How do you get a 2 year old toddler to eat savoury food?

Question

We've tried most things - disguising it with pudding etc, but never get her to eat more than 1 or 2 spoonfuls. Mealtime is usually a battle & ends in her crying & throwing a tantrum. Sweet food (i.e. puddings) are NEVER a problem!

Answer 1

i had this problem with my daughter. Make meal time fun. Include her in the preparation. Start out with cold foods, sandwiches, salad etc. Ask her to help you make faces with the food to hold her interest. I used to make a face with food on my daughters plate and say things like.......

When mummy get ready in the morning the first thing she does is do her hair (my daughter would then eat the cheese strings that made the hair)

Next would be eye make up, lips etc. Try it. All the best and good luck x

Answer 2

try sweet savoury foods eg sweetcorn, sweet potato, peas etc and offer them frequently. You could withold puddings for a few weeks as a last resort until she was eating savoury foods well, it depends on how good her appetite is, and how strong a child she is, but children will eat once they are hungry. Put only very very small portions of savoury foods on the plate so that she doesn't feel overwhelmed by teh quantity seh has to eat, some kids won't bother to start if they don't feel they can finish, only a couple of mouthfuls, then ask for more, be very enthusiastic with your own consumption of savoury foods 'mmm, almb chops, so yummy, I love lamb chops' etc, the child will think she is missing out on something and want some of what you have, make out like it's a real treat, and she'll be taken in, keep offering things, even when refused ie for many mealtimes in a row, children prefer to be very familiar with foods, let her join in cooking and preparing foods e.g shelling peas, maybe growing her own veg- this is a long term solution, and limit her intake of sweet foods to mostly fruit and fruit purees to ensure she is getting plenty of vitamins and minerals and not too many fats and sugars.
You're are setting up her tastes and appetite for a life time, so perservere, and good luck!

Answer 3

We've had the same problem, but found that making mealtimes an issue makes it so much worse - especially for you! (easy to say I know). How about soups with lots of veggies blended to mush? Try parsnips/swede/sweet potato as a soup, add some cream and maybe a drop of honey or peanut butter (not much!). Our 2 1/2 year old still won't eat chunks of veggies, it all has to be soup or mash, must be a texture thing. If it becomes an attention getter (ours did for a while) we just kept offering the original meal and when he refused we let him go hungry one night, (not after a raging battle though) and next day was a lot better!

Answer 4

Two things come to mind. Firstly stop all sweet food immediately, only offer meals not puddings until they are being eaten and secondly dont allow mealtimes to become a battlefield, otherwise food will become a larger problem. Meal times will become worse before they improve but stick with it and eventually it will work out. Stay patient!

Answer 5

Keep the sweets away first of all! Only give her healthy snacks like fruit. Have her help you make a list of all the foods she likes. Surely there are some things on the list that are good for her. Stick to those for now and introduce new foods one at a time. I found a great way to get my son to eat veggies. We grew a small garden and let him help plant the seeds, pull weeds etc. Then when it was time to pick the harvest, he was excited to try eating what he had grown. It somehow tastes better when you grow it yourself, or so they think! He now will eat broccoli and green beans and squash! Good luck!

Answer 6

Hi. I found that the best way to get my son to eat anything was to involve him in cooking it. He liked making things like those sausage mix things, and also tomato ketchup is quite sweet, so that can be helpful. My son used to love mashing potatoes and mixing in mashed swede or parsnip and watching the colours change. Really it was about making mealtimes fun rather than a fight. The best thing that you can do though, is to give loads of praise for eating the right foods and ignore the bad behaviour. All kids would rather be praised.

Good luck

Answer 7

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Answer 8

My son is 17 months and he hasn't eaten anything sweet . I give yoghurt's for puddings. You didn't give examples of what she doesn't like. Surely she doesn't eat just sweet things?? The only thing you can do is change her meals. Sounds cruel but she won't starve. When she realises that is all she's getting, she will start to eat it. Make things like fish fingers, mash and peas, arrange it like a face on the plate and when she eats it reward her with a biscuit but let her know she only gets sweet food as a reward.

Answer 9

If possible, get someone else to feed her a couple of times. My friend's son was a nightmare at mealtime and played his mother like a fiddle. When Mum went to the States for a break, Dad became cook. Miraculously, when Mum returned, child was eating everything on his plate without complaint.

Answer 10

This is a topic we talk about at the Kimkins diet site because sweet foods are a big contributor being obese later in life. Many of our members trace their weight problem to choices in childhood.

For my own children I kept sweets away. From when they were babies I fed them cereal with sugar or fruit juice, diced meat, chicken & seafood, a wide assortment of different veggies and small amounts of whole grain rolls, breadsticks.

You're doing the right thing. Offer her a small amount of a spicy or savory food. Don't make a big deal about it. Don't offer anything sweet. Have normal meal conversation and let her decide what she's going to eat.

The trick is for her to be hungry at meal times. Don't offer sweet snacks between meals. Celery with peanut butter, sliced veggies with dip, whole wheat rolls, mini servings of dinner items like spaghetti all make good "snacks".

It would be good for you to get her away from sweets now while she's young. At 2 she'll forget quickly. Just don't buy junk food.