Fruit and veg refusing 2 yr old DS ate a whole frozen banana today!! Anymore creative ideas?

[sharond101]

So pleased DS ate an entire banana today. It has to be said I called it ice cream and he believed me but until now raisins are as good as it gets with fruit and vegetables. I have offered everything, cooked in all sorts of ways without luck. He puts it to his mouth and says "No like it". In the rare occasion it gets in his mouth he gags as if choking. So does anyone have any other creative suggestions? He ate 2 small raspberries off a tree the other day and I got excited and bought a punnet but "No like them" was the answer. They are bigger I suppose but still.

Cocktail sticks? My lot eat anything off a cocktail stick.

Ive got a potato chipper, I've put apples through it to good effect before.

If the freezing worked, could you make frozen 'sweets' from chopped grapes?

There was a (crappy) article in the DM today about making spaghetti from courgettes with a £25 device off Amazon. You can also grate cauliflower and make 'rice'

we made ice lollies with fromage frais and milk and blended strawbs and rasps

We had a bag of "basic" frozen fruit salad from tesco a while back. My ds wanted some, so I put some in a bowl to defrost.

As soon as my back was turned he started eating it. The frozen apples and pineapple chunks were bloody delicious!

Great ideas

When my DS says he doesn't want fruit, sometimes I take a plate with some chopped up fruit near him, tell him they are mine and he's not allowed to eat them. Then I pretend to look away.

Chopped up and put on skewers with "dippy" yoghurt. For some reason this suddenly makes fruit attractive and fun and edible for small people of my aquaintance :o

I don't know how old he is but have you tried a pick your own?

Oops just read the title
Does he like peanut butter? That's really good to dip apple in, you can warm it a little bit too

he is manipulating you. leave things for him to eat. if he's hungry he will eat them.

He loves peanut butter and it does go well with apple. I think he would gag at the texture but I will try. He won't dreamingofsun that's the thing. I don't believe he is capable of manipulating me in that way. How does he know what is fruit and vegetables and what is not. He almost choked when he tried a small piece of strawberry as he tried to get it out his mouth.

Edemame (soya) beans? Chinese supermarkets sell them frozen. They look like peas in pods, but longer. You boil them, sprinkle with salt and then pop them out of their pods. Both my DC adore them. Olives too - the saltiness creates the craving I think.

Oranges cut up? Suck the juice out?

My 2 year old loves pyo, tried all sorts of new things once he'd realised he could wander round picking them off the bushes. Also, have you tried fruit fritters, bits of fruit in jelly, bananas and custard etc rather than just the fruit on its own? Mine will also try little bits of raw veg if I get him to help me 'cook' (really he just moves things around in a bowl or pan for me). I give him a bowl of frozen peas and sweetcorn as a snack and make out its a big treat, he loves it.

Blend tin lycées and strawberries to make ice lollies

Freezing bananas and running them through a blender make something very similar to ice cream!

Tricked my kids for years with that one.

WhatAHooHa it took me a while to work out what fruit pyo was!! Yes he likes the novelty of picking a raspberry of the tree and he has eaten one or two but I think it's because they are tiny and underripe just now. He had 1/2 a frozen banana today so it's better than before. Not tried fruit fritters what is that? Bits of fruit in jelly he will not touch, will do pureed fruit in custard only and no raw veg. I sneaked in the tiniest piece of raspberry (from a punnet not the tree) into his weetabix. When he tasted it he wouldn't eat anymore.

Have you tried a milkshake? Mine like milk mixed with either a banana or a scoop of ice cream and blended with berries.

frozen grapes are yummy.

If you get those bags of frozen fruit, you can pop them in a processor or use a stick blender and mix with some yoghurt. Instant ice cream!

I second the cooking with them.

I find getting them to grate veg is really good. Or cut up toms, peppers courgettes, cucumber. Popping peas from pods.

They also love the magic of using stick blender to make soup...making the food disappear.

Of course, none of this food is for them. Oh no. Its for you and daddy, or whoever.

All the time I ask them if they think we have made enough, are the pieces the right size...sort of gives them pride and ownership,

Another good way is to get them to make a tomato sauce base. This is messy but effective - big bowl, peeled canned toms (I tend to cut of the stalky ends as they can be tough) and get them to squish the toms right down. This can be used for a pasta sauce, pizza sauce (pizza base can be bread, pitta, whatever you have to hand).

having said all that, my ds is a supertaster, part of dyspraxia, supersensitive to sharpness and acid in fruit.

Aged 14 he still does not touch fruit.

But veg is okay.

Oh, another fun thing to do is get them to peel carrots and cucumbers with a u shaped peeler. Courgettes as well. You can make a nice salad dressing with yoghurt and olive oil and a bit of honey or maple syrup to dip or coat them in once done.

Another way to get them to experiment is to do things by colour, ie lets make some bright green soup...(peas in stock, whizzed)

Often by talking about the food as you cook it you can find out what it is about it they don't like. Texture, smell, shape.

Fritters made with grated courgette or sweetcorn are usually popular with small children.
If he likes hummous you could try other dips like aubergine or beetroot.
Vegetable smoothies, puréed soup, perhaps?

What does he eat and enjoy, what is his favourite food/meal?

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Madame he is only turned 2 so sharp peelers and knives are out.

Allalonenow he loves sandwiches, sausages, burgers, chicken, tuna, smoked cheese, pasta, rice. Just no fruit or veg! I am going to try milk shake tomorrow and will get him more involved with preparing vegetables I think.

Tried frozen melon and raspberries last week but no joy.

Two might sound young, but I have got two year olds cutting and chopping with ikea kids knifes. they seem to work on softer veg, up to onions say, and are very safe.

If you still think it a little unsafe, cook the veg slightly away from his sight, so they cut more more easily.

I am starting a weekly cooking session at a playgroup I have been involved in (have been a professional cook and childcare bod) and we will have two year olds to cater to, so I am thinking hard about inclusive activities for the 2-4 year olds! My current charges I have looked after for almost three years now, now aged nearly four and five and a half. The older one has always been the fussiest, pickiest little thing out, while his little sister has simply gobbled everything up. Involving him has been the only way to get him to try new things. That and saying, for the umpteenth time, I know you don't like courgettes, just leave them. But they are staying in the dish and on your plate.

And calling certain dishes silly names. Like childs name special rice, and showing mum when she gets home, (or any other random person prepped to exclaim in enchantment at their brilliant cooking).

Frozen red grapes are like sweets as

My fussy dd3 loved a bowl of frozen peas (still frozen) as a snack.

Corn on the cob worth a try.

See if you can get him to choose a fruit or vegetable to try when you're food shopping.

If he likes burgers in buns then how about a "magical" burger in a bun made with a grilled field mushroom stuffed with cheese or a slice of baked aubergine topped with cheese? You would need a magical pudding as a reward, ice cream with fruit purée springs to mind!

You could hide veg in sauce for pasta unless he will only only eat plain pasta.

Did hidden vegetable pasta sauce tonight which he loved but was alot of effort on my part to cook and was different to our meal which he refused last time (I imagine as it has lots of very small slices of vegetables in). The mushroom idea would never work. He would gag at the texture. How does he know what fruit and vegetables are? I tell him something is a sweetie even (frozen melon) and he just knows.