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.

To be honest, I really wouldn't worry very much about getting fruit into him. Its high in fructose and isn't that beneficial nutritionally.

Eg, a potato has more Vit C than an apple.

Concentrate on the veg.

Today we had cherries (first try of them and so I told them they were sweeties) and pea pods. Both as soon as they touched his lips got "No like it". I managed to sneak a pea into his mouth and he spat it out.

Does he see you eat a lot of fruit veg? If it's usual in the family I think they just grow into it eventually.

My youngest was very difficult about food but isn't now. Instead he is in trouble with the others for eating it all as soon as it's bought.

If desperate, I have yet to see a child who refused strawberries dipped in chocolate!

He sees me eating lots of fruit and vegetables. DH not so much but he will have bananas which I don't have. TOday he has seen me eat a banana, raspberries and cherries then later when we have dinner a large salad.

I have a two year old, 4 months older than yours. She doesn't manipulate as such (ie there is no malevolent intention), but she does play us. It's a game.

As for the food, two things:

1. We fuss too much about children eating their vegetables. Seriously. As long as he is not eating junk or processed food, and only (or almost entirely) eating whatever you prepare at home, and you don't force bigger portions on him than he wants, he will be fine. He has the whole of the rest if his life ahead of him, which no doubt will include alcohol, and may include tobacco or worse. I firmly believe it is a wasted effort at this stage to agonise about this. Some effort, yes. But don't kill yourself.

1. Leading me neatly onto my second point: eat together and make vegetables and fruit part of your life. Put them in front of him and let him decide. He may not touch them for weeks or months and it will feel like forever. But, roughly when he starts wanting to be like you a lot, he WILL just eat them. Slowly at first but it will build up.

Food for toddlers is rarely about the food itself, beyond everyone having different taste buds. It's about autonomy, control, comfort, cosines etc.... Just make sure that you demonstrate to him healthy eating habits and as soon as his personality develops beyond the point where he expresses himself through food, if will happen.

I used to make carrot muffins for dd1. She never knew they had carrot in them. She eats all her vegetables now, and actually tries everything. She's nearly 5, and it's been a struggle.

It does sound like it's become an issue because it's become an issue. There's no reason why a toddler should see fruit and vegetables as different from any other sort of food unless you do (which you obviously do). The fact that he will eat the stuff if you call it a different name - ice cream instead of banana is proof of this. The fact that he is 'gagging' about certain fruits is psychological. You just need to keep presenting them like any other food and stop fussing over it and him. If he refuses just take them away without fuss and try again.

Sounds like his control issues are part of the issue and you may find it helpful to give him more control. Put lots of things on the table and let him pick, dip and mess. Do food olympics. Do the sports commentary thing - and ds is going for the carrot stick and he's got it and it's a goooaaalllll!

Or if he eats bananas stick him in front of the telly with a bowl of bananas but also grapes and strawberries an let him eat them without noticing exactly what he's doing.

But the main thing is to stop fusisng about it and letting it stress you and him out. Making it a battle of wills is entirely counter productive.

Actually I don't think it is always a game.

My dd, 2, and ds 4 are fussy buggers when it comes to fruit and veg and food generally. They actually have intolerances which are getting better (eg eggs and dairy give ds the trots if he has too much). Dd actually has large tonsils which means she finds some foods hard to swallow - she gags unless I chop chicken into minisucle pieces, for example. She also has tongue tie which can also mean foods are hard to handle.

Fruit especially can be acidic as well.

So I wouldn't stress too much. I get courgetts and garlic in by making home made tomato sauce and whizz them up after cooking for an hour or so. Also chop up the veg very very small.

Ds loves baby sweet corn though. And raw carrots. He hates cooked ones. Also some people have a gene which makes brocolli taste bitter to them.

Don't despair, my 2 have both been serious fruit and veg avoiders for no particular reason, and have improved with time. Dd now 6, ate all food until about 2 then really seemed to go off the texture of fruit and veg. She gradually improved until now is pretty adventurous eg: loves cucumber, raw and cooked mushroom, melon, berries, apple, will try some salad. She still has strong dislikes of tomato and banana, but I cheerfully put them on the plate to share anyway, and the odd one slips in. She can tend towards picky and has to be encouraged in appetite occasionally. I fully admit I was really worried for a couple of years, mainly because the amount of food she ate overall wasn't huge and because she is my pfb. No problems now at all with that as she is a tall and healthy girl who naturally seems to prefer unprocessed food. She will try lots of things in school dinners and now eats fruit and veg first off her plate.

DS, now almost 5, absolutely refused to eat any visible fruit or veg apart from potatoes from about 2.5. Huge appetite for spuds, meat, fish, cheese. Would plow through a hot curry and rice or a plate of chips any time. Big lad for his age (as in future rugby player, rather than fat). I had relaxed much more by time I had him and let him go at his own speed rather than stressing.

It helps that they both went to a brilliant nursery which does home-cooked, quite adventurous, food. Once he was about 3.5 and was keen to fit in with all the other kids, he just started eating pretty much everything there, eg: meatballs with cous-cous and roast veg, veg and lentil curry, all kinds of cut up fruit for snacks, pasta bakes with loads of veg, and his absolute favourite is soup served there made from root veg,spuds and celery! It's liquidised so smooth and he will eat several bowlfuls with fresh bread. Texture seems to be a big thing with him too - he loves the taste of fruit and will eat any fruit if cooked in a cake or as a smoothie. He still makes a fuss at home about eating stuff I know he has at nursery, so I just tell him that he's been rumbled and to get on with it! Doesn't always work but I don't stress much.

My secret weapons from age of 3-ish(and still) are a fruit smoothie in a carton with straw every morning, and once or twice a week they have "Daddy's bolognese" sauce and macaroni (easier to shovel in than spaghetti). He makes this in huge batches and freezes, then quick to just nuke some whilst pasta cooking. It consists of a third beef mince and 2/3 veg (passata, tinned toms, bit of ketchup, onions, mushrooms, carrot, celery). They practically inhale it, and still have no idea how much veg is in it. However picky a phase they might be having, if they've had a huge bowl of this with a bit of Parmesan and butter in too, I know they've had sufficient great food to cover a couple of days of whinging. Anything else is a bonus. They both love baked beans, so cheerfully ate mild chilli with some hidden veg and "purple beans".

Sorry for the essay... Just wanted to say it will get better and don't worry!