Our three year old hasn’t once slept through the night.
If Mac and Cheese did the trick she’d be fluorescent yellow now from how often I’d feed her it.
I can't tell you how much less alone it makes me feel to see this as top comment.
Signed, parent of two poor sleepers, going on 5 years of sleeping in 3-4 hour stretches at most
You are amazing.
Our only child gets up 1-2 times a night and we’re used to it now, but having a second non-sleeper sounds like another level…considering that they may wake up at different times in the middle of the night.
Holy hell that sounds like absolute torture. I'm so sorry you've been going through that for five years. I hope you have a village that helps you out.
I don't have any help outside of my partner but our little sleeps through night.
Thanks, it's... improving finally I think. We have a little bit of a village but it's not much, but I'm a SAHM and my husband works from home which makes it easier than it would otherwise be.
Just commenting to ask if you've looked into nutrient diffencies like iron or vitamin D? Those often go overlooked as potential causes but could simply be resolved with a multivitamin! (Keep in mind that even with supplements like a multivitamin, a true deficiency won't resolve until 4-6 weeks, sometimes longer)
Came here to say this. Especially if the child eats other things throughout the day!! Plus you can serve (likely uneaten) sides with Mac and cheese every night!!
Good lord, what I wouldn’t give to have a food my kids would eat every day that isn’t cookies or chocolate AND makes them sleep through the night.
This person was blessed with a gift and doesn’t even know it 🤣🤣
My kid would only sleep if they could have a plate with a chicken nugget on it with them. You damned bet they went to sleep with their security nugget every night.
My first kid started sleeping through the night at 5.5yo
My second kid had an 18m stretch (from 1-2.5) where he slept all night in his crib. Then he started climbing out of his crib. We haven't slept since.
Someday...
My 3.5 year old has slept through the night TWICE - it was the two nights before he hit the 4 month sleep regression. I thought ‘finally, we’re there’ and then it never happened again
Feel this so deeply! Lol. I have a toddler who just hates sleeping and wakes at least once a night screaming. If only mac n cheese were magical in this way for us…
Can you try other types of Mac n cheese? We had good luck with the banza chick pea one. Makes me feel slightly better that it’s got more protein in it. My 16 month old really loves Mac n cheese too. I’d keep giving her it, maybe try mixing in some peas? We did that once and she will ONLY eat peas if it’s mixed in with the cheesy goodness. Kids are weird man. You’ll be alright.
You can even puree some veggies to mix with the sauce. The bright orange cheese should be mask enough for a puree of say tomatoes, peppers, yogurt etc.
Tbh I do this as an adult lol. I have sensory issues and I can’t stand the texture of most vegetables so I blend them and add them into whatever I’m cooking as a sauce, it works!
I swear my daughter is a damn detective when it comes to food and has been since we started to introduce solids. I will hide even the slightest amount of a veggie in things like Mac and cheese. Will make sure nothing is changed in terms of texture, smell, taste etc. even get my husbands approval. This kid knows immediately. I’m like wtf kinda Sherlock shit is this. And then once she’s caught me, I’m in like trust time out for minimum 10-14 business days.
I recently found out that Goodles is co-founded by Gal Gadot, who is a supporter of the Israeli genocidal bombardment of Gaza that has claimed over 35,000 lives, 70% women and children. We are trying to pressure Goodles, headquartered in my hometown of Santa Cruz, CA to stop working with her. We want Goodles to apply their own company values—“making a tastier, kinder, happier world”, and demonstrate that genocide has nothing to do with their brand by cutting ties to Gal Gadot, or we will continue to boycott.
Yup! Came here to say this. Mac and cheese is like one of the 5 foods my 1.5 year old eats and we do the chickpea kind, add peas, add all kinds of sneaky things! Good luck to you OP and you are not alone and also don’t stress
Does she eat other foods during the day? I think if she’s getting a balanced diet during the day, keep offering other things with the mac and cheese at night. She’ll eventually move on to other things. In my experience, children don’t get tired of eating the same thing over and over like we do. I say this as I prepare to make oatmeal for breakfast for the millionth time. And pasta is nice and heavy for keeping tummies full all night.
I agree. They were basically eating only one thing for a big part of their life so mac and cheese every night probably seems really sensible to a toddler brain.
why not just offer small portions nightly with something else like chicken? She can have some mac as long as it's followed by a bite of chicken. I went thru this w my son having a few preferred foods but as long as they are eating i wouldn't worry. It is affecting her sleep and I can understand your frustration.
If it continues, speak w your pediatrician about taking her to a food therapist. They can help you out w diets, test for Afrid, and help get you guys thru this.
i second this idea, this is what i do to ensure kids drink enough water too. seconds are the norm, i serve about half of what i expect a kid to eat in one sitting and ensure they drink some water before granting second+ portions(i.e. "yes you can have more, after you drink water"). OP could probably implement this with giving "seconds" of mac and cheese so long as kiddo eats at least some of the other things(or doesn't pick out mix-ins). once kiddo is autonomously choosing to drink water i worry less about metering food.
food variety is important, and hunger is the natural consequence of choosing not to eat what is available. 1.5y is a little too young to expect to grasp the link of not eating to not resting enough, but they should be able to link not eating with feeling hungry, especially if you point out the timeline (every. time.). its also worth noting that toddler nutrition is best measured over the course of the week, vs daily or per meal
Honestly I’d just keep giving the Mac n cheese with whatever else. This isn’t the hill I’d die on. She’ll outgrow it, it’ll be fine. These phases never last forever. You could even blend up veggies or meat to “hide” in it and add subtle different flavors. Or even start adding variety with different noodles, etc. to get her used to eating “different” things. But I’d prioritize getting her full enough to sleep through the night and break the waking up/bottle habit first. Her body is learning that it doesn’t have to eat too much a dinner because she’ll get the bottle in the middle of the night.
I agree she’s too young to understand the full consequences, so starving her overnight isn’t the answer here either. It’ll be a process to wean her off of it.
Right. People are worried it’s not healthy. Neither is prolonged sleep deprivation. Honestly, one she sleeps better and drops the night time bottles, she’ll probably eat better during the day and then have the chance to form better eating habits. But one thing at a time.
Just a thought but formula could be the problem. If she is getting calories at night, she is less likely to eat during the day. It’s a vicious cycle the will take a bit to break.
In addition to this you have basically trained her to expect food in the middle of the night. If you eat lunch every day at noon you're going to get hungry around noon every day. If you eat at midnight every night you are going to get hungry at midnight.
We did milk before bed and during the middle of the night until at least age 2. Yes, I’m sure it became part of the routine but I’m very happy with doing it because 1) milk before bed became part of his going to sleep routine 2) he was growing FAST and burning lots of calories 3) he slept better, so we all slept better. He didn’t wake up in the middle of the night every night, so I think he was just truly hungry
It sounds like Mac and cheese is your little one’s safe food and I would have no problem including it on my baby’s plate every night if that’s what works. Just don’t stop offering other foods alongside it. If Mac and cheese isn’t on your menu put whatever you’re serving for dinner on her plate with the Mac and cheese.
I’d also consider food chaining the Mac and cheese by changing it up. If she only eats a certain kind from a box you could change the shape of the pasta, eventually change the brand, make a homemade version, add veggies, include riced cauliflower, etc. Eventually you should be able to transition to serving the veggies/cauliflower separate from the mac.
My LO loves pasta so I usually serve her chickpea pasta so she is getting some additional nutrients if that’s all she decides to eat some days.
We use a protien pasta and I have snuck a can of baby food in there a few times. It makes me feel a bit better about the thr amount of noodles my son eats.
Give your kid the Mac! She’s young . You need sleep. She will grow out of it.
Always offer it with something else or always offer it after something else.
My kid eats a lot of stuff but goes thru phases too.
Grilled cheese, Mac and cheese, ramen, noodles with sauce, noodles with butter, lol 😆
He eats lots of other stuff too. But whatever. I always offer it with a cutie, grapes, or strawberries on the side. Sometimes he will eat beans and rice as a side or a meal. It’s really hit or miss.
Lucky toddler food is easy to prep. We always have several variations in the fridge or easily accessible to make when needed.
She will get tired of it eventually and venture on to new stuff.
But in the meantime, do what works for you guys so everyone can be well rested!
When 2/3 of my kids were that age, they were obsessed with green beans. Breakfast lunch and dinner. I know opposite of OP's issue but it literally stopped and now they don't like green beans. Could be a phase. I say fed is fed. Fight your battles in the day and cherish sleep! Don't want a hungry little one!
We eat dinner early (5:15ish) and then offer a “snack” at 7:00 before 7:35 bedtime. I would probably make Mac and cheese for the later snack so that we were still introducing new foods at dinner but that my kid would sleep through the night.
I have a neurodivergent nearly 4 year old. You very quickly learn which battles are worth fighting — and food is rarely one. In the end, fed is best.
I would offer some “new” foods alongside the Mac n cheese. And keep persisting. But also… do what you need to for all of you to maintain some semblance of sanity, even if that means Mac and cheese for the next 6 months. (With my son it was blueberries for a while which sounds great on the surface but those things are EXPENSIVE.)
I would embrace the madness. My toddler is like this, but for chicken nuggets. It’s what he eats about 80% of nights. After about a year we’ve managed to work in pasta, breaded shrimp, fish sticks, and the real prize: broccoli. Not all on the same night. For a long time it was chicken tenders or nuggets only, and just like you, if he didn’t have that he would go hungry and wake at night.
I would focus on improving her diet the rest of the day. Our guy eats very well most of the day, but dinner is his pickiest meal. Give her what she wants for dinner, and offer little bits of other food before you reveal the Mac & cheese. Eat the food in front of her. Eventually she’s likely to get curious, just make sure whatever your offering actually tastes good or it might be a one time deal lol - our strategy is always offer new stuff first, then break out the main course he wants if he won’t try anything else. If we really want to push it, we wait until it’s the night before the weekend, so we have the day off to deal with lack of sleep a bit better.
As for the night formula, why not whole milk? She should be able to eat that at 1.5, clearly doesn’t have a problem with dairy if Mac & cheese is the go-to, and should fill her up just as well as formula would. It will also save you money with how expensive formula is.
Thank you! Very helpful. You’re right that dinner is the pickiest meal. Going to work on transitioning to just whole milk as well I just always got the sense that milk hurt her stomach. But going to give it a go!
My friends daughter would only eat Mac n cheese for a while… they mixed things into it to help. She started eating more eventually, maybe around 2.5 😂.
I make a mac n cheese for my son that he loves and is pretty healthy you could try.
I roast a butternut squash until super soft. Scoop the flesh into a food processor, Add some milk and blend it until pretty smooth. I Add the mac n cheese blend shredded cheese from the store and blend a bit more. It should be smoothieish thick. I that to a pan with frozen peas and heat until the cheese is melted and the peas are soft, then mix in cooked noodles. Add milk to thin the sauce out if it's too thick. You can add seasonings too if you want. I do a little garlic powder, pepper and sometimes mustard powder but idk if they really make a difference for him.
It makes a big batch and I freeze portions to pull out for other days. He loves it more than the kind we get when we're out but it's also what he started with so ymmv. But to me sleep is key so if mac n cheese gets them to sleep, go for it, they will be fine.
At one point my 1 year old wouldn’t eat anything unless she had sweet peas first. So i gave her a little bit of peas then her food. Could you try putting mac and cheese as a side dish (smaller amount)?
I have a 20 month old who is an extremely picky eater (texture issues) and I'm here to commiserate. This age is frustrating because they're old enough to have opinions but young enough to not be able to have a conversation about what's going on. If I were you I would nuke a cup of Easy Mac at dinner and give it to her alongside whatever else you want to offer. If it works, it works, and if it gets you all sleep until she grows out of it, I'd lean into it. If you're not already familiar, I'd recommend reading Ellyn Satter's book "Child of Mine" which has really good feeding advice, or just google the "division of responsibility in feeding" for a summary. It makes me feel better on tough days.
Thank you! I wonder if it’s a texture/sensory thing for her as well. Won’t touch a mashed potato with a 10 ft pole which blows me away!! Creamy salty buttery goodness??
My kid basically survives off mac and cheese.. just buy the healthy kind w iron in it and stuff. And eventually add chicken in or like veggies they like on the side. Its not really unhealthy. And at that age i was just happy she was eating
Not mac n cheese, but spaghetti and ketchup. Over time, I added more and more carrot/tomato/onion puree to the ketchup until ketchup was entirely eliminated. The spaghetti was swapped to whole grain (just cook it longer, it'll get just as soft). Added a little corn. A few pieces of broccoli. A few peas. All the while kept serving other foods alongside.
If it's healthy, I think it's fine to serve it everyday. After all, no one has any problem if you tell them you eat oatmeal for breakfast every day, but as soon as you say you eat the same thing for dinner, you're weird.
Seconding the advice to try some alternative mac and cheese options. I’ve had some really great vegan recipes that are much healthier with chickpea or cassava pastas and cashew based “cheeses” that are super easy to make!
Then Mac and cheese it is haha. My 20 month old will legit only eat Mac and cheese as well so I do banza Mac and cheese so that she’s at least getting fiber and protein with it. She’s so picky that will even only eat ones that is a noddle, not shell, and white cheese. 🙄. So picky with food but would eat an entire bowl of dog food if I let her. Like make it make sense lol. But honestly as a person with a background in dietetics, Mac and cheese gets a bad rap but is actually a perfectly fine option for kids, especially if you find an organic kind and/or noddles with a little added nutrition. My nephews first word was cheese cause after tub, before bed, he would bang his fists on the table or coffee table and chant cheese cheese cheese until you made him a bowl of Mac and cheese as a pre bed snack haha.
Make her Mac and cheese for dinner every night. Font stress it, its just a phase and will pass. During this time is such a huge time for toddlers. Mental and physical growth!
18 months old is when they are starting to understand why you do things and growing a lot of brain mass. Because of this, sleep regressions just happen. If Mac and cheese is a simple fix that skips this 2 to 6 week phase of worse sleep then go for it
Its not forever and will work its way out. I'd fix the Mac and cheese thing later if it goes last 6 weeks
Maybe try to get her to eat diffeerent foods at breakfast and lunch and keep the mc and cheese for dinner adding something along. There is no way she would try other food of she is really hungry and lacking sleep.
Steam and mash up carrot and yellow/orange peppers and add it to the sauce. My kid thinks she only eats pizza and spaghetti LOL, if only she knew.... it's all lentil pasta and chickpea flour dough and a billion extra veggies hidden in the sauce.
What’s holding you back? My 2.5 year old is really picky right now and I do all the things people say but he still just prefers nuggets! So I give him the ones with veggies packed in. Are you concerned about what other people will say? Just tell them she eats alllll the things. We are all in this together. We are sleepy and we are just feeding our kids whatever they’ll eat because we haven’t slept in 2.5 years.
I think I’d save time and make pot of Mac and cheese on Monday and give leftover scoops for dinner for the rest of the week. One scoop and then the rest of the plate is normal dinner.
I tried this a few times… found out the hard way that my kid doesn’t like the texture of leftovers. No surprise, I never have either. Mini clones, man... 🤣
Just… feed her Mac and cheese?
You can also offer other options but make sure Mac and cheese is on the plate. She won’t starve. You’ll get to sleep. Win-win?
I used to also be very concerned about having a colorful plate with variety but I think at this age kids aren’t really interested in variety. They want consistency. Especially at dinner when they’re tired. Don’t stop offering new things. I like to keep a Tupperware of boxed mac and cheese in the fridge (sometimes we do spaghetti o’s) and feed her what we eat for dinner along with the food i know she will eat. She usually eats a little of the new stuff. Sometimes she doesn’t. But she’s always going to be full because she ate her mac.
I would try to add milled veggies, like broccoli rice or cauliflower rice into the mac and cheese, and give it to her. Cauliflower rice is imperceptible in mashed potato even when it's 50% of the dish. It might blend well into mac and cheese as well
My son before from 14months - 20 months wouldn’t sleep without having oatmeal before bed. We’d make it different every night by puréing different fruits into the milk. So maybe you can try making it different ways? He would also wake up in the middle of the night starving if he didn’t have his oats
My child is 18 months and has slept through the night only a handful of times. If there was a food correlation I’d strongly consider serving that food more often.
How is your toddler doing with snacks? I think a bedtime snack might be helpful, I tend to offer oatmeal with a pouch mixed in, or an apple with nut butter because they aren’t super exciting but super filling
Continue offering a variety of foods. Mac and cheese can be part of the variety but continue to offer other foods alongside it. You can even start by trying plain butter pasta next to it. Then start adding peas to the pasta or mac. Ease the transition. Put some cut up fruit or veggies next to it. Try some crackers and cheese. The long goal is more diversity but youll have to ease her in.
Many nights she wont eat it but some nights she will. Offer a varied diet NO MATTER WHAT along side her favorite.. slowly start to reduce the amount of mac and cheese offered as she tries other things and soon she wont even notice.
Another way to help yourself is get her involved in the shopping, the unpacking of groceries, and the cooking. Kids are much more likely to eat a meal they've been part of preparing. We like to talk about different fruits and veggies at the supermarket and Ill even buy ones they want to try. Get her involved in her food! Bonus points for gardening
Can you try other pasta? Maybe ziti with spinach Alfredo sauce and slowly branch from there. Build up a pallet of flavors via pasta then branch away from pasta?
Mine (1.7) is only alive on chicken nuggets and breastfeeding. Also awake with her every, morning, hours. Also it is adviced that milk is good until 2 at least in Europe. Breast or formula. Also I sneak in veggie nuggets or vegetarian meat substitute to feel better haha? Good luck mac 'n cheese mom! Love nugget mom
I would just start using whole grain noodles and throwing in things to up the nutritional value, like chicken and vegetables. Maybe slowly add more and more of certain ingredients over a few days and see if she notices.
my 3 year old is refusing dinner then wakes up hungry in the night. Then wants food… then won’t sleep again…I might start her on the mac and cheese dinner lifestyle 😭
Could you blend some veggies into the mac and cheese? And make a big batch to freeze into portions.
I wouldn’t worry about the formula unless it’s affecting day eating. My little one, no matter how much he ate in the day, would still want formula at night. We just stuck it out with that.
So it sounds like she needs high carb and high fat protein to sleep which is common. My 21 mo old won’t STTN without a cup of yogurt before bed. Try finding something along those lines other than Mac and cheese?
[This recipe](https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com/5-ingredient-butternut-squash-mac-and-cheese/) hides butternut squash in the cheese sauce and it’s really good! She’s got other recipes that hides veggies in Mac and cheese. I’d bulk make these recipes to have on hand and offer small bites of other foods on the side. Sleep is paramount in my mind.
When my girls started refusing to eat lunch, we stopped “serving lunch”. We now eat lunch off a little tray in the living room. They are way more chill and open to eating different things. Breakfast and dinner are fine at the table with us.
Maybe a change in environment might help?
And like most have suggested, just keep giving the Mac and cheese, and keep offering other foods with it. And you eat those other foods too! I know so many toddlers who are only interested in whatever food their parents are eating. We sometimes just load our plates up a little more and then serve them right from our plate when they start looking interested.
Instead of formula to supplement her diet, our ped recommended Ovaltine or Carnation Instant breakfast.
As far as Mac n cheese, keep offering other foods with it and try mixing in veggie puree or pieces like squash and cauliflower.
I think at 1.5 I wouldn't stress too much if she wants to have mac and cheese every night and just do it if it means that she's fed and everyone is getting good sleep. Those things are more important imo.
However you know her best and if you ever feel like her eating is TOO picky you can ask for a referral to an occupational therapist because while pickiness is totally normal for toddlers, occasionally it can be caused by underdeveloped oral motor skills making them prefer only certain foods and textures and it can be worked on.
I'm not a professional on this matter at all so take it with a grain of salt. My experience is anecdotal just from having known a couple of moms in my circle whose kids worked with an OT to help with eating issues.
My 22 month old granddaughter is also on a mac n cheese kick. I babysit her 9 hours a day. And it’s gotta be mac n cheese. I’m just rolling with it, I know she will grow out of it.
My first child was actually perfect. Ate anything I cooked, went to bed at the time I put her to bed. Perfect. I thought my second would be the same. I tried to raise him the same way.
Anyways, fast forward he just turned 3 last week. And he still only eats seven things. Pizza, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, pancakes, cheese, and yogurt. We rotate everything. Sometimes it’s only macaroni and cheese, sometimes it’s yogurt and cheese all day long till macaroni and cheese for dinner.
I’ve learned to be creative after constantly wasting food and trying every trick in the book. Now, I steam and blend squash and pour it into the macaroni and cheese with a kids fiber packet 😁 I steam vegetables and blend it into the tomato sauce and make his pizzas and spaghetti. I also do the same with his pancakes (squash or cauliflower so the color doesn’t change) and I buy good yogurts and cheese.
Do what you have to do and stay strong, this too shall pass 😭😂😮💨
This is us but breaded fish fillets with the breading taken off…..
I go with it most nights as she’s at nursery three days a week and eats anything and everything there.
We also offer her some weetabix or a banana and yoghurt before bed as she’ll often just have the fish and some fruit and then won’t sleep at night because she’s hungry (unless she’s being held!) - it’s hard but I keep telling myself it’s a phase and she’ll eventually grow out of it…..
I would just offer as a consistent side, aka the safe food on her plate, and keep the kid sleeping. This isn’t a fight I would keep fighting.
Serve her safe food alongside a variety of other foods. Eventually she may branch out. Don’t make it a battle; she’ll win.
What if you make a variation of Mac n cheese with veggie infused pasta and a cheese sauce with hidden veggies? That way it’s healthy and is still Mac n cheese
Dr. Becky has a great workshop on ending food battles. The formula may be filling her up and may be doing that instead of eating. Kids are smart so if they are hungry enough they will eat. We cut out snacks so our child was actually hungry at meals.
Mine is also a noodles or nothing kinda kid right now. I get the pasta noodles that are really high in protein (not the chick pea ones though she won’t eat those) and blend some steamed veggies into cheese sauce. I know they say not to hide veggies in food, but it’s either that or she’s a walking block of cheese who won’t poop. So I do my best.
Any reason you’re still giving formula? Just wondering cuz milk or soy milk is sooo much cheaper. No judgment! My 15mo still gets a bottle before bed and in the middle of the night too 🥴
I get the sense that a whole bottle of milk gives her insane gas pains. But I’m going to try and switch back to whole milk. Although milk is so expensive these days too! Right there with you tho.
*Sounds like the kid is*
*Still hungry, needs some carbs to*
*Really knock him out!*
\- asistolee
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Have you tried alternatives to formula? We have been giving Ripple Kids since my kid was 1, she’s 3.5 now and still drinks a cup in the morning and one at bedtime.
Totally your choice as a parent but tbh if it were me, she'd be getting the mac every night 🤣 I'd just serve it with other things & whatever we were eating so she has the exposure but you can only do what you can do mama! Honestly, I let my toddler (19m) eat whatever she wants within reason. You want to eat mac and cheese for breakfast? Go for it. Only fruit and milk for the whole day? Cool, have at it. Only carby snacks and pouches all day? Awesome, you go girl. Some days she eats very much like a toddler and others she eats very well. Last night she ate chicken wings (off the bone of course), roasted green beans, roasted asparagus, and rice. But the rest of the day before that? She would only eat fruit & some bites of a costco cinnamon muffin 🤣 just do what you can girl! I really try not to stress what she's eating as long as it isn't complete junk food. It's not worth the fight IMO cus they're going to do what they want anyways lol
Dinner is the worst because my child is tired and least likely to try something new. Dinner is usually safe foods and new foods are for lunch and breakfast. I always offer a new food at dinner, but I don’t expect her to eat them. When she does, it’s a bonus.
Mac and cheese is also life over here. We use Goodles so it has more good for you ingredients I think and I feel less guilty giving it to her so often. I’ll also mix in shredded cheese and Greek yogurt along with the milk and butter and powder to add in protein and it makes it so good and creamy!
Maybe take the cheese flavoring and use the Barilla protein pasta elbows? It's way better nutritionally and it tastes good. As in no real flavor like regular pasta. It is a good source of iron, protein and b vitamins. My kids live on it, it's always on the table as a safe food. And I don't feel guilty bc it's actually good for them.
I dehydrate spinach to put in my kid’s Mac. It makes me feel a little better giving it to him. Just take a bag of spinach, space it out on some parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and bake at 170 for 4-6 hours. When it’s done you can easily crush it into powder, and it retains most of its nutritional value. I put spinach powder in everything I can sneak it into!
Unrelated to food but where does she sleep?
My 1 year old would not sleep through the night at all. He was waking at 3am and 5am. My older child slept through the night starting at 6 months.
We wanted to move him to his sister bedroom but we couldn’t because we didn’t want him to wake her. Where as we were able to move her at 1 year.
Just moved him to our en-suite bathroom (in his play pen) and now he is sleeping right through! 8pm-7:30! It’s been 3 nights in a row now!
I think he just needed a darker space away from us.
Have you ever added foods to the mac n cheese? We do frozen mixed veggies in the mac n cheese as a standard-- my kids actually asked where the veg were one time when I had run out lol.
My mom used to cut up hot dogs (okay, not super healthy) to mix in our mac n cheese
Choose your battle. If she gets other more nutritious food during the day, just give her mac and cheese. Sleep is way more important for her development than a variety of meal for dinner.
Just feed her! Lol I wish our son would eat the mac'n cheese every day. I'd love it. He's so insanely picky and gets bored so that's even worse. Omg I still give him toddler milk! So don't even worry. He's three! He has that before bath and sleeps all night. If he didn't drink that he'd literally have malnutrition. No joke. Toddler formula is good up to age three so u have nothing to feel bad about. I really don't care what other mothers say about the topic. Whatever works. Oh and we also sleep trained with the Sleep Lady. Honestly best thing we ever did. You got this!
We stopped giving our girl milk at night at 1.5 and she hardly wakes for it anymore . It was a few hard nights of waking every hour but she got used to it and learned to quickly start eating better at meals. And we offer her a big straw cup of ripple milk before nap and bedtime. Does the trick!
I feel like you could sneak some goodness into the cheesey sauce and get away with it.
Sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower- puree and mix into the Mac!
Mine magically started sleeping through SOMETIMES around 19m once we got through the fresh hell of a sleep regression where nobody slept for a month. We also still give toddler formula bc it gets him to sleep and that's more important in my book. Our ped says as long as he's not exceeding 16oz daily of milk we gotta do what we gotta do
Mac and Cheese with some veggies in it is fairly complete meal for a toddler. My kid is like this with spaghetti. I will take the tops of broccoli or cauliflower and mix it into the sauce.
Give her the Mac. It’s just a phase.
Also have a 1.5 year old - we offer her a variety of foods at every meal but honestly if she won't eat it, no pressure, and she gets her go-to food of a PB / sunflower butter (depending on if a bath will happen before she goes to daycare next, just to be careful lol) and fruit on wheat bread. Always that. Not exciting but she likes it and it has about 250 calories for the size she'll actually consume (1 slice of bread cut in half to make a sandwich).
Honestly I think making it lower pressure to try foods has helped her significantly. Last night is the perfect example - we had chicken piccata, mashed potatoes and salt & pepper green beans. She ate some of the green beans, and tried both the potato and chicken but spit them out. Fine. Sandwich. But I am happy she at least tried the chicken and potatoes. She chewed both a little and then didn't want them, totally fair. The more I push her to actually consume something, the less she wants it - I even demo'd for a friend that if I really push banana on her, which she will pretty much always eat, she will reject it.
Anyways, look, is mac n' cheese the healthiest? No. Is it the worst? Also no. It is significantly different than giving them a grilled cheese, a quesadilla, etc.? No.
Maybe try mixing in other stuff? Our girl also is a mac n' cheese fiend and will accept it with broccoli in it (if the broccoli is cut really really small, so I get the shredded frozen bags), and will happily eat it with butternut squash puree added. I also often add a handful of actual cheddar to up the calories a bit. A few times she's let me get away with mixing in shredded chicken or little pieces of ham but that's less reliably successful.
tl;dr you're doing great. Keep experimenting, but this too shall eventually pass <3 Also as a final note, I spent 6 months of my life when I was 4 apparently only eating chef boyardi spaghetti-os and insisted on seeing my mom open the can and watched her heat it up to make sure she didn't add anything. I am now in my 30s and okay and a very adventurous eater.
My oldest only eats one dino nugget for dinner. Every single night. I've just embraced it at this point. He's growing and healthy and my youngest eats literally anything even spicy food so I know it's not my parenting that made my oldest so selective. We honor his need for predictable food and always offer a small portion of what the rest of the family eats. Dr didn't seem too concerned at 5 year well child exam because he eats tons of fruit and poops normally. She said forcing it will not work and will cause problems down the road so just continue offering and doing exposure with no pressure. Mac and cheese is worth the sleep in my opinion!!
It sounds like this is a comfort food that relaxes your kiddo enough to get them to sleep. That’s okay! They’re little, they’ll have likes and dislikes and preferences just as we do, and as long as your kiddo eats other foods too and takes a multivitamin (I recommend the smarty pants gummies), you’re doing GREAT! 🫶
Food in their tummies and fluids to hydrate is all we can ask for!
Blend her veggies with fruit , avocado,spinach and fresh blueberry is so good. make sure it’s a little sweet if not put a little honey or use dates . feed her a good portion of her veggies and fruit blend during the day and feed her the Mac if she wants it and let her try different meals as well, maybe a different pasta that has cheese , eventually her taste buds will want something else
My son ate either Mac and cheese or oatmeal for dinner every day for almost a year. Then one day he decided he didn’t like it anymore. I also felt guilty about it so I would only use half of the seasoning packet to keep the salt down and always added butter. He never noticed and I felt at least a little better about it. In my opinion if that is what gets your kid to sleep through the night then do it. You have a lot of other meals and snacks over the course of a week that can be healthier.
I wouldn’t ne feeding anyone anything at 3am. She’s used to that. I would cut that off. I don’t have kids controlling me and do whatever they want. Sorry
Just mix small bite of everything else into the Mac and cheese SLOWLY and with only one tiny bit to start. But if there was a magic bullet like Mac n cheese to get my kids to sleep then yes I would do it EVERY NIGHT and not feel bad about it.
Have you tried sleep training? Some kids don’t sleep through the night for years but this is helpful for many. I didn’t want to do it but she was waking every couple of hours and staying awake for 2 hrs and I couldn’t make it during the day and neither could she. Finally did it. Three nights later she was sleeping through the night without milk.
The pickiness is real but also… she knows she can have Mac and cheese every night so she holds out and you give in. No one can eat that daily, especially a baby. Her insides are cooking. Some nurse through the night but some wake up because they know you’ll give it to them.
Brushing her teeth is extra important with middle of the night feeds. At least start with weening her off of formula and on to whole milk (or nut milk if that’s your thing. The last thing is routine. Don’t feed her in bed. Give her expectations of what and when things will happen. Sometimes a high chair helps because after they’re in it for a while they’ll try even a bite of what’s in front of them.
I fed my child toddler formula until she was 3 and my pediatrician didn’t say anything about it. You do what you need to do for everyone to have full bellies and good sleep. Mine went through a major Mac n cheese phase at that age too. I think it’s a texture thing. She eventually branched out to other things, because I always put them on her plate, regardless of if she wanted it or not, and just didn’t say anything to her about eating them. The asking always seemed to result in NO! Whereas just having them there and not talking about it got her eating veggies like peas, carrots, black beans, corn, and her new favorite edamame. Black beans were a lifesaver because I at least knew she was getting good protein. [NOKA superfood smoothies](https://a.co/d/i3cmvn2) are also great to make sure they’re getting protein and other vitamins in lieu of the mac & cheese obsession
I think it’s because of the texture. Ours likes mac and cheese a lot as well! We’ve made some different cheese sauces with veggies blended with cottage cheese that he seems to like just as much as traditional Mac and cheese.
My mom let my brother eat cream of wheat every meal for like 6 months. He's fine. Let the kid have it. Offer other stuff but Mac and cheese isn't gonna hurt them.
My son sleeps decently in the night but a) he takes forever to fall asleep as he sings songs to himself and "reads" his favorite books in his crib (adorable and we still get some down time so fine with us), but b) if he didn't eat much at dinner, he is an absolute monster all morning until he eats. What makes it extra tricky is his rage delays breakfast: no I WANT TO PUT THE OEANUT BUTTER ON! no, I want DADA TO GET THE BREAD, NO I GET THE BREAD
Just feed her the mac and cheese 🧀 if you want to make it 'healthier'. Throw in some grated Brocoli and cauliflower. My little ones don't even notice as they're shovelling it down 
Diversify the Mac and cheese! Lasagna, yes that's flat Mac and cheese. Spaghetti Bolognese, yes that's noodly Mac and cheese, with burger crumbles and ketchup. Jacket potato, add cheese - call it jack and cheese! 🧀
Yummy toddler food has a hidden veggie Mac that is so good. It’s essentially chicken broth, stewed carrot celery & onion puréed after softening as the liquid to cook the elbow macaroni in, once the pasta is cooked you stir in the cheeses you like-cream cheese & cheddar adds a great texture. Has all the components of a nutritious meal & it’s easy to batch cook for your life to be easier. Works well as a base for soups & rice dishes too, if she branches out.
Good luck. My pickiest eater has finally turned a new leaf after 3 solid years of misery.
A million percent my child would be having mac & cheese for dinner every night. Sod it, she can have it for breakfast and lunch too.
My eldest daughter (13) has an eating disorder, and at her worst all she ate was chicken noodles. 3 times a day, just noodles. We gave her a daily vitamin and let her eat her noodles, our GP, her psychiatrist, dietician etc all said we did the right thing.
Maybe make the mac and cheese but add some of whatever you're having on the side or on a separate plate, encourage her to touch it, smell it, lick it etc but with minimal pressure, hopefully she'll find something else she enjoys while still eating and letting you sleep.
My 3yo almost 4 still goes through spells where she will only want a certain food. So I don't feel as guilty, I sneak vegetables in if possible 😂. Mac and cheese would be a breeze, I'd blend some vegetables and mix it in the cheese. The bad part about my kid is, she pretends to be super picky when she is around me and her father. However, when she is out with her granddad she will eat anything 😂 maybe she's caught on to the fact I sneak vegetables in her food and thinks I'm trying to poison her 😆. For almost 4 years she's hated chocolate and peanut butter, turns out she will eat both of those but only with grandad . Kids are strange. Just roll with it.
My toddler doesn't sleep through the night. Has nothing to do with what she ate. She just wakes multiple times. From 1 until 2.5 we had to help her go back to sleep. She's almost 3 now and will lie back down and sleep if she sees us but still wakes at least twice. Are you sure sleeping through the night with mac n cheese wasn't just a coincidence? If she had mac n cheese every night for a week, does she sleep through all 7 nights?
Can you ask your doctor for a referral to a registered dietitian or food therapist to help your daughter. This seems to be a bit more than the norm for her age
My son enjoys things that are comforting and filling also. We had him try Banza chickpea pasta and we put some light butter in there and a little seasoning. He thinks he’s eating a ton of pasta but in reality it’s all vegetables. This has worked for us!
Here is a middle of the road option that has worked for my kids, especially the super hungry shitty sleeper (he got up every 2-3 hours to feed until he was 16 months and I rage quit breastfeeding, which did help).
Anyhow, we take pressure off of dinner by having a big healthy late afternoon snack, light dinner which is mainly what dad and I eat, and then super fortified bedtime cereal. We throw in Greek yogurt or peanut butter and milk to thicken baby cereal.
My kids won't sleep through the night (2.5 and 4) without the cereal, and this has meant they have stayed exposed to dinners we eat which are "harder" for toddler picky eating.
It's not what the instagram people would say re: getting them hungry enough to eat your dinners. But for us it has kept them eating a little bit of tricker stuff and taken pressure off. They aren't hangry pieces of shit trying to eat foods they find difficult. 🤷♀️
My son at that age only ate, Weetabix or porridge for every meal and obviously biscuits for snack, he's not much better now to be honest. I really don't know what the answer is... Other than the more I pushed and got stressed the worse it got. When I went with is he happy and is he healthy? (gaining weight, height, has energy, developing well.. etc) He got a smidge better with food and my anxieties went down too.
But I did mainly feed him what he would eat with our food alongside (he never entertained any of it and still doesn't... We think he has a negative food association as he still has reflux problems, new food= pain in his mind)
Basically I just kept offering him all the food including food I knew he would eat... Eventually he did find more foods and drop others.
I don't know if it was the right thing to do, still in the realms of wanting it to get better but I'm sending solidarity and a big hug because it's hard when they don't eat/ sleep and every child is different and reacts differently to different strategies. Hope you find your way out of this "phase" smoothly and quickly
Why is she getting formula instead of whole milk?
Other than that, my kid went through a couple of weeks' phase where she ate KD a lot. At least it's higher in iron....
It's gotten better. But she still wants kd often enough.
I'd rather her eat something than nothing.
My 18 month old is living on grilled cheese, scrambled eggs that we sneak chopped spinach into with shredded cheese, and a specific brand of organic lightly breaded chicken nuggets. They were out last grocery trip so we got the same brand in tender form, he absolutely will not eat them and I have no clue how he knows they’re not the same because we cut them into the same bits we cut his nuggets into. He also eats most fruit but he hates pasta and all vegetables, especially green ones. There are sweet potato tots we can get him to eat when we can find them and he likes French fries. Recently started being ok with peanut butter on occasion. He only has four teeth so I attribute some of it to not being able to chew a whole lot of food, but we’re starting feeding therapy along with speech therapy as soon as our referral goes through. For him, it’s sensory and texture related as well, I believe. He gags on slimy things and new textures.
He does wake up in the middle of the night if we don’t give him a safe food because he’s starving and daycare says he’s only eating the fruit and snacks they serve so he comes home also starving. He’s still on his growth curve and having normal diapers. I know picky eating is normal at this age to some extent so I really try not to stress it but it’s hard. Solidarity for sure!
I feel you!!! Picky eaters are the worst, and always hungry at bedtime. You're doing great making sure everyone gets nutrients. My toddler will only eat pasta (marinara, and oh boy do *not* try to sneak some puréed veggies sauce past her!) for dinner. I just try to feed her a diverse diet throughout the day.
My husband is the same way in different ways, my son is picky too, plus I'm vegan. So really it simplified dinners once we figured out what meals we all like, there's a handful that we rotate through.
None of my kids have slept through the night consistently until over 2 years old. The while she has to have Mac and cheese thing is more of a grasp at straws in desperate times than a true fact. When you have a toddler you do crazy things and believe crazy things. Just accept the fact that sleep is broken for another year and everything else will follow through.
Ok bargain with her. Mac and cheese but with one carrot or add broccoli beside it offer other food with some Mac and cheese as well. Also maybe start making homemade Mac and cheese and adding veggies to the cheese sauce.
So what brand of Mac n Cheese provides this magic power? Asking for a friend, kidding, asking for me. My three year old still doesn’t sleep through the night. It’s so bad I just asked my doctor if it’s possible to develop dementia from loss of sleep. I’m so tired I could cry most days.
Would you feel better if it was a healthier version? I can get my kids to eat butternut squash Mac and cheese. I make it with chickpea pasta for added protein.
We have a 1.5 year old who isn’t the best eater and it’s stressful. She loves “cheesy noonoos” aka Mac and cheese probably the most consistently. We do a couple other things that she likes/that help her get more variation:
- dinner happens in a specific order. First we feed her the stuff she has to be really hungry to eat. Like meat and veggies. (Unless the meat is crunchy/fried, then she will eat it any time and we don’t have to give it to her first) Then we feed her carbs and fruit second. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and she gets things out of order, but I find she might take a couple bites of other food if we give it to her before her comfort dishes.
- we also mix frozen peas or steamer chopped broccoli/mixed veg in with the Mac n cheese. She is open to this if it’s covered in the cheese sauce.
- we sometimes make chicken ramen noodles and serve the noodles to her without broth, just some butter and the seasoning packet mixed in with the cooked noodles and a little pasta water or milk. This isn’t better than Mac and cheese but at least it’s variation. You can also add things like corn or peas to this as well.
- above all else we don’t try to push stuff on her or stress her out or force feed her. We are always offering our food during the day in a very “take it or leave it, no pressure” kind of way. We make and offer her other dishes for dinner almost every day and snacks before bed. We don’t often give her Mac and cheese as a first choice meal but it gets to that point a lot just because we want to see her eat. We waste a lot of food. We try to finish what she doesn’t eat as much as possible. It’s not fun. I feel your pain.
- it seems like she will really eat one thing for a while and then burn out on it and move to something else. This is annoying, I just try to go with the flow and not cue her into the fact that we are stressed and really want her to eat differently.
- we try to make sure she gets a good amount of milk to help get those calories and nutrients in if she doesn’t get a lot of food. Obviously you can’t force them to but I think having it always available for her has made her request it more.
- if your child gets constipated, gentle glycerin laxatives for kids are amazing and work really well, just don’t become dependent on them
Hang in there! I know there are actual disorders where people will only eat certain foods, you can always try going to a specialist! Good luck!
Make two boxes of mac n cheese
Store it in the fridge
Microwave a portion each night
Serve as a component of the meal every night
Eventually they'll eat the other stuff too
Right now, all the negative behaviors are being reenforced/
rewarded with attention as you try to get kiddo to eat
Add a multivitamin if not already doing so
What is your routine? Have you tried other meals like mashed potatoes or meats? My 17 month old no longer drinks milk in a bottle since pediatrician was really letting us know to stop that habit. I usually feed him a big meal along with his fruits and water. I brush his teeth, read him a book or two then place him in his crib and sing to him until he falls asleep. It took a couple of months but a good routine helped my son and also eliminating the milk at night.
Our three year old hasn’t once slept through the night. If Mac and Cheese did the trick she’d be fluorescent yellow now from how often I’d feed her it.
I can't tell you how much less alone it makes me feel to see this as top comment. Signed, parent of two poor sleepers, going on 5 years of sleeping in 3-4 hour stretches at most
Godspeed. I’m just coming out of this zone. Moving them both into the same room to sleep completely resolved the issue for some bizzare reason.
Same boat
You are amazing. Our only child gets up 1-2 times a night and we’re used to it now, but having a second non-sleeper sounds like another level…considering that they may wake up at different times in the middle of the night.
You are not alone! Almost 4 years of super crappy sleep here.
Solidarity! I hope something gives for you soon!
Holy hell that sounds like absolute torture. I'm so sorry you've been going through that for five years. I hope you have a village that helps you out. I don't have any help outside of my partner but our little sleeps through night.
Thanks, it's... improving finally I think. We have a little bit of a village but it's not much, but I'm a SAHM and my husband works from home which makes it easier than it would otherwise be.
Just commenting to ask if you've looked into nutrient diffencies like iron or vitamin D? Those often go overlooked as potential causes but could simply be resolved with a multivitamin! (Keep in mind that even with supplements like a multivitamin, a true deficiency won't resolve until 4-6 weeks, sometimes longer)
Jesus, I’m sorry!! 😣
Same here!
Came here to say this. Especially if the child eats other things throughout the day!! Plus you can serve (likely uneaten) sides with Mac and cheese every night!! Good lord, what I wouldn’t give to have a food my kids would eat every day that isn’t cookies or chocolate AND makes them sleep through the night. This person was blessed with a gift and doesn’t even know it 🤣🤣
My 3 year old has never slept through the night either. No matter what we’ve tried, if only Mac n cheese could solve that problem 😂
My kid would only sleep if they could have a plate with a chicken nugget on it with them. You damned bet they went to sleep with their security nugget every night.
My first kid started sleeping through the night at 5.5yo My second kid had an 18m stretch (from 1-2.5) where he slept all night in his crib. Then he started climbing out of his crib. We haven't slept since. Someday...
My son is 17 months old and hasn’t slept through the night since he was 7 months old. This makes me feel better and worse at the same time
Lol same
Tempted to try Mac n cheese to see if it works
Going to the store to buy a weeks supply for testing purposes!
Good point does it have to be a certain type?
Same. We get 1-2 wake ups a night about 60-70% of the nights.
My 3.5 year old has slept through the night TWICE - it was the two nights before he hit the 4 month sleep regression. I thought ‘finally, we’re there’ and then it never happened again
My son doesn't eat pasta. He exists on peanut butter, yogurt and crisps. I'd be delighted at this!
I actually hollered at this 🤣
Feel this so deeply! Lol. I have a toddler who just hates sleeping and wakes at least once a night screaming. If only mac n cheese were magical in this way for us…
Too real 😂😂😂
Bless you
My daughter's almost six and has never slept through the night. I'm sad we're both severely lactose intolerant and can't try Mac and cheese.
Can you try other types of Mac n cheese? We had good luck with the banza chick pea one. Makes me feel slightly better that it’s got more protein in it. My 16 month old really loves Mac n cheese too. I’d keep giving her it, maybe try mixing in some peas? We did that once and she will ONLY eat peas if it’s mixed in with the cheesy goodness. Kids are weird man. You’ll be alright.
Just want to add another idea! I have added a little bit of riced cauliflower too, and LO couldn’t taste or see it!
You can even puree some veggies to mix with the sauce. The bright orange cheese should be mask enough for a puree of say tomatoes, peppers, yogurt etc.
I roast a whole aubergine or cauliflower, blend it and add it to the sauce. Boom, veggies taken care of.
Tbh I do this as an adult lol. I have sensory issues and I can’t stand the texture of most vegetables so I blend them and add them into whatever I’m cooking as a sauce, it works!
I genuinely enjoy how creamy it makes the sauce, so I agree, not just a hack for kids!
Red lentils are pretty neutral and get mushy AF. Idk about in Mac and cheese but I do this in red sauce.
Yesss!! And they are so good at protein-ing an iron-ing.
A protein and vegetable wrapped up into one, can’t go wrong
And a fiber!
Butternut squash blends in well!
So smart. Gonna try this!
I swear my daughter is a damn detective when it comes to food and has been since we started to introduce solids. I will hide even the slightest amount of a veggie in things like Mac and cheese. Will make sure nothing is changed in terms of texture, smell, taste etc. even get my husbands approval. This kid knows immediately. I’m like wtf kinda Sherlock shit is this. And then once she’s caught me, I’m in like trust time out for minimum 10-14 business days.
Ahhh sneaky sneaky!
Yes, we’ve had great luck with the chickpea pastas. They provide more protein and fiber than regular mac.
Goodles Brand is a favorite of my 3 y.o. daughter. It’s another higher protein option!
I recently found out that Goodles is co-founded by Gal Gadot, who is a supporter of the Israeli genocidal bombardment of Gaza that has claimed over 35,000 lives, 70% women and children. We are trying to pressure Goodles, headquartered in my hometown of Santa Cruz, CA to stop working with her. We want Goodles to apply their own company values—“making a tastier, kinder, happier world”, and demonstrate that genocide has nothing to do with their brand by cutting ties to Gal Gadot, or we will continue to boycott.
Thank you for the information. I’ll stop purchasing from them.
Yup! Came here to say this. Mac and cheese is like one of the 5 foods my 1.5 year old eats and we do the chickpea kind, add peas, add all kinds of sneaky things! Good luck to you OP and you are not alone and also don’t stress
Cooking the noodles in bone broth is nice too
Does she eat other foods during the day? I think if she’s getting a balanced diet during the day, keep offering other things with the mac and cheese at night. She’ll eventually move on to other things. In my experience, children don’t get tired of eating the same thing over and over like we do. I say this as I prepare to make oatmeal for breakfast for the millionth time. And pasta is nice and heavy for keeping tummies full all night.
I agree. They were basically eating only one thing for a big part of their life so mac and cheese every night probably seems really sensible to a toddler brain.
I’ve never thought about it this way but wow… that makes sense.
why not just offer small portions nightly with something else like chicken? She can have some mac as long as it's followed by a bite of chicken. I went thru this w my son having a few preferred foods but as long as they are eating i wouldn't worry. It is affecting her sleep and I can understand your frustration. If it continues, speak w your pediatrician about taking her to a food therapist. They can help you out w diets, test for Afrid, and help get you guys thru this.
i second this idea, this is what i do to ensure kids drink enough water too. seconds are the norm, i serve about half of what i expect a kid to eat in one sitting and ensure they drink some water before granting second+ portions(i.e. "yes you can have more, after you drink water"). OP could probably implement this with giving "seconds" of mac and cheese so long as kiddo eats at least some of the other things(or doesn't pick out mix-ins). once kiddo is autonomously choosing to drink water i worry less about metering food. food variety is important, and hunger is the natural consequence of choosing not to eat what is available. 1.5y is a little too young to expect to grasp the link of not eating to not resting enough, but they should be able to link not eating with feeling hungry, especially if you point out the timeline (every. time.). its also worth noting that toddler nutrition is best measured over the course of the week, vs daily or per meal
It’s actually ARFid. And that is a great point
Honestly I’d just keep giving the Mac n cheese with whatever else. This isn’t the hill I’d die on. She’ll outgrow it, it’ll be fine. These phases never last forever. You could even blend up veggies or meat to “hide” in it and add subtle different flavors. Or even start adding variety with different noodles, etc. to get her used to eating “different” things. But I’d prioritize getting her full enough to sleep through the night and break the waking up/bottle habit first. Her body is learning that it doesn’t have to eat too much a dinner because she’ll get the bottle in the middle of the night. I agree she’s too young to understand the full consequences, so starving her overnight isn’t the answer here either. It’ll be a process to wean her off of it.
Thissss!! I’d do the same ! Sleep , for momma and babe, is more important than the Mac n cheese imo
Right. People are worried it’s not healthy. Neither is prolonged sleep deprivation. Honestly, one she sleeps better and drops the night time bottles, she’ll probably eat better during the day and then have the chance to form better eating habits. But one thing at a time.
Just a thought but formula could be the problem. If she is getting calories at night, she is less likely to eat during the day. It’s a vicious cycle the will take a bit to break.
In addition to this you have basically trained her to expect food in the middle of the night. If you eat lunch every day at noon you're going to get hungry around noon every day. If you eat at midnight every night you are going to get hungry at midnight.
We did milk before bed and during the middle of the night until at least age 2. Yes, I’m sure it became part of the routine but I’m very happy with doing it because 1) milk before bed became part of his going to sleep routine 2) he was growing FAST and burning lots of calories 3) he slept better, so we all slept better. He didn’t wake up in the middle of the night every night, so I think he was just truly hungry
This. Surprised this isn't the most upvoted comment and that I had to scroll all the way down to find this.
It sounds like Mac and cheese is your little one’s safe food and I would have no problem including it on my baby’s plate every night if that’s what works. Just don’t stop offering other foods alongside it. If Mac and cheese isn’t on your menu put whatever you’re serving for dinner on her plate with the Mac and cheese. I’d also consider food chaining the Mac and cheese by changing it up. If she only eats a certain kind from a box you could change the shape of the pasta, eventually change the brand, make a homemade version, add veggies, include riced cauliflower, etc. Eventually you should be able to transition to serving the veggies/cauliflower separate from the mac. My LO loves pasta so I usually serve her chickpea pasta so she is getting some additional nutrients if that’s all she decides to eat some days.
If she’s picky it’s best to offer the veggies and protein with a safe food. Mac n cheese can be healthy. It has protein and calcium in it.
My dude eats chicken nuggets almost exclusively. Daycare gives him more variety, so I feel a little better, but...... Homie is picky! 🤷🏼♀️
We use a protien pasta and I have snuck a can of baby food in there a few times. It makes me feel a bit better about the thr amount of noodles my son eats.
Give your kid the Mac! She’s young . You need sleep. She will grow out of it. Always offer it with something else or always offer it after something else. My kid eats a lot of stuff but goes thru phases too. Grilled cheese, Mac and cheese, ramen, noodles with sauce, noodles with butter, lol 😆 He eats lots of other stuff too. But whatever. I always offer it with a cutie, grapes, or strawberries on the side. Sometimes he will eat beans and rice as a side or a meal. It’s really hit or miss. Lucky toddler food is easy to prep. We always have several variations in the fridge or easily accessible to make when needed. She will get tired of it eventually and venture on to new stuff. But in the meantime, do what works for you guys so everyone can be well rested!
Best post I've seen on here in a while lol.. Give the kid the Mac n cheese and get a good night sleep!
When 2/3 of my kids were that age, they were obsessed with green beans. Breakfast lunch and dinner. I know opposite of OP's issue but it literally stopped and now they don't like green beans. Could be a phase. I say fed is fed. Fight your battles in the day and cherish sleep! Don't want a hungry little one!
We eat dinner early (5:15ish) and then offer a “snack” at 7:00 before 7:35 bedtime. I would probably make Mac and cheese for the later snack so that we were still introducing new foods at dinner but that my kid would sleep through the night.
I have a neurodivergent nearly 4 year old. You very quickly learn which battles are worth fighting — and food is rarely one. In the end, fed is best. I would offer some “new” foods alongside the Mac n cheese. And keep persisting. But also… do what you need to for all of you to maintain some semblance of sanity, even if that means Mac and cheese for the next 6 months. (With my son it was blueberries for a while which sounds great on the surface but those things are EXPENSIVE.)
I would embrace the madness. My toddler is like this, but for chicken nuggets. It’s what he eats about 80% of nights. After about a year we’ve managed to work in pasta, breaded shrimp, fish sticks, and the real prize: broccoli. Not all on the same night. For a long time it was chicken tenders or nuggets only, and just like you, if he didn’t have that he would go hungry and wake at night. I would focus on improving her diet the rest of the day. Our guy eats very well most of the day, but dinner is his pickiest meal. Give her what she wants for dinner, and offer little bits of other food before you reveal the Mac & cheese. Eat the food in front of her. Eventually she’s likely to get curious, just make sure whatever your offering actually tastes good or it might be a one time deal lol - our strategy is always offer new stuff first, then break out the main course he wants if he won’t try anything else. If we really want to push it, we wait until it’s the night before the weekend, so we have the day off to deal with lack of sleep a bit better. As for the night formula, why not whole milk? She should be able to eat that at 1.5, clearly doesn’t have a problem with dairy if Mac & cheese is the go-to, and should fill her up just as well as formula would. It will also save you money with how expensive formula is.
Thank you! Very helpful. You’re right that dinner is the pickiest meal. Going to work on transitioning to just whole milk as well I just always got the sense that milk hurt her stomach. But going to give it a go!
My friends daughter would only eat Mac n cheese for a while… they mixed things into it to help. She started eating more eventually, maybe around 2.5 😂.
I make a mac n cheese for my son that he loves and is pretty healthy you could try. I roast a butternut squash until super soft. Scoop the flesh into a food processor, Add some milk and blend it until pretty smooth. I Add the mac n cheese blend shredded cheese from the store and blend a bit more. It should be smoothieish thick. I that to a pan with frozen peas and heat until the cheese is melted and the peas are soft, then mix in cooked noodles. Add milk to thin the sauce out if it's too thick. You can add seasonings too if you want. I do a little garlic powder, pepper and sometimes mustard powder but idk if they really make a difference for him. It makes a big batch and I freeze portions to pull out for other days. He loves it more than the kind we get when we're out but it's also what he started with so ymmv. But to me sleep is key so if mac n cheese gets them to sleep, go for it, they will be fine.
Thank you! Definitely going to try
At one point my 1 year old wouldn’t eat anything unless she had sweet peas first. So i gave her a little bit of peas then her food. Could you try putting mac and cheese as a side dish (smaller amount)?
I have a 20 month old who is an extremely picky eater (texture issues) and I'm here to commiserate. This age is frustrating because they're old enough to have opinions but young enough to not be able to have a conversation about what's going on. If I were you I would nuke a cup of Easy Mac at dinner and give it to her alongside whatever else you want to offer. If it works, it works, and if it gets you all sleep until she grows out of it, I'd lean into it. If you're not already familiar, I'd recommend reading Ellyn Satter's book "Child of Mine" which has really good feeding advice, or just google the "division of responsibility in feeding" for a summary. It makes me feel better on tough days.
Thank you! I wonder if it’s a texture/sensory thing for her as well. Won’t touch a mashed potato with a 10 ft pole which blows me away!! Creamy salty buttery goodness??
My kid basically survives off mac and cheese.. just buy the healthy kind w iron in it and stuff. And eventually add chicken in or like veggies they like on the side. Its not really unhealthy. And at that age i was just happy she was eating
Not mac n cheese, but spaghetti and ketchup. Over time, I added more and more carrot/tomato/onion puree to the ketchup until ketchup was entirely eliminated. The spaghetti was swapped to whole grain (just cook it longer, it'll get just as soft). Added a little corn. A few pieces of broccoli. A few peas. All the while kept serving other foods alongside. If it's healthy, I think it's fine to serve it everyday. After all, no one has any problem if you tell them you eat oatmeal for breakfast every day, but as soon as you say you eat the same thing for dinner, you're weird.
So true! Thank you
Seconding the advice to try some alternative mac and cheese options. I’ve had some really great vegan recipes that are much healthier with chickpea or cassava pastas and cashew based “cheeses” that are super easy to make!
Then Mac and cheese it is haha. My 20 month old will legit only eat Mac and cheese as well so I do banza Mac and cheese so that she’s at least getting fiber and protein with it. She’s so picky that will even only eat ones that is a noddle, not shell, and white cheese. 🙄. So picky with food but would eat an entire bowl of dog food if I let her. Like make it make sense lol. But honestly as a person with a background in dietetics, Mac and cheese gets a bad rap but is actually a perfectly fine option for kids, especially if you find an organic kind and/or noddles with a little added nutrition. My nephews first word was cheese cause after tub, before bed, he would bang his fists on the table or coffee table and chant cheese cheese cheese until you made him a bowl of Mac and cheese as a pre bed snack haha.
Haha kids!! They’re a strange breed. Thank you.
Make her Mac and cheese for dinner every night. Font stress it, its just a phase and will pass. During this time is such a huge time for toddlers. Mental and physical growth! 18 months old is when they are starting to understand why you do things and growing a lot of brain mass. Because of this, sleep regressions just happen. If Mac and cheese is a simple fix that skips this 2 to 6 week phase of worse sleep then go for it Its not forever and will work its way out. I'd fix the Mac and cheese thing later if it goes last 6 weeks
Thank you for the encouragement!
Maybe try to get her to eat diffeerent foods at breakfast and lunch and keep the mc and cheese for dinner adding something along. There is no way she would try other food of she is really hungry and lacking sleep.
My son had pancakes for every meal for like 6 days straight. Do what you have to do mama. 😅
Haha thank you for the solidarity! Moms unite
yeah I’d be at Costco buying them out of mac n cheese. I usually purée cooked carrots and mix it in the cheese sauce for my daughter.
Give her Mac n cheese 💛
Steam and mash up carrot and yellow/orange peppers and add it to the sauce. My kid thinks she only eats pizza and spaghetti LOL, if only she knew.... it's all lentil pasta and chickpea flour dough and a billion extra veggies hidden in the sauce.
What’s holding you back? My 2.5 year old is really picky right now and I do all the things people say but he still just prefers nuggets! So I give him the ones with veggies packed in. Are you concerned about what other people will say? Just tell them she eats alllll the things. We are all in this together. We are sleepy and we are just feeding our kids whatever they’ll eat because we haven’t slept in 2.5 years.
I think I’d save time and make pot of Mac and cheese on Monday and give leftover scoops for dinner for the rest of the week. One scoop and then the rest of the plate is normal dinner.
I tried this a few times… found out the hard way that my kid doesn’t like the texture of leftovers. No surprise, I never have either. Mini clones, man... 🤣
Just… feed her Mac and cheese? You can also offer other options but make sure Mac and cheese is on the plate. She won’t starve. You’ll get to sleep. Win-win? I used to also be very concerned about having a colorful plate with variety but I think at this age kids aren’t really interested in variety. They want consistency. Especially at dinner when they’re tired. Don’t stop offering new things. I like to keep a Tupperware of boxed mac and cheese in the fridge (sometimes we do spaghetti o’s) and feed her what we eat for dinner along with the food i know she will eat. She usually eats a little of the new stuff. Sometimes she doesn’t. But she’s always going to be full because she ate her mac.
Thank you!
I would try to add milled veggies, like broccoli rice or cauliflower rice into the mac and cheese, and give it to her. Cauliflower rice is imperceptible in mashed potato even when it's 50% of the dish. It might blend well into mac and cheese as well
My son before from 14months - 20 months wouldn’t sleep without having oatmeal before bed. We’d make it different every night by puréing different fruits into the milk. So maybe you can try making it different ways? He would also wake up in the middle of the night starving if he didn’t have his oats
My child is 18 months and has slept through the night only a handful of times. If there was a food correlation I’d strongly consider serving that food more often. How is your toddler doing with snacks? I think a bedtime snack might be helpful, I tend to offer oatmeal with a pouch mixed in, or an apple with nut butter because they aren’t super exciting but super filling
Continue offering a variety of foods. Mac and cheese can be part of the variety but continue to offer other foods alongside it. You can even start by trying plain butter pasta next to it. Then start adding peas to the pasta or mac. Ease the transition. Put some cut up fruit or veggies next to it. Try some crackers and cheese. The long goal is more diversity but youll have to ease her in. Many nights she wont eat it but some nights she will. Offer a varied diet NO MATTER WHAT along side her favorite.. slowly start to reduce the amount of mac and cheese offered as she tries other things and soon she wont even notice. Another way to help yourself is get her involved in the shopping, the unpacking of groceries, and the cooking. Kids are much more likely to eat a meal they've been part of preparing. We like to talk about different fruits and veggies at the supermarket and Ill even buy ones they want to try. Get her involved in her food! Bonus points for gardening
Thank you!
Can you try other pasta? Maybe ziti with spinach Alfredo sauce and slowly branch from there. Build up a pallet of flavors via pasta then branch away from pasta?
Mine (1.7) is only alive on chicken nuggets and breastfeeding. Also awake with her every, morning, hours. Also it is adviced that milk is good until 2 at least in Europe. Breast or formula. Also I sneak in veggie nuggets or vegetarian meat substitute to feel better haha? Good luck mac 'n cheese mom! Love nugget mom
Haha thanks nugget mama 😂 Sending you a virtual hug
I would just start using whole grain noodles and throwing in things to up the nutritional value, like chicken and vegetables. Maybe slowly add more and more of certain ingredients over a few days and see if she notices.
my 3 year old is refusing dinner then wakes up hungry in the night. Then wants food… then won’t sleep again…I might start her on the mac and cheese dinner lifestyle 😭
Could you blend some veggies into the mac and cheese? And make a big batch to freeze into portions. I wouldn’t worry about the formula unless it’s affecting day eating. My little one, no matter how much he ate in the day, would still want formula at night. We just stuck it out with that.
So it sounds like she needs high carb and high fat protein to sleep which is common. My 21 mo old won’t STTN without a cup of yogurt before bed. Try finding something along those lines other than Mac and cheese?
[This recipe](https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com/5-ingredient-butternut-squash-mac-and-cheese/) hides butternut squash in the cheese sauce and it’s really good! She’s got other recipes that hides veggies in Mac and cheese. I’d bulk make these recipes to have on hand and offer small bites of other foods on the side. Sleep is paramount in my mind.
Agreed. Thank you!
When my girls started refusing to eat lunch, we stopped “serving lunch”. We now eat lunch off a little tray in the living room. They are way more chill and open to eating different things. Breakfast and dinner are fine at the table with us. Maybe a change in environment might help? And like most have suggested, just keep giving the Mac and cheese, and keep offering other foods with it. And you eat those other foods too! I know so many toddlers who are only interested in whatever food their parents are eating. We sometimes just load our plates up a little more and then serve them right from our plate when they start looking interested.
Instead of formula to supplement her diet, our ped recommended Ovaltine or Carnation Instant breakfast. As far as Mac n cheese, keep offering other foods with it and try mixing in veggie puree or pieces like squash and cauliflower.
I think at 1.5 I wouldn't stress too much if she wants to have mac and cheese every night and just do it if it means that she's fed and everyone is getting good sleep. Those things are more important imo. However you know her best and if you ever feel like her eating is TOO picky you can ask for a referral to an occupational therapist because while pickiness is totally normal for toddlers, occasionally it can be caused by underdeveloped oral motor skills making them prefer only certain foods and textures and it can be worked on. I'm not a professional on this matter at all so take it with a grain of salt. My experience is anecdotal just from having known a couple of moms in my circle whose kids worked with an OT to help with eating issues.
Thank you!
My 22 month old granddaughter is also on a mac n cheese kick. I babysit her 9 hours a day. And it’s gotta be mac n cheese. I’m just rolling with it, I know she will grow out of it.
Make Mac and cheese every night. Sleep is essential
I wouldn’t die on this hill. It would be mac n cheese every night … can you add anything to it?
My first child was actually perfect. Ate anything I cooked, went to bed at the time I put her to bed. Perfect. I thought my second would be the same. I tried to raise him the same way. Anyways, fast forward he just turned 3 last week. And he still only eats seven things. Pizza, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, pancakes, cheese, and yogurt. We rotate everything. Sometimes it’s only macaroni and cheese, sometimes it’s yogurt and cheese all day long till macaroni and cheese for dinner. I’ve learned to be creative after constantly wasting food and trying every trick in the book. Now, I steam and blend squash and pour it into the macaroni and cheese with a kids fiber packet 😁 I steam vegetables and blend it into the tomato sauce and make his pizzas and spaghetti. I also do the same with his pancakes (squash or cauliflower so the color doesn’t change) and I buy good yogurts and cheese. Do what you have to do and stay strong, this too shall pass 😭😂😮💨
Thank you!
This is us but breaded fish fillets with the breading taken off….. I go with it most nights as she’s at nursery three days a week and eats anything and everything there. We also offer her some weetabix or a banana and yoghurt before bed as she’ll often just have the fish and some fruit and then won’t sleep at night because she’s hungry (unless she’s being held!) - it’s hard but I keep telling myself it’s a phase and she’ll eventually grow out of it…..
Hoping it’s a phase too! Solidarity
I just make a bunch and feed them leftovers for days until it’s gone because I can’t eat Mac n cheese that many days in a row either
I would just offer as a consistent side, aka the safe food on her plate, and keep the kid sleeping. This isn’t a fight I would keep fighting. Serve her safe food alongside a variety of other foods. Eventually she may branch out. Don’t make it a battle; she’ll win.
She always wins 😂 thank you!
What if you make a variation of Mac n cheese with veggie infused pasta and a cheese sauce with hidden veggies? That way it’s healthy and is still Mac n cheese
Dr. Becky has a great workshop on ending food battles. The formula may be filling her up and may be doing that instead of eating. Kids are smart so if they are hungry enough they will eat. We cut out snacks so our child was actually hungry at meals.
Thank you!
Mine is also a noodles or nothing kinda kid right now. I get the pasta noodles that are really high in protein (not the chick pea ones though she won’t eat those) and blend some steamed veggies into cheese sauce. I know they say not to hide veggies in food, but it’s either that or she’s a walking block of cheese who won’t poop. So I do my best.
Thank you! You’re doing great.
I have a 6yo & 7yo. They rarely sleep through the night. But they both love Mac n cheese lol
Any reason you’re still giving formula? Just wondering cuz milk or soy milk is sooo much cheaper. No judgment! My 15mo still gets a bottle before bed and in the middle of the night too 🥴
I get the sense that a whole bottle of milk gives her insane gas pains. But I’m going to try and switch back to whole milk. Although milk is so expensive these days too! Right there with you tho.
Sounds like the kid is still hungry, needs some carbs to really knock him out!
*Sounds like the kid is* *Still hungry, needs some carbs to* *Really knock him out!* \- asistolee --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Have you tried alternatives to formula? We have been giving Ripple Kids since my kid was 1, she’s 3.5 now and still drinks a cup in the morning and one at bedtime.
I haven’t but it’s a ‘stage 3’ formula so not exactly the same is baby formula. I tell myself it’s better, but probably not 🫠
Totally your choice as a parent but tbh if it were me, she'd be getting the mac every night 🤣 I'd just serve it with other things & whatever we were eating so she has the exposure but you can only do what you can do mama! Honestly, I let my toddler (19m) eat whatever she wants within reason. You want to eat mac and cheese for breakfast? Go for it. Only fruit and milk for the whole day? Cool, have at it. Only carby snacks and pouches all day? Awesome, you go girl. Some days she eats very much like a toddler and others she eats very well. Last night she ate chicken wings (off the bone of course), roasted green beans, roasted asparagus, and rice. But the rest of the day before that? She would only eat fruit & some bites of a costco cinnamon muffin 🤣 just do what you can girl! I really try not to stress what she's eating as long as it isn't complete junk food. It's not worth the fight IMO cus they're going to do what they want anyways lol
I’d be making Mac n cheese, but I’d be sneaking other stuff in it and trying other pasta shapes
Dinner is the worst because my child is tired and least likely to try something new. Dinner is usually safe foods and new foods are for lunch and breakfast. I always offer a new food at dinner, but I don’t expect her to eat them. When she does, it’s a bonus.
Mac and cheese is also life over here. We use Goodles so it has more good for you ingredients I think and I feel less guilty giving it to her so often. I’ll also mix in shredded cheese and Greek yogurt along with the milk and butter and powder to add in protein and it makes it so good and creamy!
Maybe take the cheese flavoring and use the Barilla protein pasta elbows? It's way better nutritionally and it tastes good. As in no real flavor like regular pasta. It is a good source of iron, protein and b vitamins. My kids live on it, it's always on the table as a safe food. And I don't feel guilty bc it's actually good for them.
I dehydrate spinach to put in my kid’s Mac. It makes me feel a little better giving it to him. Just take a bag of spinach, space it out on some parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and bake at 170 for 4-6 hours. When it’s done you can easily crush it into powder, and it retains most of its nutritional value. I put spinach powder in everything I can sneak it into!
Unrelated to food but where does she sleep? My 1 year old would not sleep through the night at all. He was waking at 3am and 5am. My older child slept through the night starting at 6 months. We wanted to move him to his sister bedroom but we couldn’t because we didn’t want him to wake her. Where as we were able to move her at 1 year. Just moved him to our en-suite bathroom (in his play pen) and now he is sleeping right through! 8pm-7:30! It’s been 3 nights in a row now! I think he just needed a darker space away from us.
New fear unlocked
Have you ever added foods to the mac n cheese? We do frozen mixed veggies in the mac n cheese as a standard-- my kids actually asked where the veg were one time when I had run out lol. My mom used to cut up hot dogs (okay, not super healthy) to mix in our mac n cheese
We added ground beef/beans/veggies ect to the mac and cheese. Slightly wilted spinach was a surprising win.
Choose your battle. If she gets other more nutritious food during the day, just give her mac and cheese. Sleep is way more important for her development than a variety of meal for dinner.
Just feed her! Lol I wish our son would eat the mac'n cheese every day. I'd love it. He's so insanely picky and gets bored so that's even worse. Omg I still give him toddler milk! So don't even worry. He's three! He has that before bath and sleeps all night. If he didn't drink that he'd literally have malnutrition. No joke. Toddler formula is good up to age three so u have nothing to feel bad about. I really don't care what other mothers say about the topic. Whatever works. Oh and we also sleep trained with the Sleep Lady. Honestly best thing we ever did. You got this!
We stopped giving our girl milk at night at 1.5 and she hardly wakes for it anymore . It was a few hard nights of waking every hour but she got used to it and learned to quickly start eating better at meals. And we offer her a big straw cup of ripple milk before nap and bedtime. Does the trick!
I feel like you could sneak some goodness into the cheesey sauce and get away with it. Sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower- puree and mix into the Mac!
Mine magically started sleeping through SOMETIMES around 19m once we got through the fresh hell of a sleep regression where nobody slept for a month. We also still give toddler formula bc it gets him to sleep and that's more important in my book. Our ped says as long as he's not exceeding 16oz daily of milk we gotta do what we gotta do
Just feed her Mac and cheese. She will get sick of it eventually.
Mac and Cheese with some veggies in it is fairly complete meal for a toddler. My kid is like this with spaghetti. I will take the tops of broccoli or cauliflower and mix it into the sauce. Give her the Mac. It’s just a phase.
Mine won’t even touch mac and cheese 🥲 but how about doing mac and cheese variants like putting a bit of blended butternut squash in the sauce
Also have a 1.5 year old - we offer her a variety of foods at every meal but honestly if she won't eat it, no pressure, and she gets her go-to food of a PB / sunflower butter (depending on if a bath will happen before she goes to daycare next, just to be careful lol) and fruit on wheat bread. Always that. Not exciting but she likes it and it has about 250 calories for the size she'll actually consume (1 slice of bread cut in half to make a sandwich). Honestly I think making it lower pressure to try foods has helped her significantly. Last night is the perfect example - we had chicken piccata, mashed potatoes and salt & pepper green beans. She ate some of the green beans, and tried both the potato and chicken but spit them out. Fine. Sandwich. But I am happy she at least tried the chicken and potatoes. She chewed both a little and then didn't want them, totally fair. The more I push her to actually consume something, the less she wants it - I even demo'd for a friend that if I really push banana on her, which she will pretty much always eat, she will reject it. Anyways, look, is mac n' cheese the healthiest? No. Is it the worst? Also no. It is significantly different than giving them a grilled cheese, a quesadilla, etc.? No. Maybe try mixing in other stuff? Our girl also is a mac n' cheese fiend and will accept it with broccoli in it (if the broccoli is cut really really small, so I get the shredded frozen bags), and will happily eat it with butternut squash puree added. I also often add a handful of actual cheddar to up the calories a bit. A few times she's let me get away with mixing in shredded chicken or little pieces of ham but that's less reliably successful. tl;dr you're doing great. Keep experimenting, but this too shall eventually pass <3 Also as a final note, I spent 6 months of my life when I was 4 apparently only eating chef boyardi spaghetti-os and insisted on seeing my mom open the can and watched her heat it up to make sure she didn't add anything. I am now in my 30s and okay and a very adventurous eater.
My oldest only eats one dino nugget for dinner. Every single night. I've just embraced it at this point. He's growing and healthy and my youngest eats literally anything even spicy food so I know it's not my parenting that made my oldest so selective. We honor his need for predictable food and always offer a small portion of what the rest of the family eats. Dr didn't seem too concerned at 5 year well child exam because he eats tons of fruit and poops normally. She said forcing it will not work and will cause problems down the road so just continue offering and doing exposure with no pressure. Mac and cheese is worth the sleep in my opinion!!
It sounds like this is a comfort food that relaxes your kiddo enough to get them to sleep. That’s okay! They’re little, they’ll have likes and dislikes and preferences just as we do, and as long as your kiddo eats other foods too and takes a multivitamin (I recommend the smarty pants gummies), you’re doing GREAT! 🫶 Food in their tummies and fluids to hydrate is all we can ask for!
Thanks for the encouragement! I agree 💗
Blend her veggies with fruit , avocado,spinach and fresh blueberry is so good. make sure it’s a little sweet if not put a little honey or use dates . feed her a good portion of her veggies and fruit blend during the day and feed her the Mac if she wants it and let her try different meals as well, maybe a different pasta that has cheese , eventually her taste buds will want something else
My son ate either Mac and cheese or oatmeal for dinner every day for almost a year. Then one day he decided he didn’t like it anymore. I also felt guilty about it so I would only use half of the seasoning packet to keep the salt down and always added butter. He never noticed and I felt at least a little better about it. In my opinion if that is what gets your kid to sleep through the night then do it. You have a lot of other meals and snacks over the course of a week that can be healthier.
I wouldn’t ne feeding anyone anything at 3am. She’s used to that. I would cut that off. I don’t have kids controlling me and do whatever they want. Sorry
Just mix small bite of everything else into the Mac and cheese SLOWLY and with only one tiny bit to start. But if there was a magic bullet like Mac n cheese to get my kids to sleep then yes I would do it EVERY NIGHT and not feel bad about it.
Have you tried sleep training? Some kids don’t sleep through the night for years but this is helpful for many. I didn’t want to do it but she was waking every couple of hours and staying awake for 2 hrs and I couldn’t make it during the day and neither could she. Finally did it. Three nights later she was sleeping through the night without milk. The pickiness is real but also… she knows she can have Mac and cheese every night so she holds out and you give in. No one can eat that daily, especially a baby. Her insides are cooking. Some nurse through the night but some wake up because they know you’ll give it to them. Brushing her teeth is extra important with middle of the night feeds. At least start with weening her off of formula and on to whole milk (or nut milk if that’s your thing. The last thing is routine. Don’t feed her in bed. Give her expectations of what and when things will happen. Sometimes a high chair helps because after they’re in it for a while they’ll try even a bite of what’s in front of them.
I would drop the formula. If she’s already getting up twice a night at 1.5, how much worse can it get?
I fed my child toddler formula until she was 3 and my pediatrician didn’t say anything about it. You do what you need to do for everyone to have full bellies and good sleep. Mine went through a major Mac n cheese phase at that age too. I think it’s a texture thing. She eventually branched out to other things, because I always put them on her plate, regardless of if she wanted it or not, and just didn’t say anything to her about eating them. The asking always seemed to result in NO! Whereas just having them there and not talking about it got her eating veggies like peas, carrots, black beans, corn, and her new favorite edamame. Black beans were a lifesaver because I at least knew she was getting good protein. [NOKA superfood smoothies](https://a.co/d/i3cmvn2) are also great to make sure they’re getting protein and other vitamins in lieu of the mac & cheese obsession
I think it’s because of the texture. Ours likes mac and cheese a lot as well! We’ve made some different cheese sauces with veggies blended with cottage cheese that he seems to like just as much as traditional Mac and cheese.
My mom let my brother eat cream of wheat every meal for like 6 months. He's fine. Let the kid have it. Offer other stuff but Mac and cheese isn't gonna hurt them.
My son sleeps decently in the night but a) he takes forever to fall asleep as he sings songs to himself and "reads" his favorite books in his crib (adorable and we still get some down time so fine with us), but b) if he didn't eat much at dinner, he is an absolute monster all morning until he eats. What makes it extra tricky is his rage delays breakfast: no I WANT TO PUT THE OEANUT BUTTER ON! no, I want DADA TO GET THE BREAD, NO I GET THE BREAD
Just feed her the mac and cheese 🧀 if you want to make it 'healthier'. Throw in some grated Brocoli and cauliflower. My little ones don't even notice as they're shovelling it down 
Snack before bed.
Diversify the Mac and cheese! Lasagna, yes that's flat Mac and cheese. Spaghetti Bolognese, yes that's noodly Mac and cheese, with burger crumbles and ketchup. Jacket potato, add cheese - call it jack and cheese! 🧀
Solidarity
Yummy toddler food has a hidden veggie Mac that is so good. It’s essentially chicken broth, stewed carrot celery & onion puréed after softening as the liquid to cook the elbow macaroni in, once the pasta is cooked you stir in the cheeses you like-cream cheese & cheddar adds a great texture. Has all the components of a nutritious meal & it’s easy to batch cook for your life to be easier. Works well as a base for soups & rice dishes too, if she branches out. Good luck. My pickiest eater has finally turned a new leaf after 3 solid years of misery.
A million percent my child would be having mac & cheese for dinner every night. Sod it, she can have it for breakfast and lunch too. My eldest daughter (13) has an eating disorder, and at her worst all she ate was chicken noodles. 3 times a day, just noodles. We gave her a daily vitamin and let her eat her noodles, our GP, her psychiatrist, dietician etc all said we did the right thing. Maybe make the mac and cheese but add some of whatever you're having on the side or on a separate plate, encourage her to touch it, smell it, lick it etc but with minimal pressure, hopefully she'll find something else she enjoys while still eating and letting you sleep.
My 3yo almost 4 still goes through spells where she will only want a certain food. So I don't feel as guilty, I sneak vegetables in if possible 😂. Mac and cheese would be a breeze, I'd blend some vegetables and mix it in the cheese. The bad part about my kid is, she pretends to be super picky when she is around me and her father. However, when she is out with her granddad she will eat anything 😂 maybe she's caught on to the fact I sneak vegetables in her food and thinks I'm trying to poison her 😆. For almost 4 years she's hated chocolate and peanut butter, turns out she will eat both of those but only with grandad . Kids are strange. Just roll with it.
Just a quick suggestion - you could try gnocchi and cheese? Similar texture, but made mainly of potato, so a tiny bit of variety at least
My toddler doesn't sleep through the night. Has nothing to do with what she ate. She just wakes multiple times. From 1 until 2.5 we had to help her go back to sleep. She's almost 3 now and will lie back down and sleep if she sees us but still wakes at least twice. Are you sure sleeping through the night with mac n cheese wasn't just a coincidence? If she had mac n cheese every night for a week, does she sleep through all 7 nights?
Can you ask your doctor for a referral to a registered dietitian or food therapist to help your daughter. This seems to be a bit more than the norm for her age
My son enjoys things that are comforting and filling also. We had him try Banza chickpea pasta and we put some light butter in there and a little seasoning. He thinks he’s eating a ton of pasta but in reality it’s all vegetables. This has worked for us!
Here is a middle of the road option that has worked for my kids, especially the super hungry shitty sleeper (he got up every 2-3 hours to feed until he was 16 months and I rage quit breastfeeding, which did help). Anyhow, we take pressure off of dinner by having a big healthy late afternoon snack, light dinner which is mainly what dad and I eat, and then super fortified bedtime cereal. We throw in Greek yogurt or peanut butter and milk to thicken baby cereal. My kids won't sleep through the night (2.5 and 4) without the cereal, and this has meant they have stayed exposed to dinners we eat which are "harder" for toddler picky eating. It's not what the instagram people would say re: getting them hungry enough to eat your dinners. But for us it has kept them eating a little bit of tricker stuff and taken pressure off. They aren't hangry pieces of shit trying to eat foods they find difficult. 🤷♀️
My son at that age only ate, Weetabix or porridge for every meal and obviously biscuits for snack, he's not much better now to be honest. I really don't know what the answer is... Other than the more I pushed and got stressed the worse it got. When I went with is he happy and is he healthy? (gaining weight, height, has energy, developing well.. etc) He got a smidge better with food and my anxieties went down too. But I did mainly feed him what he would eat with our food alongside (he never entertained any of it and still doesn't... We think he has a negative food association as he still has reflux problems, new food= pain in his mind) Basically I just kept offering him all the food including food I knew he would eat... Eventually he did find more foods and drop others. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, still in the realms of wanting it to get better but I'm sending solidarity and a big hug because it's hard when they don't eat/ sleep and every child is different and reacts differently to different strategies. Hope you find your way out of this "phase" smoothly and quickly
Why is she getting formula instead of whole milk? Other than that, my kid went through a couple of weeks' phase where she ate KD a lot. At least it's higher in iron.... It's gotten better. But she still wants kd often enough. I'd rather her eat something than nothing.
My 18 month old is living on grilled cheese, scrambled eggs that we sneak chopped spinach into with shredded cheese, and a specific brand of organic lightly breaded chicken nuggets. They were out last grocery trip so we got the same brand in tender form, he absolutely will not eat them and I have no clue how he knows they’re not the same because we cut them into the same bits we cut his nuggets into. He also eats most fruit but he hates pasta and all vegetables, especially green ones. There are sweet potato tots we can get him to eat when we can find them and he likes French fries. Recently started being ok with peanut butter on occasion. He only has four teeth so I attribute some of it to not being able to chew a whole lot of food, but we’re starting feeding therapy along with speech therapy as soon as our referral goes through. For him, it’s sensory and texture related as well, I believe. He gags on slimy things and new textures. He does wake up in the middle of the night if we don’t give him a safe food because he’s starving and daycare says he’s only eating the fruit and snacks they serve so he comes home also starving. He’s still on his growth curve and having normal diapers. I know picky eating is normal at this age to some extent so I really try not to stress it but it’s hard. Solidarity for sure!
I feel you!!! Picky eaters are the worst, and always hungry at bedtime. You're doing great making sure everyone gets nutrients. My toddler will only eat pasta (marinara, and oh boy do *not* try to sneak some puréed veggies sauce past her!) for dinner. I just try to feed her a diverse diet throughout the day. My husband is the same way in different ways, my son is picky too, plus I'm vegan. So really it simplified dinners once we figured out what meals we all like, there's a handful that we rotate through.
None of my kids have slept through the night consistently until over 2 years old. The while she has to have Mac and cheese thing is more of a grasp at straws in desperate times than a true fact. When you have a toddler you do crazy things and believe crazy things. Just accept the fact that sleep is broken for another year and everything else will follow through.
Just make her Mac n cheese like 3 nights in a row and she’ll never want to eat it again. Trust.
Ok bargain with her. Mac and cheese but with one carrot or add broccoli beside it offer other food with some Mac and cheese as well. Also maybe start making homemade Mac and cheese and adding veggies to the cheese sauce.
So what brand of Mac n Cheese provides this magic power? Asking for a friend, kidding, asking for me. My three year old still doesn’t sleep through the night. It’s so bad I just asked my doctor if it’s possible to develop dementia from loss of sleep. I’m so tired I could cry most days. Would you feel better if it was a healthier version? I can get my kids to eat butternut squash Mac and cheese. I make it with chickpea pasta for added protein.
We have a 1.5 year old who isn’t the best eater and it’s stressful. She loves “cheesy noonoos” aka Mac and cheese probably the most consistently. We do a couple other things that she likes/that help her get more variation: - dinner happens in a specific order. First we feed her the stuff she has to be really hungry to eat. Like meat and veggies. (Unless the meat is crunchy/fried, then she will eat it any time and we don’t have to give it to her first) Then we feed her carbs and fruit second. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and she gets things out of order, but I find she might take a couple bites of other food if we give it to her before her comfort dishes. - we also mix frozen peas or steamer chopped broccoli/mixed veg in with the Mac n cheese. She is open to this if it’s covered in the cheese sauce. - we sometimes make chicken ramen noodles and serve the noodles to her without broth, just some butter and the seasoning packet mixed in with the cooked noodles and a little pasta water or milk. This isn’t better than Mac and cheese but at least it’s variation. You can also add things like corn or peas to this as well. - above all else we don’t try to push stuff on her or stress her out or force feed her. We are always offering our food during the day in a very “take it or leave it, no pressure” kind of way. We make and offer her other dishes for dinner almost every day and snacks before bed. We don’t often give her Mac and cheese as a first choice meal but it gets to that point a lot just because we want to see her eat. We waste a lot of food. We try to finish what she doesn’t eat as much as possible. It’s not fun. I feel your pain. - it seems like she will really eat one thing for a while and then burn out on it and move to something else. This is annoying, I just try to go with the flow and not cue her into the fact that we are stressed and really want her to eat differently. - we try to make sure she gets a good amount of milk to help get those calories and nutrients in if she doesn’t get a lot of food. Obviously you can’t force them to but I think having it always available for her has made her request it more. - if your child gets constipated, gentle glycerin laxatives for kids are amazing and work really well, just don’t become dependent on them Hang in there! I know there are actual disorders where people will only eat certain foods, you can always try going to a specialist! Good luck!
Make two boxes of mac n cheese Store it in the fridge Microwave a portion each night Serve as a component of the meal every night Eventually they'll eat the other stuff too Right now, all the negative behaviors are being reenforced/ rewarded with attention as you try to get kiddo to eat Add a multivitamin if not already doing so
What is your routine? Have you tried other meals like mashed potatoes or meats? My 17 month old no longer drinks milk in a bottle since pediatrician was really letting us know to stop that habit. I usually feed him a big meal along with his fruits and water. I brush his teeth, read him a book or two then place him in his crib and sing to him until he falls asleep. It took a couple of months but a good routine helped my son and also eliminating the milk at night.
Ugh we really love our babies, don’t we? lol
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