Child refuses to eat any fruit or veg - Tips please!

[BettyBooHoo! 10]

My little boy who is three refuses to eat any fruit or veg. He used to eat anything i'd give him but over the last year he has phased it out completely with apples & bananas being the last things to go on his long list of won't eats.

I'm after tips please from parents who have had simular problems.

 

Here's what i've tried so far:

 

Cutting up fruit/veg into fancy shapes, arrangements etc - he won't touch it.

 

Mashing veg in with Mashed potatoes & gravy - he spots the bits and won't touch it.

 

Smoothies/yogurts with fruit - he tries it & spits it back out - think it's the texture with things like that.

 

Hiding veg under other foods. I hidden veg such as peas & sweetcorn under mash and gravy and when he spots them,it's game over for dinner time. On the one occasion where he didn't notice and accidentally ate some he physically threw it back up on his dinner plate!

 

Putting a portion of veg on his dinner plate and refusing him any treats if he doesn't eat it - he refuses to eat it and quite happily foregoes any dessert.

 

Bribary - Promised him toys etc if he'll eat his veg but he just claps his hands over his mouth and won't even try it.

 

At nursery snack time he apparently refuses fruit also - i thought maybe if he saw other kids eating it he's copy but nope!

 

I really don't know what else to try, the only way i can get anything remotely fruit like down him is via Fresh juices.

 

Any tips would be greatly received!

 

Thanks

[diablo 10]

Have you contacted your Health visitor about this? or talked to your GP? I know it is a long shot and I hope I am wrong but there could be a medical problem with swallowing? Has he had a bad experience with eating Fruit / Veg? can you pin point when he first started going off it and why?

 

I really feel for you!

[Lady Star 10]

Leaving him at the table until it has gone, giving him the same again for the next meal if he refuses it first time - not giving in bascially... A healthy child won't allow themselves to starve...

[shedevil 10]

Leaving him at the table until it has gone, giving him the same again for the next meal if he refuses it first time - not giving in bascially... A healthy child won't allow themselves to starve...

 

You can`t force them to eat what they don`t want to eat

[killa_ted 10]

You can`t force them to eat what they don`t want to eat

 

and you cant let them pick and choose what they want to eat or you will end up with a brat !

[killa_ted 10]

Leaving him at the table until it has gone, giving him the same again for the next meal if he refuses it first time - not giving in bascially... A healthy child won't allow themselves to starve...

 

2nd this, my son is 3 and tries to tell us he's poorly during his dinner everynite all we do is tell him no desert till hes eat everything and slowly enough it goes !

[shedevil 10]

and you cant let them pick and choose what they want to eat or you will end up with a brat !

 

Oh really !!!!!!!!!!!! now thats a very invocative statement I didnt force mine and now they are winning awards nationally and have never been in trouble so I would say thats a load of twaddle

[BettyBooHoo! 10]

Have you contacted your Health visitor about this? or talked to your GP? I know it is a long shot and I hope I am wrong but there could be a medical problem with swallowing? Has he had a bad experience with eating Fruit / Veg? can you pin point when he first started going off it and why?

 

I really feel for you!

 

Thanks for your suggestions. Nothing springs to mind, he's just slowly eliminated fruit and veg one by one over the last year or so. I don't think it's an issue with swallowing as he doesn't seem to have a problem with other foods but definatly worth giving the Health Visitor a call.

[badsanta 10]

he mite not just lyk it lol xx

[BettyBooHoo! 10]

Leaving him at the table until it has gone, giving him the same again for the next meal if he refuses it first time - not giving in bascially... A healthy child won't allow themselves to starve...

 

Tried leaving him at the table. We left him so long he just settled his head down & went to sleep! He's a very determined little boy when he wants to be & has already mastered the art of cutting his nose off to spite his face!

[Babooshka 10]

This can be really distressing for a parent. I went through this about 18 months/2 years ago. My son is still not 'great' with the fruit and veg, but is much better. Rather than mash stuff in, can your blend it, so that he can't see any 'bits'?

 

Does he like things like spag bol? You can blend lots of stuff in to sauces and he won't be able to tell. Think I would tend to puree lots of stuff and just slip in a few spoonfuls in to his meal.

 

On a discipline point of view though, I would just stick with it. I am quite strict with meal times, and although it may take a while to teach him that he has to eat this stuff, I would stick with it. Definitely no desserts!!!! Although, you could make some occasional 'treat' but make sure it has fruit or veg in that too...even if it is just carrot cake or something. Will he eat yoghurt? Can you slip a teaspoon of pureed apple in to that and mix it up? I would try anything and everything!

 

It is a really stressful aspect of parenting!!!!

[Ju-Ju 10]

When my son was this age, I felt bombarded by information, advice, dire warnings about what would happen to my child if he didn't get 5 a day etc. None of this was helpful - it only had the effect of greatly increasing my anxiety at every mealtime when he pushed his plate away. I tried everything in your list and nothing worked. Mealtimes became emotionally charged because I was putting so much energy into preparing food and trying new ways of inducing him to eat it, that every time he refused it felt like a stab in the guts.

I don't know what you should do, but if I could turn the clock back this is what I would do.

Take every magazine, newspaper article ever written about kids and food and chuck them in the bin - we all know enough now.

Spend half as much time preparing a wild variety of all singing all dancing meals - keep it simple so that I don't feel as though I've slaved for hours and then had it thrown back at me.

Try to let go of any expectation that they will eat anything - put food on the table and give them the opportunity to eat.

The biggest thing I would change is that I wouldn't have any crisps, sweets, buscuits in the house - that way, I won't cave in and give them to them when they are hungry in between meals (that they didn't eat!) - then I would reach for an apple or banana instead.

That's what I would do differently - good luck.