I ruined my daughter's diet and now Im at my wits end trying to feed her

Diet & Nutrition

My 3 year old is impossible to feed.

I myself dont have the greatest diet and I tend to have outrageous sugar cravings Ive been trying to get under control. As a result, she only ever wants to eat junk food. Food she used to enjoy she wont even touch anymore. Seems like every day her safe foods change and she hardly eats anything.

Ive tried presenting a few different foods so she could pick, and Ive tried just presenting one food with "its this or go hungry". Regardless of the options given she just goes "I dont want those!" and then proceed to complain about being hungry. Ive tried asking her "Okay. what will you eat?"

If she doesnt say something thags straight up junk food (ice cream, cookies, ect), she'll often just ask for just cheddar cheese or popcorn.

My latest attempts have been trying to cook healthy versions of foods she typicaply likes, like cookies and pancakes. I made cookies with wholewheat flour, hemphearts, oats and protein powder. They were the best cookies ever. I made like 50 of them and they were gone in 2 days because the household loved them so much.

But she wouldnt even touch them, even though shes typically a cookie fiend. So far my only successful attempt at getting nutrients in her has been with pediatric meal replacement milk drinks.

Even her preschool teacher has complained about her lack of eating. At snack time she'll only have a few bites before wanting to go straight back to playing which causes the other kids to want to follow suite.

Im so scared she'll end up with my eating disorder (ARFID) but Im trying so hard to work through it for both our sake. I was malnourished and underweight for a majority of my youth (99lbs at 5"7) since my eating disorder was such a pain to work around, my mother just gave up trying to feed me and I wasnt really taught how to feed myself.

I dont want my daughter to go through the same thing, but I am at such a loss at what to do and it seems like every day she gets more selective with her eating.

Has anyone else had this experience? Does it get better? Is this just a typical toddler phase?

Posted Mar 27, 2026, 8:10 PM UTC · locked

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