Healthy eating for the toddler just doesn’t seem to be happening. It’s been a huge struggle in my life lately because she’s only into bread, crackers, cheese, or macaroni and cheese. The things she once ate, she doesn’t eat anymore. I don’t really know what happened but my child has taken the wrong turn in her eating journey.
And she’s adamant about it too. She will just not eat the food that is placed in front of her. She will not eat all day. She’s a trooper.
The food will sit out in hopes of her getting hungry and wanting to eat it. That may have happened once or twice, but not very often. Mealtime means putting food on a plate she may not eat. Wasting food is a huge pet peeve in our house. I understand that she’s just a two-year-old and is just getting into this food thing. I really don’t want her taste buds to develop wanting the WRONG foods all the time. I’ve talked about this with moms across the interwebs and most have given the same advice: just keep offering her the foods. Moms have assured me this is a phase and she will start to come around if I keep offering the foods.
I try adding different veggies to her mac and cheese because I know she will eat that. She just eats around the stuff.
It worries me because she used to ask for strawberries, bananas, grapes, and sweet potatoes. If I put those things in front of her now, she will completely ignore them. This really makes me feel like I’m failing my child but I can’t make her eat things. I can’t shove it in her mouth and she still has a small bit of understanding what is happening. It’s not like we’re having full intellectual conversations or anything. The most stimulating conversations are about Muppet Babies and Foozie.
The crazy thing is these are not things I eat. I would think she would want to eat the foods that she sees me eating. The one thing I can’t control is what other people give my child or what she’s exposed to when she’s not in my care. This is where it becomes important for me to teach her the ways of enjoying her sometimes foods, sometimes. In the future, I hope to teach her understanding of healthy foods, portion control, and sometimes foods. I know these are things she can’t grasp right now.
This is a process and she is still very young. I’m using this post as a way to document my journey into the feeding journey of my toddler.
All the moms out there, how did you deal with this phase in the feeding journey of your toddler? I’m open to all stories and suggestions.
