3.5 years old eating a very limited diet...

[blindgirl]

Hi, after spending some time reading others post i've decide to post myself and see maybe someone can give me my advice what to do... or not to do.

My 3.5 y. old. very active, rarely unwell, no allergies son is a very stubborn (if fussy) eater. Everyday for the last 1.5 years he eats very limited number of things. he is rather small : height 98 cm; weight 14 kgs.

Things he eat: 
all sort of bread (rye, wholemeal, toast, baguettes, bagels, focaccias, white, brown, hard bread like ryvita, bread with seeds) with butter on it;
around 300 mls of whole milk a day;
fruits (bananas and apples)
dried fruits (apricots, raisins, mango and prunes)
diluted apple juice or water for drink
sometimes hot chocolate
sometimes fromage frais
sometimes a bite of fish finger
sometimes rice pudding a spoon or two
cereals for breakfast (sometimes)

that's it. He refuses to try anything else - NO to pizzas, pastas, macaroni, potatoes, chips, mash, soups, eggs, sausages, hot dogs, burgers, nuggets, cheese, yoghurts. We've tried reward charts, bribery, not giving anything else if he doesnot eat whats on offer for everyone else for dinner, ingnoring him etc.
Nothing works.

he goes to nursery 3 days a week for 2.5 years and he has never eaten cooked food there. always bread and fruits. we spend lots of time socialising with other children and he see them eating various food but just pushes away his plate and says i do not like it! he never ever tries anything new part from what he knows! he obviously likes sweet things but perfectly capable go on days without getting a cookie or piece of chocolate. he doesnot get much of sweet stuff on a daily basis.

i just wonder again and again should I just leave him in peace and hope that one day he will try new things or should try some new tactics. I just do not know. He is the smallest among his friends of his age but he is very active and happy overall. but what if he is missing on essential vitamins and minerals? he is getting fish oils with added vitamins everyday but how long he is going to live just on bread....

it is very frustrating, depressing for me... especially when I see other children tuck in into theirfoods and he is just sitting there with his piece of bread and butter.

thank you very much for reading my post. i hope i am not alone and someone can share their experiences and maybe give some advice...?

[Texomamama]

HUGS....I am sorry you feel the way you do.  I know it can make you sad when your LO is a fussy or limited eater.  My 20 MO DD is not fussy per se, she just eats very little and is quite thin.  I think the more you fret over this, the more he picks up on it and digs his heels in.

Sounds like you have tried lots of different options so kudos to you for being such a concerned Mommy.  Does he get a multivitamin?  If not, perhaps you would rest easier if he did.  Oh, and also to make you feel better, lots of the examples you give of things he does not like (pizza, hot dogs, chips etc) are not exactly ideal additions to his diet anyway, so perhaps in the long run, he is better off without.

[Mama2boys]

if he likes fruits, ahve you tried steemaed veggie staht ahve a sweetish flvour so green peas, corn, broccoli, sweat potato and so on?

[blindgirl]

hi and thanks for your replies. I know that pizza and hot dogs are not healthy but when he is just on bread everyday.... i just want him to try new things... whether it is chip or homemade pizza....yes he is getting fish oil with added D+E vitamins. perhaps I should get him multivitamins.

we try steamed veggies - sometimes it is a bit of corn or like yesterday one asparagus spear :-)

i just wonder if someone went through similar experience with their child and how they dealt with that? just some practical advice would be great.

[Texomamama]

I do know how you feel.  I was excited DD ate 2 1/2 chicken nuggets from Wendy's yesterday, since she hardly ever eats meat.  So I understand if you say you are happy to get him to try pizza or hot dogs.  Mukta has some good ideas to start with veggies that have a sweeter flavor.  That and constant trial and error and patience.  About a month ago, I posted a query called "Weird things toddlers eat" and got a few responses from people about how their toddlers ate literally the same 3-4 things only for a long number of months, so you are not alone, that's for sure.

[james030405]

have you tried cooking with him?  My two children, DS 4yrs and DD 2.5yrs both love to cook and help me and they both are good eaters.  The trouble I have wiht mine is that they don't eat a lot of meat.  I just offer them the ones they do like, but I still offer up the ones they are not too fussed on.  Maybe you could try savoury scones/muffins or maybe you could start a vege patch where he can help to grow the veges?  If he is active and healthy, I wouldn't worry too much.  Even if he is on the small side, as long as he has lots of energy and is healthy that is a good start. 

I know the suggestions that I have offered aren't much, but I hope they help a little.  Sorry you are going through a tough time. 

[blindgirl]

hi there, and thanks for your replies.

 yes i am worried, too that he does not eat protein/iron (i.e. meat). I do not care if it is meat or tofu as long as he gets protein....i've started giving him Sapone (sapone.com) little sachet of thermal water with iron in it. because i do not think he is getting iron in any form apart from apricots.
also, i just bought online but have-not received yet organic spirulina for children. it is algae which is around 60% protein and the rest essential vitamins/minerals and all of it almost completely absorbed by our bodies. children need only 1 gramm mixed with juice. My little boy is quite hyper and never wants to sit down and eat, and gets really really tired in the evening. I wonder if perhaps lack of vitamins/minerals has something to do with that....

we do cooking with him as well. He loves it! He helps me to put veggies into soups, stir it. But never ever tries it, says Yuk! we bake bread sticks, buns, rolls. bread is fine, he eats it.  He loves boiling eggs but then feeds them to me.

i wonder when he is going to try something new... even on holidays or at grannys it is always the same.

[MLK]

I really think this is the age for very limited diets - my son went throguh a phase of eating nothing but PLAIN rice, bread pasta  - with NOTHING else, not even a scrap of sauce. I've talked to lots of Mums and their kids did exactly the same thing at this age, so it's very common. The only thing you can do is gently encourage them from time to time to try new things eg a bit of sauce on his pasta, etc. We used to tell him to try it and if he didn't like it he could spit it out into a tissue. That seemed to help. I also used to give him cod liver oil mixed with juice in the mornings. He would eat eggs for breakfast a couple of times a week.

 My son eventually grew out of it at age 4 and now he is willing to try new things, even if he doesn't actually like it.