OMG- Help with 3 year old eating

[katesquires]

Hi
DD who is 3 and a half has always been a nightmare to feed.When she was a baby I used AK books and she was great. However I think I left her eating pureed foods too long and never really ate well once food was not mashed/pureed for her.Hence, she lives on hidden veggie sauce and pasta or cheesy pasta. Used to eat cottage pie but doesn't anymore. She eats OK in playschool 3 days a week and then for me is a nightmare. I know it is my fault for not being harder on her but I just didn't want her to develop food issues.
Trouble now is that I think she is getting a little tubby cos she grazes on snacks during the day (albeit that they are rice cakes, crackers etc) and always looks for food to eat throughout the day. I keep sayign not until she eats her dinner etc but then it comes to dinner time and we have a battle.
If she doesn't like any food she wo'nt feed herself but needs me to feed her.
Mealtimes wiht her a total battle. Part of fault aswell is that we don't eat together as family- too difficult with the times DP and myself eat etc.
Her sister is 8 months and I am pureeing away for her and goign to start moving to lumpier foods now so don't go the same way with her but am just so guilty that I have done this to DD1 and don't know how to get around it.
Should I just let her starve unless she eats what I give her and say no to any snacks until she starts to eat properly? Am at my wits end with her cos I know it is all my fault.

[kerri-anne]

Hi, just so you know you are not alone in having a fussy eater! My oldest is 3 yrs 8 mths and she's soooooo fussy and like you I totally blame myself. She was great as a baby. it wasn't until her first tooth came (about 10 mths) that she started to mess around at mealtimes. When she'd refuse the things she normally ate I would offer her other things, worried that she'd go hungry and eventually it got so that she would only eat a handful of different meals in rotation. She's just the same now, I've tried everything I can think of to introduce new foods but she's so stubborn (don't know here she gets that from ) and just sticks to the usual things.

To be honest I'm not too worried, everything she eats is homemade so I know she's getting good healthy food, snacks are usually fruit and she's happy and has got loads of energy. I'm pretty sure it's something that will get better when she starts school and eats with the other LO's.

My youngest is the total opposite, everything I did wrong with Molly I made sure I didn't repeat and Rosie's a great little eater. The main thing I found was getting stressed makes the situation 10 times worse, once I'd realised I couldn't force Molly to eat certain things I relaxed and to be honest she has improved slightly on her own. If your LO is refusing everything given to her at mealtimes I would defo hold off on the snacks, she's not going to starve herself so will eat in the end.

Sorry for the long rambling post, hope it helps to know you are not alone xxx

[flutterpillar]

Hi,
Both your posts describe our situation too! DD was a great eater as a baby and once finger foods came into play, she was no longer interested! She only eats Potatoe Waffles for dinner and it is a battle to get her to try anything else. She has done well with a Flipper Dipper and Chicken Nugget before.

She eats healthily during the day, cereal, lunch, fruit, yoghurts etc but what else can I do...? Leave her to it and just get her to help in the kitchen?

Hope you are both getting somewhere with your DD's. Have a great Xmas!

Take care,
Jackie