Toddler Food

[tillyfloss]

I have a 15 month old toddler who has always been funny with food - even when first born from day one she was not that interested - she eats ok but only under some level of protest most of the time and heaven forbid if she's just not in the mood!

She's a healthy weight and doing fab but now she is at an age where I want to encourage her towards more grown up food but I am lousy with cooking and have no ideas for easy to whip up meals or even good toddler sarnies fillings for lunches! Since it has been so difficult to get food she will happily eat I admit I have stuck too closely to the brands of 'baby & toddler' foods you can buy off the shelf... my own fault but now I want to rectify that as I know it is my job to teach her to eat better....

Can anyone give me any suggestions for meals that are easy to make and don't really involve a lot of cooking? I want to bring on her enthusiasm for food if that makes sense since she seems to only really love yoghurt! (signing off now but any suggestions would be really appreciated)... thanks :-)

[ethanryan]

chicken and rice
jacket potato
pasta shapes

[isymcd]

Lots of good toddler recipe books - Lorraine Kelly one ok. Perserve. Apparenlty kids need to be introduced to a new food 6-8 times before they are able to decide if they like or dislike it.

My 2 year old is a terrible eater but i find what works best is to appear unstress (difficult as it really stresses me), put food in front of her and leave her too it. You are doing something right if she is a good weight.

[curiosity]

Good on you. It is so easy to get stressed about kids eating, and they know it, I used to remind myself that their stomachs are actually a lot smaller than ours, which helped. But also my daughter would often say she didn't like things, usually when she wasn't very hungry. She'd eat most things after the swimming baths. But I started to accept initially that she didn't want lunch when she said she didn't want anything, then I would make my own (+ enough for her) and sit down to eat, say poached eggs on toast, and she would ask for a bit, and usually end up eating the lot! The next time I'd make us both some, as we both knew she liked it, it was a good way of introducing new foods. My daughter loved tuna pasta bake, fish fingers, smiley faces, corned beef hash, special bean sandwichs (basically beans on toast, with mushier beans rather than runny served as four quarter toasted sandwiches) She likes tuna & sweetcorn sandwiches. The packets of pasta in sauce, cod in sauce & chicken.

[tillyfloss]

Thanks for your answer and tips everyone :-)

isymcd - thanks, it helps to know I am not the only one out there who's going through/been through this :-) sometimes with all my friends kids being 'good' eaters it feels like its my fault so at least I know I am not alone

curiosity - you are so right that kids know when we are stressed so thanks for the tips and encouragement :-) i will try some of the meal suggestions you have listed - keep your fingers crossed for me! x

[FUZZYBEE]

Another thing that definately works is letting them get involved in preparation. Even if it turns out just to be buttering some bread, I really found that if they helped to make it they were more inclined to eat it. I also used to make food into a face, cucumber for eyes cherry tomato for nose etc, time consuming yes but when you become a bit desperate for them to eat you'll do anything.
Pasta shapes with grated cheese.