Do you know what?/...I'm so sick of the f*cking veryday battle to get them to eat something half way decent that I feel like saying b*llocks to it all and feeding them shite!

[LadyTophamHatt]

Honestly I'm sick to ficking death of it.

Ds2 is currently getting into bed because of his refuse to eat a single spoon ful of bolognaise that had lumps ins. Tiny lumps of soft courgette and mushroom, all covered in bolognaise sause that he loves.

He's 5 yrs old FFS...he can eat lumps.

He was gagging and chockingand generally making a huge great deal of of it.

I took the plate away, after telling him to forget it a spit it out, threw it on top of the empty plates of Ds1+3 and broke it.

F*cking Great!

Oh yes, I have a 4 year old ds who is like this most meal times too. Tonight he has had jam sandwiches, carrot sticks and a yogurt because I've had a really stressed out day at work, have a stinking cold and I just can't be arsed with a battle tonight.

Sorry that wasn't much help was it?

But at least your'e not alone.

I told ds (also 5, hmmm) tonight that I had had enough and that I couldn't care less what he ate any more, and that I would just give him bread and butter from now on and only cook proper meals for us and dd. This after watching him push chicken casserole around his plate for nearly an hour (he likes chicken casserole ffs). So you have my sympathy.

He does the gagging thing too when he doesn't want to eat - drives me insane.

I once bellowed at DP and the girls that they'd be happier if I fed them all PIES. BOUGHT PIES.

Dunno why pies. But it was quite satisfying at the time.

At 5 yrs old (and 7yrs old for ds1) I still have to blend the bolognaise down because they won't eat the lumpy meat.

tonight I added more veg to the blended suace but just cut it up......You'd think I was trying to kill them.

Spag Bol is Ds2 favourite dinner and I've told him that from now on when we have it for dinner he's having something else. If he can't start eating it with tiny lumps he won't have it at all.

Fio..I know without a shadow of doubt if I'd served up your dinner to the Ds's they would have eaten it.

Well Ds3 would only eat the pie but he's soooo fussy I can't even be bothered to start on that.

hello to all mums. I am a virgin mumsnetter so I hope I get this right! To get my girls 4 and 6yrs to eat salmon I told them it was brain food. Apparently the next day in school Emily stuck her hand up in maths to answer a question saying that she would know the answer because she had brain food for dinner - I guess it must be working!

My DS2 (5 too!) eats pasta/pesto, fish fingers, or bacon. If that's what I plan on cooking anyway, he eats with us. Otherwise he has the choice of sitting nicely with us, or leaving the room (he tends to start wailing if I haven't cooked pasta/pesto). So most of the time he goes to bed with no supper.

I thought that toughing it out would make him crack but he's been like this for a couple of years and has actually got worse - his approved list used to be slightly longer.

Ds1 (6) and DD (1) are fine with food and will try most things.

We have a friend whose son is very fussy and she'll ask me to leave sauce off the pasta or whatever requirement His Lordship has. It really pisses me off. I can't stand children being treated like customers.

It is exasperating! We have a theme with 4 yr old DD:
Sausage and mash
Sausage and pasta
Sausage and chips
If I mention bolognese she throws a hissy fit.
We made a pizza together yesterday - she chose all the toppings and chopped up the veg to put on top. Did she eat it? Did she bu@@ery!

Yet at nursery, she tried everything put in front of her, except eggs, she hates eggs.

I have to seive their Ready Brek to make them eat it otherwise there's a constant refrain of "I don't want any bits". I go along with it in the morning so that they at least have proper brekkie.

Perhaps we just have to wait till they are older. DS gets a meal and he doesn't have to eat it but if he doesn't then no treats. I also find leaving him on his own in the kitchen works cos it's all about control and if he can't see how irritated I am then he just eats. Don't be their audience.

I see DP getting sucked in and I remind him what is actually happening and he then leaves the room. Flip side is that we rarely have a family meal together. He does have a lot of issues with food and is very thin so I generally give him what I know he will eat but he still whines on and on and starts to mess.

my dd who is nearly 3 had weetabix for dinner tonight as she is soooooo fussy! ds had soup and she doesn't like that. mind you she doesn't like very much.

Hello Tamanina.

Secret LTH is not to get wound up.
As Spider says,refuse to allow yourself to be part of their disapproval.

If my dd says she hates it/wont eat it,I have two stock replies.

'Fine,don't eat it then.This is all there is.'

'Oh good! More for us!'

lol at MI and the pie story.

My ds1 (7) hd a problem with "mixed" foods for a long time - he's still suspicious if he can't identify everything, but eats most things on their own quite happily. Also, I think that as long as they are eating proper food, ketchup doesn't do any harm - especially if it's organic (Ds2 had to have ketchup with every mouthful for a long time).

I don't think ketchup is bad either,but I limit its use as I don't want my kids thinking everything tastes of it.
Mind you,dd wants picallili with everything...

I am not alone then. Hurray! I thought maybe it was me being a bad mum. DS1 who is 3 rotates about 4 meals. He is so skinny, I would rather him eat the same stuff all the time than go hungry, but it does get me mad that I have to make seperate meals. He doesn't like food that is crunchy... so pie is out

Welcome Tamanina

My DD aged 7 and DS aged 2 loves lumps, they won't eat anything smooth!!!

My dd(4)would eat pasta with grated cheese for every meal, given the chance. My brother's 3 daughters, also picky eaters, improved greatly after starting to take school lunches. Based on this, when my dd started school, I signed her up for lunch, thinking that she will have to eat a variety of things.

Day 1 she had rice with chicken, peas and sweetcorn. I was delighted! Day 2 and ever since, she has had mashed potato with grated cheese, or a cheese sandwich. Today I asked her to try something different (not the first time). She came back and reported that she'd had a cheese toastie, "and cake but I didn't like it, so I didn't eat it, and I ate ALL my Quavers Mummy, but it's OK Mummy, they're not salty Quavers, just ornery ones".

Quavers for school lunch? Who put them on the menu? When we went to try the lunches, there was no processed food at all. Even the cakes and biscuits for pudding were freshly baked!

moondog...I surprised you took so long to find this thread, is your "feeding children shite" radar faulty ATM??

I've given up so many time with the "Fine don't eat it line" you'll be amazed. I just can't be bothered half the time, it's them that will be hungry...I couldn't give a shit! (and have told them that too)

I remember reading(or watching) somewhere a while ago that to get a child to try new things they need to be presented with it 21 times.
(posted that on J.O. thread the other day too)

What a load of Bollocks!
As spag bol is the one and only meal they will all eat (seriously, I've just tried to think of another meal that all 3 eat and there isn't one...where the F*ck have I gone wrong??) I'm pretty sure they've had it more than 21 times. More like 21,000 times ...but he(they) still wouldn't eat it without it being put through the blender first.

LTH,remind yourself that you're in charge.
Stop arsing about blending stuff.You are pandering to them and they are attempting to establish contro l and powere by being demanding.

I'll come over and sort it out for you.

my dad LOVES piccalilli, but ewwww, sorry Moondog, just the smell makes me ill.

Just come from kissing my dd goodnight and she is on at me again to let her have a packed lunch at school.

I've been saying for three years you can have a packed lunch when you eat at least five portions of fruit and veg every day without nagging. She's nowhere near that.

Her friends who have packed lunches eat se. Chocolate spread sandwiches, jammy dodgers, cheesestrings crisps etc. They eat separately from the hot dinner kids, so don't sit at a table and nobody checks whether they're all swapping their own se for other people's.

I've said if you have packed lunches it'll be granary bread, salads, fruit, all healthy stuff and she says she doesn't mind that, yet doesn't eat the apple I give her for break.

So no, she can't have packed lunches, and every time she turns up her nose at delicious home-cooked vegetables, or acts as though I'm trying to poison her with a fresh smoothie, I'm going to remind her of this conversation.

Loving reading this, didn't realise they all do that gagging thing had been a bit soft on eldest since "he must really not like carrots,they appear to amke him ill" (how stupid am I?) however he has just gone to bed with no jelly since he didn't eat any veg tonight!

My 2 generally not too bad, but DD went through a phase of gagging. We had lasagne once, and she actually went beyond gagging and actually threw it up. I guess she must have been 3.5 at the time, maybe 4. It did pass, thank goodness, and though not perfect, all much better now. (she's 6.5 now).