Whether you have a picky eater or a kid who eats anything, proper nutrition is key to a healthy childhood.
Hey everyone! I’m looking for some new ideas on what to pack my 2 year old for lunch for daycare. He is somewhat of a picky eater so I feel like I’m always packing the same things every week and I’m sure he’s probably sick of the usual chicken nuggets, pasta, rice, pizza rolls, etc. Also, I can’t pack anything with peanuts/peanut butter or egg as some of his classmates are allergic. If anyon... More
Hi everyone, I have a 2 year old picky eater. I know it’s not uncommon, but I am stumped on how and what to feed her. I feel like she rejects 90% of what I offer, and today I realized she started losing weight. I am looking for book recommendations on how to feed her, and what to feed her. It doesn’t have to be the same book. TIA! 💗
Thank you all for the replies and suggestions
Penelope I have tried not offering anything else, but she started losing weight because she won’t eat. I definitely don’t want this to become a battle, I’d like for her to look forward to meal time. Toddlers are headstrong little creatures.
I have a two and a half year old and an almost four year old. They’ve been sharing a room for almost a year now. Recently they’re both suffering from sleep problems and eating issues. We can’t get them to eat much of anything. My husband and I are exhausted, so are they. They both walk are all day with dark circles under their eyes, neither one has half the energy they used to, and the emotion... More
Oh that looks cool. Does it make sound or does it just change color? As far as not eating, I’ve never been one to push that they have to eat a certain amount. They are both expressing that they’re hungry and then when we sit down they refuse to eat anything. I’ve even stopped the “you have to eat what we eat” thing because I’m legitimately a little worried. We moved six months ago but I can... More
It has a buzzer and it changes color. You can turn the buzzer off though. I don’t really have advice for the food issue... as far as the sleep, I’m glad it worked out for your 2 year old. I only have an almost 3 year old so I don’t know what to say about your 4 year old. Could it possibly be teeth related too? 🤷🏻♀️ hopefully someone who has older kids could chime in with their experience
What’s a decent amount of time for a 3 year old to have their lunch and dinner? I am worried my lo won’t finish his meal on time when he starts full day school as he is a very slow eater at home.
Most preschools allow the children 30mins for lunch time. Sometime makes the portion size smaller encourages him to stay focus and finish eating.
Any one have any ideas to try and get your LO to eat their veggies? I’ve tried sneaking it in a bunch of ways but my baby girl can always tell. She’ll eat the rest of the bite and spit the veggie out or just avoid it completely. I know she needs to eat them. She knows she needs to eat them. How did you all get your kids to eat the greens?
Mine loves frozen mixed veggies (plus edamame) defrosted, and mixed with feta and olive oil and balsamic!!
I let my kids squirt whipped cream on anything they wanted when they were little and now they’re massive veggie fans! I cringed when they used to put whipped cream on broccoli (why?!?), but they loved it and ate the broccoli and now they eat broccoli without the whipping cream. A little squirt of cream was only like 25 calories and I figured it wasn’t all that bad for them. Fun dips can help... More
And how do I stay positive and calm while trying to conceive?
My son is about to be a year old in a couple weeks and I’m freaking out about the transition from formula to cows milk. I’ve already tried introducing him to some dairy products like cheese,yogurt and other foods that might have dairy in it. He hasn’t had a problem until recently I gave him American cheese, he pooped 5 times in one day causing him a diaper rash. Is he possibly allergic to cows ... More
Hi Parents, I need your advise/suggestions please... my 21 month old daughter has been stuck at the same weight of 19 lbs since she was 12 months old, her pediatrician says she is ok... but for some reason I'm worried cause I don't think it is normal. She is a toddler so she is very active and she is also a very picky eater. Did any of your kiddos go through this... I'm thinking of ... More
My son is 22 mo and has been the same as his 12 mo appointment weight!!!! He was a super fat baby so I feel like it’s now just filling in as he’s getting taller? My doctor didn’t seem incredibly concerned about it, she says toddler years are tough with weight- every kid is really different but as long as I make sure he’s eating enough and healthy then we won’t really worry. She said in the firs... More
Thank you! Glad to know my kiddo is not the only one :)
My almost 21 month old kiddo takes more than an hour to eat, every single day. She sits for good 15-30 minutes and then walks around or reads and one of us have to feed her. It just delays the bath and bed time. Just wondering how long other kiddos take..... we do family style dinner everyday.
Anonymous 1: ya we kinda passed on the booster seat, so hard to keep her contained. We are working on spacing out her last snack and dinner.
Anonymous 2: ya we are working on her knowing if she is full or not. I guess it’s hard as we wanna make sure she is full for the night and not go hungry, hence the feeding her part. The thing is she keeps eating if u keep feeding her so not sure she is still hungry or she eating cuz she is getting bites. Maybe, we’ll just try a few days of her feeding her self and then stop. She does eat and ta... More
I saw my primary care doctor today and he put me on a low carb diet to help me lose weight and i was wondering how i can do that when i get pregnant and if any other mothers who were expecting or are expecting right now ate low carb was it hard???? was it easy????? did your obgyn ok it???? FYI i am educating myself for pregnancy and motherhood i am not pregnant right now or even trying i am ju... More
I had to eat low to no carbs my third trimester because I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Keeping sugar to a minimum prevented the baby from health issues and growing too large in my womb. It was tough and I was very sad to cut out rice bread cake and eat mostly meat, lots of veggies, lower carb fruits, cheese, etc. it’s possible and I did it for two months. It was tough but I did it f... More
Similar to Mindy, I also had to eat low carb due to gestational diabetes. I'm very thin and struggled at various points in my pregnancy to gain weight, despite eating a crap ton of ice cream pretty much every day (oops?) Getting lots of calories was very important for me but I had to cut the carbs drastically as my 1 hr test was at 205 (so high they didn't even have me do the 3 hr). I a... More
My son is so picky he’d rather starve and he really hasn’t gained much weight because of this! Anyone have any tips or tricks? Thanks.
How old is your son? We have used distraction methods (toys, books, music) to help get our son to try stuff. And then once he realized it was yummy then he would pick it up himself (some times!) Also.. if your son is old enough to use a fork or food-pick to eat with, sometimes that can be fun for them too. Eat with him. Eat off the same plate as him. What is your son’s feeding schedule? Does ... More
My whole family moved to another country. All of a sudden, my 2.5 year old girl looked disgusted with her milk. I don't know any reason why she stopped. She has the same milk. She is allergic to cow's milk so she has almond milk since after 1 year old.
Could be a lot of reasons, maybe she's just realizing she doesn't like it 🤷 I remember when I was 3 or so I just had a realization one day that I didn't like cheese ( I know, weird) and I stopped eating it. Since you aren't really getting vit. D or calcium from almond milk it shouldn't be a big deal to switch it to something else, or just plain water is good too
My 23 month old decided she hates milk (from all sources) as well. It’s normal. Sometimes they just decide they don’t want something. My daughter will only drink water and sometimes juice (but won’t finish, no matter the volume).
My 2 yo is an extremely picky eater and mealtimes are always hard but dinnertime was usually the easiest. Lately she has been refusing to eat any of the meal I prepare for dinner. I don't want to get in the habit of making a second meal just for her, i usually always make something i know she normally likes. Any tips on getting her to eat what i make? She is very stubborn and sometimes jus... More
If you are on Instagram follow @mamaknowsnutrition she gives a lot of good meal ideas, portion sizes, and how to help your kid have a healthy relationship with food. Limit snacks, offer what you want her to eat and don't give in to treats or rewards. Also don't offer juice or milk with or before a meal because they will fill up on it. And if you don't offer new things or things she ... More
At what age did you switch your little one to whole milk from formula? Did you start little by little before they turned one?
The days leading up to drinking only milk, we tried mixing formula and milk but he didn’t like it. He didn’t like drinking plain milk by itself too. Rather than wasting formula, we just finished the formula and tried to find ways for him to drink milk (smoothies, chocolate milk). We just dropped bottles at that point too since he was drinking smoothies and chocolate milk. So we just offered m... More
My little man is addicted to fruit snacks. I’m looking for healthier options and before cavities became and issue. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
I don’t know why she is not eating properly nowadays. She was a good eater until 15 months. And now she loves to eat snacks rather food. I am worried she will lose weight if this thing continues. What should I do?
Limit the snacks, and milk for an hour or more before meal times so they are hungry, otherwise they will be full on snacks. And offer milk or water after dinner. These are things I still do with my 3 yo. But they eat when they are hungry, and some weeks will be less food than other weeks. Toddlers are busy, too busy to stop and focus on things, but they do eat when they are hungry.
My two children eat the same things for breakfast. We rotate between eggs, oatmeal and healthy waffles (homemade and then freezer stored) with nut butter. We save our fruit and veggie smoothies for later in the day. My older one will eat some fruit with breakfast but my younger child is not a fan, occasionally eating a banana. Just looking for some easy and nutritious ideas to add to this borin... More
Pancakes with fruit on top Baked chocolate chip oatmeal cups Homemade fruit Muffins (let them help) maybe do a variety of fruit. Banana, blueberry and strawberry? Smoothie bowls Cheerios with berries Eggs, sausage and toast (switch the eggs up between hard boiled or scrambled and fried.) You can even do egg cups (put eggs in muffin tin) and put in green or red peppers, mushrooms or whichever ... More
Hello... I’m wondering if anyone’s been through a similar situation and what they have done. My two year old refuses to drink milk or any dairy. I am very concerned about her calcium intake. I discussed it with her pediatrician and she suggested other alternatives such as yogurt cheese almond fortified calcium juice and kept telling me to keep trying. I keep trying but my kid is a very picky ea... More
Try lactose-free milk and yogurt. She might be experiencing discomfort after consuming milk products due to an inability to properly digest them. There is more calcium in cauliflower, broccoli, and other vegetables. Maybe give her smoothies with fruit and veggies mixed together (make sure to steam and cool the veggies).
My 18 month old daughter has been stuck on 18.5 pounds since a few months now.. I feed her 3 meals a day and give her snacks in between the meals, I also give her milk mostly with her meals and snacks and water as well. She is a very picky eater, I use to feed her but it took forever and was quite frustrating for me. Her pediatrician recommended that she should eat by herself which she does now... More
Try Ripple Pea milk. It has as much protein as milk, fortified with vitamin D and DHA. Has some fat as well.
Thank you for the advice and encouragement Cathy, I love what your Dad said about ' good things come in small packages' and will be using this :) Also thank you Stay-At-Home-Dan for the suggestion I will look into it!
Anyone have a picky eater who you were able to turn around? Is it even possible? What did you do?
I think for the most part when they first start eating solids everything is new and tasty so they eat everything. Then as they get to a point where there “know” what’s really yummy and they are able to voice their preferences, they get picky. Also, I read somewhere that their ability to determine between good and bad smells doesn’t develop until after 2yo, and smell affects taste so that might ... More
My son is defintely picky but I only offer what I make for dinner and if he doesn’t choose to eat then he doesn’t choose to eat. I felt bad at first but at daycare they make one lunch and literally don’t have other options, so if he doesn’t like it, he doesn’t eat. I made same apply at home. I feel like he’s gotten better now because of that, especially when he’s really hungry! It also helps th... More
My little boy is a little picky, and he likes fruits and veggies better. So I put cucumbers, peppers, baby carrots, berries, grapes, and other fruits. Stick cheese, chocolate milk, graham cracker, little sandwiches with cream cheese or Nutella. Basically those are the main food for his lunch. He always has breakfast (egg, milk, bread and some veggies) so I am fine with the lunch.
Thanks everyone! I do always include a side of fruit or veggies as a snack, I just struggle with the main dish lol But I’ll definitely be trying all of these helpful recommendations, thanks so much!