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Weaning

I hate mealtimes!!!!

5 replies

Poppins27 · 28/08/2013 18:56

I'm sorry, I am starting this thread in sheer frustration and can see it turning into a rant...but a the title suggests...I dread every mealtime with my Dd who is 18 months.

She has never been a great eater, did a combination of blw and a bit of puréed food in the early days, which I found hard work due to constant refusal of what I had made, but I think somewhere in the back of my mind I stupidly though "it will get better".

It hasn't!!! And I have no idea what to do. I am so tired of trying to think of meals she may like/try/throw at floors and walls!!

Breakfast is fine, bran flakes, weetabix, scrambled eggs...were happy with this.

Lunch is usually a cheese or ham sandwich in brown bread, a few cheddars, a banana, raisins, chunks of cheddar. Boring and so samey but out of ideas!! I usually have some sort of pasta but she will not touch this at all...today's wasted portion was Italian chicken pasta.


Main meal is a nightmare...basically unless its fish, boiled ham or sausages, yorkshire pudding or roast potatoes it is wasted. Sweet potato and a few carrots, perhaps maybe a pea or two is all the veg I can get down her. Followed by her only other piece of fruit which is melon. I try giving her a yoghurt if she eats really well as a treat to reward her too. If she doesn't eat what I offer her I don't pander and do something different, that's it.

I have offered either blueberries, cherry tomatoes, grapes and fresh pineapple umpteen times recently with every meal, but none have passed her lips.

She goes to nursery once a week and apparently eats really well there, veg tikka, veg lasagne etc. also her Aunty tells me how well he eats there every week and I just feel like a total failure!!

How can I encourage her to try new foods and stop dreading the battle at the table?!

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noblegiraffe · 29/08/2013 08:45

If my four year old ate that well I'd be delighted! Sounds like she is doing really well - also children tend to eat two good meals a day so if she has breakfast and a good lunch, dinner is bound to be a bit more of a struggle.

Don't save yoghurt as a treat for eating well, it's a good source of calcium and should be a normal part of her diet.

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Poppins27 · 29/08/2013 15:19

Thank you for the reassurance. It just feels like I am giving her the same things all of the time as she will not try new things. My other close friends have children the same age and they seem to eat everything and will snack on fruit all day long.

I guess I'm concerned about her lack of fruit and veg as this is so limited. Banana, melon, sweet potato and sometimes carrot just doesn't seem enough to give her all the goodness she should be getting?!

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Xmasbaby11 · 04/09/2013 22:52

She sounds amazing. DD is 19mo and doesn't eat nearly as well as that. She will eat anything at nursery but at home only eats bananas, yoghurt, broccoli and boiled egg.

For veg, try making a tomato sauce for pasta with some grated veg in it - carrot and courgette work well. Cauliflower cheese if it's cut up small?

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Poppins27 · 12/09/2013 07:37

Thanks for taking the time to respond again, sorry I have only just seen this.

And thanks for the reassurance. I know she is not going to go hungry, I'm more concerned by the lack of vitamins from fruit and veg I guess. I've resorted to giving her some fruit purée pouches this week which he seems to love. And only yesterday at a friends I saw her help herself to a couple of grapes...I give her these everyday and they go untouched!! Little madam.

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RoadToTuapeka · 13/09/2013 04:08

Just a quick thought re fruit (napping baby about to wake I think), I suggest not buying fruit expressly for her to try, many is the mango I have ended up with for that reason! My DS surprises me by suddenly liking things like pineapple, passionfruit, kiwi etc, then going off them a week later only to gobble them up another time.

Just offer them, temptingly cut up, but as part of a fruit platter that you or family will eat anyway. No harm really in a limited repertoire as long as some is eaten!

We went through weeks with DS1 from about 18 months to 2 years when 'puddings' being the ellas etc fruit pouches were about all he would eat fruit-wise. Then it was a grape phase. Then kiwis but won't touch them now. And so on, fad by fad!

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