what (if anything) did you do to get your fussy eating toddler trying new foods?

[headfairy]

Ds being a typical toddler, eating a pretty restricted diet consisting mostly of pasta, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, baked beans, chips and peas and sweetcorn.

I try to make it as healthy as poss, make all my own chicken nuggets and fishfingers and usually do my own chips (chip shaped potatoes done in the oven with some olive oil) and make a variety of pasta sauces (bolognaise, tomato and veg, cheese and ham, carbonara etc) but I do want him to try new things.

I have made up a couple of reward charts, and we talk about it occasionally. I don't want to pressure him, no sitting at the table until his plate is clear rubbish from me, but I would like to encourage him to try more things. We've tried cooking, which he loves, but he won't try things he's made. He just gives them to us to eat.

I'm wondering if this is just a phase all children naturally grow out of (at what age?) or if I need a bit more gentle encouragement.

We're going to try the reward chart thing soon. I've said all I would like is for him to just taste one mouthful (usually alongside something I know he likes so there's no pressure that if he doesn't eat it there's no dinner) and that if he doesn't like it then that's fine. But I can't even seem to get him to the tasting one mouthful stage. How can he move on if he'll never try anything? Am I just being too soft on him?

sorry, left an is out of that first sentence!

ds is being a typical toddler...

his mother on the other hand can't write.

What about food jealousy? Do you always eat the same things as him/eat together? If he sees you eating lots of different, new things and enjoying them (play it up?!) he might get curious or even jealous and ask for some!

headfairy, I think what he eats is actually pretty balanced and if he eats pasta with sauce you can hide veg in that so no worries about nutrition there.

DS eats sausages, crumbed fish things (whether it be fish fingers, fish cakes or homemade one, doesn't seem to matter). He has mash with every single meal (hidden veg in it). No fruit, veg, pasta,

Breakfast is always ready brek with fruit puree in it. lunch is always a peanut butter sandwich.

I would be very pleased if he ate the variety that your DS does :)(are they the same age? DS is just over 3)

The reward chart thing did work a but with DS though, (Cbeebies have a handy one to print out) :)
We used Ben 10 toys as bribery and he actually ate a pea once :)

rosmarin, we do usually try to eat together as often as possible. During the week when I'm off I'll always eat with them, and if ds asks what I'm eating I'll tell him and offer him some. Of course he refuses. DD (13 mos) eats everything so I often give some to her (if we're not having the same that is... I'm low carbing so usually eating piles of cheese or some such rubbish!)

We do all try to sit down once a week together for a meal (not necessarily Sundays, often Sat lunchtime, quite often go to my mum and dad's on Sunday lunchtime and he will sit with us for about a minute!)

Jareth, ds is 3.5 (was 3 in Sept) - I'm glad to hear you think it's quite balanced. He does love peas and sweetcorn and will eat them til the cows come home. He will also eat raw carrots (only raw mind, and cut in to fingers, not grated or any other shape) but he won't eat any meat (other than chicken nuggets - won't eat just chicken) won't eat sausages, or eggs. Won't touch mash - says he doesn't like potatoes - he's adamant chips are not made of potatoes :o

I do try and sneak meat in to his food. I'll add some really tiny tiny chopped chicken to pasta sauce but quite often he spots it and pulls it out. I've added tuna to tomato pasta sauce before and got away with it once.

I'm glad to hear the reward chart worked a bit, even just a couple of other things would be good.

Breakfast is almost always cocopops Grrr... sometimes he has raisin bran flakes. Sometimes he'll have toast and jam too.

Lunch is almost always either a cheese sandwich or carrot sticks and bread sticks with philly.

Dinner is either pasta or chicken nuggets, or fishfingers.

Aw, nice to hear :)
grated carrot could be hidden in most pasta sauce tbh. Have you tried him with things like meatballs (DS will sometimes eat them but only if I call them mini burgers. He doesn't like burgers )

Don't worry too much about meat, as long as he's getting protein then it's not too important tbh.

Shame he won't eat mash, will he eat potato croquettes? They're dead easy to hide white fish in.

What would you like him to eat? I have major food-hiding powers now (not sure that's a good thing )

Have you tried getting him to help you cook something new to eat? My ds (though younger) loves helping prepare stuff, watching it cook as then is much more willing to try eating it.

I usually do put carrot in pasta sauces, cook it thoroughly and blend to smithereens so he can't see it. :o

My first attempt at fish fingers was mostly mash with white fish, I think he ate them - can't quite remember. Perhaps I'll try again.

I would really like him to eat more meat... I do give him cheese and yoghurts every day, and he has milk at bedtime so I'm not so concerned about calcium. I tried the meatball thing with him, squashing them a bit to make them look like burgers.... no luck :(

lindsell we have tried cooking with him, he really enjoyed it but refused to try anything we cooked.

I really wouldn't worry. I think if you make a big deal about it the child picks up on it and refuses to eat even more.
I had a fussy eater(wouldn't even eat chips) and what I did was dish up the meal and let him eat what he liked. He is now 17 and eats anything and everything. In the last year or so has discovered Indian cuisine and loves it.

Any light at the end of the tunnel ? ☺️

Lordy, this is an old thread. Said toddler is now 6'2", 17 years old and eats like a horse. Still some sensory issues, can't have foods touching and won't eat many sauces, but clearly it did him no harm!

I love this type of updates!!! I can't believe so many are complaining about zombie threads and want to ban them! Zombie threads are the best, plenty of insight!!
I have to say, 2011 is quite a record!!!
@headfairy Thank you for coming back!!

@Cormoran haha no worries. It does go to show all that worrying and they sort themselves out in the end! I bet in 2011 I hadn't even thought of the joy (!) of the teen years. Just spent half an hour clearing up the crumbs of said teen's late night snacking!