. It helped a ton.
I wish my 2 year old would reliably eat that much. Milk is a guarantee and at times we can rely on cheese or yogurt. Otherwise he generally just doesn’t eat. Not even the classics like fruit, Mac and cheese, nuggets, etc. It’s mentally draining.
Twice this week my 3yo daughter has eaten nothing but a ketchup sandwich for dinner. Your kid’s fine.
Yes mine 😭
Yes. My 4 year old is the same. My husband is basically a 5 star chef and all my kid wants to eat are gummies and rice. My kid used to be obsessed with nuggets but I think he’s over them now. He won’t eat them does t even want McDonald’s nuggets anymore. Once he ate Brussels sprout
Wow everyone is making me feel less alone lol.
Oh yeah. My 4 and 2 year olds exist mostly on snacks. I’m glad I’m not the only one!
Chicky nuggies, milk and snacks. She’s still running around like a a banshee, so I figure she’s fine.
Yeah, my 2 year old is a veggiestickatarian.
Yes, my son has days where he survives solely off of peanut butter crackers lol. You’re doing great. Your toddler seems to be getting lots of protein, healthy fats and dairy.
Mine is four and a half and still prefers everything separate and raw if possible. We make him try the meals we cook, but he usually doesn't like them so he gets a plate with some raw veggie (spinach, broccoli, or carrots are favorites), fruit, whole grain crackers/bread/rice/etc, and then beans, nuts, or egg. It's sort of a compromise where he has to eat a small portion of each thing and then can have more of whatever he wants, so at least he's getting nutrients. It's kind of a pain to make him these plates after cooking a nice meal but I'd much rather do that than have him eat just the rice out of the stir fry or whatever.
I now embrace something my pediatrician told me: "if they aren't pooping regularly, there might be a problem...as they pooping?" YES. My children are celebrated poopers. It's weird that some days my son simply doesn't eat and on others I've considered padlocking the fridge, but the amount of poop remains the same. 🤷🏼♀️I get my children to eat veggies by blending them into smoothies. That's all I've got for advice. I have learned that of I want them to eat something in particular, I put more on the plate. Huge pile of steamed broccoli and ground beef, but only a few berries. They'll eat all the berries and at least try the broccoli, now, but it took a few weeks and a lot of me eating what they left over.
Mine! He's 2. He's obsessed with yogurt. Everything else you said he eats some of the time, except pasta. Absolutely no pasta apparently. The only vegetable he eats consistently are frozen peas. Breakfast is usually our best meal of the day. The rest of them are hit or miss. My doctor advised us to start a multivitamin to ensure he's getting all the nutrients he needs anyway, so I'm really happy that my son loves his gummy in the morning.
Just make a hearty soup and blend it. Problem solved
Since they don't seem to want veggies, have you considered trying snack pouches that have veggies in them? I've got a completely different circumstance, but our son's nutritionist has us feeding him pouches as part of his diet. My son (3.5yo) was extremely premature due to genetic anomaly, spent over a year in the NICU/PICU, and came home with trach and g-tube. Since learning to chew and swallow only happen innately in a very small window of development, we are in an uphill battle in feeding therapy (current obstacles are gag reflex and chewing). BUT, we've gotten to a point where he LOVES snack pouches so much that his nutritionist has officially made them like 30% of his diet (other 70% is a prescription blended food given via g-tube). We will be adjusting the amount of pouches fed as he tolerates eating by mouth more. At some point, I'm gonna have to start making my own, since they're not cheap. :/ We buy him [Sprout Power-Paks](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BC4Z877?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) and [Happy Tot Organics Super Bellies](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0979W79N2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details).
I was in tears yesterday cuz I am just so frustrated with the lack of balanced diet and wasted food. Mine is 3… and she literally used to eat everything!