Evil Fruit

[MABS]

My 22 month old thinks that fruit is the food of the devil, if I hide it in yogurts etc, he eats the rest and spits the fruit at me afterwards. Anyone got an ideas ?

Is it the lumps? My 2yr old won't eat many things with them, although is getting better. Friends swear by 'fruit smoothies' - everything blended together, and dd adores homemade fruit lollipops....worth a try? Also, if you start eating a plate of fruit in front of him without offering any, I'm sure he'll at least ask for a taste...

My dd2 got going with fruit by having it chopped in a bowl with a bit of yoghurt/ice cream/ cream (dd1 loves cream!) or with apples by having the whole apple, peeled and she'd scrape at it with her 2 top and bottom teeth. Also, she like little pots of things like chopped grapes or strawberries/melon whilst on the go. she'd fuss less about it if she was distracted by the world going by. Both dds also love tinned mandarins in juice! Persevere though, last year dd2 would eat very little fruit and now eats loads (still crap on the veggie front though!).

My neighbor always says that her child (17 mo.) doesn't like fruit, though I've found that when he is at my house and I give my son some fruit he want some and eats it quite happily. We finally decided that maybe it's the way she presents it to him. I usually give my son the whole fruit and let him go at it. For example I give him the apple unpeeled with one bite out to get him started. He loves working his way through it and spits out the peel. When I give him grapes I often give them on the stem and he has great fun pulling them off. Tangerines, I peel, but let him separate the sections himself. It might be worth a try.

Thanks for all of these ideas - I'll give him a go. I like the idea that he always wants to eat what I've got... suppose I'll just have to swap the wine and chocolate for fruit then eh?

Many thanks MABS

Mabs don't joke about it !!! My DS has a tantrum if I don't let him dip his finger in my wine glass. I've had to take to the subtle tactic of drinking wine out of a tumbler

Bozza - At least you're only on a tumbler , i've nearly graduated onto straight from the bottle. Actually , the day I've had - perhaps IV would be best... Cheers MABS

Well yes Mabs drinking out of a tumbler does hava the obvious added benefit portion wise but DS has not yet cottoned onto the fact that it is actually wine or the fingers would be out accompanied by "ta ta" (not yet got the idea that it means "thank you" rather than "please" or more accurately "give it me now or you will regret it when I throw a mega tantrum". Sorry about your day BTW.

How old is your little angel ? actually mine's making strange noises on the monitor that are getting loUder my the minute so I'll probably have to put my botttle down in a min

You could try and blend a banana with some milk to make a banana smoothy(milkshake)see if he likes it or you could try it with strawberries. Good luck I hope this works!

I#ll give taht a go - see if I can trick him into eating it - Many thanks

One 'smoothie' mine adores is half a beaker of milk, mixed with pureed fruit, with a good dollop of natural yoghurt whisked in and, if we're pushing the boat out, a bit of vanilla ice-cream floating on top - maybe even chocolate sprinkles, too! Mine refused anything to do with apples (all carefully segmented, peeled and beautifully aranged on a plate) until I found her burgling the fruit bowl one day and, well, just eating one, peel and all. Likewise she won't touch mandarin segments, but slice up an orange with peel still on, and she'll merrily chew at the fruit (I do go for organic fruit though, so I don't have to worry about pesticides/wax and so forth).

I watched a friend's ds, sitting at a table with my dd and another little boy - tucking into slices of fresh peach and mango the other day...he never does it at home!

My ds will eat all sorts of things at nursery that he won't touch at home. The other day he refused to eat peas - he wolfs them down at nursery. Apparently "nursery peas are nicer". I wouldn't mind, except that I know for a fact that the cook at nursery gets them out of the same freezer at Tescos as I do. Grrr.

My ds is the same as others mentioned here - he rarely eats fruit if already cut up (at home anyway - he eats it anyhow at playgroup/nursery), but will eat it if given whole - e.g. whole apple with just a bite taken out, half a banana etc.

Apples like this are great for in car entertainment - not too messy, but it keeps him absorbed for ages!

Have any of you discovered the astonishing popularity of still-frozen peas? Mine eat them like sweets.

I've gotta try the frozen peas ...I feel like my kids are missing out

copper, that's a strange one. I know some people eat peas straight from the pea pod. Mine like cooked frozen peas - never had them 'raw'.

Mmmm, yes, I'm a frozen pea fan myself!

Definitely agree with the frozen pea thing! My ds loves them.

Frozen sweetcorn is great too.

Have you tried dried fruit - ds really likes little boxes of sultanas and packets of dried apple,apricot etc. I buy the organix ones but they are quite pricey.

Frozen peas and sweetcorn have been going down great guns for about 18mths, now dd 2 yrs 9mths has graduated to frozen Smilie faces - hates tham cooked though. I am a frozen pea eater too. yum yum.

Frozen bananas too - just found this out and dd loves them in this weather! You could also make ice lollies from pure fruit juice.

Although my 18 mht old is eating toast, fish, rice, raisin etc. He's not keen on lumps in most of his main course or dessert. I still puree or just mash fruit and freeze them into individual cubes then defrost them in different combos. Eg he loves apple and mango, or pear & blueberry etc. I still make soups and freeze them eg pea, buuternut & red pepper, tomato. I found he'll eat them liquid but not so keen if still lumpy.