Does your DC eat fish? (and more)

HisBetterHalf

Yesterday DH and I were talking about DDs diet.  She's a pretty typical toddler and east probably 15-20 different foods but its interested in trying new things.  I'm fine with it b/c the things that she does eat are healthy and we really limit sweets and stuff.  However, she doesn't eat a lot of variety of fruits and veggies.  She likes certain ones and that is it.  I try explaining all of this to DH and tell him that some toddlers literally eat like 1 or 2 things and won't eat anything else and that we are lucky for the way DD eats but he consistently thinks that we should be exposing her to more things hence the fish question.  Neither DH or I eat fish regularly.  I may get shrimp or lobster if we're dining out but we never make haddock or anything like that at home because we're just not big fans of it.  But DH seems to think that DD need to eat fish.  I know its very good for you but I know that she won't eat it or try it if we're not eating it too and I don't feel like wasting the money to buy it.  I also told DH that I think fish is an acquired tasted and most young children don't like it or eat it regularly (I could be wrong though but just saying this from kids that I know). 

So, does your DC basically eat a diet consistent to what you generally eat or do you buy stuff that you don't like just to be sure your child is exposed to it?  I think DDs diet is fine but I want to take DHs concerns into consideration as well.

mrsterry

Fish is something that I could always guarantee that my boys will eat (especially Alexander, the pickiest of them all).  His absolute favorite is tuna.

krub

We eat salmon and tilapia and DD will now eat it too.  It took a couple tries, but the last time I had salmon she ate half of mine.  DS doesn't eat anything we eat, he's beyond picky.

LittleMamaB

My boy eats anything (except eggs, for some odd reason). He has never been picky. I do buys foods for him that I don't eat, but that's not too hard to do because I am an extremely picky eater. I really try to expose him to lots of foods so he doesn't end up like me. So far, so good.

Kersbear

Carter loves fish and has ate it now for a long time.  I have to say though that I lucked out with a child that will eat anything.  He has never been picky and the only food he has ever refused was stuffed green peppers when he was younger, but now he'll eat them.

snowflakemom

DD eats tilapia, tuna and shrimp - whatever we eat. There are a few things we eat that she doesn't (chili, for one) but for the most part she eats whatever we eat. I do make an effort to buy new and different things to expose her to, and I don't always eat those things. I'm kind of a picky eater but am trying to get better because I don't want DD to turn out that way!

brightning

I don't like "fishy" fish, but I like tilapia and orange roughie, which are very mild tasting. Tilapia is cheaper and you might try making that some night - I bake mine with lemon, garlic, olive oil and butter - and find that it's not so bad. DD will also eat tuna fish sandwiches, salmon and shrimp. But in the end, I don't think anyone ever ended up malnourished because they didn't eat fish.

AZ_Erica

DS eats fish when we have it (about once a week)  He eats cod, salmon, mahi mahi, and tuna.  DS is not your typical toddler eater though, he eats everything.  We like pretty much everything so DS gets a pretty wide variety.  However, if there were a lot of things I didn't like I would probably buy them and cook them for DS so he is exposed to them.  My SIL has to do this for my niece because my SIL is very picky and doesn't want my niece to be.

Amanda&Chris

Both of my kids love fish and will eat all kinds.  We eat fish about once a week and the kids eat it with us.  I  haven't given DD any shellfish yet.  I don't know why because I don't even know anyone with a shellfish allergy, but for some reason I am paranoid about it.  But she eats salmon, tilapia, red snapper, halibut, etc.

wellfleet04

Kate eats fish.  She will not eat any chicken/beef/other meat, but she will eat fish, so I make it for her/us pretty frequently.  She likes baked tilapia, ginger soy salmon, whatever. 

I do try to expose Kate to things I/we don't eat, like sweet potatoes, but I wouldn't buy something expensive like fish if DH and I were not going to eat it.  Kate is not a typical toddler eater, though.  She ate spicy jalepeno chili for lunch, for example. I'd say you could try it a couple times for you, DH and DD, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Snshine

My son will eat any white flaky fish but we don't have it often.

Angela814

DD eats fish.  She likes tuna fish, salmon, and fish patties/fish sticks (so that processed white meat stuff).  Oh, and she also likes imitation crab which is really just white fish.  DH and I both like fish, so we might have it once a week or once every couple weeks.  We only make it because we like it.  I wouldn't go out of my way to expose her to brussel sprouts... I've actually never had them and have no idea how to prepare them anyway.

marrymemylove

DS eats his fruit and veg like a champion. He is picky, and for months he'll only like 3 kinds of veg or fruit. He's never been great on meat or fish.?

I think ?variety is totally overrated. When I was a toddler my mum took me to the maternal child health nurse and said but she'll only eat carrots, apples, mandarins, beans, peas, potato and rice. That's it. No meat, no fish, no more variety.

The child health nurse said - and what's wrong with any of those things??? If the child is healthy and what they're eating is healthy don't stress. They'll expand when they're ready. By all means keep offering more variety as you're probably serving it for the rest of the family, but it really isn't a big deal.

Example - my mum (despite story above) stressed that DS didn't eat enough red meat. He really doesn't like it, chews it up and spits it out. He eats mince (ground beef to you) or sausages but neither is great for nutrition/iron. She is totally paranoid and keeps trying to sneak in more spinach (my response - mum he just ate AN ENTIRE head of broccoli, cut sneaking the spinach will you?). Then my gran tells the story about how when her first child was born during WW2 she lived on a farm, grandpa was in the army and she and her toddler lived on milk from the farm's cow, stone fruit (it was a fruit farm) and nasturium soup. It was all they had to eat for nearly a year. Gran got really skinny but her 2 year old grew well. Point - it is really over thinking it to worry about variety at that age and DS is NOT suffering from a lack of red meat.

On fish specifically, DS has gone through phases. For a while he'd want fish most nights of the week. He loved the fish fingers in europe too (where they are really shaped whole fillets not minced fish). Now he rejects it mostly. I'm sure he'll change his preferences again. Kids have fads. Don't worry about it.