picky toddler

[mom61508]

Ok TF mamas I need help! Dd is 22 months old and has become very picky eater....I'm going crazy with this! All she wants is fruit, coconut yogurt or bread with butter

She won't eat chicken,beef,lamb and now won't even eat her uncured hot dogs that she once loved. She won't touch a vegetable, no broth, when I make dinner she usually won't eat it. I can get her to eat eggs sometimes but because I'm sensitive to them I'm worried she may be as well so I don't want to push the eggs on a daily basis. I have tried coconut milk smoothies with no luck(she used to love those), the list could go on! I'm in Va for a few months so I can't get raw milk or cream and those are the 2 things she LOVES!

She's a petite little thing so I worry she's not getting enough protein and fat. I hoping I can get some food ideas here or ideas on how to get her to want to eat better.

[covertlycrunchy]

Don't Panic!

Kids go through all sorts of stages, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just keep presenting her with healthy foods and let her decide what she feels like eating. She may not need that many calories right now & that is ok. If she is truly hungry she will eat. Have you tried fruit? Usually, that will get them to eat *something* at least. Also, my first HATED greens (still does) but my second girl LOVES them. So, try different things out with her 'till something "clicks".
Good Luck!

ETA: Bacon can work wonders!!

[Koalamom]

Yes could be a stage, and may be over soon.

[Llyra]

Two year olds the world over are notorious for this kind of behavior. It's normal and no big deal. A healthy neurotypical child will not starve herself-- all you can do is just keep making good foods available.

The fact is that their growth slows down a LOT at this age, and they really don't need that many calories to maintain it. Kids this age tend to do things like eat nothing for days, and then have a really good day, and then nothing for a few more days. Or they eat one good meal a day, and pick the rest of the day. Stuff like that. Somehow they all manage to grow into the size they're meant to be genetically. If they ate as much as we often want them to, they would wind up putting on more weight than is healthy for their own body types. Chances are she's just meant to be bitty, and that this is what's healthy for her.

What I wouldn't do is start just offering the few things she's willing to eat, and not continuing to offer a variety. I found with DD1 that if I just made what I knew she'd eat, the list of things she would eat got smaller and smaller with time. With my other two, I continued to make varied meals, and let them pick from what was on offer, but if they didn't want to eat those things, I just let her get down from the table, and figured they'd make up for it when they were hungry. And they mostly did.

I think the most important thing is to be blase about it. Just be like here's what there is, do you want any? No? Okay that's fine you let me know if you do. When we start trying to "get them to eat," they often get resistant. The last thing you want is for food to become an "issue."

[mom61508]

thanks mamas for the wonderful advice.

I won't panic