How do you get around fussy eaters? Tell us to win £100-worth of picture books! Ends midday 8 February

[SorchaMumsnet]

Eat Your People! is a hilarious tale of fussy eating, guaranteed to get children giggling. To celebrate its publication, we want to know how you get around those pickier eating habits.

Do you think vegetables are yucky? Just wait until you see what Monty the Monster has on his plate!

Monty definitely does NOT want to eat his people. He'll eat his vegetables - every single one! - but he will not eat his people.

For your chance to win Eat Your People! and a £100 picture book bundle from Hachette, just tell us: what are your tips for dealing with fussy eaters?

This discussion is sponsored by Hachette and will close at midday on 8 February

Books T&Cs apply

My ds fortunatly has never really been through a fussy stage, but as a family we always have the same meal, and everyone has everything on their plate whether they like it or not - the portion size is varied though. This means I have a taste of swede - which I'm learning not to dislike, ds gets a bit of mushroom and so on. Several things I thought I didn't like I actually do, and ds has stopped genuinely disliking a few things after repetitions of the required lick.

My Grandmother had the best way to sort it out. If you don't eat what you are given you get it however dryer up and horrible every meal until you eat it. Only had to do it once. Mowbray almost anything!

Who ever invented predictive text is an UTTER MORON!

Don't stop offering disliked foods. Also don't pre-empt by assuming they won't like something (and certainly don't tell them they probably won't!). I also agree about letting them get properly hungry - food tastes so much better then.

Let them eat the stuff they don't like at other people's houses. Even better...they eat most things once they've left home...

Don't make an issue out of it, don't stress over it. They won't be fussy forever.

I don't sweat it, they eat enough variety over a week. With DS 26, who's got cystic fibrosis, he can eat exactly what he wants, as if he feels like eating it's a result! If he wants to live on Zinger tower meals from KFC, at least that's a huge meal!

The main thing is to not stress over it. It's not going to kill them if they don't eat certain things for a while. It didn't bother me what DC ate as I knew they would grow out of it. If as a toddler they only want pasta and cheese so be it. 3 years later they will be eating anything.

I won't force my child to eat anything, as I was forced to eat food by my parents and teachers when I was a child and it has left me with food issues, so I won't be a hypocrite and force DC to eat anything they don't want to.

School dinners was the best thing for DC eating vegetables, they saw everyone else eating them and joined in.

What has worked for me is being completely nonchalant about what he eats but offering a good balance, if he doesn't eat what's in his plate that's fine, maybe he'll eat something at the next meal.

I think it's part luck, some children are going to be fussy and others aren't.

Just persevere. Neither of my DC liked veg that much before but now I can get them to eat just about any veg. I kept putting the veg on their plate and asked them to taste one of everything each time it was on their plate. Eventually they've got used to it.

It's not perfect, one always refuses asparagus and the other ones hates carrots! I can handle that.

Definitely get them interested by getting them to help make the food.
If they have limited thing they like try to make as many different meals as you can with the ingredients so you are not always serving the same thing. You might find you can then introduce more new foods. We got giddy DS to eat pasta from making a raging sauce using his favourite sausages.

Eating dinner all together has helped my super picky 2 year old. We also say he just has to try something, not eat it all, and always offer pudding (fruit) regardless. It doesn't always work, but I think he's getting better, in a two steps forwards, one step back kind of way!

Introducing a variety of foods from the beginning of weaning! That way they get used to trying out new flavours and textures from the very start of their food journey! DD 7 months is having mango curry tomorrow!

For us the best approach has been to find some healthy food they like - I don't care if there's a lot of food they refuse to eat, as long as some of the stuff they do eat is reasonably healthy. It's also been good to try out different types of foods, so we try out a new restaurant every few weeks, usually from different types of regional cuisines.

I found the way way is distraction wether it be talking to them, reading to them or even having the tv on if you have to.

Also making it fun so bright plates, fun cutlery. Funny shaped pieces of bread etc.
Try not to stress. If they see you are stressed it will make it worse

I try to ignore the fussiness wherever I can and give little attention to the stuff that's not being eaten but positive commments on the stuff that is. I keep serving the whole meal on the plate and find things start getting eaten again.
We try to use positive language around food so just say 'you don't feel like peppers today? If you don't try them you might be missing out'.
We eat together whenever possible.
I'm a little anxious about food as my dh has a history of having a very limited diet but so far dd seems to be doing ok 👌

I focus on what she eats within the week rather than agonise about one specific meal and find overall it's reasonably balanced (for a two year old!). I do tend to over rely on 'try X and you can have an apple/yogurt for pudding' type negotiations but they really work here and many 'refuse to try' foods are now on the accepted foods list. Overall I think trying to avoid getting to stressed about it is the only way forward - avoiding battles at meal times. I tend to try new foods more at lunch too and stick to more accepted foods at dinner time when she's likely to be more tired.

My DS eats well all day, but almost can't be bothered when it comes to dinner time. So I serve him a portion as I would regardless, he gets the same food as us every time. If he doesn't want to try it or eat much of it that's fine. I am sure it's just a phase and the less fuss we make the better. He has to wait for everyone else to finish still, and we don't make a fuss of it, just chat normally as we would if he was eating etc. Then just before bed we offer him on slice of bread and butter. That's his only alternative. It's what my parents did to us and none of us are fussy in the long run!

Offer small bits of things, so it is not overwhelming. Eating togethe at table and keep offering things meal after meal. Eventually they try and often they like!

IMHO there is no such thing a a fussy eater, just fussy, stressed, parents who are constantly bomdarded with marketing and parenting 'advice' about what and how much their infant/toddler should eat. They will eat what you give them if they are hungry and do not have anxiety about food. Parents are victims from the first hours when advised on how many ounces milk and when to feed. The anxiety caused by well-meaning midwives and health visitors telling parents their child is not the right weight gets passed on to the child.
My 1st was undiagnosed coeliac and I was the worst anxious mother trying allsorts to get him to eat, most of which got vomited back up 2 hours later. He was short but stocky, as we all are in our family, so he appeared to be the correct weight for his height. Then on diagnosis I descovered he was probably actually in pain and I was effectively poisoning him. From that day on I decided never to argue with a child about food. Provide them with proper food, avoid processed food, let them decide. Relax.

For families where the damage has already been done and a 'fussy eater' has been created? Again. Relax. Go for a walk. Go to the park or playground, provide healthy snacks in the park/playground and just forget about mealtimes.

My DD 2.9 is very fussy. What seems to work for us is

1. Don't make a huge deal of it
2. Get her to "help" prepare
3. Giving her a choice of two healthy options i.e. carrots or peas on the side
4. Perserverence!!

I used to make a plate of whatever it was that I wanted my daughter to eat, making it look really gorgeous and inviting. I would give her a plate of whatever she usually ate and I would have the lovely one. We would sit together to eat them and she would almost always want the one that I had, which we would then share. By the time she was five she was eating virtually everything and anything and still does years later.

This was one of my biggest worries when pregnant - I always knew I would return to work full time and trying to put a healthy home cooked meal on the table every day was going to take a monumental effort. More than one meal due to fussy eating was not acceptable. And that's the approach I took.

DS weaned on healthy family cooked meals that combined finger foods with puréed dinner. I must admit my blender was shit and he had lumps of varying degrees early on. There was never ever an alternative offered if he didn't eat dinner. Yogurt or fruit was always offered regardless and quite often he would go back to his main course after dessert.

He's 5 now, had chocolate at 2 so now loves the stuff. He still has the same as we do, but always asks for chocolate after tea. He gets 2 x chocolate buttons or similar size if he's eaten a good amount. He will still often go back to tea after chocolate!

My advice, unless there are medical reasons, don't ever give alternatives. Your kitchen is not a rotating carousel of options to lick and spit out. One nutritious meal made with love is all that's needed. (And edible glitter for sparkling broccoli is not pandering to fussiness. It's all in the presentation! )

Introduce new things regularly. Eat together as a family. Involve dc in food preparation and meal planning. Don't take it personally when food is rejected. Ds has only had a few fussy phases and it is so frustrating when he's in one, but fortunately he eats well most of the time, so I can put it in perspective and it isn't too concerning.

If dd has even the tiniest snack between meals it's world war 3 at dinner. No snacks and helping to prepare food sometimes works. Even then 90% of meals are met with "that's yukky!" It is the most infuriating thing.