same dinner every night?

[natasha]

Im a bit concerned about my 20 month old DD. She has now eaten the exact same dinner every night for the last 5 months or so! I make her new things and we sit at the table to eat. She will try it but then decide she doesn't like it.
I have tried putting her to bed without offering her an alternative, but this doesn't work, she still doesn't eat the dinner we put infront of her. She ends up going to bed hungry. We tried that for a week.

What Im wondering is, should i just give up trying to make her new things for now and stick to what she likes?? Im sick of throwing dinners away.

She eats fish fillets with potato balls every night!! Im thankful its fish and not something unhealthy. But surely this cant be good for her having it so often??

She has a variety of things throughout the day, I'd say her diet was okay. She eats fruit and sandwiches, and possibly sometimes some pasta.

Is it really okay that she is eating the same dinner every night?? Should i stop making new things and just give her what i know she will eat???

[the pero clinic]

Dear Natasha,

5 months is a long time to eat the exactly the same dinner! In answer to your question, it’s probably not a good thing that your daughter will not eat different foods at dinner time. While it is good that she is eating a variety of foods during the day (you should aim for at least 15 different foods each day), her extremely limited dinner repertoire indicates some fussy eating patterns which could become much worse before they get better.

It would be a good idea to start to overcome this issue now – before it’s a pattern that becomes even more ingrained.

Dinner time often isn’t a great time to try different foods or to work towards food or mealtime goals. Everyone is likely to be at their most tired and irritable point of the day.

To expand your daughter’s diet, try offering new or different foods during the day. It sounds as though she may have specific food refusal behaviours around her evening meal, so consider making her midday meal her main ‘dinner’ meal. Offer her the sandwiches in the evening, if you know that is a food she is more likely to eat.

Also begin to alter her fish and potato meal to gradually change it into new and different foods. Start by just presenting it differently (cut the fish into different size and shape pieces, gradually squash the balls down until one day it is mashed potato), then try adding a sauce or cheese to vary the flavour, and gradually add some pasta or a vegetable.

Finally, just remember that it can take a toddler numerous sightings and tastings of new foods to make an informed decision of whether a food is liked or not.

Have a look back through some previous responses around fussy eating to get some more ideas for managing difficult behaviour around food.

the pero clinic