Very fussy 2year old

[jofeb04]

Hiya
my ds is 2, and really doesnt eat a variety of food.
for example, he will have weatibix for breakfast, toast for lunch and pasta for tea. Every now and then he will eat ham. He eats plenty of grapes, apples, few oranges, and yoghurts, custard etc. He loves his milk.
We try making him all sorts, he just wont even try it. we try adding things on to his pasta, but hes just not interested.
We always eat at a table with him, but we dont know whats best.
Hes quite small in himself, and he doesnt eat a lot of "bad" foods iykwim.
What can we do?

[MamaG]

I could have typed this! The thing that got my DS eating a few more foods was watching his big sister - do you have an older sibling/cousin/friend who could sit and exclaim over how delicious things are to try to tempt him? He also prefers to eat off her plate - stuff he would refuse from his own!

I'd try 1 new thing every week :)

[psychomum5]

keep doing what you are doing. he isn't eating anything bad, and he is eating. eating with him, and offering him new foods every so often and he will naturally expand is eating when he is ready. as long as he is in proportion height/weight and is healthy....don't worry:)

[shazronnie]

His diet does not sound very unhealthy, so I don't think you should worry too much.
Just keep offering other stuff.

You could try a sticker chart for tasting new food with a reward for 5 stickers (ie a new taste every day for a week.)

[moondog]

Sounds fine.
Just keep on putting new stuff in front of him and let him taste/reject.

Why would you need a sticker chart for what is a) totally normal and b) a very small child anyway???

[psychomum5]

My DD1 (first child) was notoriously fussy at that age and drove us nuts. she would eat certian foods, and none had to touch each other either!

what was even more irritating was that she would eat happily foods off of our plates, yet put it on her plate and she would scream.

we went with her tho as it was soul destroying to do otherwise and she is now happy to try anything....I hope to thro not being forced IYKWIM.

she is still tiny, and still has a small appetite, but is a healthy 12yr old with no food hang ups (altho a higher fruit intake would make for a happier mummy)

You sound like you are doing a fab job:)

[jofeb04]

Thanks you lot.
TBH, he does have a big appitite, but only on these foods. He could eat a whole pan of pasta if we left him.
We also have a dd (9months) so try him on what shes eating (and thats all sorts) but hes just not interested.
If we give him something that he doesnt know, he says "sick" lmao

[jofeb04]

We cant really try a sticker chart either, he wouldnt mentally understand it, he would try to pull the stickers off and stick it on the tv (as he does with stickers of wet wipes) lol

[shazronnie]

save the sticker chart - my DS1 is nearly 3 and will do most things for a sticker!!!