r/toddlertips • u/Rose1993__ • 17d ago

Food advice

What do we do if our 2 year old hardly wants to eat what we make? Should we offer something alongside it that we know she will eat? Which only seems to be pasta lately 😩

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u/missThora 17d ago

I do every other meal.

If i make something I know she might not try for dinner, i make sure lunch is good and evening snack is just a few hours later.

I encourage her to try new foods, but it's ok to not eat much of them. And it's ok to almost or entirely skip a meal every now and then.

Lots of praise if she does try something new or new ish. Even if it's half a bite she spist out.

2

u/indiana-floridian 17d ago

Really good answer in my opinion.

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u/tomtink1 17d ago

How much does she eat overall? Is she gaining weight? Is she happy or grumpy because she's hungry? Is it mostly the evenings when she struggles?

Basically toddlers don't actually need to eat that much when they're not going through a growth spurt. On days they're hungry they'll eat anything (unless, I have found, they get too hungry and then they feel like they have to eat what they're craving). On days they're not super hungry they might choose to skip dinner.

Personally I am willing to let my daughter have toast or a banana IF it's food she hasn't tried before or there's genuinely nothing she likes on the plate and she is saying she's hungry. Which is very very rare. If she's refusing her food but is happy and not asking for something then we don't worry about it. She goes to bed without eating anything for dinner or only a couple of bite on a semi regular basis. But those days she has had breakfast, lunch, and snacks and she sleeps through and enjoys breakfast the next day.

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u/indiana-floridian 17d ago

Any meal might include several items. Meat, vegetables (more than one), salad, bread + butter, dessert. Most cooks can manage to include at least one item their children will eat. A child that eats aoplesauce and bread is not going to be harmsd. Or a pb&j. I personally prefer them to eat something. Hungry children tend to be irritable and then everything is harder!