What the heck do you feed a picky toddler!?!!

Question

My daughter is Almost 19 months, and has become extremely picky. I make food and she takes a few bites and begins to spit it out. And won’t eat anymore. What can I do?! What the heck should I make her?! Dinner is the worst. I try to keep breakfast the same. Usually eggs and toast with fruit. And lunch I used to mix it up but she seems to only eat yogurt and more fruit. I try to hid veggies and protein in dinner and sometimes it works..sometimes it doesn’t. She used to love sweet potatoes and now hates them. I made chicken quesadillas with some Mexican Street corn tonight and she spit it out after a few bites. What do you all offer and any insight could be very helpful.

Answer

If You talk to other parents you are probably going to realise that it’s actually very normal behaviour for that age. Just to reassure you first 😁👍🏻. You are doing good mommy! 
My daughter ate everything up until she was 1.5 and then it stopped completely. I did some research and it seems that the best thing to do is to just let them. You decide what they get on their plate, they decide what and how much they eat. If you force food on to them, or take away privileges (like desert when they don’t eat vegetables) that doesn’t work. It only grows a bad association with dinner time and the child will say no in advance. Because there is a battle in stead of the child wanting to eat the food because it’s hungry and it’s a pleasant and fun family moment.
It is very hard (I know) to not interfere with your child at dinner time. What helps me is that when I make dinner I always serve one thing she likes (like pasta, or a sausage, applesauce, or mushrooms, you name it) and combine it with the rest of the menu. This way everyone eats the same (I refuse to make a separate dinner) and it’s up to her if she eats or not. Sometimes she eats a lot, sometimes nothing. 
She always gets desert, just a little bit of yoghurt. It is too little to saturate her, but it is a routine and a nice way to end dinner. She never gets something else after. She now starts tasting new foods again (almost 2)! And we just praise her for that (most off the time she spits her veggies out, but as long as she is willing to taste it will come eventually). 
Don’t you worry! It’s normal behaviour. Just accept it, it will release so much stress. It’s a battle you can’t win and will do more harm than good. Good luck!

Answer

Have you ever met an adult that eats like that? Probably not. It’s a phase. You just do whatever they want (within reason) until they get to the age that you can bribe them (stickers if they eat a meal, etc). I relied heavily on Pediasure and a daily multivitamin drop for meal replacement for my son, for over a year. Only now that he has turned 2 is he slowly beginning to experiment again with food. He just stopped eating one day and it was very stressful, until I just gave in and decided if he wanted me to make him French fries 3x a day... WHATEVER! It wasn’t going to be that way forever. Sure enough, within a few weeks he moved on to noodles, then carrot sticks, then yogurt and goldfish crackers. Kids are just so weird.

What the heck do you feed a picky toddler!?!!

Let’s Glow

Glow is here for you on your path to pregnancy

25+ million

4.8 stars

20+

Getting Pregnant

Pregnancy

1st Year (Baby & You)

Baby Products