Grrrrrrrr! My child is a Nutella Monster!

I'm a Nutella Monster too!

But macaroni & cheese with fish sticks and pizza still win out.

And that stuff aint cheap!

My son has always loved anything with cheese (broccoli and cheese, mac n cheese, etc) and things with dip (chicken breast with bbq sauce, cucumbers with salad dressing, etc). What about those things? Also, try making things in fun shapes--like a heart or circle. Good Luck, stay consistent and they will be fine. Worse case, perhaps you can use bribery : If you eat your dinner you can have nutella with pretzel sticks for dessert.

Try compromise...tell him if he eates 5 bites of dinner, he can have two bites of Nutella..and if when he finishes more..he can have more nutella. It worked with my kids when all they wanted was yogurt for dinner! I would let them have it at the table as a "side" dish.. don't get caught up in the "kid food" either..it will be another hard habit to break. If he eates what you eat now..he always will and he won't be filled with all that processed junk that they promote for kids! Good Luck!

my kids were extremely fussy as toddlers - and it can become a very emotional battle as you desperately want them to eat healthy, and they are bound and determined to show you they are the boss.

Have put that long behind, as my kids are now teenagers, so here is the wisdom I can share:

No child has ever starved to death if there is a wide variety of delicious, healthy food available for them to eat.

It might seem like they will try to starve - but hunger will absolutely bring them to eat. Put out whole grain toast with peanut butter, a variety of fruit and yogurt, scrambled eggs, cheese and milk. If the child refuses to eat, don't make a scene, just clear the table, and re-offer the same healthy choices a few hours later.

Trust me - you will win this one - and the sooner you do, the sooner you launch your children on a path of healthy eating choices - so they don't end up on MFP with a weight problem when they are adults! :laugh:

A toddler will not starve rather than get the food they want. They don't yet have the metal capacity to stage a hunger strike. This child is playing a control game and nothing else. He may complain loudly, but ultimately he will eat what is provided. If you want him to stop eating so much Nutella. Stop providing so much Nutella.

Bump

Hunger is a wonderful motivator. And, to be honest, your kitchen shouldn't be a cafeteria.

Set a reasonable am't of time on a timer, and if the meal you've prepared for your child isn't eaten by the time it's buzzing,
remove the plate and that's the last opportunity he/she has to eat till breakfast. No snacks, not making something different,
especially not serving treats.


I can pretty much GUARANTEE he/she will be eating just about anything you serve for breakfast.

my 3 yr old grandson eats what the adults eat... just toned down. ANd he loves spicy foods, and dips!!!
He loves nutella too, but thats his dessert or sweet treat.. not his meal.
He loves salad, broccolli, cauliflower, anything green..
and he loves his spaghettis too!!!!

He has a texture issue though so he won't eat certain things like jello, or puddings... anything congealed.... lol!!!

and he won't eat peaches... cuz of fuzz!!! But I would not call that finicky...

You have a chance to take control here, or let the child control it.
Dont make food a battle ground either.
Its your way or be hungry..
They will figure out who is boss soon enough...and you determine if it is you or the child.

All kids like not being forced to sit at the table to eat something that someone else has told them to eat.
It's ALL about independence and boundary pushing at this age. Your son is two. Don't give him nutella.

Offer a range of healthy foods. We keep a fruit bowl available all the time so they can graze on what they want. Offer a range of 'picky' things for some meals - chopped up cucumber / carrot / pepper / celery; halved cherry tomatoes, breadsticks, cubes of cheese, hummus or something else to dip into. Make a range of interesting textures.

Put things on a central plate and let your child help themselves to their own size portion.
We all have days where we feel hungry & days when we just don't want to eat as much. Having someone else pick your portion size can be overwhelming. I've even gone as far as making it a game, only putting a single piece of pasta on a plate and told them they can have some more if hungry.

Try letting your child eat what he wants for a week (disclaimer, you choose the foods to provide) I find lots of children self regulate with normal food, only processed food really needs to be controlled. Some days, or even weeks, they can be all about the carbs, some weeks all about protein. It's hard but a lot of it can be trying to get a reaction. Don't react. No cajoling, no "well done" no food games. Provide food and remove what isn't eaten.

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He is 2 years old, you are the parent...so what if he cries and throws up. If you calmly ignore it, and just clean him up he will get over it. It takes about 3 days to break a habit in a young one ...so you have 3 days of hell and then it will be over. But you are the one in charge, not him.

I would cut out all nutella right now and go on from there.
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Love this I may try this with my son who is a sugar junkie

Try chocolate milk; tastes great and has calcium, protein, calories, and fat.

I'm not a mum, so I guess it's easy to give this advice when I've never experienced living with a fussy kid but I was a fussy kid myself and soooo wish my mum had taken the hard line approach with me.

I, like most kids, liked junk food, crisps, chips, fish fingers, baked beans, chocolate, processed rubbish and because I would be awkward and moan if my mum tried to give me anything else, she took the route of mostly giving in to me and letting me have the processed rubbish. Roll on a whole childhood of being chubby and then being a fat adult which I'm not trying to fight! I still don't like a lot of vegetables and I'm sure if my mum had forced me to eat them as a kid, I'd have acquired a taste for them by now. Instead I find myself having to try to train myself to acquire these tastes as an adult while recording calories here trying to get my weight in check.

I can imagine it will be tough saying no to your kid, who you love and want to be happy but in the long wrong you'll be doing him a huge favour. Just get rid of the Nutella, provide him with healthy food and make it plain that that is all there is. Don't break one day and give him some Nutella just 'cause you can't be bothered with the fight that day or whatever because if he knows that you've broken once, he'll know there's a chance that he can break you again and he'll just continue with the fussy behaviour. Stick to your guns and he'll thank you for it when he's older. Good luck!

Try compromise...tell him if he eates 5 bites of dinner, he can have two bites of Nutella..and if when he finishes more..he can have more nutella. It worked with my kids when all they wanted was yogurt for dinner! I would let them have it at the table as a "side" dish.. don't get caught up in the "kid food" either..it will be another hard habit to break. If he eates what you eat now..he always will and he won't be filled with all that processed junk that they promote for kids! Good Luck!

This! But also, I read somewhere ages ago that kids need to be introduced to new foods up to ten times before they will accept it (and it doesn't always mean they have to eat it). I couldn't possibly cite this (I read it so long ago and had no reason to keep it), but basically it said put a very small portion of a new item on your kids plate. Answer questions about it if they ask, but otherwise don't make a big deal about it being there. If they don't eat it, they don't eat it. Put it on their plate another time. By the third or fourth time, because they see you eating it, but you're not making a big deal about them eating it or not, most kids will try it. If they don't like it, it may just be because it's a new taste. Continue to put a small amount on their plate for a while. Eventually, they will either dismiss it altogether or try it again until they adapt. I've actually found this has even worked for me as an adult (trying just a bite of something I don't care for every time I encounter it). I am not eating lots of new foods I never ate as a child, teen or young adult.