My DD is 2 yrs old and she will eat fruit, peanut butter crackers, oatmeal, pancake/waffles, goldfish and animal crackers. So, tonight we are trying to get her to eat rice. She tasted two grains and said no more. I had to really make the rice sound like it was fabulous to get her to even taste it. My question is do I give her ANYTHING else tonight, including liquids? I don't want to deprive her of liquids but won't she feel full if we give her liquids? HELP! I'm exhausted dealing with this eating thing.

By Kate on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 09:26 pm:

I don't know how long ago you registered, but your daughter seems to be either not quite two or maybe just two (you put 22 months). I'd certainly give her liquids, if not food. She's pretty young, in my opinion, to get so strict with. She TRIED the rice, so in my book she gets big kudos for that. I'd have offered fruit or cereal or the pancakes along with it. The foods she does eat seem pretty decent, I wouldn't worry about her indulging in those. However, there will be those who disagree with me, thinking that the sooner kids realize that the family eats the same thing every night and that the child doesn't get special foods, the better. I just really think she's pretty young for it, especially since she did try the rice.

By Coopaveryben on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 09:40 pm:

You are going to hear this so many times, but pick your battles. I promise you they will not starve themselves. My middle DS will not eat for an entire day and the next day he will. Most kids cycle like this. It worries my mother that he doesn't eat, but he is healthy and this is normal.

When you give them a meal offer a variety on their plate, the first time they see green beans on their plate they may not try them but if you keep putting them on they will usually give them a try around the 3rd or 4rth time they see them.

Also, if you feel she just has to eat my 2 year old loves the bear looking for a cave. "hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, where's my cave? Is it over here? no! (my little boy "here it is, here it is" His mouth) Oh there it is, dum dum dum, Hey this isn't a cave don't eat me, don't eat me!" Isn't it crazy some of the stupid things we do to get them to eat.

By Moeanne on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 09:50 pm:

Thanks. We're just about to pull our hair out. She turned 2 yrs on Saturday. She is really picky about trying new things so I was really proud of her for trying the rice at all. I constantly worry about her missing out on eating other things especially green veggies and meat.
I've been psyching myself all afternoon to just let her "tough it out" at dinner that I didn't even give her any other options. Thanks for the advice, I'll try it tomorrow, when the saga continues.

By Fraggle on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 10:19 pm:

My 2 yr. old almost 3 can be pretty picky. The rule in our house is you have to try everything on your plate (even if it is just the tiniest nibble). Usually when I make a meal I make sure at least one item is something the girls like (I have a 4 yr. old, too). So, I know after they have tried everything and still don't want to eat, then they are done. I usually only give a few ounces of milk or juice with dinner and then they can have more if they have eaten a fair amount of dinner. If they don't eat too much dinner then they can only have water the rest of the night until bed time. This works for our family. I think my girls eat a lot of different foods-sometimes they surprise me with what they like so I just keep giving them new foods to try. Both love roasted sweet potatoes, my oldest loves butternut sqaush soup, my youngest loves shrimp, they both love broccoli and will ask for it as a pizza topping. I would say start off by making fruit one of the items that is part of dinner tomorrow-that way you don't have to feel guilty because you know she will choose to eat something on her plate.

One other thing I was thinking about is my daughters have different meals that they tend to eat better at than others. My oldest DD could eat breakfast for hours, but my youngest will barely eat a few pieces of cereal sometimes. Neither of them really eat huge dinners.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 08:43 am:

I never got uptight about what my kids ate or didn't eat. There were some meals they liked better than others and some meals they ate like little pigs and some meals they barely touched. My 11yo is still kind of picky, but did learn that kidney beans are okay, which is good, since I like them in chili.

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 11:47 am:

Keep offering different foods, and begin including less of the *same old stuff*, and more of the things you want her to try. If she's hungry enough, she will eat it. I don't believe you should ever force a child to clean their plate. Make sure she has enough liquids though, so she doesn't dehydrate. And I agree with the *pick your battles*, you'll hear that from me a lot! LOL

By Kittycat_26 on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 06:55 am:

Karen, It makes me glad to hear you say that because Timmy is quickly headed toward 2 years old and I'm finding more and more that I can't fight him on everything.

There are people out there who give advice to you though that expect you to be able to do this. It's almost as if they want your two year old to be a little adult.

Something must be going right for us because I've had more than one person in a restaurant compliment me on his behavior. I'd like to think alot of it stems from me not trying to force him to do things.