WWYD? Fussy eaters

[Tommy]

my DSs are both pretty fussy about food. DS1 seems to have a few "issues" with it all although DS2 just seems to be your bog standard fussy eater

They eat quite healthily but not a great variety and they won't try new things. Yesterday, for instance, DS2 just ate carrots for dinner.

It's all getting me very stressed, even though I try not to be, especially as I am doing BLW on DS3 and don't just want him to eat carrots and waffles

Anyway - I think there are 3 main options left for me and wanted some other opinions.

Should I
a)just give them the same every day (like a bowl of carrots ) until they get bored and ask for something else

b) give them whatever I want them to have - shepherds pie, lasagne, curry etc (which they don't like but DH and I eat most of the time) - bearing in mind they don't often eat what they claim to like anyway or

c) carry on the way I am - giving what they like but trying new things a couple of times a week and really try not to get stressed about it?

TIA

not saying this will help but with mine I do this

ages ago I read / saw something that suggested you have to try a new food 34 times before you know whether you like it. That is you might like it first time or 34th and if you don't like it by the 34th you probably never will.

So I told my children this and we talked about what their favourite food is .. then I mentioned that they might find a brand new favourite food if they try

so the rule is .. if its on their plate, they try it .. one bite is enough .. if they don't like it there is no pressure to eat it .. if they do .. great new food to add

I will put new food on their plate as and when I feel like it (don't really plan this)

in this way was a love for moules and mangoes (though not together) fostered

so c) with a twist

c)

[http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=8&threadid=396455#8069227 here is a thread of parents of fussy eaters]] - you are not alone!

really really don't get stressed about it.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=8&threadid=396455#8069227
try again

I cook whatever we're having if ds won't eat it then I just take it away and don't offer anything else UNLESS I've given him something different and he tries it and doesn't like it.

This is the only way I don't get stress tbh as if i cook something special for him that i know he likes but he then refuses to eat it really pisses me off and i don't want food to be a battle.

thanks for that armadillo. DS1 seems a bit like tortoiseshell's s perhaps I should find her and have a chat.

It's just so boring - trying to think of things they might try and going out is a nightmare . We only go to Sainsbury's cafe where DS1 can have fried egg and chips or another cafe near us who do boiled eggs. If we go anywhere else, DS1 always has a roll and a bowl of chips .

I'd love to all go to Pizza Express or somewhere like that with them

trouble is connor - the DSs eat at 5 and DH and I eat when they've gone to bed. He doesn't come in until bed time so I have to do 2 meals anyway - there's very little I can do that we all really like. We can all eat pasta and a roast dinner together so we have that at the weekends!

Ah i see you point.

LOL because for about a year Pizza Express was about the only place we COULD go with our fussy eater.

I bet they'd eat the dough balls at pizza express (maybe you want to go and buy some at the supermarket to test!)

Seriously though, the really trying not to get stressed is the key IMHO - something I've struggled with - that, and just waiting for things to change. After probably 18-20 months of acute pickiness, our DS seems to be starting to improve - with no different behaviour on our part. just about fainted on the way home yesterday when he announced he had sausages, potato, broccoli and peas for lunch and especially liked the vegetables......

they do like doughballs actually legalalien! Maybe we should go there but I would have to give DHa cople of valium before we went to calm him down - he gets particularly stressed by it all (but only has to deal with it at weekends of course )

just make sure you go dead on 12 noon. every pizza express I've ever been to practically has a queue of people with buggies and toddlers and children dead on 12. I figure everyone's in the same boat in terms of noise / mess / general dysfunctionality.

Hi I'm new to the site. I to have a fussy eater. She turned 2 last week. She is a healthly eater but I feel she is eating the same things all the time and when I try to introduce something new she becomes very upset and it turns into a really stressful time. It's not that I'm inflicting on her new recipes just the same old menu the rest of the family enjoy. My fault as I should have started sooner instead of keeping her in her comfort zone. Any suggestions/tips?