The fussy eater thread

[snowboarder]

Right I am about to seriously lose the plot with my two (sturdy so obv fine but irritating) boys. Boy 1 (2.5 yr) will only eat pasta, and has started refusing any type of pasta sauce on it apart from grated cheese. He'll eat sausages and beans and toast and shreddies, and fruit and yoghurt. That's pretty much it. Boy 2 (8m) seems to think this is a wheeze he can get in on the act with and pretty much only accepts that yoghurt and fruit puree have any business being eaten. And breadsticks.

Anyway thought it would be a morale boost for fellow fussy eater parent to share small success and tactics and ideas. I really really don't want to hear about children who eat soup and vegetables and lentils etc (although that is fab) as it might make me cry.

My small success this week is with porridge. Until recently the baby was refusing all cereal and breakfast was just having a chew on toast... One morning I mixed his baby porridge with plain greek yoghurt and some apple puree....and he is eating it. Hurrah.

I wouldn't mind but I LOVE food. Anyone else...?

[KateW]

No tips, just wanted to let you know I feel your pain SB. After previously loving pasta, my one year old now screams when she sees it and will ONLY eat toast and babybel for tea. I swear she's going to look like a piece of toast soon. Some nights I could cry, other nights I'm more philosophical about it and think it too will pass. She's a little monkey, she really is!

[crystal7]

Well you know all about E! Same thing with the pasta- the only thing she'll have on it is philedelphia and sweetcorn. She'll eat sausages, scrambled eggs, yoghurt, bread and butter, smoked salmon, fruit and breakfast cereal- that's it! Not even fish fingers which used to be a hit. No tips really but daddy's on paternity leave so doing meal times. He's taking the if you don't eat some of that there's nothing else all evening approach with some success. She's eaten more this week including some pasta with tomato sauce. I've avoided being that strict as i don't want her to go to bed hungry. I keep thinking at some point she'll have to eat potatoes, rice, veg, meat etc but it's a long phase! Just hope her little brother doesn't follow in her footsteps!

[Ruth_Baldock]

Snap. There are four things seb will eat: peanut butter on toast, egg fried rice, baby bel, raisins, apricot. Sometimes yoghurt. Sigh.

[Lochie]

Thank god for this thread. Fussy eating (and general bad sleeping) is making me into a daily shouting wench :-(

25 month old eats cheese, chocolate, baked beans, bananas, sometimes pasta. Note the major absence of green food/fish/meat. I have tried and tried other stuff but have to admit am losing the will to fight. Sometimes I look at him running around and think 'how DO you survive off cheese and chocolate ONLY'. We also have an obsession with having to dip every food item in tomato ketchup or tartar sauce (weird). The other day I caught my son in the fridge actually biting into a whole chunk of cheddar cheese.

Two major sources of comfort that keep me going:

1) 2 days at nursery mean he apparently eats loads of healthy food that he simply won't eat for me - so at least he has 2 days of some vitamins. Therefore would assume that its the watching of other children and what they eat that maybe sparks curiousity for new foods. I have also noticed same effect at the playgroups he goes to where they provide fruit. Maybe more toddler eating en masse then?

2) I have started to use bribery i.e. 'if you have 5 mouthfuls of fish fingers AND peas then you can watch Justin's House/have even more chocolate/go on the big boys slide tomorrow'

Also snowboarder - if your eldest likes beans then have you thought about jacket potatoes and beans and cheese. This is a new one we are trying and its very much enjoyed at present (FOR NOW)

[buggie]

Interesting reading - Bugglet isn't exactly fussy (there's only a couple of things I've known straight away

she didn't like). But, her appetite does seem to be tiny and she grows bored/starts refusing sometimes after a very small amount (if we're doing a Hipp meal I'm pleased to get half in). Course she'll always be happy for a yogurt/smoothie/fruit & doesn't seem hungry/complain, but find it difficult to deal with the amount of food I'm wasting as we're more into "proper" food than mushed up stuff.

If I do give small portion & she demolishes it her nose is turned up at seconds - she's. Oticably growing so know it can't do much harm but ensuring she does get a fair balance in meals is sending me a bit doolaly!

[buggie]

Interesting reading - Bugglet isn't exactly fussy (there's only a couple of things I've known straight away

she didn't like). But, her appetite does seem to be tiny and she grows bored/starts refusing sometimes after a very small amount (if we're doing a Hipp meal I'm pleased to get half in). Course she'll always be happy for a yogurt/smoothie/fruit & doesn't seem hungry/complain, but find it difficult to deal with the amount of food I'm wasting as we're more into "proper" food than mushed up stuff.

If I do give small portion & she demolishes it her nose is turned up at seconds - she's noticably growing so know it can't do much harm but ensuring she does get a fair balance in meals is sending me a bit doolaly!

[anna_r]

oh we are in the same boat. eldest (nearly 3) eats sausages (no skin - yes I seriously peel little tiny kids sausages), fish fingers, pasta (plain or with pesto), mango, apple (no skin), yoghurt, chocolate, chicken (no skin), rice (plain), cucumber.

So dinner is usually a combination of three of the above items. Note the extra work required for mummy skinning everything.

New nanny is having a little more success I think so I do think it is a testing boundaries with mummy thing. Nanny also has more patience than mummy. Daughter used to eat everything. Her sister eats well at the moment (1 year) but who knows how long it will last?

[anna_r]

oh and cheerios. No other cereal.

[jenc]

No tips I'm afraid, just shared frustration - 24 mo eats bread, breadsticks, pitta, houmous, fishfingers, potato waffles, chips, yogurt, cake, shreddies - again notice the total lack of anything green. In fact pretty much everything he eats is beige. fruit and veg squeezies meant for babies are the only way to get any goodness into him. I try and give him something different and he will not even touch it, even with bribery. I haven't tried the "it's this or nothing" strategy as I feel so bad about him going to bed hungry but it is going to have to get to that soon. I wouldn't care but both me and his father are adventurous eaters and love food which makes it even more frustrating. Arrrggghhhhh.

[snowboarder]

Well I'm glad I'm not alone!! I have to say my eldest has got worse since his brother came along and I wonder whether it's my fault for trying to appease and make mealtimes that bit easier. Or they just get fussier as they get older (does not bode well for the baby!).

Some success this evening with 'pizza'. Basically toast (cut out with cookie cutters - a rabbit and a teddy) with minimal layer of pizza topping sauce and cheese, grilled. Baby sucked it and I tried to shove in a bit of broccoli, bigger one ate it himself VOLUNTARILY.

Our only only saving grace which means I don't completely think he's going to get scurvy is that he will eat pears and apples (peeled and chopped, obv) and occasionally grapes. And banana. And ellas smoothies.

[Jacks50]

I have 3 children and the oldest two (boys) are so fussy. it drive me insane. they eat olives, broccoli and carrots. The only dinner they both like is sausages and meatballs. one likes pizza, one likes fish fingers, and they can be pushed into eating chicken but my oldest is just about in tears if he hears he's having it. He actually behaves like he's scared of certain food. At school he has to have a school lunch, and most days he has bread and cheese.

My daughter, aged 13 months is a really good eater but I'm worried she'll start copying they boys soon.

I hoped the boys would grow out of it but at age 7 my oldest is showing no signs.

we had a wonderful nanny for 6 months and she said the best way to deal with it was to give offering new food, but don't make a fuss if they don't eat it. just calmly take it away and don't offer anything else.

it works a bit with my middle child but not the eldest. think he has some kind of food phobia!

[Belle]

Yep, have all the same issues with my 2.9 yr old, sooo frustrating esp after an initial year or so of fantastic eating, was so pleased at the time! It's def good to hear we're not alone. I do think in our case anyway some of it is distraction - e.g. when we're out he often won't eat things which are staples at home, and just wants to run around/talk to people at the next table. Also tiredness.

I do offer new foods alongside old favourites, so that if they're rejected at least something is getting eaten, but not necessarily one that's seen as a 'treat', if you see what I mean. have had success with some bizarre techniques - e.g. went off banana for a while, so I sliced them up and called them 'banana coins' as he loves coins whether chocolate or real, and that worked really well for a bit. Also likes raw carrots because rebecca rabbit on Peppa Pig eats them...

I try not to let it get to me, but what I really hate is playing with food/not even trying something/throwing on floor - and he knows it, so winds me up a lot that way.

[bkkmei]

This is all sounding so familiar (sausages / cheese / beans / bread)...

My eldest boy gags/throws up when there is even a hint of green veg in his meal and only with extreme bribery will he eat anything vaguely healthy!

But I have managed to introduce one or two things in by a) making them a bit sweeter, and b) involving him in the cooking process. For example: sweet potato scones, carrot & courgette muffins (I can cook recipe - we played the game first on the cbeebies website, then he wanted to make them), pizza rolls...

Well he has just turned 4, so it is still an ongoing slow project!

At the really tough times, I remind myself how much I hated tomatoes / lumps in orange juice etc. when I was small!

[Gussy]

Can I join in the freaky eaters brigade. My 19 month old won't eat or touch fruit, no bread, no vegetables, even NO SAUSAGES! He likes cheese, ham, yoghurts and raisins. Looked at me like a loon when I served him jelly and ice cream for pudding today. Weird boy.

I find it hardest when we go to friends for dinner/lunch/parties etc. or at playgroup when they all tuck into a bowl of grapes or banana or carrot sticks. It's isolating, people always look at me like a weirdo, like WHY ISNT HE EATING FRUIT??? He doesn't like grapes? My god. Someone told me to offer fruit at every meal, but I've tried and it just gets either chucked on the floor or ignored. Someone else said leave it and they will outgrow it. Some days it really bothers me, most other days I don't have the energy to worry about it!! Nice to read that others have similar issues though. Thanks for posting.

[jennyh]

Not a huge amount I can add as mine is only 8 months but she is a pretty poor eater and always has been from the day she was born, always been hard to get milk into her and has never willingly opened a nice wide mouth for anything other than yoghurt or fruit puree. We get by on the occasional spoonful of something savoury, a piece of bread or cheese that often ends in gag-enduced vomiting or the failsafe Ella's chicken casserole or beef stew.

This is the sort of thread that I really like reading despite the fact it is about older children, I really value knowing what could come next!

[new mother]

When my little ones were fussy about food, I would think of what my parents would have done ie stick it out, send to bed, take a this or nothing attitude, and then I'd give in completely and bring the girls a yoghurt!

[Fuschia]

What foods would everybody regard as a success if the child ate it?

What foods do you eat yourself?

What do do for social occasions/family mealtimes?

Not seen it but Elizabeth pAntley has a nrs book out, on picky eaters

[Fuschia]

Is the concern that they are not getting sufficient nutrition

That they are 'rejecting' your offerings

Or that events like a family Sunday lunch are disrupted by the fussiness?

With no 1 child being reSlly really fussy I have had time to ponder my feelings about it and find ways to work with it ... I don't think of the twins as fussy

Maybe they are but I stopped caring ...

[mammamia]

Soo good to hear that I'm not the only one providing my child (16 mths) with a 'balanced' (?!!) meal of toast, cheese, breadsticks, cucumber, hummus & yoghurt at home....

At nursery (3 days a week) she apparently eats all or most of everything that is offered (which I have to say I struggle to believe on occasions) but does make me feel marginally better about her very firm ideas of what she will eat at home

She ate absolutely everything through the weaning stages, but it's so disheartening when she won't even try lovely tasty new / things she previously liked - bowl set in front of her & she will peak in and then shake her head a very definite not today mummy, no chance!

Am also battling with the do we play hard ball & offer nothing else. Or make sure she's at least not going to bed hungry cos she's full of cheese & yoghurt??!?

The joys... But good to know we are not alone (particularly when friends kids will eat every balances meal offered to them!)

[snowboarder]

Fuschia Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What foods would everybody regard as a success if

> the child ate it?

>

> What foods do you eat yourself?

>

> What do do for social occasions/family mealtimes?

>

> Not seen it but Elizabeth pAntley has a nrs book

> out, on picky eaters

It's not so much the lack of nutritional food and balanced diet, but I would just like my children to eat 'normal' food that my husband and I eat - shepherds pie, fish pie, risotto, quiche, potatoes, god the eldest child won't even eat chips or a burger! Or even cake actually. I worry about the lack of vegetables. But mostly it's just a pain. Eating out is a pain. Tea at others is a pain (It's meatballs, is that ok? ummm do you have toast?). Meals with family are a pain. Funnily enough I really do not especially want to have pasta for lunch every day....

[Fuschia]

Sb, those were my worries with child no 1 ... Who still won't eat any sort of sauce which means pizza is no good and pasta only plain (possibly with a bit of mozarella, basil leaves or fresh tomato... But in the end he was getting a balNced diet and i realised the more fuss I made the more resistant he got (research bears this out snd the effect is long lasting)

Food is so

Mixed up with patenting isn't it

Healthy vs unhealthy

What you offer being rejected

How you operate 'as a family'

What your parents think!

How you compare yourself with others

Hardly any of this is about nutrition so much as feeling we are being 'successful' at doing the right thing

But like moving away from baby sleep patterns, and toilet training ... They do it at their own pace almost despite themselves

Really

Child no 1 has added foods to his repertoire over the years (cheese!!! Even if only halloumi and mozarella) thank the gods!

[jules b]

You've all made me laugh out loud!

Oh thank heavens there are others out there having the same issues, -limited acceptable foods at home (but eats anything at nursery), certainly no greens (with the exception of broccoli, which my 22 month old loves but it gives him tummy ache, sigh), resorting to ellas fruit and vege squeezies, eating-out just a trial, struggling with the waste, the rejection, the devilment in his eyes when he slowly and carefully drops stuff on the floor while watching me... becoming screamy mummy and then bursting into tears when i've made him cry...

I'm trying the 'this is all there is' strategy at the moment, but he just doesn't seem fussed and happily toddles off to bed with an empty tummy.

If anyone out there knows a magic answer, -i'ld pay good money...!

[crystal7]

How are all our fussy eaters getting on?! Does anyone else despair that their child may never eat a normal meal, with protein and veg? With cutlery?? Daughter still only eats a small range of food, hardly any proper meals e.g fish pie, meatballs etc, only wants plain pasta or sausages. She has extended the range of veg she'll eat but I feel her diet lacks substance. Potatoes, sauces, meat (apart from sausages), fish are still a no no. She attends nursery 3 days a week where she eats a bit more than she would at home bit still very picky.

Don't have the courage to insist she eats what's there or there's nothing else approach. She is very small for her age and although perfectly healthy I don't think she can afford to loose weight. Also I don't think it would work- she's stubborn! What have others done? How long do I carry on making 3 different meals? Baby boy is 10 months and eats absolutely anything-for now! He is huge too. Just hope his big sister's ways don't rub off on him...