OK, so what do you all do when your dc refuse to eat fruit and veg? **I'm getting a little stressed**

[loveroflife]

Ds is 2 and has now decided he doesn't want to eat fresh fruit or veg anymore...

I did the whole BLW thing to a t and have always tried very hard to give him a really well balanced, fresh diet. He has now for the past 6 months refused to eat:

Apples
Bananas
Pears
S/Berries
Grapes
Melon
Mango
Carrots
Green Broccoli
Green Beans
Peas
Cauliflower

So, as you can see - he pretty much won't eat anything. If I sneak carrots, very finely diced into his spag bol etc he spits it out. We tried spinach and ricotta pasta parcels tonight and he refused to eat them.

I don't want him to go to bed hungry, so gave in and made him pizza toast. All he wants is carbs, it's driving me mad and his poo is very dry and solid (sorry tmi), I am at my wits end and starting to get rather upset.

Any advice please? I think it is more than 'a phase'. His lovely daddy does have rather bland tastebuds and isn't keen on the above, could it be genes?

Same problem with ds at the moment will only eat chicken kiev and garlic bread and just last week insists breadcrumbs are removed, always put veg on his plate and we don't make any comment about what he has or hasn't eaten. Similar with lunch sane every day snack a jacks, chocolate brioche, petit filous yoghurt. Ds always ate everything until he started feeding himself.

We have an allotment which ds has helped to do all planting and am hoping picking his own veg might encourage him to eat but I am not hopeful, would love a foolproof way to get him to eat, but know this is unrealistic.

Another one here with a DS who will only eat carbs. Very glad to hear there is light at the end of the tunnel!

When my dcs refused to eat proper food I cut back on sugar, fruit juice, I cut back on snacks and I made sure they were properly hungry before they sat down to a meal, I knew they had previously enjoyed. The smell of dinner cooking usually brought on their appetite, if it was a bit reluctant. They don't want to eat that's fine but they are not getting nothing else.

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for the tips, they're great and very comforting to read.

Tried sushi but he spat it out, but he has now decided he likes beans, which is great. So beans on wholemeal toast is now going to be a staple meal! Does anyone know of any brands that are particularly low in salt or sugar?

This morning I tried him with green grapes and raspberries. I left it long enough after his morning milk so he should be hungry and then he went beserk and refused to eat them. I then calmly took the tray away and let him play for 30 mins and tried again - same situation and did it again and it happened again.

Anyway, he was so upset and threw such a tantrum, the neighbour knocked on the door to see if 'everything was OK'!

Anyway moving on, he loves smoothies, so I'm resorting to those to 'get the fruit into him'. Just a quick question if you give them for breakfast I presume no cereal as well? He has about 500ml's worth - do hope this isn't too much....?

My 2 yo is like this at the moment. Two tips:

carrot puree - actually puree, as smooth as you can make it, mixed into baked beans (on toast/ potato whatever). I have been able to get away with that for a while.

Lollies: buy one of those mould (sp?) things for home made lollies, mix fruit with yogurt, freeze. Give out as a 'treat' (always makes it more exciting). Trust me, they will think this is the best thing ever. Won't question the fact it is fruit! You can do mostly fruit, or mostly yogurt, mix it up a bit. Have different colours. Don't tell him its got fruit in it until it is his favourite thing!

Beans: Heinz do a low salt/sugar version in snack pots. Half a snack pot does one meal (with a potato etc) for us.

Will he eat porridge? We do readybrek in the morning and sometimes mash in a banana or some fruit puree.

good luck

Snap pot. Not snack pot!

Ooh one other thing I've just remember. Not sure how healthy it is really, but worth a try. Cakes, made with vegetables...

Recipe I have (also egg free as DS has egg allergy) sorry quants are American
3/4 cup bran
1 cup low fat milk
1 tblspm lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup raisins (can leave out)
1/2 cup grated carrots
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tspns baking soda
1 tspm nutmeg or cinammon

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly butter 12 muffin cases
2. In a large bowl, combine bran, milk, lemon juice, honey, oil, raisins and carrots. Let stand for 5 minutes
3. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour, baking soda and nutmeg or cinnamon until combined
4. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling three-quarters full. Bake for 15-20 mins.

A friend has a great chocolate cake recipe with beetroot in it. Worth googling for possible. It is yummy.

Again, once DS likes the cake and enjoys eating it, perhaps get him to help make it so he sees what goes in it and has a nibble of things as they go in....

I would give a child cereal/toast, fruit, protein for breakfast(eg my lot had cheese on toast with satsumas for breakfast) so no I don't think just fruit is enough! I would give a much smaller or watered down smoothie (one portion of fruit is the size of the individual's palm so don't need much when small child) with whatever he likes for breakfast.
The nhs tells you how many calories kids need I think it's about 1400 at that age.
Or if he refuses everything else I would balance the big smoothie with not having much fruit rest of day or make fruit milkshakes instead.

Thanks Sylvie,

Will buy the lolly mounds tomorrow! Yes, he likes porridge as it's carbs (he never refuses carbs!)

Will try mashing the banana in the porridge, as he now refuses to have it mashed on toast, but have a bunch browning in the fruit bowl, so am going to try making the BLW banana cake and will report back how he gets on...

Heinz snack pots beans will be ordered this week!

defineme - there's an awful lot of fruit in there, and I can tell he almost struggles to finish it, so my theory was that would be his big fruit dose for the day and then carbs/protein at lunch dinner and snacks...however, I don't know how good all this fruit will be for his teeth...?

I'll see how he gets on as his poos are still very dry and in one huge mound (sorry tmi) he always does one huge poo after his milk and that's it, but it's regular and every day at the same time...

I've also got a DS who will have a screaming tantrum at the suggestion of eating a vegetable or most fruit (will eat bananas and maybe an apple). Bribery doesn't work, neither does starving him.

What he will eat - innocent smoothies, especially the cartons as he likes the pictures. These say on the box that they don't contain any 'nasties'
Jamie Oliver's recipe tomato soup, which has loads of veg in, and you can add more
Weirdly, chicken fajitas (the Old El Paso kits) containing chopped peppers, mushrooms and onions. Out of the fajita he wouldn't touch them!
Pasta with a tomato based sauce

We used to be able to sneak veg in bolognese etc but now he doesn't eat that any more.
We also give him vitamins.

If he's eating backed beans definitely stick some carrot puree in there - he'll never know!

My ds was like this (huge shock after fruit bat dd) crazy for carbs to the point he would get constipated.

I stuck him in nursery with hot meals served to all the kids which worked a treat! I think it was a combination of peer pressure and the staff being far more relaxed about it than I could pretend to be.

Aside from that
Banana lollies- literally freeze a banana and stick a stick in it
Those innocent fruit puree tubes (look like frubes) I freeeze these and offer as ice poles

Now he is 4 and tonnes better, he hero worships dh atm so dh just tells him to eat salad and he does! He actually now loves raw baby spinach leaves.

Don't forget miniature fruit and veg quite often appeal to children ? baby sweetcorn, cherry tomtoes, for example. What about dried fruit?

No more dried fruit! His poo is dehydrated enough - I dream of him eating juicy, sloppy fruit and veg full of water!

Banana or strawberries blitzed into milk?

Backed beans? Apologies, I meant baked beans!

Dd is 6 and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. She is not conned by brightly coloured peppers and dips or by mini veg. The only fruit and veg she will eat are chips, frozen peas uncooked (very occasionally), berries (on the odd whim) and pizza sauce. She is intractable. She gets her fibre from brown bread and her vits from multi vits and juice. Super nanny help me.

Hector, that is the story of my DCs' life right up to the late teens, though I still have a few in the pipeline, so to speak, who are completely averse to fruit and veg in their natural state, and I can't predict how they will turn out.

DS 19 is still a carnivore and carbivore. The only veg he will knowingly eat is tomato sauce on pizza and in tomato based sauces. The only fruit he eats is fruit baked in a pie or crumble or made into a coulis. He eats plenty more veg and fruit all unawares because I include it in powdered form in a lot of baked goods. But when he is away in college it's meat and potatoes all the way, with massive amounts of eggs, pancakes, sausages. He texted me to say he had had broccoli one day last year so maybe there is hope, and he has also developed a fondness for fried onions (on his burgers of course). He does drink orange juice every morning and he branched out to papaya juice last year. He started eating porridge too.

There was a period when this boy was about 2 - 2.5 when all he ate was plain cheerios and I had to supplement his 'diet' with multivit plus iron drops. I tried absolutely everything but he refused point blank, and would have gone hungry rather than try any actual food during that time. He drank fortified soy milk as he had (still has) a problem with cows' milk.

DD1 (now 22) went from being almost completely green-averse to living mostly on salads and fruit smoothies in her late teens. She is now eating a balanced diet, in fact a better one than I do as she doesn't go in for desserts or sugary snacks much at all. She has become a pretty good cook now that she is out on her own. One thing that really made her take notice of diet and nutrition was her experience on a swim team followed by a water polo team, where the girls were given instruction on the importance of pre and post workout meals, the importance of whole grains instead of refined carbs (the domestic gospel according to mathanxiety features a lot of whole grains so it was nice to see my advice quoted by someone actually qualified to give nutrition advice) and the importance of a balanced diet in general. Typically for her, she had to do it her way and wouldn't accept the same sort of advice from her mother.

DD2 eats everything. She has always been a happy go lucky girl, pleasant as a baby, outgoing personality (whereas DD1 and DS are more introverted). She is a pleasure to cook for.

The list of what DD3 and DD4 don't like is far longer than the list of things they will eat. I shrug and continue to disguise all the things they hate in various different baked offerings and pureed in tomato sauces. All of the picky ones have complained about bitterness or sourness, and all have had issues with the texture of veggies whether cooked or raw.

I just cook away, and add the loathed ingredients in disguised form. I serve only whole grain bread. The maximum nutrition from the minimum variety is what I aim for. It's a complete pain in the neck but they have stayed healthy.

Pizza toast... so he is willing to eat the tomato paste under the cheese... could you hide anything else in that paste?

My youngest is awful with food so I completely sympathise. It was a total shock after my older two who love fruit and veg. I have not thought to try smoothie's yet so thanks to everyone who suggested this - will give them a try. My youngest will sometimes eat peas - but these times are few and far between. He also went through a phase went through a couple of weeks when he would eat roast potatoes but sadly that ended. At the moment he is eating dried yoghurt coated fruit flakes so that is at least something. Apart from that he will eat most sweets/cakes but when it comes to real food. These are the only things he'll eat Chips, sausage, stuffing, Toast but not bread - if I put jam on the toast he will lick the jam off but then not eat the toast. He will eat sliced cheese, but not added to anything else. He will also eat pizza and plain pasta, but thats it. I am lucky that he drinks most fruit juices. ( But that's not ideal ) The sad thing is he will also eat mud, rubber, chalk and sand. I cant get him to eat vegetables but he would eat sand until he collapses. I have actually had to physically restrain him whilst he screamed his head off to stop him from eating sand at the nursery. I have taken him to the Dr's who said he'd refer me to a paedeotrician but am still waiting. I like the idea of powdered veges so will look further into that. He is given the same food at the table as everyone else, but if he doesn't like it he will starve himself. He also unsurprisingly suffers from chronic constipation :(

This book is great.

There was a piece on Radio 4 ages ago about childrens taste buds changing to stop them eating anything poisenous when they got to an age where they could wander away from the parents and eat berries etc and that the taste that was most repellant to them was bitter.

So basically nature keeps them on a straight and narrow path for food so they dont do themselves harm.

I lived on bacon and fried tomatoes in toddlerhood and I'm a big fruit and veg person now and was during childhood too.

Just going to check back in with an update:

He has now innocent smoothies every morning (or my own, depending on how organised I am..!)

I have decided not to give him anymore dried fruit as he has enough and it is just so dry, it will make his poo even drier...

Still very carb fixated and has now decided he doesn't want to eat chicken anymore, so when served his roast dinner this week, he rejected broccoli, carrots (even though drizzled with olive oil and roasted) baby sweetcorn, peas, chicken and ate only roast pots and yorkshires...

He was taken out for dinner that eve with friend and her dd who gave them fishfingers, chips and peas and all he ate was his and friends chips....

I have ordered the book above from Amazon - thank you. It is very fustrating at all his classes, as at snack times I asked them to hold back bread sticks (as he was the only child eating then) but he is the only one still refusing all fresh fruit. Cue annoying comments from other parents: "Oh, does he not eat fruit then?". Obviously not, so please do piss off and attend to your own child (I am just dying to say....)

Also, his poo is like a tennis ball - solid as a rock, it is just awful.....

He does enjoy the banana bread though and served it mashed on toast which he refused......

You have my sympathies - I too have an astonishingly fussy DD (only 18 mo but has been truly awful).

I read the 'My Child Won't Eat' book and the best thing to take away from it is they eat what they need. Have you considered that your child just really needs his carbs - that it's what his body is telling him to eat?

Not getting fruit/veg in his diet is worrying for a parent though (believe me). My approach to getting some in has been those Ella's Kitchen mixed fruit/veg pouches - they're not cheap but it's the only way I can get ANY veg into her (and she won't take the just veg ones).

I'm learning to live with it and hope that eventually she'll one day decide to eat a more balanced diet (she has just this week made sporadic inroads into apples and bananas).

Oh, and if the solid poos aren't bothering him (straining/pain) then maybe don't worry too much about them?