How do I get my daughter to eat what we eat?

Question

My daughter is two years old. Breakfast is fine, she has a little porridge, I guess because she is usually starving by breakfast. It could also be because porridge is fairly sweet.

But lunchtime (usually about 4-5 hours later) are tricky - the only PROPER foods my daughter will eat in any significant amount is hard boiled / fried egg (of which she will only eat the egg white) or porridge (i cant give that to her for lunch too!) or traditional Nigerian soup. Or of course, snacky, sugary foods, which she will consume in abundance if permitted (she is not permitted!)

We tend to cook a lot of rice in our household, and once a week I cook roast lamb, and on another day i will cook pasta. She will barely touch these meals.

Now, the Nigerian soup thing is great, but i cant cook that everyday, its very laborious! I also have her 2 month old brother to care for, there isnt enough time in the day. Even if i could cook that everyday, she cant eat that everyday surely.
(continued..)

Ok, so dinner times are even more of a worry, unless I have cooked a Nigerian soup. Because if she doesnt eat what i have prepared, she will go to bed hungry. My husband usually caves in and makes her some sweet porridge to prevent her going to sleep on an empty stomach, but then doesnt that mean that she KNOWS she doesnt have to eat her normal dinner because she will get some porridge in the evening.

I dont want my daughter going to bed without hardly eating anything, but again i dont want to give her porridge AGAIN - once a day is enough surely.

How do I handle this?

Hi Daisy Hill - no she does not like potato.

She does like plantain tho ( forgot to include that to her repertoire of foods)

Hi all, thanks for responses

Maud the skivvy (lol) - i have some recipes, but I should say that the Nigerian soup is really more of a stew than a soup, and its eaten with starchy accompanyment (i am not sure that is a proper word,!) like pounded yam, fufu etc. I can still provide a recipe if you like.

To those who suggested a physical problem, its a logical suggestion but i am sure there is nothing wrong with her physically which prevents her eating because I have seen her tuck away chocolate and crisps like it was going out of fashion lol

Hi all, thanks for responses

Maud the skivvy (lol) - i have some recipes, but I should say that the Nigerian soup is really more of a stew than a soup, and its eaten with starchy accompanyment (i am not sure that is a proper word,!) like pounded yam, fufu etc. I can still provide a recipe if you like.

To those who suggested a physical problem, its a logical suggestion but i am sure there is nothing wrong with her physically which prevents her eating because I have seen her tuck away chocolate and crisps like it was going out of fashion lol

Mtnfire , she has honey in her porridge, not sugar. i use a moderate amount.

Answer 1

Ok ive also got a 2 year old girl who can be tricky with her food too!
Just keep on giving her the meals you and your husband eat and try and all sit down at the table.
If she doesnt want it DONT give in and give her what she wants. Just take the food away from her and more later when shes more hungrier try her with the food again.
If no success then go to bed with no dinner!
Try a different meal the next day with same process. She will then learn its that or nothing!
Dont worry about her going to bed hungry because no child has ever starved because of stubbornness!
Good luck!

Answer 2

I would slowly decline the amount of sugar in her porridge, too much sugar is not good for a two year old.

Remember, she's TWO. She doesn't have the same taste buds as you do, I don't think you should expect her at two years old to eat adult food.

Next time for lunch set up a range of different finger foods like different fruit, some cold meat. Pick really plain food to get a hold of what kinds of tastes your daughter enjoys right now, is it sweet, sour, hot, salty etc?

If she likes Nigerian soup, why not one day make a BIG batch of it and then freeze individual portions of it for your daughter that you can just heat up for her. What's in the soup that she likes best? Bring those ingredients into other dishes.

Make sure her food is cool enough that if she wants to pick it up with her hands she can and so it won't burn her tongue.

She's only two, her taste isn't developed yet. Even if she doesn't like something right now keep trying to reintroduce the foods to her, one day she might like it.

Answer 3

just put on her plate a spoonfull (dessertspoon) of everything that you have on yours.
Make no big deal about it if she doesnt eat just stupidly over praise her if she does. 5 mins before you take the plate away when you all finnished, say 'if you dont eat that, there is nothing else until (whichever meal is next)
If she does eat even a bite or lick of everything then give her a SMALL treat.
Basically it bribary. kids wont let themselves starve so she will eat eventually, she just knows she has this power over you. i know its bloody hard to watch them go without but if you can overcome this for a couple of days i think youll see an improvement.
oh and dont let her snack in the day, just a small healthy snack and water/fresh juice half way between meals.
If it doesnt get better in a week or 2 make a docs appointment and ask to be reffered to a dietician, just in case she really doesnt like food!

Answer 4

Out of my 3 kids, only one is a good eater and will generally eat whatever we put in front of him. The other two we let them eat what they liked (within reason). For breakfast they would eat dry cereal and for lunch/dinner they lived on baked chicken nuggets, peanut butter sandwiches or bologna sandwiches until they were around 3. At that point I started introducing more variety of foods into their diets and by the time they were 4 they were eating what we ate for dinner. They always got their servings of fruits and veggies every day, thankfully I didn't have to worry about that.

My Pedi is awesome and always told me that as long as they are getting the calcium they need and vitamins, to let them eat what they want (within reason). She's 2, so you can start her on a children's chewable vitamin (cut it in half) and that will help with whatever she might be lacking from her 'diet'.

Unfortunately, picky eaters take some getting use to and patience's on the parents part. I've learned with my 3 to just suck it up to them not wanting to try new things and it's a phase that will soon pass.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes...when you make vegetables add a little bit of butter to hers, well...with everything you make, add a sweet/salty/buttery whichever goes with your recipe to her plate. Give that a try. Or maybe try different recipes. Some kids go through phases. My daughter is 3. For a few months she used to eat NON-STOP, then other months she wouldn't have much of an appetite.
You're doing a good job... keep trying until you find something.

Did she eat good as a baby? If not, you may want to take her to her pediatrician and ask him/her to check her and make sure everything is okay.

Answer 6

My kids are 3 & 4 one loves savoury and the other has a very sweet tooth.
so normally at meal times i try to make sure that we all have the same food because they both whine that they want whats on mine and my partners plates it, it is the same as they have, only theirs is cut up.

With my first child i introduceded her to all different kinds of flavours and textures of food she eats really well.

But my second child like yours has a sweet tooth so when she sits down for a meal i give her one mouth full of eveything on her plate for example a piece of tomato then piece of cheese and so on and in the beginning she would spit some out. she has progressed a bit but we try not to feed her in between meals if she did not eat her lunch.

Another way would be to find some thing your daughter likes and ask her to eat a piece of food from the plate shes not to keen on and then a spoon full of some thing she dose like for example a yoghrt as a reward (i say"one bit of those carrots and then you can have a bit of youghrt.) and as you progress you can reduce the size of reward each time untill shes eating more off her plate and you can stop and use it as a propper pudding reward.

we have had success with this so far but if my 3 yr old daughter dose not eat enough off her plate she dose not get her pudding.....athough my 4 year old helps with encouragement as she normally eats well, so always ends up having a pudding which makes my 3 yr old finish a bit more of her plate so she can have her pudding!!!

Answer 7

I have the same problem with my daughter and now that she is 4, it's even worse than when she was 2. she goes to day care and eats fine there among other kids. At home - nightmare. She at cereal with milk 4 times last Saturday and NOTHING else. well, I don't really see a problem with that as long as she eats SOMETHING. if your daughter likes porridge - give it to her 3 times a day!

Answer 8

Children will try to exert some form of control over there guardians. the key to having a happy well rounded child is placing up rules that are fair (and have fair punishments if broken, ie the punishment must fit the crime) if i child refuses to eat any meal don't force them to eat, or cave to the child and serve there favorite meal, instead let them go hungry. one skipped mead wont kill them, quite the opposite, hunger is the best seasoning. Next, don't let your husband cave in, rather talk to him (in private) about how he is setting a bad precedent for your children on the proper behavior of a man. if you vary your meals and don't allow your children to push you into feeding them something else, then you will have less picky, more well rounded children. good luck

Answer 9

Just offer her whatever you're having, unless it's very spicy. She won't starve herself and will eat if she's hungry.

I just try different things out with my three year old. Sometimes he'll eat them and sometimes he won't.

You can also try giving healthy snacks such as breadsticks, carrot, apple, ham, chicken and fruit for lunch.

Nigerian soup sounds nice. Any chance of a recipe?

Answer 10

Very simple really. Do not give her anything else. Nature is a wonderful thing. She will eat when she is hungry what ever you give her. Better do it now than in a few years time when she can hold it over you for the rest of your lives.