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Dealing With A Fussy Eater & 7 Toddler Meal Ideas #MINISMEALS

We've all been there before I'm sure.

You have nothing but good intentions to feed your child a healthy, wholesome, homemade meal. You try with everything in you to put something together you are sure they will eat. Perhaps you will spend hours in the kitchen preparing said meal. You might even make enough that you can batch freeze. With all this careful preparation, you must be winning at this feeding your toddler business.

And then it comes time to sit down and eat. Your toddler looks at what you've put in front of them with a screwed up nose. They refuse to let any of the meal touch their mouth. They cry. They throw the food on the floor. They take a bite and then spit it out. There is no getting them to eat their meal.

You feel like a failure and you are most definitely not winning any toddler feeding awards. It sounds like such a funny thing to say but it can really be soul destroying, especially if it happens at the end of a particularly stressful day.

I've had this scenario, more days than I could count. It's been a year since introducing solids and at the start Baby Girl ate everything. At 6 months old I was calling her a foodie and felt blessed that she would appreciate whatever I put in front of her. A few months down the line and she was the most fussy eater I knew. I never know day to day what she will eat, because one day she will eat something and the next day she won't.

The health visitor told us not to worry. She would consume what she needed and if she doesn't want dinner one night just leave her and she will make up for it the next day. Guess what? The health visitor wasn't there at 3am when Baby Girl woke up screaming in hunger. Starving her wasn't an option for us.

Over time, we have learnt a number of things that have worked for us. I'll put in a disclaimer right here that sometimes still, no matter what we try she will still flat out refuse her meals, but here are some successful ways that have encouraged her to eat:





1. Eat as a family and don't put too much pressure on your little one to eat. 
I always like us to eat together and I've found that if J and I chat, relax and tuck into our meals. Baby Girl will join in being social and eat what's in front of her without feeling the pressure.

2. Make meal times fun. 
Our family dinners are full of singing, praising and clapping. It keeps things positive and reinforces that meal times should be enjoyable. I really try hard not to let my disappointment show if she is refusing to eat because I feel like it then starts to become a control thing and refusal of food is an easy way for a baby/ toddler to have control.

3. Provide your little one with your undivided attention.
This might sound conflicting with point 1, but these suggestions do not come hand in hand. If one method doesn't work at a particular meal time, we may have tried something totally different that has. This involves one on one feeding. Although Baby Girl has always been able to feed herself, sometimes she just needs us to feed her. We might play Aeroplanes, or we might say - this mouthful is for Nanny, this is for Aunty, this is for your friend. Lot's of praise when a mouthful is taken and lots of positive attention with little distractions.

4. Take the food away from the table
Sometimes, sitting at the table can be too formal and possibly overwhelming for Baby Girl. If a meal has been unsuccessful, we'll go on to do what we normally would which is normally sitting in the living room as a family and I bring the food with me put it at her level, without any pressure so it's there if she wants it. I have been known to leave chicken pieces on the (clean) TV table without any plates and more times than not she will eat it then.

5. Offer the food at a later time
Whilst I hate for Baby Girl to have her evening sleep on an empty stomach, I often let her have her afternoon nap without having lunch. She normally naps from 12.30 - 2.30 so If she has refused her lunch at 12pm, she will more than likely be hungry for it when she wakes up. If we have dinner at 6pm and she refuses it, I'll normally leave it and offer it again at 7.30pm. She goes down at 8.30 so if she still refuses that I offer her a bowl of muesli or piece of toast before her milk. I never do this straight after meal refusal to and separate the two.

6. Have fun with cutlery
Now that Baby Girl is enjoying feeding herself, sometimes just simply giving her a cool fork to eat from makes all the difference. Sometimes she just likes eating from my fork too. And sometimes she only likes to take food from my plate. But hey, whatever works!

7 Have someone else take over feeding duties
Sometimes just a change of personality/ approach helps. Me and hubby will often tag team leading the feeding responsibilities and I find even more success with someone completely different like an Aunty. Baby Girl has a no nonsense Aunty that just has the magic touch. Her older cousin who is 5 works a treat too. Her cousin loves helping and Baby Girl responds differently to littler people.

8. Distraction
As a last resort occasionally I will put the TV on with Baby Girl. Her favourite show right now is The Lion King (just the songs, not the scary bits). I'll wait for her to get really into her favourite song and then try and catch her unaware with some spoon shovelling. It has worked!

I write this with a smile on my face, because tonight has probably been the mot successful meal time yet. She not only finished most of what was on her plate but fed it all to herself. If I tried to help her load the food onto her fork she pushed my hand away. She wanted to do it all herself and that she did #proudmummymoment.

Remember, every child is different and you are learning so much about them, their preferences and what makes them tick that there's bound to be a few hurdles during the weaning process. I found the online community a rich source of information when helping me on our weaning journey and I still do. I always get great advice, ideas and inspiration from my online friends so I hope I have passed some of it back on.

I wanted to finish this post with 7 simple toddler meal ideas. You can find more toddler meal inspiration if you search my hashtag on Instagram #minismeals - I often snap her meals and share and I regularly get my own meal ideas from the Instagram community. If you're posting any meals of your own, feel free to also use that hash tag. I'd love to see your creations!


I'm also working on a brand new linky around #minismeals that's going to be all about family food so watch this space.

1.  Tuna fish cakes, broccoli and mac & cheese
 2. Crumbed fish, sweet potato & potato chips, peas
 3. Spanish omlette, broccoli, pita & tzatziki

4. Roast chicken, courgette chips & mashed potato
 5. Meatballs (she doesn't like them with sauce), rice & carrots

6. Cheesy tuna & tomato pasta with broccoli
7. Mac & cheese with cucumber pieces 


Let me know if you would like the recipe for any of these meals. I'd love to hear from you, if you have any tried and tested recipes and/ or ways of encouraging your children to eat.

Kat x

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15 comments

  1. Some great advice and meals here. We have had success with involving the children with preparing/cooking the meal (obviously dependent on age but ranging from helping to lay the table, making their own place mat, choosing what filling they want from a selection offered, stiring a mix to full on cooking/making part of the meal). I will look out for the linky :) #TheList

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    1. That's such a great idea! One tip that I missed off this list is I get Baby Girl to see me preparing the food in the kitchen and I get her to have a taste test before we get to the table. That has really helped sometimes x

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  2. Brilliant tips and great meal ideas. My 2 and a half year old is soo fussy, I will definitely be saving this page for your tips. Love the look of the tina fishcakes and never thought of making courgette chips, great idea xx #TheList

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    1. I hope they help! Try them all and save up all your strength for meal times. I know how hard it can be. Baby Girl is obsessed with chips and is always asking for them so I'm having to be creative with the meaning of chip, Henderson the courgette ones haha x

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  3. These meals look delicious, I wouldn't turn them down! ;) I have found that my kids have got fussier the older they've got, my 14 year old barely eats anything

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    1. Awww bless you, thank you. Holy moley, I think I'll have a breakdown if this fussiness lasts until 14 and beyond. You must have a lot of patience x

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  4. Some great tips and lovely food looks very yummy #thelist

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    1. Thanks Nigel, I'm glad you like and thanks for stopping by :)

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  5. Some great tips to help the challenge of feeding a fussy one. I always find hiding the food and creating characters such as broccoli as trees. #thelist

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    1. I haven't tried the hiding food yet but I think I'll give it a go. We have done the trees as brocolli. Baby Girl loves it x

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  6. These are great tips Baby is a really fussy eater so will try some of these. Thanks for linking up to #TheList x

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  7. Great meal ideas and what a cute dish! These are brilliant tips- I especially love the "make mealtime fun" - as well as "removing the plate". Eating as a family as much as possible has worked really well with our little one.

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  8. Great meal ideas and what a cute dish! These are brilliant tips- I especially love the "make mealtime fun" - as well as "removing the plate". Eating as a family as much as possible has worked really well with our little one.

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  9. All of these meals look super amazing! I wish Joey would eat all of that kinds of food. Some great tips aswell. I love the plate, where is it from?

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  10. Some great tips! I've found just not stressing too much about what my boy doesn't eat has helped me relax a bit. i.e he WILL get what he needs. If he has an off day and doesn't fancy eating much, that is ok. #minismeals

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