Hey Moms,
I have a 2 1/2 year old. He's not extremely picky. He eats all the normal toddler meals, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, PB&J. The problem is he may eat 1 or 2 good meals a week. The rest of the time he tends to live on snacks. I'm sure this is normal toddler behavior (especially since it drives me nuts!) but I'm wondering if anyone out there had developed a way to make sure their kids eat more! Thanks so much!! By the way, my son is not underweight, he looks and acts healty and does take a multi-vitamin every day. And if you have any great healthy recipes you'd like to share, I'd love to try them.
Very normal. He's fine. Stop worrying. Let him help you prepare meals, cutting with a plastic knife, arranging things to look appealing etc. Get him involved in growing veggies outside in a month or so. Stop worrying!
Ok does he look underweight? Who says he is? The dr.? Listen kids will eat when there hungry I have 4 kids. I have one who eats every half hr. I have another who eats when hes hungry I have another who eats fruits and veggies and anything else with grammie and papa but at home junk food only. I have another who eats every time we eat. So each child is different but no child will not eat. Make what he wants and feels like eating even if its different from your just to make sure he eats. But than ask him to try a bit of what your eating. If he likes it he can have soem if he doesn't he doesn't have to. If he refused to try tell him he can't have something or do something tillhe tries. That way you get him to try something new and more of something else than his usaully. Make sure not everything he has is junk food. They do have good healthy snacks for them otu there too. But remember he will eat when he gets hungry.
Relax. My pediatrician told me to look at a toddler's nutrition over 3 days instead of daily. Average what he's eating over a three day period and if all the food categories are covered then you and he are doing just fine.
If you are still worried try puree-ing veggies and hiding them in sauce. The easiest is spinach in spaghetti sauce. Have you checked out the Sneaky Chef's cookbook? I have used several of her tactics and recipes.
Good luck and take a deep breath. You are doing a wonderful job.
offer varied meals regularly - whatever you eat, try to eat healthy to set a good example
do not just offer the "toddler" meals
offer various snack foods at regular snack times - hummus, veggies, different cheeses, pita, tuna, new fruits - commercial kid foods, chips, cookies, white cracker foods should be a special treat not the norm
no snacking continuously throughout the day
kids eat when they are hungry
they will learn to eat other foods if they must
if always offered the kid foods and only rarely offered others they will just hold off until they get their favs
don't give in to junk just to get him to eat - he'll be fine and maybe try something new
Recipe idea
cold pasta salad - vary the type of noodles, vary the sauce (sometimes Ranch, sometime cheese sauce, sometimes miracle whip, sometimes vinegarette)
add various beans rinsed and drained from a can - black bean, white bean, kidney bean, butter bean, lima bean, garbanzo bean all work very well - I usually use two different types
sometimes I add cubes of meat or cheese or hard boiled egg or tuna
fresh veggies such as brocolli, cauliflour, zuccinni shreds or carrot shreds or spinach leaves or button mushrooms could be added
Get creative - add variety - have fun
Get a few different bowls and mix each bowl a different way and then refrigerate and you have a quick and easy meal for a few days. Your toddler could even help adding ingrediants, making new combos, and stirring
I serve with a piece of fruit on the side.
Hi S.,
Sounds pretty normal to me. Toddlers tummies are small so it doesn't take much to fill them. As long as the snacks you give him are healthy, I wouldn't worry about it. My kids will eat breakfast in the morning but will usually have an apple or some kind of fruit in between breakfast and lunch. Then lunch and about 3ish they will have some cheese and crackers or something like that. Then dinner and then depending on how tired they are before bedtime sometimes a snack before bed. I make sure they aren't eating cookies before dinner and as long as they still are eating a good amount of the meals I'm happy. Good luck.
Chris
HI S.,
I actually have a healthy workshop that addresses this very issue. These workshops are available in a webroom and I provide them in person as well.
If you would like more information on the workshops, respond to this email or call me at ###-###-####.
One of the things is continuously place a vegetables or other good food on his plate. A portion of vegetables/fruit, for him, is the size of his fist.
