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Don't make food a battle. Give her what she will eat. A few months of chicken nuggets and fish fingers wont harm. Gradually introduce new things as she settles down

Yes.... sadly food routine for my 2 was vital! It so very very slowly slowly catchey monkey....

Familiar, no matter how awful & poor nutritional value the better sadly... what worked here was trying new alongside familiar... especially vegetables, luckily once tried boys loved fresh veg... a year in it was cracked but it felt dire all those months being patient watching them hungrily eat rubbish ? ...

Sometimes it can be a control thing, I learnt early on not to cringe at plastic american cheese slices as I had an inkling they sometimes eat it to get that glimmer of horror from me! ?

Strawberries & grapes were a revolution & joy as they clearly had never tasted them before.... they loved them.... still do... strawberries became the go to reward for years for a good job done!? ? bribery was often key to get them eating nutritional foods... grapes were loved xx

Hang in it is early days xxx it will happen xxx

Good Luck xx

Xx moo xx

Hi. We adopted a two and three year old, one of whom also became a bit fussy during meals, even though he was not a fussy eater at the foster carers’ house. This only lasted a couple of weeks. We think it was due to our cuisine being very different to the foster carers (we are Mediterranean while the foster carers are Asian) and also part of the settling in process.

To be honest with you the strategy we applied was different to the one suggested by Serrakunda. We simply continued to cook the food we normally eat and we regularly explained to him why it’s so important to eat vegetables and other healthy foods (e.g. it will make him grow taller, be stronger, run faster, he won’t get sick as much). We eat together each day as a family at the table (at 6pm) and he sees us eating the same food that he eats, which I think helps as kids tend to follow your example. We also involved him in helping us to prepare meals, made meals fun and helped him when needed (for example, by feeding him and making car/train noises to help him eat those foods he initially disliked, which he responded well to). He now eats everything we cook (including broccoli, salad, and other foods kids tend not to like as much).

Another thing we did was to introduce soups regularly as part of their diet, to ensure they are eating a good amount of vegetables. We also explained to him that if he didn’t eat the ‘healthy’ foods he wouldn’t be able to have sweet snacks the following day (or desert if we had prepared some). This might be more of an ‘old-school’ approach, but it has worked for us.

Another thing to keep in check is how much food your little girl is eating throughout the day. It’s important to monitor the amount of snacks kids have throughout the day (especially sweet snacks), as they might stop eating the most important foods/meals.

I think it’s important to set out good eating habits right from the beginning (this is also a big part of setting boundaries) as giving your little girl just the foods that she likes might backfire spectacularly in the future.

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments!! I think we might stick to some things she does like interspersed with a few of our healthy meals but going very gentle and not saying 'no pudding' if you don't eat main course!!

My son went through a fussy phase - in a pretty typical way, nothing specific to settling in etc, so may be different. I did a mix of predictable meals that I knew he would eat, and more varied meals. If he wouldn't eat what I had cooked, I tried not to get stressed (didn't always succeed, esp if I'd slaved for ages and had expected him to like it!!) and offered crackers, or a slice of bread as an alternative so he wouldn't be hungry. I didn't withhold pudding, but we usually have fruit or plain yoghurt anyway, and if he'd not eaten dinner I wouldn't offer a 'treat' type of pudding. It frustrated me immensely at times, but I do think the key is not making it a battle or being stressed by it - my son is now 5 and is often commented on for how well he eats. Good luck!!