Tips to get my child to eat prooer food

[Beezee098]

My son has just turned 3. He was great with all foods up until 1 yr old. He would refuse foods after any illnesses and never restart eating them e.g after a teething episode he stopped all veggies including his faves. He won't eat meat/chicken. He stopped eating soups a year ago after a few days of a bad cold. From 1 yr old to 2 yr old the only fruit ged eat are bananas, now I've gt him eating pears and apples but hus reaction to any food he doesn't want to eat is outright refusing it and not wanting the plate anywer near him. He will scream and cry if I tell him id like him to taste it.
We are a family who have home cooked meals every day so I'm at my wits end as to how my son will only eat processed food. He loves home made rice but other than that it's pizza chips/fries, bread, fish fingers, fishcakes and chapatti and yoghurt.
He goes nursery twice a week annd I thought with other children he might start exploring new foods but he's starving when I pick him up .im gna start dropping lunch with him so he has an alternative as nursery suggested this but I'm so anxious as I know I'm going to be judged if i send in the food he's most likely to eat. Even I judge myself for it!
I've done everything that's recommended on paper so I was wondering if anyone has any real life experiences with this problem
Sorry for the long post

Most children will eat high salt, high fat, high sugar food given the opportunity.

It's easy to make vegetarian food, just leave out the meat or replace with beans and lentils or vegetarian replacements such as Quorn sausages.

You can make home made potato wedges instead of fries, homemade pizza with tomato sauce and vegetables.

You might find the BBC food website useful for ideas.

Hi he used to eat lentils but stopped after a cold at 2yrs old. He will help make a homemade pizza bit won't eat it when offered and only eats margharetia shop one. If he sees any other ingredients he refuses and if encouraged its WW3. We are not vegetarian. He just has never been willing to eat meat or chicken after a year old. I offer these foods regularly and have done various methods like encouragement, not giving him another option, ignoring the fact he wasn't eating but they all result in the same, him being hungry and going into a meltdown.

You don't give him a bowl of lentils, you add the lentils to food to bulk out the meal and make it meatier. If you use red lentils they basically disappear.

I understand you aren't vegetarian, I suggested how to make vegetarian food as you said he won't eat meat. It's easy to make a shepherd's pie with vegetables and lentils or beans for example. Same with spaghetti Bolognese and other dishes.

My almost 2 year old is exactly like this and the number of foods he will eat always drops after a cold/stomach bug too. His current foods are porridge/weetabix, plain pasta, greek Yogurt, fish fingers, roasted new potatoes, crispy fries or crisps. He will drink Innocent Smoothies too which at least gives him some vitamins, as he has stopped eating the sweetcorn, broccoli, apples and pears that he used to like.
I/we offer him all sorts of foods and he used to eat really well, but now won't touch anything with a sauce, or mixed together (such as shepherd's pie or bolognese) and hates even having foods he doesn't like anywhere near him. I am hoping he will grow out of it. His sister is 3.5 and eats a wide range of food.

Sorry I wasn't able to offer any advice, just solidarity and to say it's not your fault, don't worry about being judged. Easier said than done, I know.

Ok so

A tablespoon of say peas or carrots every day till they start eating them

Say nothing when they don't eat them

Just take the plate away

Eventually they will then move in to the next vegetable

Read up on ARFID. DS2 had it before it was known about much. It is very hard to deal with.

Talk to the nursery and explain. They clearly know he has issues with food as they are suggesting you send a packed lunch. Tell them it's not ideal but you would rather send foods you know he'll eat than things he'll reject. That would be the advice of a SALT team anyway.

We were encouraged to give DS vitamin drops in his milk (he did like milk) and to make a list of all the foods he did eat, not the ones he didn't. Divide them into carbs, protein, fats and vitamin-rich. As long as he has some from each food group every day, he'll be fine – don't worry too much about variety. DS seemed to live on humous with baby breadsticks, tinned spaghetti with grated cheese and peeled cucumber and apple slices for the best part of eight years! I'm exaggerating a bit, but those were his default foods, and he regularly refused everything else.

I tried to take the heat out of it. It's nerve wracking and upsetting if a child won't eat, but I really wanted him to enjoy family dinnertimes, so I decided I'd rather he sat up happily with his tinned spaghetti night after night, than sobbed and starved with plates of healthier food in front of him.

As soon as he was old enough I explained what different foods do for you and then put small plates with choices in front of him. He started to add cheese, bananas, pear, chicken and fish fingers, peas, carrots etc. Now he eats a massive variety of food.

Obviously add the tablespoon of veg with his normal meal

Also try a plate which is sectioned off

Some DC don't like food touching or wet food

I so get this. my just turned 2 year old is so fussy yet ate everything until he was 1. With regards to the lunchbox, I'm having the exact same issue. I dread to think what the childminder thinks of his plain croissant, he won't eat a sandwich. Cucumber, baby plum tomatoes and peppers. Then some grapes. That's his lunch 3 days a week but it's all he will have because I'm not allowed to put unhealthy stuff in but that's his whole healthy range. It's a nightmare and I hope you get some tips, I'd be happy to try anything now😅

@Autumnweddingguest can I ask, which vitamin drops did you use? Were they tasteless? Also, did they include iron? With my son, I worry so much that he's not getting enough iron but don't want to supplement in case it makes him constipated or upsets his tummy and further affects his eating!
Sorry for derailing, OP

I used Abidec drops. He didn't seem to notice them in his milk. Then as he got older I used those vitamin gummies which he actually liked.

Weird. My previous post has been blocked by MN! I used abidec drops in his milk. He didn't seem to noticehe flavour. Then I used vitamin gummy bears when he was older - Boots or Bassets. He liked those.

Yh I think I'll continue doing this.ive had no success with cucumber and sweetcorn after offering it regularly for a while so was going to stop but I'll continue and see how we go

I've read up in arfid but don't think he has it. Maybe I should ask the health visitor but I don't think he has any eating disorder or anything like that. Writing this I feel very defensive so I think ill look more into it. Thankyou

Just to add to this I used wellbaby multivitamins for a while and you can put them into milk or water. I'd advise getting him checked first for any deficiency because I was shocked when my sons bloods came back all normal without the vitamins bar vit d so I stopped giving multivitamins as gp advised that too much of some vitamins could have a negative effect

This sounds so hard! My 2 & a half yr old is a very selective eater too, though will eat a bit more than the list you've shared.

I found it helpful to make a list of food he will eat, like a previous poster suggested. Then I could easily share with sitters, and meal plan around.

Rather than trying to battle him to try new foods, I've been hiding nutrients in the ones he will eat - though I'm guessing you've already tried this. I started tiny and built up the quantities slowly so he wouldn't notice. E.g. pulverized plain chicken into teeny tiny grains and hid in his rice. Plus milled seeds in his yoghurt, though had to start really small for this one as they're a different colour. Mine will eat sausages so this week I cut up a meatball and told him it was special sausage - he ate two and I felt like a confetti canon would have been appropriate.

He used to eat any meat as long as it was breaded, so I had some success with doing my own at home before he only started eating store bought.

He likes fish fingers so I tried store bought fish goujons and that was a win as long as they werent too weird a shape. Plus he loves chips so thankfully will eat store bought sweet potatoes fries.

Everyone says to keep putting the veg on the plate but nearly 2 years later that has never worked for me.

Does your DS drink juice at all? In desperation to get a veggie into mine I've started making my own at home when I have time. Started small with the veggie amount compared to fruit and have been building this up.

Is it possible to go private and talk to a dietitian or something?

Mine loves rice so I blend a small amount of chicken or veg into the stock for thaI. 'll have to try the veggies into orange juice ...that's a great idea! Mine loves rice so I blend a small amount of chicken or veg into the stock for that. The problem is if he notices a change in taste he will end up refusing that food too for a while which limits me even more.

At the moment it wouldn't be financially possible for me..I'll look into this after winter when our bills reduce

He's 3. He's not going to Iceland and buying all the crap himself. Stop supplying it and he'll eat other stuff. Might have 2 days being hungry but better that than growing up on junk.

🤞the juice trick works! Carrots work great in the orange juice because they're the same colour and sweet. If you're using green veg recommend using a bottle they can't see the colour change.

Cucumber is bland and easy to stick in as well. Small bits of spinach are fairly unnoticeable too. Beetroot is super strong, so one we have to disguise with a ton of apple and carrot, but makes a really big nutritional impact. When he has a cold and can't taste well I stuck in ginger & a little bit of celery too to fight inflammation.

& Because I hate cleaning the juicer I sometimes make a big batch and freeze it in ice cubes, so I can defrost as I need it. I also got crazy straws to stick in when I'm upping the veg content, to distract him.

Another thing that worked for us is having tractors on the food labels. 😅 Found it by accident when our peanut butter jar had a tractor on it and he immediately wanted some - after refusing it for 2 years. He calls it tractor butter now - he's obsessed with vehicles.

I also want to try making that avocado / banana nice cream if I ever get that much time!! Have never been able to get him to eat a green fruit or veg so want to try hide it that way.

Mine will eat pasta (only penne) so I want to try the chickpea pasta because that's super high in protein. Nervous that'll put him off though!

Sorry this is an essay but I spend ages reading these threads for ideas for my selective eater too.

I've also tried picnic style meals and funny plates / bowls / forks. Absolutely no luck with those. If I try stop feeding him anything but healthy meals, he'll just refuse to eat and become a screaming, hungry, child that won't sleep well.

If iron is a concern, the Liga biscuits have high iron content - though theyre high in sugar too.