Fussy eating

I always said that I would never offer a diferent meal to my children but reality is starting to sink in a bit

If he could I think my toddler would live on weetabix, potatoes and bananas. I am getting really fed up of dishing up his meal, for him to refuse it and to moan for snacks all afternoon.

What have others done? I am getting very tempted to just serve him variations on potato with a small portion of whatever we are having. I know I should refuse him snacks when he doesn't eat his meals but I really don't think I can stand the tantrums to be honest. He seems to tantrum all the time at the drop of a hat about everything and I could do without another reason for him to lose the plot

I hope it is just another phase but I am really over it and just want mealtimes to be a bit less stressful for me. When he doesn't eat his meal I really struggle with what to give him for snacks when he doesn't like most healthyish snacks. He'd happily fill up on biscuits and crisps all afternoon

I have to say that I am a bit of a hard as$ about food. My older daughter is a great eater, younger not so much. She will quite happily go 4 or 5 nights a week with no dinner. It is a control issue with her. If it is something she like she will gobble it down, if not, nothing in this world will make her eat it. (even the promise of ice-cream ).

If she is hungry she will eat. I will not make a second option. We eat as a family 4 nights a week and this is where she is usually difficult. It is not difficult or spicy (that is what we eat the other days on our own).

I would cut down on food after 3.30ish. If Sophie eats after that dinner is guaranteed to be a write off. As Bizzy said - maybe just offer fruit, not the crackers and stuff.

Keep dishing it up and he will start to eat it eventually. If he is hungry, he will eat

Coming in late here, but I am using a technique from a book called "How to get your kid to eat... but not too much".

JJ had feeding aversions and because of that we never had much experimentation with food. So his diet has always been pretty limited and now coming into the fussy toddler stage it is much worse.

What we do now is present him, up front, with all his options (including any dessert he might get). He knows that what is there is all he is getting. Often we'll have a couple of cheerio sausages, a yoghurt and a 'main' (something like spaghetti bolognese, rice and curry etc).

He invariably eats the yoghurt/dessert first every time (favourite!) and will scan back and forth for something else. He will still be hungry after that first 'course'. But he has stopped asking for different things and nine times out of ten he will at least attempt the rest. He generally eats less than I would like, but seems to be growing on his own little curve at the moment.

When he does completely refuse, we let him go, have his bath etc, and then give him a second chance to eat afterward. If he still mucks around we figure he can't be starving and he goes to bed.

Since we've been doing this, he really has become a lot better at trying new things and sometimes he surprises himself and really enjoys it!