Help My 2yo is a chocaholic!!!

[BekZ]

Hi All,

Now we don't have a lot of chocolate, sweets or junky type snacks in our house, but I do give the girls a treat a couple of times per week. My DD2 used to be a good eater but slowly over the months she has become very picky and now we are down to a small variety of foods that she accept without a battle.

The foods she likes are what I call comfort type foods, pasta, bread, butter/marg(she'll get it from the fridge herself), yogurt and chocolate. If she knows there is junk in the cupboard she will climb my pantry or just chuck massive tanties in the kitchen. I never ever give in to her demands btw.

Before dinner she will under my foot pacing the kitchen and demanding junk. I always give her afternoon tea in an effort to avoid the junk cravings. Then comes dinner and we have a battle to get her to even try a vegetable. Although given time she will eat her meat and potato but that is it. She will eat pumpkin or veg soup too.

I want her to be able to make good food choices and enjoy good fresh food!!!! I have thought about banning all food that is remotely junky but this doesn't teach moderation.

Help!!!!

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Mine is too He has gone from being a brilliant eater to a PITA!! Lately all he wants to eat is bread or yoghurt. He is still eating weetbix but otherwise it's a battle for pretty much everything. His RoomLeader at CC is astounded because in a few short weeks he hasx gone form being the best eater to the pickiest, slowest, smallest eater... And he loves chocolate. I am partial to blame for that but he is always given good meals at home so i dont know why he has suddenly gotten like this!!

[MamaPan]

I give DS1 an 'amous bouche' (little appetiser before dinner) - it is usually a little bowl with cherry tomatoes, capsicum and cheese. sometimes cheese and crackers. - i make sure it is something healthy and then i know he has had some veg before we even start dinner... i find helikes to have this... make it a fun game to see what he gets, tell him hpw lucky he is etc - and it allows me a few mins to cook his dinner too....

[Kazbah]

Not a short-term solution, but do you have a veggie patch? DS won't eat some veggies but if he waters them and picks them himself, he'll eat them all up. And then will eat them when I buy them too ...

[BekZ]

Yep got a veg patch. She picks the cherry toms and beans but won't eat them.

I've tried a finger food platter with avocado dip many times. She'll eat the dip but refuses the carrot or cucumber.

If I give her some thing she doesn't like is throw it on the floor...

[mbear]

My DD#1 loves chocolate, icecream...anykind of junk food...a trip to grandmas is met with squeals and jumping up and down, coz she knows she is gonna get all that 'norty food'. I have solace in the fact that she eats at least 2 pieces of fruit a day (school lunchbox). She doesnt eat any veges except carrot and corn, hates meat, loves pasta and rice (with nothing on it...no sauce nothing....). I just keep offering the foods to her we have. Im not going to force feed her. We have a rule in our house to at least try it...have a bit of what im dishing up. IF you doint like, fair enough...but at least try it.

Thats really good she eats pumpkin and vege soup BTW....

ETA: MyDD#1, albeit older than your 2yr old, often asks why i have silver things at the back of my teeth... (my fillings). I explain to her i ate too much chocolate/lollies as a child ( i didnt..but good story) and i had holes in my teeth, dentist had to fix them....it does register....but is still like a bull in a china shop if there are lollies/choc around....hoping they outgrow it ??? teenage years, boys etc....i dunno....GL hon...

[BekZ]

Thanks MBear for sharing. DD will eat banana, grapes, apple, avocado and orange thankfully. She loves pasta on its own too. She is not one for sauces either.

[~kellie~]

I also have a 2 yr old like this so I'm curious too see what others suggest. The last week or so we've been telling her if she wants muscles she has to eat her veg and she has shown interest in carrots, but hates peas, corn, beans, broc. Also not s big fruit eater, only really likes water melon, grapes and the occasional apple.
She also loves pasta and rice

[MrsFabuloso]

My kids are the same. They both used to inhale any kind of food put in front of them, but now they don't eat most of the stuff I cook. One day they will eat something the next time I make it they refuse to eat it. All except spaghetti bol. The only thing they are guarenteed to eat. I make it once a week and grate any kind of veggies into it I can. Except for junk food of course, if we had bickies, icecream or nuggets and chips or pizza for dinner every night, then they'd eat like horses!!! I get really frustrated in making healthy meals and all the effort that goes into thinking aof it and preparing it and they trn their noses up at it most nights.
I try to take solace int he fact that they eat healthily the rest of the day and must genuinely not like the food or be hungry at dinner time.... I offer them the food I cook and if they don't eat it I try not to make a big deal about it. I offer healthy food and talk to them about it and what it does for their bodies, that's all I can do I guess!!

[Liviam]

You have described my 2 nearly 3 DD to a tee. She was a briliant eater but know she is just terrible. I'm lucky if she will have one or two bites of dinner. We used to battle her every night trying to get her to eat but it would just end up with everyone stressed and then someone gave me the best piece of advice - "It is up to us as parents to provide our children with nutrious meals but we can't make them eat it". Apparantely I survived on fish fingers and pineapple for years.
It is so frustrating but we are just serving her dinner, making her stay at the table while we eat dinner (if she doesn't want to eat that's fine but she has to stay at the table becasue sometimes she will nibble at it while sitting there) and if she eats her dinner she gets dessert.
With the chocolate she only gets chocolate in the morning and she can have an easter egg (yes they have already started arriving, ggrr!!) as her dessert for her reward for eating dinner.
One tip I have found that helps get DD to eat using her incredible amount of independence. Each morning I will put what I want her to be able to eat during the day, yoghurt,fruit, fruit bar, crackers and cheese on the bottom shelf of the fridge that she can reach as it seems that if she gets it herself she will eat it over me getting it for her.
Best of luck. Our picky eaters are enough to drive us crazy.

[studymum]

We had the same problems with DD1 awhile ago. The advice I was given by a paed dietician was 'persistance and no giving in is the key'. Just keep offering the good stuff, remove all temptation of the naughty stuff from the house (or hide it if you have a weakness yourself) and eventually they will return to good eating. Alot of parents fall into the trap of giving in and letting them eat unhealthy food just to get them to eat a 'decent' amount, thinking that they will starve themselves. Children do not have this adult ideal of being able to starve themselves for whatever reasons. If they are hungry they will eat what their brain tells their bodies they require. Its usually a phase most children go through, different developmental milestones can change eating patterns, like walking, talking, teething, independence growth etc but given time and of course making sure the healthy food is continuosly offered and they should return. DD1 is slowly returning, she has almost finished cutting her 2yr old molers as this seemed to coincide with her lack of interest in anything but weetbix and nutrigrain. Remember they only require a serving the size of their clenched fist 3 times a day, with maybe 2 small snacks in between, its amazing how little the require when its put like that. Dont stress if they wont sit down and eat a proper meal, their only little and its fine for them to graze, they are easily distracted and find playing and learning more interesting, I found letting her come back to the table and eating on and off during our meal times that she ate more. And being a little sneaky and hiding foods made me feel a little better to.