https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 26 Apr 2026 01:38:27 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130131 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:51:04 +0000 pelikila 130131@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I had posted about this a few weeks ago! Toddler independence is tough! We have been making sure to sit down and eat the same thing we give my son for all meals to help "demonstrate" that the food is good. He eats like a champ at school because the other kids are eating it so we figured we needed to help model the behavior. It has helped but is far from great. We offer a balanced plate of what we are eating for a particular meal and he is allowed to eat what he wants on his plate. If he doesn't want it and throws a fit, that is too bad and he can wait until the next meal. I was worried this was too harsh since he is only just now 14 months old but ultimately he is doing it for independence, not because he truly doesn't like a food in our case. We tried the dipping foods in applesauce thing @Mrs. Wagon suggested but it was a no-go. We just keep trying to change it up and at least offer one piece of the meal that we know he'll eat or has liked in the past. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130125 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:49:36 +0000 Andrea 130125@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Haha. Yes, their tastes change all the time. I just try my best to have a fruit, a veg, a protein, a grain, and milk at her meals so that if she eats most of it then I am pretty happy. But I have to change the food up pretty much constantly. Favorites are not favorites for long. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130122 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:47:41 +0000 mrs. wagon 130122@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey119: Wagon Jr. hates potatoes! He hates french fries! He hates mashed potatoes! What kind of kid doesn't like french fries or mashed potatoes?!?!? Every time we offer it to him, he hands it back saying "I don't like it?" (he always poses that phrase as a question, hehe.) I guess I can't complain! We just got him to eat chicken nuggets for the first time in FOREVER and we're psyched because some places only do chicken nuggets or fingers. Like at weddings and stuff.</p> <p>@Lozza: lol! Wagon Jr. totally pissed me off doing exactly that. I would prepare an entire plate of some food he totally polished off just the day before and he would throw a fit and not touch a thing. I'd just throw the entire plate into the sink and cry. Haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130116 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:46:10 +0000 Lozza 130116@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We also often have better luck with flavored things. Like, LO is more likely to eat the carrots that I've picked out of my chicken soup than plain steamed carrots. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130108 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:44:29 +0000 Lozza 130108@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey119: Isn't it hard not to get kind of mad at them when they do that??? I know he doesn't understand, and it's not his fault, but there's totally a part of me that's like "Ok, you're totally just doing this to be a dick and you're ticking me off." </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130104 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:44:06 +0000 chopsuey 130104@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. wagon: The only veggie LO likes is potatoes! I got her to eat a nibble of carrot today. She doesn't even like peas! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130101 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:43:13 +0000 chopsuey 130101@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Lozza: Omg it drives me crazy when she loves somethng one day and hates it the next!<br /> One day she literally ate 20 blueberries!<br /> I went to the market to pick up more.. and she wouldn't touch them the following day. Wthhhhh<br /> @abbydabbydoodlebug: Yep! makes total sense! It's kind of what I'm doing now, minus the plate :D </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130096 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:42:21 +0000 mrs. wagon 130096@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>BTW, Wagon Jr.'s picky phase lasted at least 6 months! He was down to a mere 5 or 6 foods in the worst time. Drove me nuts. He's just now growing out of it, just in time for us to be able to negotiate with him. Last night I cut up some strawberries for him, and he really didn't want them. Finally after about 10 mins of coaxing and showing him us eating them and how yummy they were, he hoovered them all. </p> <p>As a baby / young toddler he ate veggies every single day... now we are struggling to introduce veggies again... </p> <p>So it's normal!!! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130083 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:40:32 +0000 abbydabbydoodlebug 130083@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I heard that to create good eating habits, you continually put a balanced plate in front of them so they see various fruits, veggies, pasta, etc on their plate and it gets "ingrained" in them to know what a healthy meal looks like. Even if they don't necessarily eat all the things on their plate, it still helps them. Does that make sense?</p> <p>With my nieces, they know they need to take at least 3 bites of all their options on their plate before they can get down from the table. But they are older, 2 and 4. Even if they cry and throw a fit about it, there's no getting around taking 3 bites. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130075 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:39:18 +0000 Lozza 130075@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're weirdly going through this now, and I'm wondering the same thing. DS used to eat a really nice variety of food including veggies and protein, and now he's gotten a lot pickier, and I'm not sure how to handle it. He's too young for me to negotiate with ("eat this and then you can have this" or "this is your only option, eat it or wait to see what's being served at the next meal"). We've also heard that it can take a while for a toddler to get used to a food, but it drives me particularly nuts when DH refuses food that he loved just yesterday!<br /> Weirdly, he seems to eat a lot better at daycare than at home.<br /> We also find that DS is more likely to try new things if we share food with him. He likes eating what I'm eating.<br /> We'll also do the "mix it with something he likes" trick... when we were doing purees, all I had to do was add enough sweet potato, and DS would consume anything. Now, not so much :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130051 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:31:27 +0000 mrs. wagon 130051@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I read somewhere that it takes 15-25 times introducing a new food to a toddler for them to try it for the first time... even if it's a food they end up loving! </p> <p>I dip a lot of foods into applesauce, and if it's a food he likes, I do less and less applesauce each time until he's eating it bare. We did this with cut up fishsticks and he loves them plain now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130046 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:30:41 +0000 heffalump 130046@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would just keep trying new things. Or can you mix foods with stuff you already know she loves? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/feeding-your-toddler-help#post-130039 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:27:31 +0000 chopsuey 130039@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO has some favorite foods--avocado, strawberries, bread, creamy pasta, cheese. </p> <p>I want my LO to eat a variety of foods though, so I'll give her new stuff a couple of times a week. She won't touch the new food though. </p> <p>What do I do? Continue to just give her what she likes and try new food here and there? </p> <p>Just give her the new stuff and if she doesn't eat... too bad? She gets to starve? HAHA. I don't know!</p> <p>Help please! </p>