My three year old won't eat anything but hotdogs.?

Question

He used to be pretty good at eating but now it's a war trying to get him to eat. I don't know what to do.

Answer 1

a white lie won't hurt. The supermarket ran out so he has to eat something else

Answer 2

First of all, don't turn it into a power struggle. That will just make him stick with hotdogs more. He will use it to assert his independence (which is totally normal, btw). It is your job as a parent to offer healthy choices, but you can't force a child to eat.

When you give hotdogs, try putting other things on the plate too. My three year old loves Nutragrain Yogurt Bars, apple slices, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken in ketchup, orange chunks, fruit snacks and fruit leather (the natural all fruit ones). I also have started to teach her about healthy food choices.

The only problem I see with your son's food of choice is that it is not a healthy choice for him to consume that many hotdogs. They have nitrates in them that raise the risk of childhood cancers. See the summary article below. Some alternative hot dog types would be the vegetarian hotdogs (Morningstar Farms is probably at your local grocery store) and nitrate free hotdogs, but these are brown looking so they look a little funny. BTW, I assume you aren't cutting the hotdogs into little circles. Kiddos can choke on them that way. Cut them into strips.

You have to look at what kids eat over a month or even six month time frame. They will load up on a food and then not eat it for awhile. Maybe their little bodies know what they need.

Just ease up and give him more control over his food selections by opening up more possiblities for him. Take him to the grocery store and talk about cooking with him. He is old enough to stir the batter for some muffins he picked out or to scoup yogurt from a large container into a bowl. And don't worry!!! Many kids have eaten one thing for a period in their lives and they are fine.

Answer 3

Ahh when I was 6 I ate hotdogs and baked beans for a whole summer, my mom still laughs about it. It is most likley a phase but you have to remember the size of their stomachs and eating habits are different than ours.
My 5 year old loves hotdogs we get him to eat raw carrots by dipping them in ranch and he likes lettuce with ranch.
Sunken burritos, frozen burritos with chili, cheese and sour cream.

So there is compromising you can do, other nights if he doesnt like what is for dinner I make him always try one bite but he does not get anything else for dinner, so he will eat more sides that night. I also keep a full basket of fruit onthe table my kids are allowed to grab at any time.

Answer 4

Have hot dogs once in a while, but otherwise offer him what you are eating. Make sure there is at least one thing on the table that he at least used to eat, but don't get up and cook him a separate hot dog.

If you cater to him, he'll realize he can get his way. Don't worry, when he gets hungry, he'll eat.

Toddlers can be oddly accepting of logic - if you tell him you've "run out" of hot dogs, he may try eating something else.

I agree with the person above, if he's involved in cooking & shopping, he may be more interested.

Answer 5

Welcome to the world of a toddler. My son went through that stage as well. I even talked to his pediatrician about it. It is a normal thing and not really something to worry about. At least he is eating something. You can try to get him to eat other foods with his hot dogs. That might work. It really just depends on how much of a fight you want to put up over the food. Eventually, maybe a month or so, he will decide to eat other foods again. It's sort of a control issue at this age. Nothing to worry about though.

Answer 6

My son is almost 4 now and he eats somedays. He started around 3 and they just don't eat. My oldest son did the same.
Don't force them to eat, they will eat when they are hungry. Some days they will go with barely eating a noodle then after a week or so they have one good day of eating. Just make sure he is drinking, juice, milk etc.
Believe me he will not starve himself.

Answer 7

Well, at the very least, buy some high quality hot dogs like reduced fat Hebrew Nationals.

Take a look at the children's book "Bread and Jam for Frances" where the main character wants to eat nothing but bread and jam so her mother feeds her nothing but bread and jam for breakfast, lunch and dinner while the rest of the family eats good food. Fun story and apropos for your situation. Link is in source.

Answer 8

2 choices:

1. let him starve then he'll eat the first thing you put in front of him.
-that means do NOT feed him anything for atleast 3-4 hours
-or if he has woken up don't feed him breakfast for atleast 2 hours (not even milk)

2. you find healthier hotdogs (turkey, tofu, maybe some kind of sausages.)

Answer 9

First of all, stop giving him hot dogs. Only give him things that are healthy, but are universally considered to be good. Chicken breast is usually good--nobody doesn't like chicken breast. And who doesn't like corn? Absolutely do NOT give anything like cookies or other sweets. No potato chips or anything like that. He might protest for a few days and refuse to eat, but believe me, he WILL eat when he gets hungry enough. Stick to only offering him things that are healthy, and he'll eat it.

Answer 10

my kids went through phases like that too. i would give them their favorite thing,
1)but not for every meal,
2)only if it was healthy,
3)and half of the times that i did choose to serve it to them, i would put it into different forms, i.e. grinding, shakes, mixing it in with casseroles, drinks, hot breakfast cereals--nothing gross, of course--it depended on what the item was and what it went well with.

during the times that i didn't let them eat their favorite thing, they had choices of what to eat with the rest of the family--or to just go hungry. i let them pick between a couple different items to incorporate into the meal and that helped them to feel "big" and like they were still "getting their way."
their current food obsession, though, was not allowed as a choice at those times. children who are emotionally and mentally healthy will not purposefully starve themselves until they whither away to nothing, so even if it seems to you that he is not getting enough to stay alive everyday, he is and he will. (believe me, i voiced those fears to the doctor back in those days and now that they are 3 and 4, i realize how silly i was to worry that they'd actually starve themselves to nothingness! LOL)

most importantly--keep serving those different food choices at every meal!! different textures, different cuisines, from different countries, because it's easier to incorporate all kinds of foods now so that his palate is used to it by the time he 11, as opposed to only STARTING when he's 11! with my kids, one night we'll have mexican, the next we'll have indian and some nights they take it better than others, but they are certainly more open-minded than when they were 2, and i fully intend on continuously offering them a world of different kinds of foods for as long as they are under mine and my husband's roof!
Good luck :)!

Answer 11

My daughter does the same thing. Shell only eat one thing for a week, maybe a month. Then she moves on to something else. I think its a phase all kids go through.