My 3 year old son is a extremely fussy eater and getting worse. Things he’ll eat most of the time are bread, peanut butter, fruit bars,yogurt, fish fingers and chips. Rarely he’ll eat bananas, watermelon and apples he’ll happily eat him one day then the next say he doesn’t like them. It’s getting so bad the things he eats all the time he won’t eat. My husband has said to only offer him one thing and that’s it he won’t starve but I’m worried he will the other day he refused to eat all day with my mother in law then I literally had to force fed him fish and chips cos he had barely eaten all day.
Any help is appreciated, has anyone gotten the child to improve from this?
Extremely fussy eating 3 year old!
Extremely fussy eating 3 year old!
Posted in:
Food, Behaviour, Baby & Toddler, Baby Feeding, Kids
6 Replies
Is he losing weight , constantly sick , lethargic , no energy. If the answer is no - then there is no real concern .
Rather then looking at what he is eating on a daily basis - consider what he eats over a week,.
The majority of kids around this age will be ""fussy "" eaters , loving something one day & hating it the next .
Also , keep in mind that you probably have days where you don't feel like eating much , kids are the same, If it is only a day here & there , then , again , no need to worry .
Please do not try to FORCE him to eat - offer him food , give him a little while to eat , then take it away .
Also just offer small amounts at a time & cut the food into small pieces.
Even try cooking other vegies , besides potatoes , as chips ,
Milk shakes / smoothies can be a good way to get fruit into kids .
I recall my nephews , who were quite young at the time, refusing to eat the roast lunch their grandmother had cooked & only wanted tomato sauce sandwiches .
Your husband is right - he wont starve himself .
I am a mother of 4 ( now adult kids) , 5 grandkids , have babysat numerous children over the years.
I agree here. Unless he is losing weight or generally ill a lot, it wouldn’t be cause for concern. Just let him take the lead. It’s pretty normal for my kids to eat 5 bananas one day and then say they hate them the next. Just depending if they feel like it or not.
Just keep an eye on him for weight issues ect but don’t force food into him unless the Dr has recommended you do because I feel like that would be more detrimental then not eating if he generally doesn’t feel like it.
Also, smoothies are a god send when I need some greens into my children. Spinach and mixed berries is there fave
My child is fussy too!!
Switch things up. Put one thing he will eat on a plate with a few things he properly won’t. Last night I made something new and he wouldn’t eat anything except the bread roll (which I made from scratch with spelt flour and chia seeds)
It takes persistence and trial and error.
My 3yo mainly eats pizza. Ham and pineapple pizza...ham and pineapple pizza toast, roll ups, pizza pockets etc.
he’s tiny for his age but refuses to eat much. But he does eat fruit. He’s actually now eating raw carrots as I used to put carrot sticks with everything we ate, I think he just got used to seeing them and just started eating them. It was bizarre but a complete revelation. We eat raw carrot sticks for morning tea now.
I also suggest colours!! Make rainbow coloured fruit kebabs, and aim for three colours per plate. Or try “dip” like cheesy toast that you dip into tomato sauce. Good luck and know your not alone!
I’m the original poster.
He isn’t loosing weight, is never sick and is very active! Thank you so much for the great advice and kind words
Do not force feed! My parents force fed me veggies when I was a child and now over 30 years later I still won’t eat much in the way of veggies.
Get your son involved in helping to prepare food. Let him serve himself at mealtimes, that way he can choose what he wants to eat and how much. My youngest was tube fed from birth and was very picky when he started on oral feeds. He loved helping to prepare dinner and was more likely to try a new food if he was able to choose to put it on his plate.