How do I get my DS to eat salad and fruit?

[mubbybeck]

My DS is 2 in 2weeks. In the early months he weaned fantastically, ate everything on offer from the very first mouthful! How things have changed since then. I just want to wind the clock back and start his eating all over again. My main worry is he won't eat salad or most chunks of fruit and I want him to eat healthy, it's all I've ever wanted him to do. I do make sure he gets his 5-a-day but most of them are his veg in his dinners.It would make life easier and be good for him to have a variety if he ate salad and fruit!

Can I have some advice please. If he doesn't like something one day, do I continue giving it to him or wait a few days/weeks before I give it to him again? I normally don't give it to him again straight away. Today I gave him melon but it got no where so should I give it to him again tomorrow? It worries me that his lunches are always stodge like sandwich/roll/crumpet etc and then a yogurt/fruit pot or similar. Sometimes he'll eat satsuma segments or blueberries but very very rarely. And he won't even eat grapes!! He used to wolf them down, now he won't even try one! Should I ignore that he doesn't eat things and still give them to him every day?

I can't wait to see what you think. I may not have helped his awkward eating in the past but I really want to change things now. Do you have any tips for changing a child's eating habits for the better?

[colditz]

ummmm - wait until he's not a toddler any more?

[GrimmaTheNome]

I'm not sure many toddlers eat 'salad' as such. If you're getting him to eat 5 a day veg, you're doing well!

Have you tried giving him carrot or cucumber sticks to chew on as a snack, when he's a bit hungry? That's about all my DD would eat, vegwise! But perhaps he doesn't like the texture of uncooked fruit/veg at the moment?

Sometimes its best to just eat the fruit yourself and (apparently grudgingly) offer them a bit of yours

[tigercametotea]

I think its a task worth persevering at. Of course your DS won't be happy about the "new" food on his plate in the early days, but the theory is that if you put a certain food on a baby/toddler's plate enough times, they will get used to it and start to like it (hopefully!) My DS (who's nearly 3) used to hate greens so much. He'd gag on them, spit them out, leave them untouched on his plate, etc. We decided to go more vegetarian earlier this year so we'd have completely vegetarian diets for half the week, so our kids learnt to start getting used to seeing all those veggies on their plates and learning to eat them. It wasn't easy in the beginning, but eventually they all learnt to love eating veg. For my DS, when he was still being "trained" to eat lettuce leaves, what I'd do was I'd chop the leaves up really small so it would be easier for him to get used to chewing them and to eliminate most of the gagging episodes (as I found it was probably the fibrous texture of it that he found hard to chew and swallow). Once he seemed to have gotten the hang of eating finely-chopped lettuce leaves drizzled with olive oil, I started adding other things to his salad, like cheese, tomatoes, etc. Green salad with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and avocados with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil is now one of my DCs' favourite lunches. Who would have guessed ?

[DooinMeCleanin]

Veg is better for you than fruit anyway. Dd1 is not fussy on fruit but loves pears, melons and berries. Try those or make them into a smoothie? Also you can freeze smoothies into sorbets or lollies. Dd1 will eat most fruit if it is squashed and frozen.

Niether of mine will eat salad other than cherry toms or cucumber wedges.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

My DD can spot fruit or veg at 100 metres. The only way she will have any is in juice, although now that the berries and summer fruits are available, she will condescend to eat cherries (have you seen the price) and strawberries and raspberries happily.

[DooinMeCleanin]

Ah yes, cherries. Dd1 also loves cherries. I find them much cheaper from a greengrocer than the supermarket if that is any use Kreecher? They are still exortionate, just not quite so extortionate.

[p99gmb]

Hide peas in mash potato
Mash up carrots and mix with mash potato
parsnip chips

We give them a small bowl of 'totties' and mix in with them raisins - we call them 'totties' too.. works a treat - bit of kidology works a treat

[Fennel]

Keep persevering, just 2 was the worst age for food fussiness in mine. Don't give up though, my dd2 didn't eat much fruit or veg at that age but she does eat plenty now.

Give them fruit or veg as a starter when they're hungry and waiting for the rest of the meal. Mine often ate little pots of frozen peas at that point, as well as carrots, cucumber, tomato and hummous. Or just serve them the cooked veg first. If they're hungry and there is no other food "ready" they are far more likely to eat it.

But keep on offering, pushing it, suggesting it (bribing too works with mine).

[MooM00]

I do the same as fennel. I put some tomato or cucumber out on the plates as I lay the table, tell them to come to the table and serve up slowly. They generally eat the salad while they're waiting.

[Frawli]

Something I've found that can also help is serving them differently, eg my LO prefers eating a banana out of the skin and peeling it herself to being given pieces of banana. Ds likes to eat grapes off the bunch rather than done for him. For a bit of variety I sometimes slice things differently, like core an apple then slice it into rings etc. My daughter won't eat salad either but I just keep persevering!

[mousymouse]

normal toddler :o

just keep offering and be a good role model.

[beachyhead]

Same as fennel and Moomoo. There is a plate of fruit, cucumber, sometimes cheese on the table when they get there. They see, and eat while they are bored waiting for dinner....Drinks can come after fruit plate...

[mubbybeck]

Thanks so much for all your suggestions and reassurance. I'll definately keep persevering and will try out some of the ideas mentioned.

I think I'm aware of his lack of goodness in lunches because when we have lunch with his friends they all sit eating cucumber and tomato and I know he doesn't eat those. He's not too bad with veg in dinners as long as it's all cut small and mixed up. I'd love him to eat bigger veg chunks or even sticks but it just doesn't happen!

With regards to fruit, I never know day to day what he's going to eat. A while back I was getting my blueberries washed ready to pack in my work lunch and he wanted one, then another, then another and suddenly he was eating a bowl of them! I got excited and gave him some the next day and he shook his head and pushed them away. Argh! Today I mixed mashed banana in his Ready Brek. I've done it before but today he said "Narna, narna" and pushed it away.

It just gets frustrating doesn't it, seeing lovely food go to waste, seeing your child refuse what's good for them and thinking you might be doing things wrong.

[bosch]

partly because my ds2 doesn't like his food mucked about with, dh got into the habit of serving the kids their veg as a starter. They do seem to eat way more that way with much less nagging!

[Beamur]

I'd say keep it simple. If he likes veg chopped up small, give it chopped up small - he's still eating it.
Good ideas to offer some fruit or veg to eat while waiting too and to keep drinks back so they don't fill up on liquids first.
I think my DD was pretty fussy at this age but has improved, but she doesn't like food to be mixed up - she'll quite happily eat bread, soft cheese and cucumber - but if I made it into a sandwich she wouldn't be happy.
My DD liked raw carrot but has only just started eating cucumber (shes 4) and won't eat tomato but likes lettuce.
Another thing that has helped us is growing our own - the first time DD had strawberry was one we'd grown in a pot on the front door step and now we have an allotment she grazes on rocket every time we go there. A friend of mine had a little boy who would only eat blueberries from a bush in their garden but wouldn't touch them from a shop.