Can I get a sense of perspective from you? How bad is it that my DS1 will not eat any veg?

[Chooster]

I've been worrying about it for ages and I think the things I'm doing are only making his dislike of veggies worse by turning it into a big deal if you know what I mean.

He's 3.9 yrs and has always been not that interested in food generally - even as a baby. I thought most kids where like this til I had DS2 (7 months) who opens his mouth whenever the spoon comes near!

Anyway, DS1 eats; wholemeal bread, all diary products, most fruit, pasta, fish, chicken, rice when with something like chilli etc. But he wont even entertain the idea of a carrot! The only veg he gets is what I hide in things like chilli or from hummus etc.

My DH tells me not to worry about it as he'll grow into eating veg at some point but I feel like I should be doing something to encourage him. Would you just leave him be for a while or try some new tactics - and if so what!!! . He does't eat raw veg sticks or veg in cheese sauce, or when his friends are doing it either.

Thanks!

If he's taking veg hidden in a meal, then I wouldn't worry for the time being. Sounds a fairly balanced diet at the moment. Stressing about things will only make it worse for him - as I think you've already found out.

My ds1 is fairly picky, and I grew heartily sick of having carrots and broccoli at every meal because they were the only vegetables he would eat. He had become suspicious of me hiding veg in dishes! Backing off for a few months made quite a difference, and he eventually tried other foods. Sometimes I use blatant bribery for things that I thought he would be very likely to like - eg one Smartie for every cherry he ate. He ate 11 Smarties . And now he likes cherries. Otherwise, once things had settled down, I would try one new thing every few weeks, insist only that he taste it - he didn'thave to eat it, even if he liked it. H

He's much better now, and since he started school he has improved further. I ddin't give him a choice, he has school dinners not pack lunmch. This way he eats with his peers and tries a range of foods. This has worked too, he tries more foods now, and also accepts that the occasional pea, say, in his stew doesn't poison the whole plateful. "If you don't like it, leave it at the side of the plate, but don't make a fuss about it".

Will he take soup? Someone once gave me advice to give the kids lots of soup. It will be a habit of a lifetime if you can get them to take it. And it will also give them a taste for the veggies in time.

Have you tried arranging it into a smily face or the like/ to make it more interesting looking? Or get him to prepare it - make dips and hoummous or something. My 2 girls will eat most things that they prepare themselves.

I would recommend not getting into a stress about it. Offer vegetables at every meal - i.e. have some on his plate. And make no fuss if he doesn't eat it. Eventually he may try it. I know it sounds wasteful - but he won't try it if it's not there iyswim

My DS eats

Cucumber
Apples
Satsumas
Bananas
Pears
Melon
Chicken Kiev
Garlic Bread
Chicken nuggets
Fish fingers
Sausages
Bread - only like brown
Cake & Biscuits and Crisps
Chips
Smilley faces
Cheese
Yogurt

He has tried rice, pasta and potato at school but refuses to eat it at home - he tried a carrot last week too and made me go and buy some and then I cooked those and he refused to eat them!

Have given up and hope that he will get there in his own time.

He is happy and healthy though and that is all that matters forcing them is the worst thing you can do apparently!

my dd eats no veg , she is 5, and is not 'into' food.

I gave up. I see other mum's and their kids seem to enjoy food. My dd wil hopefully get round to thinking about maybe trying some one day. I don't bother worrying about it anymore.

I have said this on another thread, my sis is a real foodie, a chef and no vegetable passed her lips till she was about 8!!!!

I worry about this too, as dd eats hardly any veg. I try to compensate by giving her fresh fruit at every meal and a multi-vitamin daily, but am sure her diet is missing important elements. TBH, I've given up for now as I couldn't bear the mealtime conflict/tension. I'm hoping it's just a phase, but she's now 7....

Mine don't eat that many. But they have accepted over the years that when I put some of the limited number they will eat on their plates,that they must eat them. No argument. I don't hide veg as I want them to get used to eating it and perhaps, when pigs start to fly, be prepared to try new ones

If I were you I'd persist with putting veg on his plate, trying different sorts, and encourage him (not force or get upset) him to try them, but no big deal if he doesn't. And let him see you eat them. Don't give up - he needs to they are a normal part of his diet. Soup is a good option - you can add carrots, onions, squash, peppers etc to soup if you puree it. And encourage fruit eating as much as possible.

What's worked for me is keeping on putting the things on the plate that I want him to eat but not ever pushing him or even encouraging him. I just put it there.

Sometimes he has just suddenly (after literally months) picked something up and tried it.

Now that he's older, six this year, I sometimes just conversationally say "oh you haven't tried your sprout, I love sprouts" and I think because I've never forced it he trusts that it is just me being genuine and not trying to force something, he has always picked it up and had a go.

He will now eat most veg that I put on the plate for him. I think it's worked well for me - he DID have that fussy toddler phase so it's not as if he's been totally easy about it.

Do you tend to eat with him? I posted a similar thread a few months back, more based around my girls only having picnic style meals, lots of veg and fruit but very little meat! Toddlers, they're nuts aren't they!

I find that if I sit down with the girls and eat with them, putting veg in one bowl, pasta in another, sauce in another - they are more likely to take a bit of each and try them all. One of them now wolfs down broccoli because she's seen how much DH likes it and because she can choose how much or little she has rather than being dished it.

We also try smiley faces on plates, with tomatoes for eyes, cucumber without skin for mouth etc...

I think if he's having lots of veg in sauces etc he's doing okay though - his diet sounds vary varied and balanced to me.

My dd was like this, but has now just started (she's just turned 4) to eat unwhizzed up vegetables.

She found a bit of unwhizzed red pepper in her chilli the other day and told me it was yummy. Cue lots of peppers, and me calling aubergines and courgettes peppers as well .

My daughter doesn't eat many vegs. SHe's nine now and hasn't had a day off school for sickness for some years now She works well at school and loves sport.

Obviously she's doing just fine.

Don't worry about it--they seem to be very good at extract the nourishment they need!

Chooster, just keeping offering little amounts, but don't insist.

If it is already a sticking point between you and ds, I would just back off for a few months completely, like PrettyCandles said, and see if he has a rekindling of interest. Otherwise, just not give him any veg at all, and if he asks, just say, "Mummy and Daddy like it. But I thought you didn't?" A bit of reverse psycology.

Other tactics, include making him eat with other children who clearly eat and enjoy their veg. My dd 4.7 eats great at school/nursery because of this competitive keeping-up-with-peers things. She won't even look at veg (and more) at home.

Also, they get a bit funny sensory-wise about food around this age. So, like hattyyellow, keep everything separate and distinct and quite plain. Separate veg from other food, no gravy nor bits of things, like herbs knocking around.

Your ds sounds fine, really.

I had the same experience. basically DD1 (5) only eats bland food. She will only eat veg carrots, beans, etc. raw, peas frozen [hmmm] - she eats a range of fruit, but only if it is perfect. She will never eat meat (except odd chicken nugget), used to eat fish fingers (but not if they are brown).

dd2 (15 months) eats everything from hot curries to chicken bones, and any fruit or veg.

I didn't worry about dd1, but lately it has become an issue. When she gets a cold she is even more picky. I took her for blood tests because she was not recovering well, and was constantly tired. Turns out she has anemia. Now I feel like the worst mother in the world for not forcing her to eat stuff

She's now having vit and iron supplements daily - can't believe I didn't do it sooner.

If he's healthy, don't worry. But I would consider about adding supplements in the winter. (I add liquid iron to her apple juice and to chocolate cakes as well).

I was a picky eater (not quite as bad) but my parents ate healthily and I now eat healthily and just about everything. I think the most important thing is that your children see you eat well, and are offered healthy food. Eventually (fingers crossed) they will join you

My Dd is 10 and hasn't eaten a fruit or vegetable since she was a year old. she does have them on her plate, we eat together and she does occasionally try new things (she bit into a tomato and vomited over the plate).
I've told her she will get scurvey and threatened her with freaky eaters.
She also doesn't eat any dairy and only chicken.
despite all this she recently had some blood tests (for a different problem) which surprisingly were all totally normal.
amazing!
your ds sounds like a goodun. and he may well get on with vegetables in the future.

my dd will eat no fruit except a nibble of apple and banana.

no veg except sometimes broccoli

that's it. no more

she'll eat
pasta, rice, noodles, potatoes,
usual crap like chips
fishfingers
salmon
waffles
pancakes
bread
honey
cornflakes
chicken

sweets of course, jelly, icecream, chocolate yogurt

sometimes accepts a sauce on her rice/pasta like bolognese, chilli, curry

she has the worst diet known to mankind

i am ashamed

but i will not stress......this too shall pass

keep offering and hiding and hoping!

I put a serving bowl of veggies on the table and let DD (2.4) help herself to them. She really likes having the control over what she eats and feels like a "big girl" and now eats tons of vegetables. I do the same with fruit. Prepare a big fruit salad and put in a bowl and put a tub of natural yoghurt on the table. DD helps herself to bothand eats far more than she would if I dished it up for her.

his diet does sound pretty good tbh

want to swap!?

the whoel5 bits a day is myth isnt it afaik

It's so hard to do nothing isn't it? His diet sounds pretty good (if limited), and I would def swap it for my dd's any day!

My GP told me that for small kids, as long as they are eating some fruit, and are offered veg, and food is not replaced with sweets/crap, then its fine if they don't eat veg.

Your DS's diet sounds fine to me. He will get less picky in his own time. For my DD it was when we stopped stressing, and when she started nursery and ate meals there.

totally a myth, cod. afaik it was based on some govt or other looking at a greek diet and concluding that they ate about 3 serves of veg per day and that was good going but in the usual health servicey way they said 'i know, let's make it 5 and then some of the poor, stupid, slobbering, lardy fools we call citizens will eat 3 and be healthier while feeling like failures'. ta-daaah! an introduction to govt policy-making for ya there.

in Australia it's 7 a day (5 fruit, 2 veg) - can't see how it can be classed as a 'myth' as such. I mean, sure there is no 'magic' number, but eating more fruit and veg can only improve health, surely?

I think its the "Toddler Taming" book, or it might be "Raising Boys" are they both by Steve Biddulph(?) which floats a theory that maybe kids that age don't really need that much vegetables.. because so many kids just won't eat them and suffer no apparent ill-effects.
The book also pointed out that you can live for 20-odd purely on water !
So don't stress too much. Keep offering, tiny portions, just "a bit to try" .
I actually explained to DS that you need to try things lots of times, before you like them, (I read 13 somewhere) and he does now like lots of things that he used to hate.

My ds is 5 and refuses to eat any veg except raw carrott. I have given up trying. I was the same apparantly and still hate veg, but I do force myself to eat it now!

well the magic number 5 is a myth, as is the magic number 7. people, particularly mothers, get very upset/anxious about it, when the only reason the target has been instituted is that the government wants us to eat more veg but thinks we're too stupid to absorb that message without attaching a value to it.

Well my DH is an extremely healthy athletic man (far more healthy than me tbh) with a very broad palate who will eat absolutely anything.

Imagine my surprise when my MIL commented the other day that he didn't eat a single vegetable until he was 10! (I think she may have been exaggerating slightly but I guess the general trend is true). She said she didn't worry about it because he ate so much spaghetti hoops and at least they have tomato in