How fussy are your toddlers?

I have never forced her to eat anything. I always give her a choice of what she wants to eat, but they are healthy options, for example for breakfast she can choose toast or cereals, and an apple or satsuma.

TBH at 28 months I don't think you should still be spoon feeding your DD, please don't take offence at me saying that, it's just I have heard of other people who have had similar problems when they kept feeding their children when they were old enough to feed themselves.

I involve her in cooking dinner, she helps me peel the potatoes, or I chop the veg and she puts it in the saucepan for me. If she has chosen what to eat then she seems happier at dinner time.

We are very lucky though, everyone tells us what a good eater she is, and she will eat most fruit and veg, in fact she eats more than her Dad does

We certainly dont force feed! That can be so dangerous besides horrible for your relationship!
When i say under duress, I mean moaning, and bargaining. Try 3 spoons and if you dont like it you can leave it etc.

As for spoon feeding, its not a problem, she can and does feed herself most of the time, she is v independednt at things like that! but when she doesnt want to eat something, some times a helping hand can be great. The other day I gave her a spoon ful of something she was refusing as 'yucky', and as soon as she had it it turned into 'mmm, yum. More!'. So it can work. She also gets choices and helps cook, she loves to mix and often does 'caking' with daddy.

I think im probably worrying over nothing. She does eat enough, and enough of the right things. I guess i wish she would try new things and have a bit more variety, but i hope that will come with time. We dont stop offering new things or things that have been classed as 'yucky' in the past, as she does have a tendancy to change her mind!

Thanks for all your thoughts xx

Hey... i'm 28 (only just, 29 tomorrow) and only last year did i decide i like gherkins. Some things take time

As long as her overall diet is good, worry not xx

Aged 2.5, my dd turned from a child who would eat anything at all, with never having tasted anything naughty (only child!) to a fusspot who only wanted macaroni cheese, tuna sandwiches, or cereal. We ignored it, continued to give her what we ate, but it was over a year before we could easily get other foods into her. We did manage to get bits of other things into her but it was a huge struggle for a long time. Once nursery started doing a project on healthy food, things changed a lot. She will now eat carrots, peas and corn, and strawberries, apple and grapes. I am very grateful to my mum's soup and Innocent smoothies during those dreadful months.

She still won't take porridge or anything potato based, but she is much better, and we never once resorted to 'kids foods' or chicken nuggets!

I often wonder if there is anything we could've done differently, but I don't know what. We ignored it, didn't pander to it, for months, then tried persuasion, bribery, and spoon feeding. A combination of the last three was the most effective, far against my better judgement. You do what you have to!

I have never forced her to eat anything. I always give her a choice of what she wants to eat, but they are healthy options, for example for breakfast she can choose toast or cereals, and an apple or satsuma.

TBH at 28 months I don't think you should still be spoon feeding your DD, please don't take offence at me saying that, it's just I have heard of other people who have had similar problems when they kept feeding their children when they were old enough to feed themselves.

I involve her in cooking dinner, she helps me peel the potatoes, or I chop the veg and she puts it in the saucepan for me. If she has chosen what to eat then she seems happier at dinner time.

We are very lucky though, everyone tells us what a good eater she is, and she will eat most fruit and veg, in fact she eats more than her Dad does

We certainly dont force feed! That can be so dangerous besides horrible for your relationship!
When i say under duress, I mean moaning, and bargaining. Try 3 spoons and if you dont like it you can leave it etc.

As for spoon feeding, its not a problem, she can and does feed herself most of the time, she is v independednt at things like that! but when she doesnt want to eat something, some times a helping hand can be great. The other day I gave her a spoon ful of something she was refusing as 'yucky', and as soon as she had it it turned into 'mmm, yum. More!'. So it can work. She also gets choices and helps cook, she loves to mix and often does 'caking' with daddy.

I think im probably worrying over nothing. She does eat enough, and enough of the right things. I guess i wish she would try new things and have a bit more variety, but i hope that will come with time. We dont stop offering new things or things that have been classed as 'yucky' in the past, as she does have a tendancy to change her mind!

Thanks for all your thoughts xx

I didn't mean to suggest that you did force feed, sorry if it came across that way x

Hehe, I didn't want people to think I was forcing her.... Just firm encouragment

I think this sort of age is the time for fussiness to appear. My dd1 ate most things till she realised she could refuse and take control.
I ve just continued to put the same things on her plate and our rule is you have to have a try. We always start with at least one thing on her plate that we know she likes so that we don t have to feel like we re ' giving in' and giving it to her when she won t eat what we gave her originally. For example she ' doesn t like' rice so with one of our regular rice meals we serve mini pittas which she likes and then encourage her to put the rice in the pitta. She now doesn t bat an eye lid about the rice on her plate and sometimes it goes in her mouth without complaint.

Dd2 has started to be fussy but we just do the same.
I can sometimes sneak stuff in too if I load their fork while they re not looking

I was really fussy as a child but it was more to do with the thought of it I think. I Didn t want my kids to be the same.

Good luck just try and stay calm and relaxed about it so it doesn t become a battle.
Xxx