Advice from a mother of a 25 yr. old: DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! Kids will eat when they are ready. I ate almost nothing when I was young...and have lived to tell about it! The more you stress, the more they won't eat!!!!! Enjoy your trip and really, try not to even give his eating habits a second thought.....

You have no idea how I understand your pain. My kids where exactly the same way at that age. They are 6 and 10 now so it's getting a bit easier and the drilling I've been giving them about eating healthy is finally kicking in. Fast food is off the menu completely - unless it's an emergency and they get it. I've stuck to that like a drill sergeant! Since your little guy is much younger I know this is all useless right now. Have you tried giving him vegetable cream soups, since he tolerates the baby food? Just a thought. And it looks like he likes finger foods - how about just chopped fruit? My kids were not serious veggie eaters so we do eat a lot, a lot of fruit. At least that's something... Good luck!

I started to jot down a couple things and ended up writing a novel. Oops! :) This probably isn't going to be the response you're looking for, and I've never been to Europe, so I'm no help there. But I always feel like I have to chime in when people ask this sort of question, because my husband is 35 and the list of foods that he will eat only maybe doubles that of your son's. When I met him, he subsisted on a diet of frozen pizzas, carne asada burritos, cheese burgers, and the occasional chicken breast (boneless) and bacon and eggs. No vegetables. No fruit. Only certain "shapes" of pasta. Surprisingly, he was, and remains healthy, active and fit. It's taken us seven years, but we're getting somewhere. We make fruit smoothies (and have even experimented with green smoothies once or twice), and I can put veggie purees into pasta sauce. For him, it's a texture thing more than a taste thing, but a lifetime of people giving him a hard time about what he would and wouldn't eat practically sent him into anxiety attacks every time he'd have to eat around anyone else. Obviously lots of toddlers are picky eaters and most grow out of it, but after watching my husband go through such stress about something that I love (I too, love cooking and food) it pains me to see people suggest "hiding" or "sneaking" food into people's dishes. I'm sure it's not traumatic for everyone, but in my husband's case, it's major. Throughout his life, friends, colleagues, co-workers, ex-girlfriends have all tried to get him to eat differently, and I'm positive that they were all trying to do the right thing, but in actuality, ended up making it harder and harder for him. So here are the rules that we've adopted. 1. Respect. Even for toddlers, but especially for older picky eaters. If someone doesn't want to eat something, don't make them. 2. 100% Full Disclosure. If I've grated carrots to cook with the tomato sauce for the lasagna (which I do, and gets rave reviews), I tell him. No sneaking or hiding food, ever. 3. If he doesn't eat what I make, he makes something for himself. I've never made "special" food for him. This is harder with a toddler, obviously, but if there's a stand-by, healthy but seemingly boring option that's always available (like the cheese sandwich for instance?), let them eat that if they want. Even if they want it seven days a week. 4. Educate & Include. I try to include him in as much of the cooking process as possible. If we're trying a new dish, we go to the grocery store together and pick out the ingredients. I encourage him to try a sauce. I ask him to pick out the side. This may not quite be possible at 2 and a half, but some cooking steps (dumping in ingredients, stirring, tasting, etc.) can be done by a toddler. If nothing else, let him play with some pots and pans or play food while you cook. 5. Just go with it. If he wants to eat goldfish, let him. Your new mantra must be "oh well, more delicious strawberries for me!" Get him a good multi-vitamin and try not to stress out. Meanwhile, let him see you eating good food and enjoying cooking and eating food. That's definitely the most important thing you can do. My son will be 2 at the end of March, and thankfully, he is a great eater. He will eat anything and loves a huge variety of flavors and textures. He loves fruits and vegetables and can identify lots of both. So while I haven't had to deal with these issues as much from the toddler spectrum, I think most of the same things work. Making it a stressful time of day will just cause dread and anger and frustration for the whole family. Sneaking and hiding foods will just add mistrust to that combination. My own son is obsessed with dipping foods. How about waffle cut into strips and then offering a jam or fruit puree as a dip? Once he is comfortable with it there, you can try it in the yogurt? Grilled cheese + some tomato soup could work the same way. This turned out super long but I hope a little of it helps. Have a great trip and good luck!

I can add chicken nuggets, fish sticks, quesadillas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, whole wheat toast and scrambled eggs (but only with a ketchup face on top) to my 4 year old's list. Oh and change the vanilla yogurt to chocolate ice cream. That's it. As he's been getting older the list has been getting smaller. I've been told there's not much that can be done. I serve him a lot more, but anything not on the list just doesn't get eaten. His 15 month old brother finishes whatever he leaves on his plate :-/

I still have to puree many veggies to get my 2 year old to eat them. I also make my own pasta sauce and add small amounts of pureed carrots or zucchini, but not so much as to completely change the texture or flavor. Pureed broccoli with lots of cheese does wonders. When he is extra picky about vegetables I make sure to offer him lots of fruit. Banana, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches and strawberries are his current favorites. We try to offer him mainly whole grain breads and crackers. His absolute favorite thing right now is Morningstar's vegetarian chick'n nuggets. Is your child sick or teething? That always messes up my little one. Good luck to you! There is nothing worse than when your child won't eat!

Hm.. you are like my huz (and he's a french cdn too!). He has tried to get our picky eater to try fresh food every day (he's the type to buy food fresh each day). When we go out choosing restos, we try to pick one that has at least the staple: pasta. lol. We've also noticed that while on vacation, we tend not to eat much, there's just so much else to do! If I were you, I'd pack up some Goldfish packets, your Scribble Kit and just go! The adventure with your kids is waiting out there. Kids seem to have this incredible growth spurt while you're on vacation. They soak up the extra culture and your kids might surprise you with what they choose to eat. That being said, when all else fails, gummy vitamins works for me and I consider french fries... a vegetable dish. Esp with ketchup. ;P Bon Voyage!

I think most kids go through that when they're two -- that's why it's called the terrible twos! I would just keep offering what he likes with fruits and veggies on the side -- sometimes they have to just keep seeing the same thing over and over before they're willing to try it. Maybe try carrot sticks/veggies with a yogurt dip? Dip/ketchup was very powerful with my son at 2 ... he'd even dunk his peas in ketchup. He's still the same way with oregano on a pizza though -- he just doesn't like his greens and cheeses to mix. So you're not alone there. He was also way more adventurous away from home, so maybe your trip will help!

we took our lactose intolerant 15 month old to denmark a couple of years ago. it was hard with the scandinavians proclivity to put milk in everything and he did get sick. if you can, i second bringing your staples because you may not find good substitutes there. for what it's worth, i'm a foodie and i have 2 picky eaters too, ages 1 and 3. it is heartbreaking when they don't want your yummy homemade stuff, my hope is that they will grow to love it eventually. and who knows, they could surprise you and be craving foie gras when they get home!

Apparently I was the same way. My mom said that the only way she could get me to eat was to have me involved in the making of the food. If I helped make it, I would eat it!

Exactly what Adam said. If I helped cook, I was so excited about MY creations, I'd eat them. Otherwise I'd eat nothing. I'm still waiting for my daughter to sprout teeth, so we're not quite there yet ourselves...

Have you tried including them in on cooking and/or growing a garden? Personally, I have found that if they have some role in the food making/or creating process they are more open to trying it. They seem to be proud that they helped to make it!

Thank God I'm not the only one! Thanks for posting.

I am reading this post a few months after it was created. I went with my 1.5 year old to Cannes and he ate nothing, nothing for a week, except milk... until we went to a fancy restaurant and he ate a whole rissotto dish that was the most expensive thing in the menu, ever! I gave him the whole thing... hopefully your experience was better than mine. Here are some tricks I have been trying later that seem to work (he's 3 now) - Pasta sauce with other veggies and with parmesan cheese, added to many of his foods. They seem to like the taste of pasta sauce. I go for organic. - Have you tried First Juice? they are awesome and are made of carrots with fruit. Plus they come in a great sippy cup bottle. The greatest invention ever! - When he doesn't want to eat, I tell him to try 5 spoons and that's it. Only five. He tries the food, then likes the taste and the 5 spoons tactic seems to work because he sees the end to the eating process and see he can go back to play soon - Mixing the pasta sauce with other foods that is not pasta. Rice and chicken. Try rice, I think they like the texture - Yo Baby has some yogurts that have pureed veggies and taste great if they start trying new foods, the food problems start to go away. I feel they have a stage where they don't want to eat at all, and then, suddenly, they start to eat. There's some light at the end of the tunnel!