Need help: 2.5 year old won't try new foods

[bigbananaflambe]

My 2.5yr old son refuses to try any new foods. The food he eats is very limited: marmite/honey sandwiches, cereal, salami, milk (bottle in morning and one at night) chips and yoghurt. That's it. He won't even entertain the thought of anything new - says 'don't like it' and turns his head or throws it on the floor. Obviously don't want to make food a 'thing' so I don't push it. Any tips from anyone? Would desperately love him to eat a wider variety (partic. veg and fruit!)

He never shows any interest in anything from my plate. We often eat together. This 'phase' has been happening slowly over the last year. He used to eat a much wider vaiety of foods, but it's shrinking as each month passes.

My boy is the same but he is now 5. It's complicated by the fact that he is seriously allergic to eggs, cheese, nuts and seeds and this seems to have given him a distrust of food. He will only eat plain rice or pasta, Chicken nuggets, ceral or porridge and if we are lucky corn on the cob. He does like choc and will eat raisons sometimes. He drinks pure Orange Juice and this is as close to fruit as we get. He has gotten worse over the years and I wonder where it will go.

The thing I find hardest to deal with is the disapproving glances from Granny because obviously it must be my fault. My worry is obviously his health. He is tall for his age but skinny so at least he is growing. My worry is obviously his health, there was a time when he caught everything going and it took ages for him to get over it. Have any of you had the same health problems?

I try to take comfort in the fact that I was a very fussy eater as was his Dad and we have survived but it can be so so frustrating.

Eaney, this is interesting to me as dd was also allergic to milk, eggs, nuts, fish up until she was 18 months old and now can tolerate milk though she won't touch any of the others on the list. I do think there's something 'phobic' about her not eating. She's not just being beligerant (I believe) I think she genuinly feels upset at the taste and touch of certain foods, like she's slightly 'scared' of them.

And yes, I too get terrible disapproving glances from MIL who thinks dd should eat whatever's in front of her, just like her 3 non-pampered cousins do . My mum is more sympathetic as she brought me up and I was about as fussy as they come, which is why I don't want to be too hard on dd. Actually I don't want to be hard on her at all, I truly don't want to battle with her and am prepared to be very lenient. I just worry that she has so little. And yes again, she at the moment seems to get everything going and it takes an age to shift. It was so much easier when I was b/f her!

I'm glad my thread has provoked so many thoughts and that there seem to be a few of us in the same boat - I don't think it's that unusual, but it's such a pain isn't it?

I did some research on the internet and found something that said fussy eaters need to be exposed to a new food 10 times before they might try it - a pain, but I think worth a go. I might plan it like a military operation and take 4 new foods and offer them to him 10 times over a 10 week period and see what happens...groan!

I'm also wondering if encouraging them to help prepare the food might make them more interested in eating it?

Helping them prepare is certainly one of those tactics that I've heard about but it doesn't work with mine!

Actually, today mine have eaten really well - though it was just the same old thing so tea was fish fingers, smiley faces and beans. I don't actually care at the moment as long as they eat it and anyway, fish fingers are good for iron and baked beans are a good one too.

Can I join your club ? dd1 age 26mnths also has a limited diet, wheetabix, muddles or poridge toast, crackers, cheese (mature!) fish fingers, little dippers, chicken nuggets (if its not breaded meat it wont pass her lips), pasta but only with cheese sauce, cucumber, apple and banana, yogurt and ice cream. She refused to eat lunch and dinner the other day so I ended up feeding her wheetabix for her tea. She also used to eat a more varied diet but it has slowly got less and less.

I am glad I'm not alone as I was begining to feel awful that she hardly ate any fresh foods....we can only keep trying and take hart in the fact that we are not alone !

I've given mine cereal for tea in the past - no problem!

Yes, come and join the 'crap eaters' club! I've a feeling it's a big one!

Yesterday my son had a low cal chocolate mousse for lunch followed by a packet of M&S crips. How bad is that?!

I dream of being able to give him little slices of pizza and fish pie. Particularly as I LOVE food so much - I think it's a fantastic, social occasion meal times.

Dunno - who knows. Faddy children are very hard work, impossible to be consistent and just tricky to handle.
Sometimes it works if we use reverse pyschology like not putting one type of new veg on her plate but on ours instead then going overboard about how great it is and what a shame she isn?t a big enough girl yet to try it etc. etc. She is learning about this and is a bit more savvy but did introduce her to a few things that on a good day she will still eat such as roast parsnips and broad beans.
Another thing we do that is a bit crazy but works for us is to name stuff eg. sweetcorn in our house is in fact "Dory corn" and is "Dory?s favourite vegetable"... and we have "Elasticgirl carrots" that help her to see in the dark etc. etc. I don?t like spinning yarns to kidds but it really works at the moment and so worth it while it lasts.
We have a three mouthfuls rule when introducing new food and I keep a pad of star stickers in the kitchen. When she is given something new, she is asked to eat three mouthfuls so she can decide if she likes it or not and then if she doesn?t she can leave the rest and still get a star sticker for trying something new regardless of whether she eats the rest or not. This was in response to her developing a phase of rejecting food without even trying it and tossing the head in defiance. It took a bit of work to get this rule working but once established and she knows we are not backing out of it (the spoonfuls are really tiny) then she is happy to give it a go esp. as there is a sticker in it and once the three are out of the way she knows that we will leave her alone to choose whether or not to eat any more.

ps - I am no expert, just plenty of experience of faddy children with DD having phases that last one day to a week on a fairly regular basis since turning about two - my DD had a picnic egg and a handful of twiglets for lunch, refused all her risotto today despite the sticker incentive and demanded ice cream instead so went to bed hungry and me feeling guilty and undecided. Should I have given in and let her have at least the ice cream rather than absolutley nothing, or should I have made something different again, despite risotto being her usual favourite? AAGH, who knows, will try harder tomorrow

My little boy who is 2 & 10mths is worrying me in to premature grey hairedness! he does not touch milk,cheese yoghurt,eggs or veg. i'm amazed he has the energy to run around all day like he does from when he gets up at 5.30am. breakfast is hopefully toast if he's in a good mood, or something like the shop bought packs of pancakes you can get.it used to be quavers and other rubbish! He is alittle underweight but he's just shot up height wise so i'm not too worried at mo,it's just he's gone from eating everything to nothing.The crust off A pasty is his idea of lunch,a sausage for tea,roasr dinner is a piece of chicken and about 4 yorkshire puddings.I don't want to make it a big issue at the moment and make it worse, i'm going on the theory that it is a fad & his way of growing up and taking some control away from me,he's developing his own sense of what he wants. i do offer things he says he now hates & some days i works,others it doesn't.He still has to have a bottle with water in it to go to sleep with,he used to be a very milky baby,still waking up for a bottle a night at 1yr! Since a tummy bug last december he has never had milk again,maybe he is wanting to brow up a bit but on the other hand still be mummies little boy. We have had terrible fights between him & his sister who is 51/2.He hates it sometimes when i give her cuddles but he must learn i love them both

stripeymouse - thanks for your views - you sound very sensible and together - everything I feel I'm not at the moment!! I'm going to try the sticker chart for trying new foods...excellent idea!

Thanks

SM, good tips there. I'd love to try the '3 mouthfuls' trick, my friend's done that to great success with her ds. Dd's so utterly resistant though and gets very upset if I push it. I think the giving foods special names etc. is a good idea though. She started eating mushrooms this week because she associated them with where Big Ears lives! Although she totally refuses scrambled eggs despite me saying it's Noddy's favourite food. Today she ate some raspberries for the first time, mostly because I told her they were friends of googleberries (there's a manic Noddy theme here I know , her favourite characters).

Do you think that a total lack of meat, eggs, fish or basically any protein other than milk and cheese will be leaving my dd deficient?

I give mine vitamin syrup to supplement...

ahhh! the joys of motherhood !my son has a very restricted diet of weetabix,toast, dry bread roll.yog.apple and banana, with homemade choc brownies or choc muffins and that is it..!everyday he eats the same thing and has done for the last 4yrs give or take a very slight change..its due partially (i believe) in having reactions to foods when he was a baby plus he is autistic(asperger) we have done two feeding programmes, one local and one at great ormond st hospital and theyve given up on us!! cant help..oh great..so were left to struggle on our own again,he wont try anything let alone even taste it, weve been advised to de-sensitize him regarding food so give this a try..and it can take a few weeks or even months before they will eat it (for most children i add) put a new food on the side of their plate( the size of a crumb)or even next to their plate if they wont tolerate it on their plate. leave it there while they eat normally and then gradually over days they get to touch it ,put it to their lips, smell it , put it on their tongue and finally eat it..i warn you theres a lot of wasted food!! once theyve tried it happily you increase the size of the food and they are asked to eat that before there normal food..that is the important bit ,it has to be before while they are hungry,once theyve eaten it they can eat there own food but stick to it ..their behaviour will become erratic and temper tantrums but hold tight because it will pass(so they say) and you will come out the other side with a child that wil try new things as theyve got over the fear of it ..lots of praise throughout and rewards. involve your child to what the reward should be and be very positive about the whole thing..its extremely stressful..trust me i know but dont let them see you are ,as it s only ammunition for them, if they dont want to eat .fine they spend maximum of 20 mins sitting at the table whether theyve eaten or not but stick to it and the routine will encourage them..i am not intending to be a know all far from it weve tried and failed many times but we keep going and hes 5 now so who knows but its bloody exhausting and i fully sympathise with you all and its nice to see other people writing about their struggles as it gives us something to hang on too knowing were not the only one ..phew that was long ..sorry everyone but i just thought id share what i was taught at GOSH ..good luck evEryone AND JUST WATCH WE`LL SEE THEM GROWN UP ONE DAY WITH DEGREEES ,HIGH POWERED JOBS AND THINK WE HELPED..GOD KNOWS HOW BUT WE DID IT..

Bambi06, Thanks so much for sharing your experience (sorry that sounds really naff, but you know what I mean )I'm going to print off your reply and give it a go!

Thank you

I think I'll try that one too, bambi. BBF maybe we could both try it at the same time and report back to each other?!

OK bluemoon - deffo up for a bit of moral support and supporting!! I'll report back after the weekend!

Good luck

Ok, me too BBF. See you on Monday, if not before!

Ah bliss - bluemoon - my son has gone to his grandparents - I don't have to think about his food today!

Hope you're going ok!

Oh, BBF, AAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, dd had a banana for tea tonight. That was it. She's looking so skinny at the moment.

Any luck, BBF? So far none for me with dd!

Hello, I'm a newwy!
I have just joined as I am at the end of my tether and thought it might help to share experiences with those who understand! My daughter is nearly three and has a very limited diet, the problem is that she will not even try anything new. The only veg she will eat is brocolli (under duress) and the only fruit is apple(again under duress. Teas times are very stressful, my 5 year old eats a good variety of fruit and veg but we cannot persuade the little one. Over the last few days I have started cutting out snacks and treats inbetween meals if the meal isn't eaten. The last 2 nights she has only eaten the meat off her plate and gone hungry, I feel guilty but what can I do? When she was a baby she would eat any wierd and wonderful combination, I have taken to giving her a vitamin daily but this can't be the answer. Any suggestions to a mum who feels like i'm not doing my job properly?

Reviving this thread as I'm at my wit's end. DS at 18 mos seems to have a revulsion for the texture of most solid food. He will eat baby rice cakes, arrowroot biscuits and pizza quite happily but anything else has to be pureed. (sp?) I offer him food off of my plate but he just makes a face and turns his head.

bump

I'm a newie too - and I have a 2.5yr old who is heavily reliant on porridge and marmite sandwiches (ie porridge or marmite sandwiches, not the combination) .

The only comfort I can offer is that my 21 year old stepson was the most fussy child ever. When I met him when he was five he ate cheese & onion crisps and very little else. Last night he sent me an email for Vietnamese marinaded Red Snapper he'd just cooked and told me it was fab! He eats everything (really everything - there is NOTHING he won't eat) and he considers himself the next Jamie Oliver.

There is progress. Eventually!

All I can say is that for 3 years, literally Lottie would not eat a grape. I never stopped offering, I'd leave it 2 weeks, 2 months etc and then suddenly............ they are her favourite food. Same with cheese, and so on. Mashed potato and sweet potato mash, she'd eat till the cows came home until one day it was blanked and so far, to date, she won't eat potato in any form other than smiley faces!