I'm feeling dejected about DS (2.3) and his refusal to eat anything apart from satsumas and bread and a small amount of cheese. Can anyone give me happy tales of children who survived on unlikely food combinations?

[MadamAnt]

I was so determined to stay chilled about the whole food thing. DD was an absolute nightmare eater, and I ended up going half nuts about it.

I thought I had it all sussed with DS (esp after BLWing with him), but he's gradually getting fussier and fussier. He'll occasionally eat a decent meal (maybe three or four times a week) but the rest of the time he is so unbelievably stubborn about eating anything apart from fruit and bread. It's also very very hard to get him to drink milk rather than water or fruit juice.

We're also non-meat-eaters, and I'm seriously considering getting some meat in to see if that will encourage him to become a bit more varied in his diet.

For a period of two years starting at 18 months ds would only eat beige food, eg bread, yoghurt, pasta, potatoes... Oh, and chocolate (on the brown spectrum). I was hysterical.

Today he is ten and has the appetite of a horse. He is spectacularly unfussy and appreciative of every offering, including all my weird healthy veggie dishes.

I was wound round my ds's little finger - so my only advice is do the opposite of what I did

• recognise that he may not be hungry. If he's not hungry then no way is he going to eat what he has decided he isn't going to eat. He may have a very small appetite
• stay chilled; don't let him see that he is having a huge impact. make it much less emotional
• don't offer nice alternatives just to make sure he eats something
• do put small amounts of new foods on his plate and offer modest praise if he tries them
• try to eat with him and eat the same things as much as possible

Fruit and bread is by no means the worst diet in the world - despite a very limited and much more rubbishy diet until the age of about 14 my ds (18) has only had about 5 days off school sick in his life, is tall and as fit as a lazy slob can be, is slim, has good skin, great teeth AND an ever-expanding food repertoire.

LOL at the "brown spectrum"

Thanks both for your reassurance! It really does help to hear it from others (even though I should really know from my own experience with DD that kids can survive and grow on very little!)

Fruit, bread and cheese ticks all the main food groups don't they? Can you not try not to worry. Easier said than done I know.

agree with nkf - he is covering fruit/carbs/protein so won't come to any harm.
Just keep offering different foods on top of whqt he is eating.

Meat is quite a strange texture to those not used to it - so I'm not sure whether he would take to it.

you might want to consider vitamins either in tablet or liquid if you are worrying.

Ds is 2.4 and eats fruit, bread and fish fingers. He'll eat biscuits if given the opportunity.

I don't worry about it. He'll sort himself out in time. My parents were neurotic about food and I ended up with major ishoos, so I try to have an 'I don't mind' attitude.

I know two children that are both 11 now and are robustly healthy.

The boy - survived for 3 years on a diet of marmite on toast, chipolatas and chocolate.

The girl - satsumas, chocolate buttons and ravioli.

Both food aversions where brought on by a severe stomach bug.

My own son likes marmite but will not eat marmite falvoured crips as they where the last thing he ate before a bad sick bug.

Both of the kids now eat a wide range of foods.

DS3 is four and has autism.

He eats no cooked meals whatsoever.

He eats cheerios, brown toast with butter or cream cheese, toasted bagels with butter or cream cheese, marmite rice cakes, apples, bananas, grapes, ginger nuts, Pringles (but only original flavour), and a couple of the BabyOrganix fruit purees. He does drink goats milk and fruit juice (not mixed together, thankfully).

He used to eat Leerdammer cheese but has recently gone off it.

He has been subsisting on this sort of diet for nearly three years now since his autism really kicked in at the age of about 18 months and although he is skinny, he seems to have loads of energy and is certainly not ill any more often than any of his contemporaries.

I don't know if that is reassuring or the opposite, really .

Ds1(3.2) is very fussy too.

Meal consist of mainly toast (sometimes with beans), milk and cheese, and grapes and "lots of red squash mummy please"
Although he is quite good with a variety of cereals.

Ds2 (9 months) on the other hand is currently eating a dinosaur.

My brother lived exclusively on salad cream sandwiches, milk with raw egg whisked in (eww) and dry cereal until he was 6. And then one day he ate a ham sandwich and hasn't looked back since.

He got a First at University and now takes people up mountains for a living. But it was very worrying at the time, and my mother nearly had a breakdown as at one point he was only having 3 or 4 mouthfuls a day.

My DD was very difficult to wean, never took a bottle and hardly ever drinks milk. she had a very limited diet for several years - for a long period survived on plain boiled spaghetti and fish fingers (together). Once I managed to make my self more relaxed about every thing and realised that as a very stubborn little girl, she would decide when she wnated to eat different things, it improved immensely. I made sure that new foods were available but kept to her old favourites so that she could try if she wanted. Now after a term at school, and school dinners - yes she does seem to eat most of what she is given - we seem to be over the worst. She is 4.4 yo.

DD1 is now a healthy 12 year old - bit on the skinny side, but that's in may family's genes anyway. For a long time she ate nothing but olives and oranges.

She gradually changed and intoduced other things herself. She now is still incredibly fussy, but will try stuff.

I was frantic all the time about food, but one day just decided to leave her to it. It worked.

Still LOVES olives and oranges!

My cousin would only eat apples, cheese and ocasionally toast. He is now 36 and a catering manager and will eat everything!

A fellow therapist treated a child that would only eat white food - bread, pasta, milk... The child was healthy enough but it really caused problems with the poor parents who were frantic!

My DS went through a phase where he'd only eat plain pasta, weetabix, bananas and not much more!

I just basically did what everyone advises..don't make a fuss (easier said than done!), keep trying, nothing in between meals other than fruit..

He's now in reception and is a very good eater, eats whatever's put in front of him unless it' something that he really doesn't like..

Hang in there !

I lived with someone at uni that only ate fish & chips or pizza! He was the only one of us to get a 1st! I have it on good authority that he now eats everything.

Relax relax relax.

Leave titbits lying around. Eat something yourself that you havent offered to him and make sure you go OTT with the "MMmmmmmmm yum, this is DELICIOUS" noises.

Water and juice are just fine. Cheese covers the calcium requirements. You could try yoghurts though.

Keep a fruit bowl around within his reach with lots of different fruit in.

Have things with "dips" - fun, messy food can be more appealing. When DS was eating limited food he'd still eat houmous because it was a "dip"!!!

LOL MadamAnt, sounds like my ds (bread, biscuits, bananas and Primula). It's a balanced diet though isn't it?

I can't tell you how reassuring this thread is!! Thank you all for your tales of weirdy eaters.

Particular lolz at the milk with raw eggs, and the spaghetti with fish fingers. Om nom notm

Happy to confess DS1 (now 6) went through long phases of only wanting breastfeeding until he was 2 years 3 months. DS2 (18 months) likes milk, bowls full of peas, bananas, cereal and cake. Not worried about DS2 as DS2 is such a healthy eater now. Not a large eater, but a good range of non-spiced food and no sweets. Basically he eats much better than I did, a 60s child who ate everything and ended up a fat and unhappy teenager as a result. Don't think you have any reason to worry.

My brother is 31. He existed on sausages, honey sandwiches and cubes of cheese for most of his childhood. He emigrated to the USA for his dream job, and is a strapping 6foot plus outoors type. He's still fussy, but now eats a variety of foods, including fruit and veg. His wife kicked him into shape quite a bit!

DD has been through a very long phase of fussiness. I've ignored as ever meal went in the bin for well over a year. She's now beginning to try new things, and thinks she's a very clever big girl for doing so (she's nearly 3)

until recently DS2 (5) lived on spag bol, marmite on toast, cow and gate fruit puree and crisps

Everyday since he was 10 months old until 5!

My stomach churns when i smell spag bol now

Also, a friends son who has aspergers lived on cornflakes and nothing else (honestly) until i lost contact with them (when he was 15) - he went to Cambridge and is doing well apparantly now

mine will only eat something if it is;
1} spread on toast
2) stuffed in a pitta bread (but only certain things, no discernible vegetables please)
3) satsumas
4) chocolate and biscuits.
5} Huge chunks of cheese, including large amounts of Feta.
Last night I spread cottage pie on toast and she ate it. Ditto fish pie. She will not eat porridge even it has half an inch of jam spread on top. Oh and only chips froma chip shop. Her sister, on the other hand, eats anything put in front of her.