Mommy with toddlers...HELP!

Try the Clean Eating Cookbook for kids!

Start here: http://www.wholesometoddlerfood.com/

But remember that if you are picky, and are not eating a variety wholesome foods, you can’t expect your child to. I have a three year old and she doesn’t eat a lot, but she eats almost anything. My husband was EXTREMELY picky, and had been since childhood. But after my daughter was born, he made the commitment to start trying new foods and to do his best to keep her from having all the food anxieties he has.

So, I stopped altering his meals (taking out things he doesn’t like, cooking vegetables only for me, etc.). And I have never altered my daughters meals. She eats what we eat, just smaller portions. And before she ate solid foods, I simply pureed what we were eating and she had the exact same thing. But, some nights she protests and refuses to eat. And sometimes she cries. And sometimes my husband is a big baby and does the same thing. But I don’t make something else. And the result is that MOST nights everyone eats a balanced and healthy meal.

he sounds like my 3 yr old only yours eats more variety!
I try to mix in some tofu in with what I can since he notices meat peices and it makes things like pasta unedible.
I can coat chicken breast strips in lightly seasoned bread crumbs (which I make myself) he prefers if I do this before I cook it but sometimes its easier to cook it first then cut into strips dip in water (or whatever liquid is on hand) and coat with the bread crumbs. I do the same with fish.
veggies, I try to hide in what I can also I put them through the food processor first. I also give him some on the side but they never get eaten.
Muffins and pancakes are a great place to hide a few veggies, and some extra grains.
and lastly I've resorted to giving him a multi vitamin to make up for what he is lacking.

Thank goodness my 2yr old will atleast try anything and eats most of it!!

have you tried making homemade chicken nuggets? My two-year old loves it.
cut chicken breasts into small cubes
roll it around in breading/ bread crumbs with seasoning
lightly spray the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil
bake for 35-45 minutes at 350.
*you can always serve it to him with ketchup, honey, mustard.
toddlers usually like simple sides for dinner
*yogurt with berries
*apple slices/ mandarin orange sections
*cooked carrots
My toddler went through a phase where he didn't eat anything for dinner. The dr, suggested he drink his calories, SMOOTHIE!
To make a yummy smoothie
*add orange juice 8oz
*vanilla or strawberry yogurt 1 cup
*milk 1/2 cup
*ice 2-3 handfuls
*berries/mango/bananas
Then, blend.( This makes quite a bit, enough for the whole family to enjoy...or to make popsicles.)
( a lady told me she puts raw spinach in hers and her kid liked it...I haven't tried that though)
The measurments are approximate, use the taste test to see if it needs more/less of an ingriedient.
Hope you can find something that works.

This might sound a little nuts, but kids can only be as picky as you allow them to be. My kids had gotten to the point that they wouldn't eat anything but toast, peanut butter sandwiches, fish sticks, and fries. Ridiculous. Oh, and chips and junk, of course. So I put my foot down, and what I serve them, they eat. They have to try everything I give them. I serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with one snack between each meals (so two snacks). If they don't eat their lunch, when they tell me they're hungry later they get it for a snack. And if I serve something for dinner and they refuse to try it, they have it for breakfast.

That sounds horrible, I know. And I felt horrible when I instituted it, but I was at the end of my rope and they weren't eating enough. But it only took one time of my son (just turned 3) having to eat dinner for breakfast, and they willingly try everything now. They don't love everything, and if they hate it, that's ok. But they do try it without a fuss. They don't have to clean their plates, but they have to make an honest attempt at eating their meals, and they have to eat protein for at least two meals in the day (this was a real struggle for us).

If you don't want to be mean, find a way to set ground rules, something you're comfortable with. Offer a variety of foods, and model good eating behavior by eating those foods yourself. Since they're so young they really do need snacks between meals, but make sure they're not relying on those snacks to get them through the day (my kids were skipping meals and then wanting their snacks right away).

I think you've gotten some good ideas. Sometimes it just takes time. My 3 year old was very picky when he was 2 and gradually over time he has gotten to the point where he will stand in the kitchen and take baby carrots out of the bag and dip it in hummus and actually eat the whole carrot! Score! He's still picky about some things (won't eat bananas, likes his cookies, pasta LOVER, cheese fanatic, PBJ connosieur, etc.) but he is opening up more and more to the healthy things. I do give him PBJ, but only 2 times a week. I will give him cheese once a day at lunch. We have pasta on Sundays only (spaghetti Sundays), etc.

The most important thing is to model how you want him to eat. Period. But, make it fun too. I like to do muffin tin meals. I have a half muffin tin (6 spots instead of 12) and I put my silicone muffin cups in each one. I'll fill one with a veggie, one with a fruit, one with his cheese, two with a sandwich, one with dip for his veggie. You get the idea. It keeps the food separated (LOL) and it's not a huge amount of food since each cup holds what? I think 1/4 cup of food each.

I have 19-month old twin girls. They thankfully will eat a wide variety of foods. Here are a few of the breakfast and lunch examples:

Breakfast:
• Omelet with cheddar and ham
• Egg white omelet with feta or cheddar and either spinach or asparagus
• Toast with peanut butter and bananas
• Bagel with Cream Cheese
• Pancakes w/ a little syrup
• Apple Nutri-Grain Bars

Lunch:
• Tofu sauteed in low sodium soy sauce and a little butter
• Kids yogurt and some fruit
• Hummus and Cucumber sandwich on Sara Lee's 9-grain thins
• Black Bean and Chick Pea Salad with Zesty Lemon Pepper Tuna
• Salami Sandwich with Cheese and Mustard
• Endamame with Rotini Tricolored Pasta, a butter and Parmesan
• Endamame and Jasmine Rice (rolled in balls. much cleaner
• Homemade Split Pea Soup

Probably an odd assortment of foods, but maybe there will be something in there that will work for your little one.

My kids also love the home made nuggets...I just cut up boneless chicken breast into bite size pieces and use shake 'n bake.
Another one of our favorite snacks is frozen yogurt. Individual size yogurts, then i just stick a popsickle stick through the foil or plastic top and stick them in the freezer. Our Favorite is French toast squares. I make french toast with whole wheat bread (can't see what color the bread is so they don't know if its white or whole wheat) Sprinkle icing sugar on them and cut them with a pizza cutter into small squares....mmmmmm good you could even use cookie cutters to make special shapes. Get you child to help then it become their food and they'll have a greater chance of trying it. And if he sees you trying foods he will too!

I loved your reply! Thanks for all the tips! The cookie cutter idea is GREAT for my 2 boys

Try the Clean Eating Cookbook for kids!

I agree with this one! The chicken nuggets are fabulous! And so easy!

When my son was around 2, I really tried to get him to eat more veggies (he loves fruit, so that was never an issue!) - it was a struggle at first, and he never really ate them, but I kept offering them to him, and now he loves sweet peppers, carrots, sugar snap peas, and celery, to name a few! Also, we never ever buy white bread - it's always been either whole grain or sprouted grain - I only ever buy sprouted grain bread now, and he loves it! It can be a tough go, sometimes, but if you persist and only offer healthy foods, with the odd treat now and then, your kids will learn to love these foods

My almost 2 year old eats what I eat...sorry. No advice here =/

Try Derceptively Delicous by Jessica Seinfeld Its a way to sneak fruits and veggies into meals without kids knowing.

Yeah, I used to think that kids would eat when they're hungry etc and that if you just served them last night's dinner for breakfast until they ate it, etc was the way to go until my BFF tried that with her son and he didn't eat for almost 4 days.

This is so tough to deal with!
With my kids, I just don't have junk food in the house. Or if I do (because I swear every time I turn around it's a holiday with treat bags or it's a bday party with treat bags GRR here comes Valentines) I limit it. Even on Halloween, I made them choose candy for a couple of days and indulged them and then made them dump the rest in the trash can so we didn't have like, a freaking month's or more supply of candy.
For food regularly, when my children are hungry, snacks are healthy, period. I ALWAYS have fruit in my house and it is always offered. Hungry? Have a banana, or an apple, or a clementine, or grapes, or strawberries. Thirsty? It's water. I let them have ONE juice a day and we do not have soda of any kind in our household.
Dinner I try to just make altered versions of what we, my husband and I, are eating for dinner. So say we were eating grilled chicken with spinach as a side and a salad. For my kids I'd feed them the same chicken and give them some salad and maybe peas instead of spinach. That's an easy switch since I can just microwave some frozen peas and my 10 yr old son and 3 year old daughter will eat them.
My whole point is you have to keep offering those foods. Always offer those foods. Be a broken record: fruit, veggie, fruit, veggie.
My son eats broccoli, asparagus, salads with vinaigrette, sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini. We are always encouraging him to try new foods and we always applaud our kids for doing so. Our kids MUST try new foods at least once and we give them additional tries afterwords if they don't like it, b/c palates change over time and often kids need to adjust to things.

One HUGE tip: get your kids involved in shopping for their own food and helping with some part of cooking. At the grocery ask him like : do you want peas or broccoli? Do we want to try fish or shrimp? Things like that. Then get him in the kitchen and at least show him how you cook it and let him help by putting a pinch of salt on it, or stirring while you hold his hand!
Trust me, it works like a CHARM.

Use a multi pronged approach:
Exposure, often, to new foods and reward them verbally for trying foods even if they don't like it.
Involve children in grocery shopping decisions between various healthy food choices.
Involve children in cooking even if only to open packages, watch, just get them involved so they feel like they have control too.
Always have fruits on hand or veggies like carrot sticks for snacks.
Save junk foods like potato chips or candies and cookies etc as treats as they should be.