Two year old not eating

I am lucky to have a non picky eater, but even he occasionally demands "fries!" Here are a few things we do: The sneak attack: Sweet potato instead of regular fries Sneak some pureed carrots into the mac & cheese, grated zucchini into chocolate muffins or cupcakes. Put fruit in the jello (again if you puree it, it shouldn't change the texture much). Make smoothies---H thinks they are "shakes" w/ frozen yogurt, banana and blueberries. Mix a little spinach and parmesan cheese into meatloaf & bake it in a muffin tin so you have individual ones. Playing with the food: Dips---White beans w/ spinach, roasted red pepper hummus, guacamole, or just mix plain yogurt into ranch dressing for dipping veggies (and, in H's case, fries) H doesn't like a lot of raw veggies, so I will parboil his until they are crisp tender. Snow peas and green beans are good dipping vehicles. Edamame--H loves to open the beans to get the "baby peas" out. String cheese--It's way more fun to pull the chees apart to eat it. H's new favorite, cauliflower "popcorn"---break cauliflower heads into small, popcorn sized pieces, toss in olive oil and salt, roast in the oven. Other stuff: H will eat chicken or turkey based hot dogs and sausage (he loves the spinach, apple & chicken sausage---I get it at Sam's Club) A little more nutrition, not quite so much unnecessary fat. I have H convinced that muffins are really "cupcakes." You can put almost anything in those.

It's very common for 2 year old's to be picky with food. Sarah will be three in 2 months. She tends to be picky as well. But her constant favorites have been jello w/fruit, yogurt (especially "gogurts"). We freeze them and she eats them like icecream :) pizza, pasta (different noodle shapes), soup with noodles and vegetables, hot dogs, broccoli casserole, and string cheese. I wouldn't fuss too much. If anything, I would give her vitamins just to make sure she is getting all nutrients.

thank you both for your "hints"!! Lots of things to try!

The WSJ this weekend had an article about Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, DECEPTIVELY DELICIOUS, which is all about sneaking veggies & fruits into food for kids. You might want to see if you can get your hands on a copy.

ALL of my kids have gone thru times when they didn't eat as much. Usually it was somewhere between 18 months and 3 years old. Currently my 3 yo is super picky right now, but my 2 yo eats like a horse. My 6 yo turns his nose up at everything except "meat loaf" (baloney) or peanut butter and HONEY sandwiches. My 9 yo is skinny as a rail and eats seconds of most things and thirds of everything else! The 15 yo, well...there are alot of similarities between the toddler and the teen years. :evilgrin:I only serve my toddlers about 1 or 2 teaspoons of each item at a time. If they don't eat it at least they had it in their plate and smelled it if nothing else. If they eat it, they get "seconds" if they wish. If they don't want seconds they feel wonderful about eating up that item from their plate. I also waste less food by giving them these tiny portions, which makes ME feel better.As long as they maintain their weight and are not lethargic or glassy eyed and weak this is probably a normal "phase". I have this theory that they do it to yank our chains, you know? Or they like to see us hopping around the kitchen concocting special things to keep them happy. :rolleyes: I do it too! And still...they don't eat...no matter what I do.... LOL So, hang in there. Keep offerring different foods so that your little girl doesn't get used to only seeing one or two kinds of food on her plate. She can smell things, and put her fingers in them, and might possibly taste them even.