I dont know where to start..

[lilly_kitt]

Hi

Ty is going to be 2 in November and has never been a great eater.  At the moment we are down to basially feeding him what I know he will eat.  He does like fruit, so he has alot of grapes, satsumas and blueberries and also the innocent smoothies.  But his list of food he will eat is very limited to basically any potato product like waffles, letters, cubes etc (he does eat the carrot and potato waffles), then things like fish fingers (omega 3 ones), turkey dinosaurs, pizza, sausage etc.  In nursery they also feed him what they know he likes.  He still has his milk in a bottle (would love to know how to drop this one, have tried the picking his own one out and now we have loads which he still wont drink from).
As he naps at a weird time (from 11.30) normally for 2 hours, I have no idea what to do for lunch.  He has dry cereal for breakfast cheerios or shreddies, then a snack around 10 of fruit and a biscuit.  But then he has milk before his sleep (have to also stop this), then when he wakes he's not hungry until around 3.30 when he has lunch, which he rarely eats, then dinner is as late as 6.30 which he will usually eat.

I have no idea what to do, am in abit of a muddle and would love for him to eat properly, drink milk from sippy.  Any ideas   Sorry its abit rambly.

Sarah
x

[Shiv52]

{{{hugs}}}

How much milk is he having in the day?  That can have a big impact on appetite.

I think at this age you just have to drop the bottle cold turkey.  Just start providing milk in a sippy with meals and no more bottles. 

In short if you want him to eat a more varied diet you just provide it.  No more catering to the small list of foods he eats.  You provide healthy balanced meals and if he eats great, if not thats ok too.   Do not provide alternatives if he refuses a meal. 

I would start small and provide meals with 2 things he likes, 1 he used to eat and 1 he is not likely to eat and go from there.  Don't provide so much of the things he likes that he will have no appetite for trying the others.  No pressure on him to eat but just encourage and no big deal if he doesn't. 

does he like dips?  I was  often able to convince my LO to eat lots of veggies if she could dip them in sauce or cream cheese. 

What does he do if you provide him with a meal he doesn't like?

[LisaK1]

Hi Sarah, just following along. My boy is 2 in nov and naps at 11.30 for 2 hrs also (when he is at home that is!) I wonder if you dropped the milk befor the nap would your lo wake up hungry and have lunch for you earlier?  I'm no expert but looks like you are snacking him throughout the day so maybe he only gets truly hungry towards enc of day?just a thought as I've had to stop doing this kind of thing with my lo in order for him to be hungry enough at each meal sitting to really tuck in. What do you think? I worried harry wouldn't sleep if he didn't have something to eat b4 nap but it doesn't bother him and he wakes up ready for lunch.....

[LisaK1]

Sorry my last post didn't say that I've gotten my lo to eat more variety by him being hungry and ready for food, much more willing to try new things wierdly....also agree with everything the other person said too. It's hard!!

[lilly_kitt]

Hi

Thanks for the responses, if I give him something he doesn't like then he just says no and walks away.  He wont try anything he doesn't like the texture or look of, and actually shudders when he picks it up.
He used to eat things like sweetcorn and peas but now they are also off the list.
I have another thread about the milk problem thats going on.  He has 3oz around nap time and 8oz for bed and its formula as cows milk gives him a bad belly.

He wont touch milk in sippy cups, have tried loads and he just point blank refuses.  I know this is something we have to sort.