To feel awful because my children hate almost all vegetables

[Sleepdeprived42long]

I have two boys (8 and 6). They both ate all the fruit and veg going when I weaned but my eldest started getting really fussy at around 2. Fast forward to now and I now have 2 children who will only eat broccoli (in small amounts). They hate any other vegetables. I’ve feel like I’ve tried everything over the years-hiding veg in sauce/soup, serving with meals but not making them eat, no pudding (we don’t have pudding anymore now), asking them to try it even if they don’t like it, explaining the risks associated with obesity etc. It came to a head tonight when I asked my son to try a piece of carrot and he gagged on it repeatedly at the dinner table. I’m at a complete loss and I’m lucky if they’re getting 1 serving a day, never mind 5! I feel awful because I feel I’ve failed them on this and I’m worried about their future health if they continue like this. Anyone have any experience of this and any advice to share?

[quote Sleepdeprived42long]@justanotherneighinparadise I’m so glad that worked for you. I don’t think that would work for us give DS would likely throw up and I draw the line at putting food into his mouth. If he refused to eat every meal of veg, would you suggest just letting him get hungry? I’m not really comfortable with that either.[/quote]
You have to do what you think is right. If your child would genuinely throw up then there are psychological issues at play that go far beyond the reaches of Mumsnet.
I watched a very interesting program that covered this subject. Let me see if I can link to it incase you find it helpful.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=VZTlLKDNPFI

That was me as a child OP and still now to some degree. Do they like salad items? I eat salad with most meals (even hot ones) just give them whatever they will eat (so long as it’s green) and their taste buds will develop to include other stuff. I still hate carrots, celery, peppers. Some veg has very peculiar flavour if you have sensitive taste buds.

For years my DD would only eat raw carrot and cucumber and occasionally a few still-frozen peas. The first cooked green veg she liked was marsh samphire.
She ended up gradually eating all sorts of veg, and is very healthy.

I think people on this thread are coming from different angles to be honest. Some children are what we would conventionally refer to as fussy and have food preferences and don't like to try new things/strong tastes or something. These children we might put veg into sauces, encourage them to eat with us, get into cooking together etc.

Other children have more deep-seated issues with food. There might be nothing you can do, they might benefit from medical support, psychological or otherwise, you might just work with what they do eat.

But the posters getting angry because people suggest ideas for the first group just need to chill out! You have my every sympathy that your child had more difficulties with food but that doesn't mean that some of the suggestions people are making won't work with many other children.

I mean the first level NHS advice is as suggested by many of us. If your child is outwith this advice then speak to your GP.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/fussy-eaters/

@ErrolTheDragon

For years my DD would only eat raw carrot and cucumber and occasionally a few still-frozen peas. The first cooked green veg she liked was marsh samphire. She ended up gradually eating all sorts of veg, and is very healthy.

Love this! Samphire is so salty and tasty though 😋

You have to do what you think is right. If your child would genuinely throw up then there are psychological issues at play that go far beyond the reaches of Mumsnet

Not necessarily. There are foods that make me gag. I don’t have issues around food or eating. I just have issues with some textures/flavours and if I’m not forced to eat those things I am fine. As a child I was forced to eat things that made me gag. Happily as an adult I can avoid those things.

I pretty much only ate beige food until I was 14-15. Then I started forcing myself to eat one or two veg as I wanted to appear more sophisticated. I wasn't fat and I didn't get scurvy.

Nowadays I can eat most veg at a push. Some I enjoy - kale, red cabbage, mushrooms, beans of all kinds. Some I tolerate - brocolli, cauliflower. Some I will still try my best to swerve - swede, sweet potato, squash. I still prefer my veg in things like currys and stir-frys rather than naked and starkly veg-ish as a side dish. So they might get there in their own ways and in their own time.

My DS is now 18, he was really easy to wean and ate everything as a baby/ toddler but stopped eating veg except for sweet corn (which he always and still does love) and carrots (which he complained about but ate a small amount of) from age 2-3. Fast forward to 14/15, after years of me-trying to get him to widen his diet, and he made an effort to try veg as he got it that it’s important to eat a good diet and really wanted to. He now likes spinach, rocket, peppers, parsnips, sweet potatoes, peas and tomatoes (but not raw) and onions, and of course sweet corn and carrots. He still doesn’t eat broccoli or any brassicas or lettuce. But it’s so much better and he positively likes all the listed ones. I probably tried too hard to get him to eat veg when he was small, but I had almost completely given up by the time he was 8/9, though I did continue to talk about a healthy diet and the rest of us ate veg. So don’t worry too much. DS was always and still is extremely healthy and fit, he’s a serious long distance runner.

If your child would genuinely throw up then there are psychological issues at play that go far beyond the reaches of Mumsnet

Food aversions are pretty common. For several years I couldn't eat salmon, after having some that made me ill. DH likewise with chicken. DD really can't eat butter or fish. It's a physical/biochemical response, not psychological.

@ErrolTheDragon

If your child would genuinely throw up then there are psychological issues at play that go far beyond the reaches of Mumsnet

Food aversions are pretty common. For several years I couldn't eat salmon, after having some that made me ill. DH likewise with chicken. DD really can't eat butter or fish. It's a physical/biochemical response, not psychological.

No it's psycho-somatic

Your subconscious brain associates the food with the feeling of nausea (due to your previous experience) even though you logically know this food is safe. Because if that association your brain creates the nausea response. It is psychological, it's not that you're physically allergic to chicken or incapable of digesting it