Oh no! Toddler is becoming picky.

[Caidyn]

DS just turned one year old. We eat a very clean and healthy diet with no processed foods and wanted to ensure a healthy diet for DS so we started BLW (baby led weaning) at 6 months. He used to love his veggies, quinoa, beans, lentils, etc. but has started to he refuse healthy foods because he wants bananas, mangos and other sweet fruits instead. This really upsets he as I want him to eat well. All help and suggestions are muchly appreciated!

Thank you!

[Trooper]

Some slightly helpful tips

We haven't unlocked the secret to the same problem entirely, but we're getting there. Our little guy ate almost everything when we first started him on solids (except lentils - never liked them ). Once he started day care, he got sick frequently from the exposure to other germs, and because he was underweight, we simply fed him whatever he wanted. He soon caught on and started refusing the stuff he used to like: if it's colourful, he won't touch it. If it's bland in colour, like bread, meat (usually, not always), potatoes and fish, he'll usually eat it.

I try and put three things on his plate at each meal (except breakfast - he'll take almost anything at breakfast because it's carbs and eggs): something he generally loves, something he often eats, and something he probably won't touch. We've started insisting that he stay at the table until my husband and I are done (we only take about 20 minutes or so to eat on any given night - this rule would not apply if we had adult company over). So long as he isn't overtired from an active day, he often at least touches the food he doesn't like, and he may put it in his mouth. Even if he spits it out, we consider it a success that he at least tried it. We often won't replenish the stuff he loves until he at least tries what he doesn't like. But this we play by ear: if he's tired or overly cranky, we don't attempt it.

He goes to day care, so we often try and pack him a lunch that looks like what they're eating. We've had mixed successes with this: he has eaten green beans, and I did up a mexican taco mix (drug-free beef and spices) with food-processor finally chopped carrots and green peppers. Add unsalted nacho chips, and he ate it all. And this was inspired but what they were serving at day care. But he'll sometimes eat his vegetable soup, and sometimes he won't, for example.

My sister did the more traditional make-your-kid-sit-at-the-table-until-they've-eaten-everything, and she said that while it was stressful for a few weeks, my nephew (one month older) does actually eat everything. But it's not quite my chosen way of doing it yet (or my husband's).

So we're still looking for ideas ourselves, but we've made some headway with the above, slightly more gentler approaches.

I'll certainly be watching this thread for any more tips!

Trooper, Mom of Khristopher, 21 months old

[nukuspot]

We have the same thing here and it started at the same age. At 12 months DD no longer wanted her broccoli, quinoa, avocado, etc. She just wanted fruit! So I mix things with the fruit. For example tonight she has pears pureed with kale like a smoothie, and this morning she had blueberry oatmeal with hemp butter and coconut oil. I'm trying to be creative but sometimes I run out of ideas. She would happily just eat fruit all day long if I let her.

[Llyra]

It really is so common at this age. One year olds are notorious the world over for being extremely light eaters, and for being very choosy. I don't think there's anything you can do, except roll with it. Keep offering the same variety of good choices, and they'll eat when their appetite guides them to the food. They really need so very little to sustain them at this age-- their growth slows down markedly.

What I wouldn't do-- I wouldn't start only offering the things you know he'll accept readily. I did that with DD1, and the list of things she'd eat got smaller and smaller. If the LO doesn't want to eat from the choices on offer, I would just say, "oh, okay, you're not wanting to eat? That's fine-- here, let's get down and play." And then try again at the next meal or snack time.

And of course you sharply limit access to "junk" that will fill baby up and keep baby from being hungry for more nutritious foods. I would especially limit juice, and processed carbs--anything with sugar or white flour, for instance.

I think the more casual and matter-of-fact you are about it, the more likely it is to be just a passing phase, and the less likely it is to turn into a big serious issue. FWIW, I know how hard it is to watch them live on "air and mangoes" for weeks at a time. My DD1 ate nothing but sliced peaches and yogurt for MONTHS. She's almost six now and eats almost everything the rest of the family eats, and is very healthy. So I say nothing if they eat, nothing if they don't eat, and just keep offering very small, manageable portions of whatever the rest of us are eating.

It gets worse before it gets better-- I won't lie about that. The phase can last into the preschool years. My three year olds are just starting to expand their repertoire again. But it does pass. And most of the time, the LOs continue to grow and thrive, even when it seems to us like they're starving themselves.

[chely7425]

I concur that it does get worse before it gets better... we have a 1 and a 2 year old and the 2 year old is definitely more picky than the 1 year old who is apparently a bottomless pit at this point. We just keep offering them healthy nutritious foods. We do breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner and if they eat they eat and if they don't they don't. They won't starve themselves and I know it isn't a sensory issue so we just don't make a big fuss about it. I think a lot of it, especially with the older toddlers, is probably an independence sort of thing so we just let them be and make sure they have options.