[fyoosh]

My son, who just turned 3, seems to not want to eat ANYTHING but chicken nuggets.

:

How do I get some other types of foods into him?? I don't want him eating chicken nuggets for pretty much every meal (he will eat cereal/graham crackers for breakfast). I also don't think I want to offer something else and do the whole "well that is what you get, if you don't eat it, you don't eat" thing either.

I tried having him try some fried plantains tonight, no go -- even though he normally likes bananas and these taste like sweet bananas. Oh well.

Any suggestions?

 

[Rigama]

Offer offer offer.

My DS went through this with corn dogs when he was 2.5-3ish. That's ALL the kid wanted! I would give him as many appropriate choices as I could, both food wise and in daily life. For example, I'd tell him "you can have cereal or eggs with ketchup for breakfast". His response would be "I want a corndog instead." I'd tell him "Mmmm..A corn dog sounds really good. Let's have that for lunch and you can have eggs or cereal now." Usually it would work. If he wouldn't tell me which he wanted, or if he didn't waver from his corndog stance, I'd tell him "Well I'll tell you what, I'll choose for you. How about eggs...I think I'll have some too. For lunch we'll have corndogs". Then I would totally involve him in the cooking of the eggs...counting, cracking, sprinkling cheese. That worked like a charm!

Then I'd hold true and have corn dogs for lunch...Served with a side of veggies and dip or mandarin oranges or anything else I could come up with to add some nutrition. I'm happy to announce I haven't had to buy corndogs in 6 or 7 months...He's quite sick of them now! Relax. It's a small stage and it will pass. As my old, wise, wonderful Family Dr. said to me when I was in this boat..."It's your job to offer him healthy food, but it's his job to eat it!"

Good luck to you!
Rigama

 

[hipchick]

I just watched Supersize Me. Based on that movie (and what I knew before), I definitely wouldn't want my kids eating any of those mcnuggets...Deep fried, preservatives, plus guess what part of a chicken's anatomy that they are from? Since your son is only 3, then you should tell them that they ran out of mcnuggets and you can't feed him any. Hopefully, he will start eating other things soon (I don't think that he would want to starve). Good Luck.

 

[fyoosh]

It's not just McDonalds... I mean ANY kind of chicken nugget he will eat. Tyson's, Foster Farms, etc. Most of them are pretty decent, I just want him to have some variety

 

[johub]

Most toddlers get in food jags like this. I'd just keep offering other choices, and make sure the nuggets are as healthy as possible.
My kids love chicken nuggets too. I make them homemade in the oven though so they arent fried.
To make the meal more nutritious I will make oven baked carrot fries or sweet potato fries to go with the nuggets.
I think there is a lot you can do by varying what you serve with the nuggets.
Joline

 

[AAK]

At least you can make nuggets healthy. There is a great recipe in First Meals where she grinds chicken breast and apple together as part of a chicken nugget recipe. Since your son isn't adament about whose nuggets, maybe that would work for you.

Currently my dd is on a Honey Nut Cheerios craze and I have no idea where it came from. As a family we rarely eat cold cereal. DD1 won't have anything to do with milk so I never bothered with cold cereal with her. DD2 was usually fine with either eggs, oatmeal, or whole wheat toast with peanut butter and banana. Occasionally I would give her cold cereal with milk (out of convenience). Suddenly that is all she wants for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. It is frustrating. I was actually going to post about it too.

Amy

 

[fyoosh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAK At least you can make nuggets healthy. There is a great recipe in First Meals where she grinds chicken breast and apple together as part of a chicken nugget recipe. Since your son isn't adament about whose nuggets, maybe that would work for you.

That sounds kinda good... happen to have it handy??

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAK Currently my dd is on a Honey Nut Cheerios craze and I have no idea where it came from. As a family we rarely eat cold cereal. DD1 won't have anything to do with milk so I never bothered with cold cereal with her.

My son loves cold cereal, but he just eats it dry. He is a weird kid! He eats GRAPE NUTS. Dry. Just out of the box. Shovels the things in his mouth. Yeechh! I like Grape Nuts too, but I MUST put sugar and milk (usually for me I put Splenda and fat free half and half

) on them.

 

[shanagirl]

I would try to make them homemade because I do think children go through these jags. Those McNugget type finger foods are just hugely appealing to children. Also you might want to read with him the book "Bread and Jam for Frances" which is absolutely charming on this very issue. Frances will only eat bread and jam...

 

[AAK]

That sounds kinda good... happen to have it handy??

Yep, here it is.

3/4 lb chicken cutlets cut into chunks
1 lg onion diced
2 TB chopped fresh parsley
1 small apple, peeled & grated
3/4 cup fresh white bread crumbs
1 chicken bouillon cube crumbled
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
2 oz cheese and onion flavored chips, finely crushed
veg. oil for frying

Put the first 6 ingredients in a food processor and chop for a few seconds until well combined. Shape the mixture into a flat disk.

Use a cookie cutter to press out shapes (author uses a heart). Mix the bread crumbs and chips on a plate and press the pieces into the coating.

Heat enough oil in skillet for shallow frying. Add nuggets and cook for about 6 minutes, turning occasionally, until lightly golden and cooked through.

This recipe is suitable for freezing, so if you are going to bother making it, you might want to make a bunch so you can heat them up later. It came from "First Meals" by Annabel Karmel.

 

[sahli29]

//

 

[MOM2ANSLEY]

I agree with trying to make them healthy. What I do with dd is put out about 3 foods dd likes and leave them a few hours...when she is hungry she can pick what she wants, usually works... she won't eat everything I offer, but I know she will have something healthy.

 

[Sydnee]

Grear advice! I *so far*

haven't had that problem, my kids eat what we eat, and I've never heard any complaints. But then again, I don't really give choices on what we eat, I have my main menu every week. A couple days a week, I'll ask my older DD what she would like for lunch, and I make that.

 

[4evermom]

I'm just hoping that the 2 Tablespoons of ketchup that my ds eats with his nuggets count as a serving of vegetables. I buy Bell and Evans brand frozen nuggets because they are free of antibiotics and are white meat, then I bake them so at least ds isn't eating deep fried nuggets. He'll eat mac and cheese, too. I've taken to using squash or broccolli soup instead of milk (I get them in cartons at the health food store) when I make that.