She's so stubborn

[twinsplus1sfb]

Currently having a battle with DD who's 5. She will not eat ANY fruit or veg, the nearest we get to veg is pesto and to fruit is raisins. I have now started a battle where I put lovely cut fresh fruit on the table after dinner, if she doesn't have any the consequence is that she doesn't have an "interesting breakfast" (pancakes croissants etc) if she doesn't eat any fruit. She's had toast every morning for a week (as her brothers are tucking into lots of treats) and seems to be getting more belligerent by the minute!
Any words of wisdom??

lots of threads on here about fussy eaters. you sound like you are giving her something she has decided she doesn't like and expecting her to eat it when she is full - ie after dinner.

I would introduce both when she is hungry. if she didn't eat it then she doesn't get anything else and the food is left if she wishes to come back to it later. No arguement or stress - this gives them too much attention and feeling of power.

accept that she may not like some fruit or veg, eg one of my kids really doesn't like raw toms, another doesn't eat mushrooms.

don't let her snack on anything else except fruit bowl between meals.

would she enjoy choosing things at supermarket or helping you cook (with fruit/veg). maybe introduce some fruit with her pancake, eg something she's already ok with.

chil...but be firm.

thanks for advice. Will start action plan today

let us know how you get on. there's some stats people were quoting on here about it taking a certain number of tries of new food before people were comfortable and familiar with it.....so it may take a little while

D you eat fruit OP?

Do not d. Doh.

Have you tried letting her make smoothies with you?DD doesn't like the texture of some soft fruit. But she loves smoothies. I get her to pick up the berries and other pieces of fruit and pop in blender. She then drinks the lot!

Maybe you should read this?

It's so easy to get stressed with children eating, sometimes you just have to take a step back.

At 5 my own DS was a very small & slow eater (he still is to a certain extent) who was always a lot fussier than his big sister but i found that bribes/punishments/anger wasn't helping either of us.

In the end i just took a deep breath and learned to go with the flow. One thing that i found helped with fruit was to cut everything into bite sized chunks and hand out cocktail sticks. DS loved stabbing the fruit and went from not liking blueberries at all to seeing how many he could fit on a stick to eat.

Obviously you'll have to keep and eye on your DD with the cocktail sticks but i've found the 'Posh Pricks' at M&S have only once pointed end.

Other than that how about gettign your DD to help with preparing/cooking food?

My DS won't touch veg (apart from cucumber, 96% water, yay) I make my own pesto and put spinach in, virtually undetectable, let me know if you'd like the recipe.

Agree re keeping her hungry between meals. Also maybe let her choose what she wants to eat for a week or so and just serve it up (within reason of course). She might get bored...