Tips to get 19 month old to eat new food PLEASE

[hotchocscot]

Need help from wise earth mothers please. I have always been kitchen challenged and it didn't seem to matter much until I had ds. Unfortunately along with ds came severe PND which meant that dh has taken on board a lot of responsibility for cooking for us adults. DS was Hipp organic jar type baby for tea and seemed fine on it but in last few months its been obvious he needs to move onto real food. My new year's resolution was to try to cook family meals. Using Lorraine Kelly's Baby and Toddler Eating Plan (the toddler bit obviously). However out of the last 10 days ds has totally rejected everything i've tried to do (eg fish risotto, tomato pasta, spag bol, fish cakes, veg soup, grilled chicken) and always ends up with something he's used to (toast, cheese, cold meats, yoghurt, fruit, custard etc). Am feeling very despondent that my efforts are coming to nothing (well, dh appreciates the change but not ds). Any tips on getting ds to just taste this stuff??? thanks in advance from crap mummy

Give him what he likes with new stuff on the side and you eat it aswell.

not crap mummy at all!

and im not an earth mother but depending on the age of your ds, id say give him waht you're eating cut up small and show him how you eat (exagerated mouth and yum yum noises) if he doesnt eat thats fine, try again tomo.

thats my moto anyway. ds was no problem he ate everything but dd is still a challenge at 3.2 i just let her eat/not eat and she soon got the idea that if she was hungry she had to eat what she was given.

can been seen as harsh, but im a bit like that

good luck!

thanks guys. maybe i'm being a bit soft cos if he doesn't eat the cooked main for tea, i give him something i know he'll eat. is 19 months too young to send him to bed without supper???

It's difficult to know, I haven't tried to send my kids without supper but my mother in law says they learn better if you show how is the boss. Personally I'd rather they eat something. I used to put my DS on a high chair and cook in front of him, he would eat better when he'd watch me cooking. i also noticed that kids thing my food is really nice, worth trying so I'd put some food I wanted them to eat on m plate - it worked every time. I think it's curiousity which makes them try our food.

hotchoscot, also you could look for some tips on www.mumsnet.com/Talk/4/459597

thanks fedda, he refused our veg soup tonight but ate oatcakes with cheese spread and grapes while dh and i yummed yummed our way through a pot of soup so i'm just going to keep going and hope he'll eventually start eating a wider variety of stuff. if anyone else has tips, would be very welcome!

You are very welcome, hotchocscot. Good luck! If you have any spare time, would you please share your recipy for vegy soup?