Ways to get my picky toddler to eat?? 😣😣

Question

My daughter turned 3 in March, and I swear she is the pickiest kid I've ever known!

I honestly don't know what to do anymore. She won't eat fruits, vegetables, eggs, almost all meats, nut products, any bread besides sliced, rice, potato products, and probably some more I'm missing. Her diet literally consists of bacon, ground beef, macaroni, some dairy, cereal, chips, and junk food. Her doctor says she's a healthy weight and as long as my daughter keeps weight on, then the doctor doesn't care what she eats, but it's literally so unhealthy! She won't eat all day if we don't give her what she wants at meals. Her sister is 16 months younger than her and they weigh the same. I've tried several different methods to get her to eat and I havent found anything that works yet. Any advice?

Answer

Just stop giving her junk food . When she gets hungry she WILL eat. Maybe instead of like cookies for a snack give strawberries that she can dip into whipped cream. If she likes macaroni and cheese buy the one that is made with cauliflower, she wont know the difference.

Answer

My son is the exact same!!! However he’s 18 months

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I make my sons meals fun. Using shapes cutters in dinasaurs or stars or into little characters. I also give him a variett. Ill give him 1 or 2 things he likes with 1 or 2 things he usually won't eat. It helps him to try more of the stuff he usually doesnt want. Also try serving food in different ways. Sometimes ill scramble eggs and he wont want it, so ill fry it and he will eat it fine. Or try cutting fruit up differently or serving it in yogurt or with peanut butter. Try giving less snacks, because the more they eat the more they will want that. And idk if you already do this, but eating with them at the same table helps. Show them that you are eating the same thing. Hope this helps. Good luck. And just remember its a phase that will most likely pass. Stay strong girl. I know it can be stressful.

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I follow some really helpful dietitians on Instagram 
@kids.eat.in.color
@mamaknows_nutrition
@mylittleeater

Answer

Suggestions: 
Give her a junior multivitamin and omega 3 supplement.
Hide finely grated tomato, carrot, cauliflower etc in the ground beef. Start out with very little and gradually increase the amount of veg you add in there. Works well if you can make a macaroni & beef meal.
Have her help you make smoothies etc; I’ve noticed my son won’t eat e.g. mashed potatoes but when he helps to mash them and mix in the milk etc then he will have a small serving. Maybe when she has fun in the kitchen she will have a bite of what she helped make.
Good luck!

Answer

My son is 20 months and he will go through phases of not wanting anything that we put on his plate for meal times. When he does this, instead of giving him a "meal", I will make him a "snack plate" with cheese, fruit, crackers, pepperoni sticks etc. Even though it's not ideal, at least he's eating something that isn't junk food. I find with my son sometimes, he doesn't like to sit down and eat, but he will eat if it's snacky foods where he can come and get some, run back to his toys and kind of eat on "his terms". 
I do agree with another commenter, to just not offer her junk food, but try to offer a healthier alternative. For example, instead of a cookie, maybe a cracker?! It may be a bad example, but hopefully it makes sense! 
Good luck! Hopefully this is just a phase 😊

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I wouldn’t give in to the bad stuff and just leave out the good stuff for her to eat. Maybe she knows you’ll give in. Kids are smart

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If she eats some dairy, can you make her smoothies? You can hide a hell of a lot of fibre and vitamins in a smoothie, which seem to me to be the areas where her diet is probably weakest. Like make a yoghurt or milk smoothie with something strongly flavoured like strawberries, raspberries and peaches, and sneak in some chia/spinach/carrot etc into the mix. I’m sure there are probably people with whole blogs dedicated to this kind of thing who can give better tips than mine but that was just what sprang into mind (that other posters haven’t already covered)! 🥛🍓
Otherwise I’d see if you can do a purge of all junk food from the house so that it’s not even available as an option.

Answer

I’ve always been a small child/adult was 98lbs when I started my first pregnancy she definitely needs to eat better but I wouldn’t be concerned of her weight. My younger sister was bigger then me and 18 months younger and we weighed the same for a long time. I’m not picky and wasn’t really as a kid but I don’t need to eat like “normal” people I could eat once a day and be fine. I force myself to eat more then that. I’m just saying it could just be how her appetite is and I wouldn’t stress it. I’ve always been healthy rarely sick just small.

Ways to get my picky toddler to eat?? 😣😣

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