How many times a week do you give same meal to your toddler?

[zebstiredmum]

DS is 16 months old.  He's always been a fussy eater, and is very clear about his likes and dislikes (since I first weaned him meal times have always been a struggle unless I'm presenting him with a favourite food).  Recently he has become even more fussy (I think due to teething).  We have no problem with his weight though - he has more or less stayed on 50th centile since a few weeks old.

Meal planning is THE BAIN OF MY LIFE!  What he will eat one week, he point blank refuses to eat the next.  There are a handful of foods I can guarantee he'll eat every time, but I don't want him to get bored of them, so try and keep them to once a week.

At the moment cheesy baked beans are a winner, and he's having them about 3 times a week, pasta usually goes down well, so he has this about 2 or 3 times a week with different sauces, and sausages once a week.  We have a repetoire of about 7 different meals that he'll eat, but then I'm left struggling for ideas for the other 7 meals in a week!

It's so frustrating that he won't eat what we eat! 

Does anyone else plan their toddler's meals on a rotation basis? How often do you give them the same meal in a week?  eg if they love sausages (as my little boy does) do you give sausages more than once a week?

At the moment he is generally eating better at lunch time, so tea is pasta or sandwiches or soup, but the last 3 times he's refused to eat soup too.  GRRRRR!

[newbiemommy]

Hi there!

I don't think there's anything wrong with feeding the same thing several times a week.  As you note, one week they'll love something and the next week they'll refuse it point blank!

DD is almost 13 mo but we give her mostly the same meals (sometimes even the same thing for lunch and dinner!).  She loves pasta with meat sauce, grilled cheese, veggies cooked in chicken broth (potatoes, celery, carrots), and we have mexican alot so we modify it for her by taking the ground beef and onion before we add the taco seasoning, then mix it with brown rice and sauteed peppers and onions and a little bit of salsa for flavor and chop it up in the food processor.  It's messy (no spoon yet for her) but she she eats it by the fistful.

These are pretty much the only meals she has.  Breakfast is the only meal that really has any variety - yogurt, fruit, oatmeal, toast, eggs.  I just try to look at each meal in terms of food groups and as long as she is getting fruits, whole grains, veggies, protein, and dairy, I don't worry.

If DS is gaining weight then I wouldn't worry about it all.  All my friends with older toddlers complain about their picky eaters but maintain that as frustrating as it is, they know their kids are fine.  And like you said, it will all change next week, right! 

Maria

[Mama2boys]

yes, mainly because i cook in bulk

[Shiv52]

By this age my DD was having what we had at dinner time. I provide something she will definately eat too (so veg or bread or fruit) but she is just offered what we eat.  I have always worked off the rule that I will just meal plan for us all and she will be given those meals and thats it.  So a different meal every night. 

Lunches would be a mix of sandwiches, soup, pasta and sauce, fruit, eggs.  So she'd probably have the same variety of meals each week...so once or twice a week.  

When she got to be about 2 I started offering her a choice of 2 things at breakfast and lunch but dinner is just our meal.  

[Keira]

but dinner is just our meal. 

Curious, what do you do if she flat out refuses what's for dinner?  Does she go to bed without dinner? How do you teach a young toddler that what's for dinner is all there is - eat or starve - if they don't quite have the language/concept down yet?

[Shiv52]

Well I never provided alternatives to any meals ever so she did know by that stage that whatever she was offered was it.  I wanted to start as I meant to go on and not get into trying to make what she will eat but rather work off we all eat what is made. Obviously if we were having something spicy I wouldn't expect her to eat that but there was very little I made for dinner that she couldn't eat.

We never really had food refusal until she got 2 YO molars. Toddlers will not starve. They will eat if they are hungry and if they skip a meal it really isn't a big deal. But the important thing even at this age is to NOT teach them that if they refuse something you make that you will scramble round making something else. And I think he fact at this young age if they know if they refuse something they'll get something else they also know that meals are meals if that's the route you choose to go.

If we did have a poor eating day I would have offered porridge before bed.

[Lolly]

My two have pretty much the same things for lunch and breakfast every day but their main meal is different. They have cereal for breakfast and either soup and a sandwich or something like beans and toast for lunch. Their main meal is different but like others variations on a theme, so pasta twice a week but different sauces, baked potatoes a couple of times but with different things and a roast dinner once or sometimes twice a week. We eat together at weekends and when DH is home early enough and like Shiv there is no choice they eat what they are given. I do make sure there is at least one or two things they really will eat and they do get fruit and yoghurt after.

There are nights when DD eats literally nothing but often she doesn't drink her bedtime milk either so she is genuinely not hungry and she still sleeps through.

Laura

[*Amy*]

same here I have only ever made the one meal and if he didn't eat it then he doesn't eat. I know it sounds harsh but it is how I was raised and I never remember going to bed hungry!
The only choice he ever gets is in the morning and the choice is weetabix or porridge and even this choice can be sometimes over whelming for him LOL
I do BLW with DD and she also eats what we eat. So tonight I am making a pasta dish, it calls for chilli so I will make it - take out their food then add the chilli!