N2IFR: toddler meal ideas?

KC1212 · March 2014

My son is 2 and we are entering that weird food stage. One day he eats like a horse, the next day he eats like a bird.

I'm struggling with food ideas for him outside of chicken nuggets and macoroni.

And here lately all he wants to eat is cheese.

What do you feed your kiddos?

GraceyandTroy · March 2014

My son is 14 mos and does the same thing. It's especially frustrating for me, because he's in the 2nd percentile. He's so small and his doctors are so worried about him that it's freaking me out when he doesn't want to eat. But when he does eat, a lot of times he just eats whatever I'm eating. Every now and then, I'll make a casserole or some sort of food that I know he really likes, and then put it in ice cube trays and freeze it. That makes it easy when we're kind of rushed to get a good meal. I also do a lot of steamed veggies that way and mashed potatoes. Same as when he was on purées but now I just cook and prepare regular food and freeze it that way.

KC1212 · March 2014

Meal times are crazy right now. This morning he barely touched breakfast (biscuits) and he didn't eat much "lunch" which was more the size of a snack. I made him peanut butter crackers and cheese and crackers. All he ate was the cheese.

So today has consisted of a partial biscuit and cheese. What the hell?

He eats almost zero meat.

I'm kinda just at a loss on what to offer him.

And the only veggies he likes is corn and tomatos (he'll eat raw tomatoes by the handful).

GraceyandTroy · March 2014

I give him pediasure, too. It kind of grosses me out, but he loves it. He had a bad reaction to milk, if he drinks too much, it makes him sick. But a little dairy is okay, so I mix whole fat greek yogurt unto his food. Since it only comes in plain, I can add it to savory foods like mac and cheese or sweet foods like oatmeal. But I do have to be careful not to give him too much!

It's very frustrating.

GraceyandTroy · March 2014

Would your LO drink a smoothie? If so, you can add yogurt, avocados, and even nuts to them without compromising the taste. If you add nuts or oats or something like that, be sure to grind them to a powder first so the texture is still nice and smooth.

pettycrocker · March 2014

Lol we're *just* getting out of this stage so I see her eating normally again. I've tried different tricks depending on the day, and I try to swap out things like mashed potatoes, with mashed cauliflower (we can't tell the difference anyway) sometimes I'll give her her veggies first, let her eat a bit of that before I give her anything else (sometimes if that's all they think they are getting they will eat it) I'll give her a bit of salad dressing or ketchup- toddlers LOVE to dip their food.

If I know she's on a chicken kick, I don't mind making chicken 6 days in a row. I know she'll eat mac & cheese, so I mix the veggies in it, she's usually hungry enough not to bother picking them out :P

Also now she's realizing she prefers juice and chocolate milk over water and regular milk, so I have to work with those too- which usually means a cup of water with just a splash of apple juice, not that juice and chocolate milk are a problem, I just like to limit the sugar intake.

I try to avoid a lot of "fillers" like bread and pasta, if I can, so that she's more likely to eat actual food instead of just licking a piece of bread for 20 mins.. Ykwim?

Try making up toddler friendly names for food that he might not want to mess around with. If I call anything "Monster xyz" she'll eat it. She wants to be a monster, and eat what monsters eat, so if a bowl of spinach is "Monster Spinach" she's all about that shit. Oh and, you said he likes cheese, so if he's not eating something, try letting him sprinkle some parmesean on it! That works here too, she's obsessed with cheese, and even more obsessed with applying her own cheese.

You just have to be a food ninja for a while, for us this phase lasted probably about a year.

pettycrocker · March 2014

Oh and for a while I had to bribe her with a treat. If she really was just sitting there pushing food around, I told her she had to eat TWO bites of her veggies or she wasn't getting whatever treat was for desert, and since she's a 2 y/o who doesn't really know what two bites is, I could usually get her to finish her broccoli this way LOL, I would just keep saying "Good! Now ONE more" and she'd just keep going lol.. Whenever she finally stopped, she'd get her desert.

So if he's not into treats just yet, but you know he is into cheese, and tomatoes, you can use these things for now as his after dinner "treat" just keep your expectations low initially. I think if you can get him to take 2 legitimate bites (no sneaky chew and spits), that's a great starting point!

KC1212 · March 2014

@graceyandtroy I have some frozen fruit in the freezer - I'll give the smoothie idea a try. Originally, I bought it to make these fertility smoothie recipes I found online and but, it's really just fruit and veggies blended with milk or yogurt so maybe I'll give that a try (plus if he sees me drinking it, it doesn't matter if it's mud water- he wants it).

@mrscastillo thank you. Yes, you just described what I'm going through and your ideas are sneaky brilliant. Love them. I'm going to start trying them all! Thank you!

Thank you both!

Jen071407 · March 2014

I don't have much to add. We got lucky with kids that eat what we eat. My 3yo still eats in spurts though (5yo did when she was younger). Some days she eats like a bird, then all of a sudden bam! Bottomless pit. My mom said I did the same thing. I really don't like force feeding, so as long as they're a healthy weight I'm not huge on "clean plates," but I will save their dinner or whatever so if they're hungry later that's what they eat first.

tuscanbride2007 · March 2014

My daughter is an extremely picky eater but I got lucky that she likes fruits and some veggies. Have you tried edamame? Since my daughter is just starting to like meat, we used to feed her tons of edamame so that she could get the protein. You can buy it in the freezer section and steam it. We take it out of the pods for her.

rmpar29 · March 2014

I've had a problem getting my boys to eat some days too. I've also used the "treat" after dinner, which is usually a cookie for one and a fruit snack for the other. My one son will do anything for a fruit snack! I also use fun things, like they have to eat their dinner in order to watch Dora afterwards, or to go outside they have to eat a good lunch. I add a splash of juice to their water and a teaspoon of strawberry Kwik to their milk. My backups are always mac n cheese or they like salami or turkey pepperoni and cheese if I can't get them to eat anything else. They love to "dip dip dip" so ketchup is a staple with just about every meal. We put a bit of cheese on some things and it seems to help.

Good luck! 2 year olds are incredibly finicky! Mine are in the 5th and 1st percentile, so I understand the need to get them to eat. Thankfully, the closer they get to 3 the easier it is to get them to eat...at least that's true for my two.

Momarazzi007 · March 2014

i do whole milk plain greek yogurt, a banana, and a half a cup - to a cup of Naked all fruit juice and that w an egg (sometines two) and i dont stress the rest of the day- at least she got one good meal.... picky toddlers... the rest of day maybe another banana, some goldfish (toe fish for those in the know) and usualy she will eat a few bites of what we eat for dinner- but usually off dadfy's plate- he is more likely to have something sweet... ugh- hard to win w the headstrong boogers!!!

AprilDrew04 · March 2014

My daycare tots love waffles. I have also started giving them the yogurt tubes - freeze first and cut in half. They may need help pushing the yogurt up the tube, but they all loved it. I also supplemented with pediasure. Whenever I felt like DD didn't eat enough that day, she got a pediasure. They come in banana, strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. This phase does eventually pass.

EmAre · March 2014

Portion plates.

My daughter (4) has special needs which include medical & behavioral feeding issues. I have found portion plates to be extremely helpful. The plate we use has 4 sections and I try to always include a preferred food in the biggest slot, a fruit, a veggie, and then whatever (a dipping sauce, another preferred food, 1 piece of candy) in the smallest slot. This always keeps me mindful of providing her with healthy choices and keeps her consistently exposed to foods she should be eating. I swear by it!

KC1212 · March 2014

Omg ya'll! Thank you SO much! You ladies are awesome! I have so much to work with now.

I'm not strict food wise and he doesn't have to clean his plate but, I know he has to eat something besides cheese! Lol!

Momarazzi007 · March 2014

also, my pediatrician old me too look at her food intake over the week, not day (hard, but makes sense) they gorge on what they usualky miss at some point.

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