Question:
My 20 month old WILL NOT eat dinner any ideas?
2008-09-18 02:27:29 UTC
During the day he will eat his morning tea (normally yogurts and some bickies) Lunch ( sandwich and fruit stick) Afternoon tea (chips cheese) {rough guidelines}
but come dinner time no matter how hard i try i cant get him to eat. he will not try sausages no matter how much sauce is on it so dipping is out of the question he will occasionally eat chicken nuggets or cut up steak but wont eat any fruit ( has a weird thing about mushy food doesn't like the feel of it) or veg.
my partner is starting to worry he cant just live off yogurt for dinner (when we finally give in and give him some as we know he will eat that)

any idea on what i can do would be a great help
Five answers:
mattfromasia
2008-09-18 02:39:46 UTC
I have to ask...what are bickies? That sounds so cute. :)



It sounds like he's eating OK throughout the day.



As far as the fruit goes, many children have issues with the texture of food. I still do after 31 years.



If he's not down on energy, not starving, and is healthy, I say you're doing fine. You might want to change his lunch routine to include more dinner food if you feel his diet needs more balancing.



Matt
naomi c
2008-09-18 10:34:18 UTC
I have the same prob with my 21 month old he will only eat peanut butter sandwiches. He will eat macaroni and cheese. He loves that. Maybe cut out the afternoon tea and then he will be really hungry and might eat anything you give him. I would not worry to much i think it is very common
Aggie
2008-09-18 13:37:08 UTC
perhaps he's too well fed during the day. I'd reduce his other meals and see if it makes a difference. Secondly, i wouldn't give options to him as it could encourage him to be choosey and picky. Once you do that, he'd start to manipulate you into giving him only what he likes. Our policy is that if you don't eat your dinner, you have it for breakfast, etc. so you eat what you're given.
drifter
2008-09-18 09:36:42 UTC
Feed him so much yogurt that he gets sick of it. no. Try feeding a little less at lunchtime so that he is hungry for dinner. Try and find something he really likes for lunch and switch it for dinner.
WhiteLilac1
2008-09-18 10:32:22 UTC
I think I'd buy some "junior" baby foods that have a good mix of vegetables in them, and some "junior" baby food fruit. Toddlers like blander foods (which may be why he likes the yogurt). Sausage isn't good for him anyway, and chances are whatever you're dipping it in isn't either. He's a little young to be chewing steak, no matter how much you cut up. Some of the junior foods have little dinners that have some meat, some vegetables, and maybe a little pasta in the them.



He's still little enough that choking or just general lack of interest are still factors, but you try something like banana slices or apple slices cut up. For fruit, you could try something like fruit cocktail or pears or peaches packed in light syrup. You could also add fruit to his yogurt.



Toddlers usually like peas or diced carrots. You could try canned, fresh, or frozen. Frozen or fresh are less mushy.



If he'll eat boiled, boneless, chicken use that; and maybe scrambled eggs or cheese as his main sources of protein.



Toddlers nearing two like routine, so having something like peas with dinner each night is something he'd probably like (if he likes peas, of course). I think I'd figure out which "mild" vegetables (even if crispy ones) he likes and serve a couple of them each evening. I'd probably add a couple of servings of milk, if he weren't eating much. I'd make sure he got a children's multivitamin.



Sometimes toddlers like something like chicken and rice with peas in it. They tend to like something like "o" pasta and chicken in broth (maybe with some carrots). If it were my child I might try a little pasta with cheese (and lima beans or peas in it); or pasta in a simple "cream" sauce (milk and a little butter) with something like small bits of chicken, lima beans, and maybe diced carrots. There's always something like a small service of "small" pasta (no spaghetti or big ziti pieces - something like mini penne or butterfly) with a mild tomato soup on it instead of sauce.



A lot of them like applesauce and apple juice (another serving of fruit). A small cup of orange juice and later a small cup of apple or grape juice would amount to two servings of fruit. (Yes, fruit juice has sugar, but so does fruit. You can buy the kind of juice that made from concentrate.)



There's always something like half a slice of whole grain brain, cheese, and maybe a little vegetable soup (made with vegetables and a simple broth). (You could make a container of it for him every few days, and serve it until you need to make it again.)


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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