Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Food/recipes

For related content, visit our food content hub.

Flip

Original poster

So tonight I thought I'd give dd something new to eat.......

21 replies

Earlybird · 03/03/2007 18:19

....and it was a disaster. First there was a sniffy 'what's that'? Then after poking it a bit and gingerly taking one tiny bite, there was a chorus of 'I don't like it, I don't want it'....

Do you try new meals/recipes/food at home? What's the typical reaction from your family to something 'different' on the table? How do you react if they don't like it?

OP posts:

Dior · 03/03/2007 18:22

Message withdrawn

FunMumm · 03/03/2007 18:26

How old is your dd? I always combined it with something that I know they will eat.. then praise them when they try it...

DD was dreadful when she was younger.. it got to the stage where food time was a battle and i thought there must be more to life than this... I chilled...she's now 10 and tries different food ... I was so pleased the other day when she tried some different pasta with cheeses in! years ago that would never have happened...

I think we all have different view and thought on this subject and you really have to go with what you feel comfy with.. I'm not with the eat it or starve brigade..

Good luck...

paulaplumpbottom · 03/03/2007 18:26

If it is something new DD almost always turns her nose up, but she is required to take at least one bite of everything and she usually complies. She knows I'm alot more patient than she is. If I have to wait long I turn on MN and chat away.

Original poster

Earlybird · 03/03/2007 18:44

DD has just turned 6. Her eating repertoire has definitely expanded as this past Sept she started having hot lunch at school where lack of choice, peer pressure and an empty tummy may nudge her toward eating new things. But, she isn't adventurous at home.

I'm not a natural cook, and go back and forth between 'give her something I know she'll eat' and 'perhaps I should make more of an effort in the kitchen'. But, when I have planned/shopped/cooked and she turns up her nose, I do find it difficult to shrug it off.

I don't force her, but she knows I'm not happy. She is an only child (and I'm a single mum), so the focus is all on her and whether or not she likes something. Would definitely be easier if there were other family members who might enjoy something new/different even if she doesn't.

OP posts:

Bozza · 03/03/2007 18:52

So come on earlybird satisfy our curiousity - what was it? I regularly give my two new food - I think if I cooked the same few things day in, day out I would go mad. If I ask what they want DS invariably says cucumber and DD invariably says carrot. We have mixed response to new things but they are used to the idea of being presented with new things at least. I have made a recipe that lisalisa put on here, which is basically cheese and spinach rolled up in sheets of lasagne and topped with tinned toms and cheese. Last night was the second time I made it and they both ate it all up. DS said that he now likes spinach in things but not as a veg on its own. I thought this was good progress. It does not always go so well!

Aimsmum · 03/03/2007 18:57

Message withdrawn

Original poster

Earlybird · 03/03/2007 18:59

Believe me bozza, it was nothing fabulous! Just a tuna pasta bake thing with some peas and cream of mushroom soup...which means mushrooms! DD hates most vegetables, and we've been in the crazy situation where she picks them out of whatever is on her plate.

I do think I should make more of an effort toward variety, but when faced with such a negative response, it's not encouraging...

That is great news that you made progress with your two. Maybe I need to keep at it regardless of response.

OP posts:

Lilliput · 03/03/2007 19:13

I have just recently turned over a new leaf with regards to feeding my kids. I bought a couple of new cook books and have started to give them new healthy things for dinner. It seems to be working! Mine are 4 and 2 and my dd has always been quite fussy but I have realised that really it is laziness with her, it's like she can't be bothered to eat!!
Tonight we had bacon and bean stew with couscous and ds had seconds and dd did pretty well for her and ate about half of what I gave her.
Keep at it, they only get the option of a yoghurt or fruit if they don't eat the main part of dinner, I never offer an alternative and they are wise to that now and eat more.

Original poster

Earlybird · 03/03/2007 19:18

What a good result lilliput!

DD doesn't have a huge appetite, and doesn't eat that much even when it's something she loves. Tonight she even turned her nose up at the sticky toffee pudding after only one bite! She's never had it before, you know...

OP posts:

Lilliput · 03/03/2007 19:25

I'm not saying every night is a wild success but it is getting easier. I really fed dd a pile of shite when she was really little because I was desperate to see her eat something and she obviously picked up on this anxiety. I really didn't do myself any favours. She was a tiny baby and gave up breastfeeding at 10 months, wouldn't drink any milk and wouldn't eat much food other that bananas, I was really stressed by this.
Thankfully ds has always been a little trencher but he was beginning to pick up vibes from dd and as soon as she pushed the plate away he did the same, so things had to change. Ds won't really eat meat unless it's hidden or not obvious in something, he really prefers wet sloppy food. Whereas dd is a bit of a carnivore and prefers dry food.
Maddening !!!!

Lilliput · 03/03/2007 19:27

I feel wretchedly guilty about the rubbish I fed dd that I am now trying very hard to make up for it.

Bozza · 03/03/2007 19:46

Actually I have had very few problems with DS foodwise. For a just 6yo he has a very wide spectrum of foods that he will eat. He did go through a phase of saying he didn't like things before he even knew what it was (infuriating) but that was more a case of "how dare you serve up a meal now when I am at a critical point in doing whatever" and as often as not he would wolf it down. DD has not been quite as easy, nor does she have the same appetite but I have not really had a very hard time with her either.

Today they both had branflakes with raisins for breakfast followed by a Yeo Valley yoghurt (well 1/2 for DD and 1 1/2 for DS). Then had a piece of cheese mid morning. Then left over lasagne and salad for lunch. The lasagne was made with onions/peppers/mushrooms and none of it blended. DD's salad was carrot sticks, but DS's (and I was impressed) was lettuce, cucumber, carrot, pepper, spring onion. Then DS had a kiwi and DD had strawberries. Then this afternoon I took them to Pizza Hut for the ice-cream factory. Tonight we had pot-roast briskett, roast potatoes, parsnips and cauliflower. Then DD has some more strawberries.

Today was a good day. Apart from the ice-cream factory obviously. Tomorrow might be totally opposite. Oh and DD insisted on me feeding her all her tea.

Original poster

Earlybird · 03/03/2007 20:29

Ladies - you are an inspiration. Perhaps if I keep trying dd will come 'round to being a more adventurous eater. I just have to work a bit on my reaction when she rejects something!

OP posts:

Bozza · 03/03/2007 20:30

You could try the putting something new with something familiar route with the rule that she has to try everything on her plate.

Twiglett · 03/03/2007 20:31

we have a rule

don't complain before you try it
you must try it
if you don't like it that's fine .. say you don't like it and leave it on the side of your plate
you must try new things 34 times until you are allowed to say you don't like it .. because it might become your favourite ever food (actually this works DS has liked things on the 8th time)

.. that's a few more than 1 rule isn't it?

TrinityRhino · 03/03/2007 20:33

how did you come up with 34 times?? lol

Lilliput · 03/03/2007 20:33

My dd is friends with an older boy who eats EVERYTHING. When I have tried quite spicey or quite grown up things on her I ask him round to eat. He is guarenteed to wolf it down and she will at least give it a go to impress him. Peer pressure at it's best.

Twiglett · 03/03/2007 20:53

you know I'm sure I read it somewhere about it being a physiological fact that if you still don't like something after trying it 34 times you never will

but I might have dreamed it

Original poster

Earlybird · 04/03/2007 21:02

Tonight's 'reject' food item was scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. That one took me by surprise as she has a real sweet tooth.

I'm afraid I wasn't very gracious about her 'don't like it' response. I wish I was better at shrugging it off. Of course now I can think 'what does it matter', but unfortunately it seems to matter alot in the moment.

OP posts:

bubblicious · 04/03/2007 21:09

A friend of mine says to here DC, you have to have 5 bites of something before you realise that you dont like something,
1st- yuk
2nd- hmm
3rd-well
4th-sort of
5th-if you've managed 5 mouthfuls you acnt dislike it that much!

I must admit I have tried it out on food that I thought DC would like and it kinda works, not always at the time they have eaten it the first time, but normally when I give them it a second time! Also noticed that they tend to try different foods when DH is not around- think Im alot stronger than he is!

cardy · 04/03/2007 21:13

I always serve something new alongside somethingI know they will eat i.e. made sauasage casserole with canellinni beans but served the beans seperately from the sausages, when dd1 (5.6) tried it I told her how grown up she was and how good it is to try new foods that grown-up eat.

BTW - she was a terrible eater as a toddler and is quite adventureous now.

I should add that it also depends on how hungry she is....the more hungry she is the LESS likely she is to try something new - strange I know but she gets very short tempered when hungry so any kind of persuasion can tip her over the edge.

Flip