*kinda spin off* Getting Kids to Eat Healthy

[MonsterMummy]

After reading TB&M's thread about unhealthy lunches I am beginning to get terrified of being judged for my son's unhealthy eating.

He's only 20 months, yes, but he has a VERY limited diet.

So what do you do, do you not give your child alternatives and let them go hungry? Do you ease them into better eating? Go cold turkey? Add in the restrictions of not being able to have dairy and that already cuts out a lot of the "healthy" options. Then add in that he refuses to eat meat...

[SpecialPatrolGroup]

Don't feed him based on the judgement of others, feed him based on meeting his needs.

[delirium]

I have always provided alternatives. My kids are good eaters so I don't buy the idea that doing so allows them to develop bad eating habits. I do ask them to try the food and have a few bites though before the alternative that's the rule. They have to have 2 bites. I find most of the time they end up saying yum.

I also put the vegies on their plate I know they will eat and like (carrot, corn and broccoli are favs) and I will put a few slices of something else and ask that they just eat one bite. If they don't like it, then they eat the vegies they do like.

So we have a policy of serving food we know they eat with some they may not have in the past just to get them to keep trying it.

[Elijahs Mum]

What kinds of things does he eat - sensory issues aside its still quite possible to change a 2 year olds eating habits

[BabyG4]

Never to old or late to change eating habits. There are plenty of healthy option even if you are limited to different textures, no meat or dairy. Be creative and sneaky with hiding some food if you can get away with that. Lots of fb pages too that I get some great recipes from.

In saying that he is your son and you can feed him what ever you like. If other people have a problem with it, well that's their issue not yours!

[Busy-Bee]

Both mine are pretty good eaters.

We simply do not buy a lot of the food that is not optimal. This includes white bread, salty crackers, flavoured milk, snack/choc bars, processed cheese, sugary yoghurts etc. Juice is for parties or occasionally they can have a popper on a weekend. "Fruit drinks" are always a no-no. Our fall-back dinner is usually a packet of fresh ravioli with a bottled sauce, grated cheese and some frozen veggies.

This is a typical lunch for DS. He doesn't have to eat it all but I encourage him to eat a little bit from each section. As you can see the sections are roughly divided up into food groups so this means he gets a little bit of food from each of the food groups.

Food.jpg

We emphasise the nutritional value of the food over taste or anything else. For example I will often put a boiled egg in DS's lunch (and 1/2 one in DD's lunch) and point out to them that this will give them lots of sustained energy for the rest of the day and help you concentrate in school. They also know that eating cheese and yoghurt helps you grow and we all know how keen kids are to grow!! Eating fresh fruit and veggies helps to keep you healthy especially when you are recovering from a sickness (and I point out to DS how little time he has off school due to illness).

It's a big issue in this house as DH and I both have food/eating issues and we are so very keen to do everything we can to minimise the risk of passing this to the kids.

[ThenThereWereThree]

At 20 months my eldest ate

Vegemite sandwiches.
And breast milk lol


They were the only good substances my child would eat at that age,I just kept offering other foods and once older I gave a you don't have to eat everything on your plate but you do have to try it policy.
Must one lick has done wonder and we have a much wider variety these days

[littlelove]

My DS is 18mo and is a very fussy eater, he has been since we introduced solids. He's veru hesitant to try anything new. Sometimes I'll have to put something on his plate for 2-3 weeks before he'll actually try it! But for us, persistence is key.
Also, we found that he eats a lot more/trys new things easier if we sit down to eat with him and have the same things in our plate.

[Amiedoll]

We always eat together If I'm unsure if they'll eat it I'll put a bit extra on my plate and offer them a taste (never fails, they love to share whatever we are eating ).
We don't buy a lot of junk food, so most options are either healthy or home made (so not as bad as heavily processed food).
The occasional bit of junk is fine here, it's sometimes food because we don't buy it often
I also like to give my 2 yo a choice when possible (like a banana or piece of bread), helps her feel like it's her choice

[BigRedV]

My eldest was a fussy eater at that age.

Her dinners were limited to spaghetti bolognese, scrambled eggs, sausages with corn on the cob. That's all she would eat for dinner. She is 6 years old now but at 20 months it's hard to tell them that there's nothing else. Until I could tell her that that was it with her understanding, I offered what she would eat and then introduced more stuff as she got older. Now she's really curious to try new things and whilst I would like her to eat more things (she's not a fan of steak, lamb cutlets etc) but she will eat chicken breast and thigh fillets, some fish, any kind of mince so I can make many healthy meals from those things. She's still not a huge fan of veges (she doesn't even like potato) but I can put heaps of veges in the mince and she loves my home made vege soups. She will eat stir fries, zucchini slice etc.