Top tips to get my 23-month-old to eat fruit

[Fazerina]

He will not even try. No kind of fruit !

Occasionally he will have some apple, maybe once a month, but apart from that, nothing. Oh, and he drinks concentrated OJ, one 200 ml carton a day. That's the closest to anything fruity he can get.. Things kids normally like such as banana and strawberries make him vomit ..

Innocent fruit smoothie cartons?
My ds is 22 months and he drinks one a day. He seems to love them :)

Aah that's a good idea! I used to try them, last summer I think.. I'll try again.. I've tried homemade smoothies with little or no success. I wonder if this is something they grow out of..?

Ice lollies?

Fruit muffins. Dried fruit. Fruit set in jelly. Bananas and custard.

DS1 is 7 and he has never ever eaten any fruit. I have tried but he won't have it. The nearest we have got is apple juice, but only that he won't have squash, jam or anything else fruity at all. I have just gone with it tbh. He will eat vegetables though.

Ice lollies made out of fruit puree?

Or fruit salad with a little bit of ice cream and chocolate sauce for pudding served in a sundae dish? Not all that healthy but helped when DS got a bit anti-fruit for a while.

Send him to nursery! My boy will eat all fruit, fresh and dried at nursery... But despite numerous attempts, the only fruit he'll touch for me is those fruit puree pots! Little tike!
I honestly thought he truly hated banana... He tucked into half of one yesterday at nursery! Grr!

Why do they make him vomit?

My brother is 30 next month and I've never seen him eat a single piece of fruit. He'll drink fruit juice but that's a pretty recent thing.

He eats veg relatively happily.

and no yoghurt, dried fruit or fruit bars.

He does however eat mussels, any fish and ever better if it has it's own eyes, eggs in any form and at the moment chicken drumsticks provided he has a bone to gnaw on

DS1 won't eat fruit at school either, he has to have fruit for snack and the only thing he will eat is carrot sticks. For 4 years....

Does he eat veggies? If so I wouldn't worry about it.

Dried fruit? My dd1 stopped eating fresh fruit when she turned 1 and has absolutely refused to eat it ever since. It's very strange because she really isn't a fussy eater about anything else - she's 5 now and is always willing to try new things, but she gets genuinely upset if anybody tries to persuade her to eat fruit. It's almost like a phobia with her, though what has caused it is anyone's guess. Anyway, she munches very happily on any and every kind of dried fruit so I just always make sure we're well stocked and try not to make too much of an issue of it. I've never had a problem getting her to eat veg, thank goodness. I do think she's bonkers, though - fruit is so delicious!

Sorry - not really want you want to hear! I do try everything - smoothies, making juice (she's never liked any drinks except milk and water), leaving chopped up fruits lying enticingly in the middle of the table without comment, suggesting she try playing with it (chopping up a banana with a knife), doing fruit tasting together with dd2 etc etc. She enjoys chopping fruit up, and is prepared to sniff and lick it, but looks terrified if you try suggesting she put it in her mouth.

But maybe some of these ideas will work for you! If he likes juice and eats the odd apple then you're already doing better than we are.... Good luck!

Thanks so much for your replies! Fruit puree lollies, will definitely try that! A few times I've managed to get him to eat a baby fruit puree when it's been really really cold, so maybe an ice lollie would also go down that way.

I think he genuinely doesn't like anything sweet, which in itself isn't a bad thing of course. He will eat the occasional Oreo if he sees them in the kitchen and that's it really. So I think the dried fruit would be too sweet for him.. I tried baking some apples and pears in the oven a bit, but he wouldn't have any of it. I think because they were sweeter than if fresh.

Once I tried mashing a tiny (!) bit of banana in his morning porridge and he happily took a huge mouthful, as he loves his breakfast, but then gagged and threw up ! Now he will shout 'Nana', when he sees a banana, but if you try to peel it and offer it to him, he will angrily push it away.

He will eat veggies, if they're not too obviously placed on his plate and carefully mashed in the rest of the food. Although mind you, he's currently going through a phase, where everything has to be eaten separately. Today he had chicken nuggets on their own and then a huge bowl of noodles on their own. I had tried to mix the noodles with some veggies and steamed chicken, but he wouldn't have any of it ..

My boy gags every time I've tried him with banana... Even the tiniest bit amount with ready brek... Well mashed so no lumps!
I generally thought he couldn't bare it... Until nursery on Friday. I'll keep on trying with him though. They do go through fads, and I think, he's just got into the habit of having puddings like frontage frais and puréed fruit in those plastic pots. I've tried natural yogurt and homemade coulis that I poured into an old pot... No! I've puréed apple or pear and popped into an old fruit pot... No!!

I had the same with my Ds. I just give him different fruit on a plate after every meal. I say nothing the rest of the family eat theirs I take it away along with our plates again saying nothing. (No pressure to eat or even try it) and after awhile he started trying things. I still said nothing. Until he had finished then praised him loads.

Now he eats loads of different fruits and asks for melon and mango all the time.

My advice would be to not worry don't put any pressure or get stressed just offer some each day and ignore if it's not ate

Guess what? Little tike has just eaten half a bloody banana!
Like you said, just popped it in front of him and he ate it.
I also tried orange bits, which he spat out and lumps of tinned pear, which he spat out... But the banana was a big hit!