Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Food/recipes

For related content, visit our food content hub.

Flip

Original poster

So how do you do it? How do you encourage your child to try new foods?

22 replies

pinkprincess · 05/01/2010 18:46

My DD is 7 now, and very fussy about what she eats. At the moment, there are only 5 or 6 meals that she would happily eat. But I don't think it's healthy, and I think she should eat more vegetables (that old chestnut!) and worried she's not getting all that she should be. So I was wondering how you encourage your child to try new foods, whether it's vegetables, or fruit, or a new meal? I find it very difficult to get her to try something new, as usually she won't try it even a little bit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

OP posts:

littledawley · 05/01/2010 18:55

It's may be no help to you but I simply don't offer alternatives - we all eat together and dinner is whatever I have decided. I'll usually make sure there is an element that I know they like e.g carrots.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 05/01/2010 19:07

Tell her that it is something special that is just for you and your dh, and she will insist on trying it - well, that's how things worked with my dses - anything on our plates was automatically better than what they'd had (we used to eat later than them, so often had different meals).

Takver · 05/01/2010 19:09

Sounds daft (and a bit of a long term project) but have you tried growing vegetables together - I know a lot of vegetable-phobic children who will happily eat things straight from the plant (peas, beans, broccoli florets etc), especially if they've been involved in growing them.

Batteryhuman · 05/01/2010 19:10

Offer her a taste with the promise that she can spit it out if she wants and doesn't have to swallow it. Keep at it. Keep offering it and just a taste. the 10th or maybe even the 20th taste she will start to like it.

Jojay · 05/01/2010 19:15

Mibe are younger but I bribe them with a treat if they try a mouthful - 'you can have a Jelly Baby if you try it'.

It's probably all wrong and all that. But I find it's the initial trying that's often the problem. If I can get a mouthful in then we're away.

overmydeadbody · 05/01/2010 19:16

I'm with littledawley, just cook new food and new meals, if she only has a few mouthfuls that is fine.

Tell her all she has to do is try ther new food, not eat it all, and tell her that people need 15 exposires to new tastes before they like them or at least get used to them, I have always told me son this, and he perseveres with new food he doesn't like because he understnds that eventually he will grow to accept the taste!

At christmas he had his 5th brussell's sprout ever and said "only ten more tries of this and I'll be eating a whole pile of them"

Not all children are easily swayed though, some really are just fussy regardless of what the parents do, but remember that no child will ever actually starve themselves so if there is no alternative she will eat enough to not go hungry.

choufleur · 05/01/2010 19:20

keep putting things on her plate. even if she doesn't try them.

ditto what takver said about growing food. Ds is quite fussy but will now happily eat peas (i have a never ending supply of our frozen peas in the freezer) before we grew them you would think i was poisoning him if i suggested he taste one. will also eat broad bean cos we grew them.

overmydeadbody · 05/01/2010 19:20

Don't bribe them and don't use sweet stuff as a reward or treat.

The less fuss you make about it the better, just put the food in front of them and leave them to eat it, don't get into a whole battle or make them eat it all or offer alternatives or bribe or threat or shout or throw it all away etc etc

When my DS comments that he doesn't want what I have cooked, I just remind him that not all the meals we have in life are ones that we like or are made up of our favourite food, and to just eat it so as not to be hungry

overmydeadbody · 05/01/2010 19:25

If you can, get your DD involved in the cooking process, and the shopping too and choosing new recipes from cookbooks to try, let her see new foods in their raw and original state, and hoe you cook them to make the meal, that might help her to try the food once it is cooked.

StirlingInDaSnowDrift · 05/01/2010 19:27

Agree with littledawley and omdb - I have always just cooked one meal. I dont offer alternatives. There may be things that each one doesn't like but I dont make a fuss and neither do they. I dont expect them to eat strange things, just normal everyday food.

I must agree with davidtennantsgirl - I love mussels and scallops and, once they see me eating them, they want some too. Costs me a fortune now!!

overmydeadbody · 05/01/2010 19:28

Also, accept that there will be some foods that she simply doesn't like, rather than just being unsure of them because she is unfamiliar with them, and respect this while still every now and then offering her a try.

For example, right from when he was a baby my DS didn't like potatoes, so mostly I don't cook with potatoes, and if I do I just put them on his plate but wouldn't make him eat them and would maybe give him more of the other parts of the meal instead (like when we have a roast he has more yorkshire puds and no roast potatoes)

indignatio · 05/01/2010 19:29

"your taste buds change as you get older, so it worth trying this again to se if you have grown into it"

has worked with shellfish, olives, curry, baked beans and sushi

however the line "you don't like the bubbles " also seems to work to keep ds off coke

Depends if your child is suggestible

HarrogateMum · 05/01/2010 19:35

I say "who is going to be brave and try a prawn/avocado/smoked mackerel etc" and they all clamour to try it. Then they normally take a tentative bite and end up saying "hmmmmm........ I like it". Job done!

120cms · 05/01/2010 19:49

I am also in the 'try one mouthful' camp. Then the option to spit it out is there, but it must be tried. I also try and let them see me eating a wide variety of things and eat food with them.

I try not to be swayed in what I'll cook by what they will eat, because that way does lie a path of fussy eating (plus its enough that my DP doesn't like seafood so we never really have any, without my children turning into little food dictators). I am frequently, genuinely surprised by what they like and will eat. I'm afraid I do offer an alternative such as fruit as I think it is more important that they eat something than exactly what I have cooked. I do refuse to cook pasta instead these days, as that is all they would eat, given the choice.

Original poster

pinkprincess · 05/01/2010 20:45

Thanks everyone!

I did consider the just cooking and no alternatives route, but I don't want DD to go hungry if she choose not to, although I suppose if I make a meal and ensure there is something on there that she will certainly eat, that would be better.

I have tried the mouthful before, but it hasn't gotten very far. Although maybe that's not me keeping at it.

Unfortunately she's an only child, so I can't get other siblings to encourage her, and I live in a flat, otherwise the growing our own vegetables would be a fantastic idea (I would love to do that hehe), although I suppose we can start with cress.

Thanks everyone!

OP posts:

Takver · 05/01/2010 21:06

Maybe sprout beansprouts too - they're great fun, and definitely healthy

come to that if she takes to them you can sprout all sorts of things . . .

littledawley · 06/01/2010 07:37

Don't worry about her starving either - in our culture children only need something like every third meal. My DD is fussier than DS (I think it's just age) so I just make her try a little of everything on her plate and really don't worry about the quantity. I will also happily say that there is nothing else if she doesn't eat her dinner but I do have the incentive of big brother tucking into fruit or yogurt or jelly for pud which tends to spur her on

piscesmoon · 06/01/2010 07:48

She won't starve! I serve the same for everyone and then I have done my bit! They have the choice of take it or leave it-it is entirely up to them and I don't discuss it. DO NOT give snacks. Don't overface-put things in bowls and let her help herself.

Adair · 06/01/2010 08:16

What others have said. I was a very fussy child and have taken some things from that I want to aim to do with mine (though they are younger)

my ideas are
-familiarity (cooking, naming, growing, seeing, sharing different foods even if you don't actually eat them)
-making food fun/normal, happy occasion
-one meal for everyone (yes, taking into account making sure everyone has something they will eat). i do occasionally cook for dc separately but only if we are having takeaway later or something.
-always put food on her plate but don't insist (though I do firmly encourage) that she eats/tries everything. Dd is 3.5 and has never really liked red peppers - except since last week .
-(try to) relax. easier said than done, i know.

in essence, there needs to be a relaxed, non-pressured opportunity to try something new.

chummum · 06/01/2010 08:29

Our son was quite bad with trying new food and I put him on school dinner lunches. Obviously because he is hungry and will at least try what they have put in front of him not wanting to upset teachers etc. It has made a big difference. Now sometimes he will say "I tried blah blah today and it is nice, can you cook that mum?"

highhorse · 06/01/2010 08:47

If you're worried about her not eating, just ensure you cook her favourite meals every so often.

Since starting to eat the same food, en famille, my picky eaters have improved a LOT.

Also - think what might make them enjoy a new meal - if they like apples, try pork and apple casserole for example.

Original poster

pinkprincess · 08/01/2010 14:19

Thanks again everyone.

Chummum, my DD is on school dinners as well as I think it encourages her to try new foods, although she usually opts for the meal that she is familar with.

But shall do the family dinners, and hope for the best!! I tried her yesterday with sausages and she did take a bite out of it but said she didn't like it. I may try them a couple of times just in case it's a "this is new, I don't think I like it" reaction, or if it is genuinely she doesn't like them.

But thanks, I feel a bit more confident now, so thank you everyone again

OP posts:

Flip