Does your child eat vegetables without a fight?

[mrfluffypinkpants]

At wits end with my 10year old who is an extremely picky eater! I thought when he was a baby/ toddler this stage would pass and he would become a 'normal' eater but this hasn't happened 😢 he seems to hate texture and things like stew, soup that are mixed together. He will only eat super noodles, chicken nuggets, sausages and a few other bits and pieces but I can't get him to eat any veg ( not even potatoes)
Please tell me if you too had a picky eater that eventually grew out of it?

I should add, he is very healthy, tall, fit, clever kid so he isnt some pasty wee frail thing sitting in the corner.

My 7yo ds will not eat veg. His two younger sisters love it. So it's not anything we do.

I was a very fussy child. I hated most veg and lots of other things. But now I am 38 and one of the healthiest people I know. I have had 2 days off work sick EVER.

When I was a child my parents used to force me to eat my meals. I cried about it a lot and dreaded mealtimes. I don't want that for my ds. So I give him a lot of the healthy-ish stuff he likes, plus vitamins, and don't make mealtimes a battle.

I own the exception to the rule. one of mine stated a preference for vegetables over sweeties.... definitely an outlier.

the other one eats a reasonable amount of veg. more avarage. likes some, doesn't like others. I tend to give what is liked.

I had one very picky eater (ASD and other SEN). I just explained to him what fruit and veg do for us to keep us healthy and that he didn't have to like them, he just had to eat five a day, three of which had to be veg that could be of his choosing. He agreed to eat petit pois (but not peas) sweetcorn, boiled carrots and sliced apple. Then he added baby corn, carrot sticks, bananas and cucumber to that range. I could also get him to eat pureed veg disguised inside spag bol or similar dishes (onions, tomatoes, mixed peppers, small amounts of mushroom and spinach) This went on for about 5 years but he did eventually branch out and now eats a very wide range of veg but is still a bit fussy on fruit. He'll eat specific apple varieties, pears and bananas, and has very recently (aged 19) added melon.

Be patient. Explain what the health benefits are. Disguise stuff (add tiny bits of onion, pepper spinach etc to home made burgers, bolognese etc.) Offer home made smoothies of banana and berries or apple juice mixed with carrot juice.

I have an autistic child so quite restricted eating, similar to your child, but will eat potatoes and industrial quantities of brocolli, carrots, peas as well as fruit. Peas he refused so I said bet you cannot eat one pea and he laughed and ate one. Then I said bet you cant eat 150 peas and he tried to do that and eaten them ever since. Brocolli he decided looks like trees and he loves trees so eats all brocolli in sight, we even went abroad and they had raw brocolli and he took a big plate full. Fruit he will eat so much of it he makes himself ill but says he does not care.

DD is veggie and eats most veg, loves sweetcorn, that is a good one to try if like sweet things.

We didn't make any on ours eat anything.
Oldest was always fussy, mostly with the textures and smells. So I just put a bit of everything on his plate and made sure to include at least on thing he liked. He's a fairly good eater now he's grown.
Second ate anything going and still does. He did the fussy thing for a short while but we ignored it and he got over it biting your tongue is hard
Youngest is great with veg, but hates all sauces like gravy, Bolognese She seems to be coming out the other end as she discovered Carbonara and liked it.
Don't make food a battle if you can help it. Make mealtimes enjoyable.
I was at a talk by a paediatric dietician one time, she was saying to not expect every meal to be fully balanced, you balance over the day, or even a few days, so sometimes they were protein heavy sometimes veg, it all works out over time, not a meal.

What about fruit - will he eat this? Raw tomatoes, cucumber, peppers are.all fruit.
Also, stews and soups have lots of root veg - I am not a fan of swede and parsnip to this day. Potatoes are also in this category - will he eat chips? These are all sweet veg and many people don't enjoy that sweet/savoury combo - try a wider range and and you will find something he enjoys. Have you tried making sweets from dates? Lots of recipes online

All of mine (aged between 6 and 13) eat veg, but texture is a big thing- they like crunchy, so mostly raw veg - carrots, cucumber, pepper, crisp lettuce, etc. They also like peas and broccoli.
One of them will try anything, but the others tend to stick to these favourites.

Just keep offering it
Orange juice 100% ice lollies, smoothies, dried apricots, apple crumble and custard, sweetcorn fritters, strong roots brand do some really tasty veg chips. I didn't like tomatoes until I put salt on them!
He might grow out of it, he might not but you have done your part offering it

I'm not a huge veg fan because I'm lazy! If you put it in front of me, I eat it. The only real reason I eat veg/salad now is I know I have to and I tend to stick to around 20 veg/fruit I know I like

I a vegetarian, so I think that's helped DS. He is very good with veg and fruit - but we used to have a huge garden with orchard and massive veg plot. So from a tiddler he was involved with planting and picking. Again, I think that helps. The only thing he simply won't eat is melon. Other than that - the whole range.

DD is 10 and only this year really has started to just eat vegetables. Has always been willing to eating a wide range of other foods though. Loves things like sushi, falafel, curries etc.

She eats most vegetables if she has aioli to dip them in. Likes coleslaw, peas, baby spinach and rocket.

Likes cauliflower if I dip it in breadcrumbs.

Also eats stews. Not a huge fan of soups, but neither am I particularly. Will eat tomato soup though.

She always gets served everything. She needs to try everything and then she can politely push it to one side if she doesn’t like it. There’s no drama attached to food.

I can’t believe how many people here are saying things like they insist their dc eat veg or they don’t get pudding etc etc. shock That’s one way to screw up their eating habits for life!! I totally agree with this but it always gets said a lot and any objections fall on deaf ears, there is no chance a parent who thinks this approach is right will listen as they are by definition controlling.

@mrfluffypinkpants There is guidance out there for parents of restrictive eaters, it is slow but at 10 you need to get your child into the driving seat. There was an episode of a prog with HFW last year that showed the general approach - you get them growing veg, touching veg, smelling veg, choosing veg and gradually they lose their fear of trying veg. I am sure you can find self help books if you search.

No problems with fruit and veg with my two. I think this is because they grew up moving between 4 different cultures - my East Asian one, my husband's European one, the American one they experience in summers, and the English one they experience here. They are used to meals and eating customs in these and, particularly at both grandparents, not eating what everyone else is eating is frowned upon and my East Asian heritage has a cuisine which is very vegetable heavy.

When you grow up eating kimchi and seaweed soup as a toddler, normal veg is not that strange.

@SqueakyPeaks

I a vegetarian, so I think that's helped DS. He is very good with veg and fruit - but we used to have a huge garden with orchard and massive veg plot. So from a tiddler he was involved with planting and picking. Again, I think that helps. The only thing he simply won't eat is melon. Other than that - the whole range.

Not always sadly. I'm a vegan and raising my kids vegetarian, we've always grown a lot of veg in our garden as well and we also go to our local pick your own farm at least once a month. My son absolutely loves gardening and will happily eat a lot of things straight off the plant - but as soon as it's actually put on his plate at meal time he declares that he hates it!

I was shocked, I tell you, shocked, when my brother told me that my veggie hating Niece (a very picky eater) was now vegetarian (her boyfriend is veggie.

Mine will eat most things - veg included. They definitely have preferences, and I will try to accommodate much of the time, but in return they have to eat (and at least try) other things when presented with them. I have only ever cooked one meal and we all eat the same, sometimes they like it more than others, but there is no alternative meal.

But then neither DH nor I are fussy about food, and we both enjoy a good variety of different meals.

Mine all eat lots of veg. There are some they don’t like. They don’t have to eat their food to get pudding. I never really make a fuss about what they do or don’t eat but I don’t make lots of separate meals, I just make sure there is always something that they like on offer. If they do t eat that in their choice.

I absolutely hated veg as a child and thought it all tasted disgusting. I went to stay with my aunt and she let me have ketchup on my Sunday roast. Not exactly the done thing but it made them just about acceptable.

For years then the only veg I would only eat peas, sweetcorn and carrots (with ketchup) but my parents were just glad I was eating veg.
I now eat a wide range of veg (and not just with ketchup).

Is there any sauce or dip you could give to disguise the taste?