Very fussy eater..need ideas..please!

My 2yr old has got progressively fussier with his eating to the point I am starting to worry about his nutrition. He currently refuses ALL meat except cherrios...no doubt they will go soon. He also doesnt "do" veges, apart from beetroot. He will eat toast, biscuits, cakes, lollies (obviously) cheese (sometimes), yoghurt and milk. Thats about it! Until recently he also happily ate baked beans and weetbix which a dietician friend of mine recommended for some form of iron intake but now he is refusing those. He doesnt like pasta. Sometimes he will eat potato. Generally he doesnt eat dinner.

I'm at a loss and as such have prepared no dinner tonight as I just dont know what to do anymore. I was thinking of something mexican and gave him a corn chip which he really enjoyed, so I made up some guacamole as he loves dipping...now he wont eat either.

I'm beginning to think I need to take him off cow's milk and on to formula but I cant bear the smell of formula at the best of times, let alone pregnant, so that is a last resort.

Any meal ideas for fussy sods?

Oh he loves eggs....for now.

With veges, do you have a vege garden so he can pick some? Most lil ones I know loooove picking food and eating it rather than just being served it. Daniel actually goes out and helps himself to carrots and eats them dirt and all!

Does bribery work? Like if you eat one of these you can have a spoonful of yoghurt or something

Also don't worry about the meat. I've been a vego since that age and I'm fine

Trust me, I know how stressful this is.

Firstly, I don't think giving more formula is the answer, as it may just fill him up. Toddlers are notorious for poor eating, so I wouldn't worry too much. My paediatrician has reassured me time and time again about this. The key is just to continue to serve up food and not react if he doesn't eat it. I am only just getting to the stage with Jackson now that I can do that, and it makes a big difference.

Bribery has been a huge win for us. I know that sounds terrible, but you do what you have to do sometimes! We bribe with absolute favourites... usually it's a yoghurt or some raisins or a cracker (seldom is it a treat food). Usually to get his reward he has to finish what we've dished up, but sometimes we'll make some magically disappear if the challenge is too much.

Here is what Jackson is loving at the moment:
* Bread (eats heaps of it and we bake our own mixed grain)
* Spaghetti out of a can - failsafe and what we use if he's got a babysitter or something
* Yoghurt - he's still not a fan of bits, so we get him the Petit Miam 100g pottles. They're the highest in calories that you can get too
* Cheerios, fish fingers, chicken nuggets

As far as meals go, I usually make up several concoctions:

Mince/Bolognese Mix/Tinned tomatoes/Pureed veges then I will mix in either spaghetti pasta, lasagne pasta or rice so it is "different". Some I add grated cheese to, others I stir through a cheese sauce.

I also continue to give him full fat everything because he still has next to no body fat.

As for snacks, he loves crackers, raisins, muesli bars, corn chips. We bribe him with those to get him to eat small amounts of fruit and veges.

Jackson is nearly 2.5 now and I have noticed a HUGE improvement in the last month (max) where he is trying way more stuff. So hopefully this is just a phase and he'll work through it.

Good luck - but please don't worry too much. You might have a rough couple of months weight wise but it's important that he doesn't learn that food is something that causes you stress as he will use it against you!

DD is a bit like this still and I found getting her to help make dinner helped a lot. She does pizza , I chop up all the bits and she 'helps' cut the tomatoes and then she puts everything on and tops with cheese. Every single time she's made it she'll eat 2 or 3 slices.

Im also going through the dinner problems. DD just isnt interested in sitting and eating.

Ive stopped all snacks after 3pm. Perhaps that would help, he would then be hungry at dinner time.

I sometimes give DD baked beans on toast or a egg on toast for breakfast because she seems to eat them for breakfast.

A couple of things I took from your post, and I only have a minute so will have to write quickly!

A book I read (How to get your kid to eat... but not too much) said it was important that the child stays at the dinner table with the family, even if they don't eat. No pressure to eat, but they have to be social. We make Jackson stay with us, and often he will go back and pick at food he's already discarded.

You'll remember how little Jackson ate when he was small. Sometimes it was only 300ml of formula a day and no solids. He didn't eat any meat until he was about 18 months old. At no point did he ever become deficient in iron. I couldn't believe it! He was tested a few times and was always fine. I don't know if it would be the same for J, but just wanted to share that with you.

And, eating with friends makes a huge difference I have found. I still credit day care with being the single biggest reason we had such rapid success with Jackson.

Again - hugs!