For the longest time Erin has been a fussy eater… or so I thought. I remember it all starting when Erin was maybe just over 1 and she had a bad case of tonsillitis that resulted in a hospital visit. It might have just been a coincidence but this is the time when I remember Erin’s eating habits changing. She seemed to go from being the child who would eat and enjoy absolutely anything to being the child who would pretty much only eat some form of bread.
Erin is now 3 and a half and things still aren’t great. Last year when Erin started nursery I had really high hopes for her eating habits. Erin’s nursery was attached to a small private school and on each of her 3 days she had a hot lunch. Lunchtime was spent with the whole school so she was sat with lots of other children all eating the same thing. Each day her teachers would feed back to me what Erin had eaten and although the results weren’t great, she was actually eating.
Now, Erin is at a nursery where she has to take a packed lunch so those hot lunches are long gone. However, Erin has really taken to her packed lunches well and on most days she has eaten everything I’ve given her. The nursery has a healthy eating policy and although I don’t stick to their rules completely, Erin’s lunches are mostly really good for her. I put new foods in now and again to see if she will try them and 95% of the time she will and if this happens, I continue to give her them.
The problem mostly is eating at home. Erin sometimes won’t eat things at home that I know she will eat in her lunch at school. It takes a lot to get Erin to even try something new at home but I have no idea why. We also have a really hard time with dinner times and hot meals. I think this is actually our main problem. Erin will happily eat sandwiches, fruit and even vegetables and spaghetti… as long as they are near enough cold. I think Erin has something against hot food.
When we have dinner now I have to make sure Erin’s food is served before ours just so it can cool down enough for her. If we go out to eat anywhere we usually need a separate plate to make sure Erin’s food can be cut up and cool down. I know that getting Erin to try something new is a lot of hard work but now I think we also need to tackle the issue of Erin maybe having a hot food aversion. Is this even a thing? I have no idea. I have heard of other food aversions before but not this.
It’s been about 2 years of feeling like meal times and Erin’s eating habits are a battle I’m constantly losing but maybe this is at least some sort of answer.
Has anyone experienced anything similar with their children?
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