aaarrrgggghhh! Kids and food!

[JoshienEmmiesmummy]

What to do! My 2 yr old will not touch any fruit or veg. He'll eat potato in the chip or mashed form but steamed or roast NO WAY! He even dry reaches if i attempt to put anything fruit or veg in his mouth. He'll drink juice, loves it!

I am at the end of my tether, he gets himself into such a state if we insist he have a bite, pretty much hysterical. He's been like this ever since he started eating the same food as us and not baby food. And now he wont even attempt that!

I have tried bribery, diguising the food, hiding it with meat, smothering it with tomato sauce, and at the last resort punishment by means of straight to bed. Tonight i even smacked his bum because he ripped the potato off the fork and threw it on the floor several times.

I give him these gummi bears that are made from fruit and vege (to him they are lollies) and now i cant even give him those as he sees them as a reward and there's no way i am rewarding this little bugger tonight!

arrrgggghhhhhhhh...any suggestions anyone. I am all out of ideas!

[jkate]

Aden is terrible with his vegetables as well, thankfully he eats fruit. The only thing I can suggest is vegetable juice, you can buy small poppers, I used to mix half with water in one of his cups. Most of them have fruit in them as well. Hope things get better soon :hugs:

[Bekster]

hehe naughty girl...I wonder who will give the best advice!!!!

[JoshienEmmiesmummy]

hehe naughty girl...I wonder who will give the best advice!!!!

lmao i wondered what the bleep you were on about..hehe then i got it..yes i wonder! :)

[JoshienEmmiesmummy]

Aden is terrible with his vegetables as well, thankfully he eats fruit. The only thing I can suggest is vegetable juice, you can buy small poppers, I used to mix half with water in one of his cups. Most of them have fruit in them as well. Hope things get better soon :hugs:

yep, i have bought the small v8 juices, i guess i will have to start again..thanks for the tip :)

[jkate]

thats ok, hope it works.

BTW, why are you naughty or is that a private joke :confused:

[aden2005]

hey hehe:0)
ummm no advice just replying to say i hope you find away to help your son eat:0)

Luv Me-xx-

[dannii]

My son is 7 and i still have the same problems with him.
Me and DF joked around one night saying that we hid tomato in his burger that we made (waited till he finished and he said he like it)
well he cried for about 10 minutes. acted as though we poisened the kid ! :rolleyes:

[JoshienEmmiesmummy]

thats ok, hope it works.

BTW, why are you naughty or is that a private joke :confused:

lol i'm naughty coz i posted this in this forum and another one. I figured i'd have twice the luck at someon finding a miraculous solution to my prob!

[JoshienEmmiesmummy]

My son is 7 and i still have the same problems with him.
Me and DF joked around one night saying that we hid tomato in his burger that we made (waited till he finished and he said he like it)
well he cried for about 10 minutes. acted as though we poisened the kid ! :rolleyes:

lol KIDS! I remember my parents doing the same to me, i hated tomato and one night they gave me cherrie tomatoes and said they were cherries...i ate heaps of them! Funny coz i HATE cherries now but LOVE tomato!

[dannii]

lol well isnt it funny how things work out.

i try and be patient , thinking he might out grow it but it doesnt look like it gets any better..

[JoshienEmmiesmummy]

fingers crossed huh! wont hold my breath but lol

[CJJHRA]

grow out of it, um hope so, but my 14 year old still gags when I try to get him to taste something he just refuses to touch (has been like that since he was 15months old!!) I cant get him to eat meat, he refuses, he can eat chips, and roast potatoes, but give it to him mashed, or boiled, he will gag, and even make himself vomit, and it hasnt even touched his mouth!

Everyone told me to wait and see, and said by time hes this age he will eat it, never happened.

On the upside for my son he eats vegies, just no meat, no pasta's frustrating to say the least! and he will only eat apples and bananas for fruit.

When he was 5 the pediatritian said I should send him to a physcologist (sp??) , but said even then if kids dont want to eat it, its very hard.

sorry, not what you really want to hear. :hugs:

All I guess you can do is keep offering foods in hope that one day he will eat it and like it.

Oh and my 10 year old will only eat carrots and apples, dry cereal and bread, and chips, but they have to be certain ones though and not too over cooked, or under cooked, or he wont touch them also will eat those smilies and fish fingers, and bread with no marg/butter.. VERY hard to feed!

[little mermaid]

My sister is having sheer hell with my nephew (2yrs) with food he just totally refuses to even try. he was the best vege eater as a baby would eat any vegetables mashed but now there is no way but the vege juice is a great idea thanks for that!! :yelclap:

[Chickadee]

When he was a kid, my mother tried to force my older brother to finish his vegetables. He sat and sat and sat at that table, and eventually threw up on his plate. He still is a picky eater in his 30s. I know it's frustrating but sometimes the more of an issue you make of it the more they're going to resist and you end up creating an even bigger problem. Take a break for a week or two. He won't suffer malnutrition in the meantime.

DD (2.5) has only gone through veg refusal for short periods of time. What has variously worked for us in those periods were these:

- resorting back to pretending the fork is an airplane and having each bite that goes into her mouth accompanied by silly noises.

- setting an example: we each eat a pea together, with silly exagerrated eatting noises by the grownup of course.
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- reducing the amount on her plate to only one bite. This really kicked in at around 2y4m when she understood "if" scenarios. "If" she just ate that one bite or had a taste of it then we'd be happy and she could have whatever else it was she had been asking for (within reason). And we made a big deal with lots of praise when she ate the bite or had the taste.

- give her a multivitamin every day. She thinks they're candy and they give me peace of mind.

- her figuring out that when she takes a bite out of a carrot coin it becomes a moon shape. She has a fascination with the moon.

- hiding veg in pikelets :)

- having her help make dinner. She'll often taste a piece of cut up veg as she puts it into a bowl for me even without prompting, and usually say "yukky", but to me a taste is progress and it gets her more familiar with them.

We tried vegetable juice with no luck, but I might try it again. You might find more suggestions or reassurance on this page from Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto Canada: [URL="http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/ofhc/Article.asp?articleID=2213"]Picky Eaters (http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/ofhc/Article.asp?articleID=2213)

[mythreelittlemonkeys]

both my step children are really fussy eaters...and they do not eat veg really at home...(their mum doesnt like either) but my DSD has miraculously started eating most veggies we give her even if only a few... started out her trying to impress my nephew when he came over fro m UK...:rolleyes: and now she hardly squeals unless it is the dreaded tomato...My DSS however at 4 will have an absolute hissfit, spitting food out and being really stubborn if we try and make him eat veggies - ruined many a meal and makes you almost want to give up! but as we know the onlytime they ever eat healthily is with us determined to try and get something good in them...One night he refused to eat a mouthful of sweetcorn ...or at least swallow it...sat there for an hour refusing...and then went to bed with it in his mouth...he wouldnt swallow or spit it out :( I would have just got it over and done with or spat it out when a kid...hmmmmm. But we recently discovered vegetable nuggets...and miracles!!!!:smiliedance: he will eat one! relates them to nuggets as in McDonalds chicken nuggets and thinks they are ok...kids are so strange!!

[Vespera]

I'm 24 and since I was 2 I havent been able to eat anything mushed, I cant eat, soup, mashed potatoes, mushy peas or anything like that. The idea of putting it in my mount makes me sick. But my mum continued to make mashed potatoes for everyone else and just put a spud in the microwave for me. As for soups etc I dont think I am missing out on much :)

As for your problem. There is a little boy on a show I watch on fox who want eat food unless it is seriously mashed up and one of the things they did was had a picnic on the floor with all the food he wouldnt eat (fun ones like yogo but also heaps of vegies and fruit) and they played with the fruit and made a mess and he ate some of it. It went towards making the food not scarey.

The show is on tonite if you would like me to tape it and send it to you. Its called House of the Tiny Tearaways

[Peaceangels]

I know how you feel! :banghead:

My eldest has been a fussy eater from about 15mths of age and it's only now (3 and a bit) that he is starting to be more adventurous.

Through trial and error we came up with some favourite meals for him and as well I used my juice making machine to make all manner of vegetable/fruit juices and he is none the wiser! (celery, carrot & apple or apple, orange & beetroot).

Ham & spinach quiche became a favourite (or ham and cheese pie as he knows it), I think mainly because I used lots of cheese.

I also do wraps in the sandwich press - filled with avocado (shrek cheese), ham or turkey and cheese

Cooked pasta mixed with cream, grated cheese and creamed corn.

Fruit smoothies (or milkshakes) - strawberry, banana, mangoe

Most kid's start out fussy and make it to be very well fed adults!

[uptheduff]

My nearly 2 year old won't eat vegies either...except chips. He won't eat muffins with vegies, or mashed vegies, even vegie nuggets. The closest i've come is chicken burgers with a little bit of sweetcorn in them lol.

Recently i've been making everything into chips and he LOVES them! Carrots, potato, sweet potato...haven't tried pumpkin yet, but i will. I just cut them into chip shape, spray a little oil, and put som flour over them, and put the in the oven.

[Foxymoron]

some great advice here :) not much for me to add.

Just keep serving up the fruit and vege, in tiny amounts at each meal. In a month, a week a year, they'll sample it. This approach has worked with my DD who is adding things in like a bite of carrot and a peice of apple gradually, and we heap on the praise when she does:thumbsup: Choose your battles, you don't want each meal to be a test of wills... praise for what they do eat and try some of the wonderful suggestions other posters have given.

[clairbear]

This thread has been very reassuring to me! Don't feel like the only one with a kid with freaky eating habits!
My almost three year old doesn't like anything mushy either (sounds like it's more common than i thought).
For dinner each night he usually has a pile of grated parmesan cheese, some pieces of raw pasta, raw red capsicum or carrots and maybe some bites of potato smiles, chicken bombs or little fishies, only the crunchy bits.
In between he will snack on sesame seeds, dried fruit, apple or pear, banana, dry cereal, rice crackers...and loves to pick and eat sorrel and parsley from Ma and Pa's garden! He's also been known to chomp on raw spinach or broccoli in the supermarket trolley. Is my child a guinea pig???
He would live on biscuits or cake if we let him. Used to eat a lamb chop as a toddler, now won't touch any meat. I give him a multivitamin each day, and a yakult ("baby milkshake"), and a banana smoothie with an egg added for breaky.
Having written it all down here actually does show me he's getting a good range of nutrients.
I am learning to let it go, it's hard, especially since I am such a food lover........but I think it's all we can do....keep providing nutritious choices, steer away from the junk...and it's up to them from there:fingerscrossed: