"James and Karen Stewart" wrote in message ...
I am having trouble with my 3 year old. He likes to eat mostly bread,
pasta and potatoes. He doesn't eat any vegies, or fruits.



Sometimes it's tough to "make" a toddler eat anything besides his/her
favorites, but it's your obligation to turn things around.

Right now, your son is dictating what you feed him. It might not look
exactly that way to you, but it is the truth.

Cook healthy meals. Throw the junk food out of the house. Place in
front of him a tasty but healthy meal and when he complains that he
wants the junk food, point out to him that there simply isn't any in
the house.

He'll balk. He won't eat the good stuff at first. He'll walk away
from the table without eating anything, and then in a few hours, he'll
be complaining that he's hungry. At that point, offer him a healthy
snack: carrots, fruit, etc.

He'll bitch and scream and be generally unpleasant and he'll go to bed
hungry, but you will be setting a precedent: "You eat what is served,
and we're no longer serving crap."

It's tough, but in the long run this is showing him more love than
caving in and letting him survive on a bad diet. Not to mention that
the longer you keep giving in to his dietary whims, the further you'll
be reinforcing in him the idea that you can be pushed around (by a 3
year old, no less.)

Take care and stick with it.

Mark, MD