Husband and I are at odds over DD's eating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You consider beans a breakfast food???

It sounds fine to me. She’s eating a big variety of foods. Who cares if she doesn’t like meat and “kid food”?

Op here. I studied abroad in the UK and guess it stuck with me

Omg I'm dying. Sorry to go off topic but the idea that someone spent four months in college in London and now considers beans a breakfast food is hilarious.

A lot of Latin American countries have beans at breakfast. Just because you didn’t/don’t have it as a breakfast food doesn’t mean nobody should.

We're not talking about Latin Americans, which I happen to be actually. I'm laughing at someone thinking of beans on toast as a breakfast food because of four months of their of their 20s.

My uncle spent a semester in London and eats beans on toast decades later. He liked it then and still does. Who cares?

I eat chicken stir fry for breakfast after spending a lot of time in south east Asia. I hate Americans breakfast food!

[Anonymous]

Her diet sounds great, honestly. I would just continue to offer her the food you guys eat, along with the options she already likes. She might not eat them, she might start to try things. She’s 4 and battle of wills can backfire.

If her diet was standard chicken nugget fare, I’d be more forceful, but her diet sounds fairly well rounded to me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What seems to be the problem? Your daughter is eating a wide variety of foods.

The problem is that daughter isn’t eating what the rest of the family eats and you can’t always get breakfast foods when you eat out or travel or when you visit family. I mean eventually the kid needs to broaden her diet as just liking “breakfast” foods is weird. I mean it seems like the kid has some sort of block here related to eating but I can’t figure out what. This is a very strange group of foods to eat both texture and taste wise.

No need to pathologize this one. Sounds to me like this is what she likes. 4 year olds and 40 year olds alike have opinions and tastes. There’s probably nothing wrong with her other than being strong willed (which is a good thing!)

[Anonymous]

I think you and DH could both bend a little. Encourage new foods, but offer at least one thing your kid eats. You are setting yourself up for cooking two separate meals for each meal of the day. If you eat out, are you only going to go to Denny's or IHOP or Silver Diner?

[Anonymous]

I don't think her diet is particularly unhealthy, but I also wouldn't be super interested in cooking a separate meal for her if everyone else is eating something else. But she's only 4! I agree with other posters that you could always make sure there's at least one thing she likes on the table, but I'd start getting her used to the idea that one meal is served, and that she needs to eat with everyone else (assuming you eat dinner together as a family). If I have it on hand, I always serve some fruit along with dinner, and eggs are a perfectly reasonable dinner food - why don't you try a quiche or something similar?

[Anonymous]

I would include one item she will eat and continue offering other foods.

My 4yo is not picky but she will reject food without trying. I tell her she should at least try before she can have something she wants to eat like ice cream or another dessert.

Does she not eat rice, pasta or bread? Those are pretty safe for all kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would include one item she will eat and continue offering other foods.

My 4yo is not picky but she will reject food without trying. I tell her she should at least try before she can have something she wants to eat like ice cream or another dessert.

Does she not eat rice, pasta or bread? Those are pretty safe for all kids.

This is pretty much where we are at. We also ask that she taste everything on her plate before getting seconds of anything, which helps expose her to more things and get her used to them. It doesn't happen often, but occasionally she'll realize that actually those turnips are basically extra sweet carrots and delicious, and forget all about the second helping of pasta she asked for.

And yes, rice/pasta/bread are touchstones for us at dinner time. Most meals involve these anyway (I'm including tortillas in the bread category). One thing that's easy to do is to make sure one of these is on the table and be willing to add a topping to it that does not require extra cooking if she really doesn't like the rest of her meal. To me, a buttered tortilla, and a few bites of fruits or vegetables is an okay meal if she's really resistant to anything more. Since I know she gets great protein and variety at breakfast, I can live with that. There's no junk in it, several food groups, and if she's genuinely not hungry when she's done, I take it as a win. We will also sometimes put peanut butter or jelly on the table as a topping if I think it will help balance something out in her diet. Oh, and I'll let her dip fruit or vegetables in peanut butter if it convinces her to eat them, at her request. Since she eats almost no meat, I'm pretty accommodating about protein additions to meals. But only additions. I never just provide her with her own custom meal. It needs to bear some semblance to what we're eating.