My 2.5yr old son will only eat spaghetti and spaghetti bolognese for his main meals. I offer and try him with other foods for lunch and dinner but it just wont attempt it - most of the time he will try it and then push it away saying its yuck and he doesnt like it. I'm out of ideas what to do. At first I wasnt concerned because he was eating meat (mince from spag bog). Should I be concerned? Help please.
11 Replies
Usually Its a phase.
Put something on the side of everymeal that he likes and eventually it’ll get better
Keep doing what you are doing. Give him a plate, maybe a deconstructed plate so pasta on one portion, cheese on another, a bit of ham on another portion etc. and let him pick and choose. If he decides he doesn't want to eat it, then so be it. His loss, he can go hungry and eventually he can come back and try again if he wishes.
I'd start by trying other types of pasta also, so using the spaghetti but a different sauce with it. Then introduce maybe some chicken into it and so on :)
My son is almost 14 and STILL always eats spag bol every night for dinner . Refuses to eat any thing else . But he eats a wide variety of foods throughout the day where breakfasts and lunches are concerned, but dinner he will only eat spag Bol. At 14 years old , he’s healthy and well adjusted . As long as your child is still consuming other foods for other meals then he’ll be fine .
Lol this will be my kid but with nuggets
Keep offering other foods during the day. My kids are offered two options and then that has to be eaten before they can have anything else. Mince is also great because it's easy to hide other things in it. We eat it regularly and I grate in heaps of veg that they have no idea is there. Or you could use different meats or sauces. Could you maybe broaden and use the mince in lasagne, wraps, tacos, shepherds pie?
Just pack it up with vegies and go with it, don't make a fuss. My 15 year old son ate so much spaghetti bol when he was little he won't touch the stuff now, I have to disguise it as Lasagna 😂.
We just kept giving them different meals. Don't eat? Your choice. However, my son was super hero obsessed so we made it fun. Daddy ate a hulk tree (broccoli) turned into hulk. I ate a bean, turned into green lantern. Dad at a carrot, turned into iron man (or the flash? Can't remember now). Dinner took ages to eat... But he started eating. When mum and dad are role play battling... You want to get in on that. If he tried to play without eating we told him he didn't have any powers yet.
Oh... And corn wasn't touched until he saw mickey and goofy eat it like a typewriter. We found footage on YouTube.
Ain't nothin' wrong with spag bog. Mince = beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, pork, veal . Vego option of chickpeas, beans or lentils. Or use these to fill out a meat version. Grate assorted veggies in. Use different pastas and different cheeses. Add similar styles of food, savoury mince, lasagne etc.
I’d say keep offering different things but the slag bowl is fine. Hide spinach/zucchini/carrot in so you know he is getting healthy greens too.
Generally just a phase. And I think when you stop offering different things is when it becomes a problem. If you keep offering, gentle guidance and if they resist, then pass over the spag.
My son had feeding issues and saw a speech pathologist regularly from a young age to get him eating. She would constantly tell him he couldn’t say something was yuck until he had tried it 15 times. He was always given something we knew he liked but also had to try at least one other thing.
Continue giving your son spaghetti but also put a small amount of what you are eating on his plate and encourage him to have, say, three bites of it then he can eat his spaghetti. I wouldn’t be too concerned at this point as kids taste buds do change frequently. You can always get a referral to a dietitian for advice on what else you can do to ensure he is getting all the nutrients he needs.