FINICKY EATER.....A CHILD WHO WONT EVEN EAT CHICKEN NUGGETS OR CHIPS?!?! HELP!!!

[Titania]

my dd is 3 next week and is such a finicky eater, yet she is constantly hungry, always asking for something to eat......she wont eat fruit and will only eat meat and veg if its pulverised. If she knows there is meat in anything she wont touch it.

She wont eat soup, meat, cheese, eggs, fish, parsley/cheese sauce, despite desperate attempts to disguise them.

She never used to be fussy and used to eat everything in sight......a very different story now though and its starting to drive me mad.

Her very unvaried diet consists of the following:

breakfast cereal...as long as the milk has been drained off after leaving to soak.

Toast as long as it has honey on, crusts cut off and cut into 2 triangles.

Honey sandwhich, as long as crusts cut off and again, cut into 2 triangles

Pasta, either dry or with small amount of pasta sauce on

She wont eat chips, fish fingers, pizza or chicken nuggets, and not keen on sausages or chocolate spread either either ( i think i have the only child who wont!!!!)

She will eat cake and biscuits and chocolate.

She eats very little at a time, and i am trying to feed her little and often, but its proving to be very difficult.....

IM GOING MAD!!! anyone got any ideas?

Tell me about it!!! I have a fussy 4 year old but he's started eating apples, whooo hooooo!
Please don't worry it's perfectly normal and she's eating lots more than some. Does she like peanut butter? this on wholemeal/granary bread is very healthy. Have you tried the new squeezable fruit thingys, they're expensive but they're all fruit.

How about milk? could she be filling up on that?

I'm sure you'll get lots of help on here as they're so many of us with fusspots, adorable as they are

my ds, aged 4 is a fussy eater also doesn't like chips - you are not alone! IME just concentrate on what she will eat and at the same time try and teach her that she has to eat something healthy/balanced before she's allowed cakes and biscuits, a picture chart maybe useful showing what she's allowed and when. She will get better in time. My ds has just started school and is having school dinners. I was obviously worried about this, him being so fussy, but he's now eating things he would never had touched at home - so there is light at the end of the tunnel after all. HTH

Well of course she is constantly hungry if she never eats a meal! If you feed her snacks every time she says she's hungry, because you are worried about her, she doesn't need to bother eating much.

Sorry, that sounds harsh and of course you are worried but she is running rings round you atm!

I advocate the tough approach ..ie Starve her.. she'll eat then!

In all seriousness perhaps you are feeding her too often, so she never feels truly hungry, and therefore can afford to be fussy?

Don't pander too her.. if she won't eat it, let her get hungry... she will start eating soon enough.

juniper.....she hates peanut butter. She doesnt drink milk either....she had an intolerance when she was little and if she has too much it still upsets her now. I think that may be why she isnt keen on dairy stuff.

Well if she eats cake and biscuits how about making them yourself, very simple, so at least you can control the amount of salt and suger.
I have receipes for healty bran flakes/banana muffins and porridge oat biscuits if you want them.

If she'll have a bit of pasta siace, again make up a big batch using all fresh ingrediants, tomatoes, and vegetable - carrots, courgettes, etc etc and boil it all down and freexe small portions to use on her pasta.

try and make what yo do give her, what she will eat as health as poss. With honey, i forget the name but the stuff I use for L is really expensive but great. it's made from unpolluted parts of the rain forest bees or something but they sell it in health food shops.

It is frustrating I know, Lottie only really eats spag bol these days so I make it a veg heavy as poss and keep trying to offer healthy alternatives and try not to stress too much. I was a fussy eater when i was a kid and you should see me now! I LOVE my food!

She also sounds like she has got you over a barrel...(ie demanding how her sandwiches should be cut etc)
This may not just be about food.. more an act of rebellion, or control?
Do you ever watch little angels.. I think there was a programme last week where the kids weren't eating... the "expert" advised various things including making eating a fun experience (not stressed out) and ultimately if they don't eat it... take it away.

Next mealtime that comes round, sit her down with a reasonable amount of whatever you know she will eat, and tell her cheerfully that even if she only eats a tiny bit you won't be giving her any more until the next meal, however hungry she is. She won't believe you and will whine unbelievably until that mealtime arrives but stick to it!

Re the dairy, if she just has a thing about it but isn't actually allergic, flavoured dairy icecream (not the veg oil stuff) would help - choc or toffee or something. Also you could try making her a smoothie, if you don't tell her what's in it she might try it - some of the shop onces (like innocent?) taste divine.

i do try and make as much as possible. JanH she does still get poorly if she has too much dairy (what dairy she will eat though that is!!!)

What about goat's or sheep's milk? I'm sure you can get some kind of puddingy thing made of one or other of those (but can't remember what or where so not much help!)

Does she have pizza with cheese on? Could you add a bit more cheese to that? DS2 went from about age 2.5 to 5 or 6 practically living on that (and just cheese/tom, no bits please) although he did also eat yogurt and bananas - not on the same plate! He also has cereal with invisible milk (unless it's a choc one in which case he puts loads on and then leaves it so I have to drink the choccy milk that results).

Which fruits have you tried her with? Are there any she doesn't know about yet? If she likes pizza and pasta does that mean she is OK with tomato? (Does she know tomato is a fruit? ha!) Could you get more tomatoes into her anyway - cooked tomatoes v v rich in something wonderful as well as Vit C etc.

Have you tried her with rice milk or soya milk instead of cows milk.

Then you could make her smoothies filled with fruit - perhaps abit of porridge.

Have you tried her with fresh meat rather than fingers and nuggets. More nutritional and can be hidden with the vegetables in a gravy sauce.
You can puree lentils and make a sauce from them too.

i think if she eats so little make what she does eat as healthy as possible.

hope things improve soon

JanH...i havent considered goats of sheeps milk....is it expensive? She wont eat pizza and detests cheese. She will eat bolognese, and i do out loads of tomatoes in that.

papillon...i tried her with fresh meat, but unless its hidden, she just gags on it. or if she knows there is meat in something, she wont eat it.

well i would not give her meat then... maybe she wants to be a vegetarian !!

Rice milk would be sold at the supermarket and some have vitamins added.

Just found this from waitrose:

but also this from a US allergy website, which contradicts it:

Does evaporated milk have much calcium left in it though?

Have you tried UHT milk on DD? (As eg choc milkshake) That is heat treated too and does taste different, would she be OK with that?

Oh, sorry, titania, I thought I'd read pizza in your list - looks like the pasta sauce with tomatoes is the best thing there then!

I will have a quick google for goat/sheep milk products. (Do you have a local health food shop? You could ring them and ask if they have anything?)

I wish my DS2 would eat bolognaise! He won't even eat pasta though he loved it as a baby

duh.....never thought about UHT milk JanH....might give it a go. Papillon....maybe she does!!

She is such a good girl and doesnt seem to rebel with anything....it seems as though she genuinley doesnt like these foods....she has tried them at some point and ended up gagging on them. I have tried them again weeks later and she will try them but still gag on them. strange!

Ah, Greek yogurt is made from sheep's milk - is it called Total? (one of the brands anyway) - it comes in flattish tubs and is usually a set kind - you could put honey in it?

Many sympathies - dd1 is 8 now and has been a very fussy eater since 2 or 3 - even now the stuff she will eat you can count on one hand - I have learned to live with it and not get upset, she is happy and healthy enough. I was just the same as a child but grew out of it in my teens. I would concentrate on the stuff your dd does like, that's what I do. If she likes plain pasta, have you tried plain rice?

i know people who hated meat as children and as adults are either vegetarian or eat very little meat.. especially red meat.

has she tried sweetcorn.. in season and she might like it

Definitely have a word with a health food shop - I bet they have loads of non-dairy alternatives and other useful things for you.

I go for the starve her approach too - kids will not become malnourished or go hungry they will after lots of noise and hassle eat. She is doing this and behaving like this because you are letting her. You are in charge - make her 3 meals a day do not do the draining milk off cereal thing that is ludicrous and letting her see that if she wants it she gets it and if she doesn;t eat you leave it till the next meal and try her with something else.

Or go and get yourself the Baby WHisperer book or watch the woman in action on the Discovery Health - she had this little bugger on the other day 45 minutes they sat there to get him to eat one pasta swirl with tomato on rather than his biscuit andf sweets that he normally demands - they did it though and the child slept better, behaved better and honestly looked like a more healthy child.

To me it all comes down to you are the adult and they are the child - there are a certain amount of choices that they have but in the end you hold the cards and make the choices they go along with them and get a decent diet or they don't and go hungry!!

Honestly though your DD will not go hungry and this gagging thing is more likely to be psychological - try meat in a different form not chunks of it - I can't see how she knows what is meat and what is not??

What are you going to do when she goes to school too?? - You need to sort this out now and that means perseverance and hardwork but its worth it to have a happy healthy child at the end of the day.

Titania, I know where you're at - ds is really really fussy too - he will not eat any meat, except occasionally a little bolognese sauce, as long as it is not touching his pasta. He will not eat fish, any vegetable apart from peas, only eats fruit at playgroup, will sometimes eat dried apricots, but only if dh is there. Doesn't like mixtures of foods - everything has to be separate.

I think it is true that trying not to stress out helps - not easy I know. Particularly since my child seems to be determined to prove the 'no child will starve himself' rule wrong. His nursery tried making him sit until he ate one spoonful of shepherds pie, promising he could have ice cream if he did. He burst into tears and said "Well I can't have ice cream then", and sat it out. He also gets really thin really quickly. BUT we have had one or two break throughs - he now sits at the table to eat, which is fantastic, and we have cut down his TV time, and I honestly think he is better now.

Hope things improve - it is probably a phase!