Feeding a Toddler? page 2

[kraigyong]

me too, I think like what has been said already that eventually they will eat what is offered too.thank you

[frenchie79]

You're in charge. You're letting her be the boss right now. Give her food, if she doesn't eat it, too bad, she can skip a meal and it won't kill her until she decides to eat again.

Agreed! And if I have to eat "bad" food, I wait until my daughter is in bed.

[Sabine]

I agree with Sandra, but also, there are primal versions of all three of those items you mentioned.

Homemade chicken nuggets with homemade barbeque sauce: YUM! And Candy in Wonderland has a magnificent Nomac and Cheese recipe on her page(on the Journals thread). Get a good 'graham' cracker recipe and practice with it to make sure you get good results, then have her help you make them. Use fun shapes to cut them out, or a roller wheel to make the squares- she'll think that's a blast. A little sugar, even, sprinkled on them will make the transition easier.

Do not underestimate the power of making food cute to get your child to like new things.

At 2 it should still be easy for you to set her on the road to good eating habits with little drama. Start now!

(Credentials: I do have three children, all excellent eaters. Had two foster children who came to me at 1 1/2 and 2 1/2, learned to eat EVERYTHING. Introduced friends' children to many new items because they were just out on the table without comment.)

[sunsis]

I have a 22 month old, and if it helps this is her usual routine of food. it varies a little bit day by day but ultimately its around this:

breakfast: cheesy scrambled eggs, sliced tomatoes
snack: 1/2 banana, halved grapes
lunch: she loves greek style salads so chopped (skinned because she doesnt like the skins they are bitter) cucumber, tomatoes, pitted slices kalamata olives, feta cheese stirred through. some fish like tuna or salmon. sometimes if i feel like it some sweet potato fries, baked.
snack: usually ill make her a little smoothie with the other half of the banana, some honey, yoghurt and milk.
dinner: whatever we are eating. i have to really finely chop the meat, almost to the point that it is "minced" and use some gravy or sauce on it or else she wont eat it.

also i found it helped sometimes when she was being a fusspot to not say what it is but what colour it is. like when i made a pot roast i asked "do you want some orange, now some yellow?" (for the potato and carrot). she really liked greeen! (celery).

[zoebird]

I might also point out that my son MUST have berries (or fruit) and yogurt every day, twice a day. if we happen to run out of yogurt, it's pretty much a crisis. LOL It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

[Ayla2010]

What kind of yoghurt do you buy Zoe?
Mine want yoghurt, but I can only seem to find low fat, full of sugar crap.

[Mud Flinger]

My son was 2 when I started eating this way. He was 3 when I stopped buying the same favorites you have listed. I learned how to make primal versions and used elanaspantry.com to make treats so as not to have the family mutiny

I just don't have that crap food in the house. I try to make stuff I know he likes as there is whole world of good food out there! He still gets Mac n cheese if we go out, but that is a rare treat. Keep trying new things. Start cooking real food from scratch all the time. It's our job to teach our kids right from wrong even when it is no fun at all!

Oh and be prepared to be known as that weird house that doesn't have bread