21 month old and fruit 'n' veg.....help

[Whinnyburn7]

Looking for some tips on how to encourage my 21 month old to eat fruit and veg. He eats banana but any 'wet' fruit he spits out straight away. Veg he will eat no problem if its in soup but very rarely eats it if its on his plate in a meal. I work evenings so his dad is in charge of dinners who unfortunately isn't the best cook!! And I am a chocaholic so my child seems to have a bit of a sweet tooth. Any advice or tips? Thanks!!

Hi Whinnyburn7
You would think by now that the wee ones would have got used to eating most foods but it doesn't work as easy as that I think. My wee boy is nearly 23months and I think we are getting there but it's been slow. And then just when you think you have found what they like, they change their minds again!
Strange things that I don't understand are he likes corn on the cob when he picks it up and bites it but he won't eat sweetcorn (frozen or out a tin!). Some food he only eats when he feeds himself, others he will only eat if I feed it to him. Infuriating? Definitely!
Advice that has worked for me though wasn't the answer that I wanted, is just to keep trying and try different fruit and veg in different ways. Not easy when you work nights I know but keep it simple and try things that don't require a lot of effort so if he doesn't eat them, you didn't spend hours preparing them! Try fruit cut into bite size pieces - kiwi, satsuma segments, banana, apple (peeled), strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes. The tubs of mixed fruit you can get in the supermarket are great too as you can try lots of different fruits without having to buy and prepare them all (at least until you find out what he likes).
For veg, try broccoli or cauliflower florets (steamed or boiled), peas, avocado, potato (peeled and mashed or in chunks), hmm, we still struggle a bit with veg to be honest but I keep coming back to them. Oh, cucumber and courgette sticks or chunky slices (a big hit), celery sticks too. Mine still won't eat carrot, however I do it.
A couple books to get from the library are The River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook (by Nikki Duffy) and Baby-Led Weaning (by Gill Rapley), both of which have good advice on how to encourage them to eat and also have great recipes too.
Let me know if you have any luck with any of that! I know the same things don't work for everyone but it's worth trying, he might surprise you!
One last thing, try offering the fruit or veg on their own as a snack or at the start of a meal before the other food is given. Hunger is great at making them try different things. My wee boy will happily eat broccoli on its own but as soon as he sees the mince or rice he just eats that so worth trying that too.
Good luck! X

I agree with SingingChippie - try, try, and try again!

My kids are 8yo and 10yo. The younger, DS, eats fruit but no veg. None. I hide it in things like bolognese and he does eat soup, but I can't get a bit of broccoli past his lips. He still gets it on his plate though, and occasionally he takes a nibble or a sniff.

DD eats loads of veg - her favourite lunch is a bowl of tinned sweetcorn.

I'd say keep offering it to him. You could try desserts - melted chocolate and dip strawberries or bananas into them. It might be that he doesn't like the texture of the fruit, but that the chocolate will overcome that ;)

Sneaky, I know, but worth a try.

How are you getting on with getting your wee boy to eat his fruit and veg? Any luck so far?