So HOW do I get DD to try new foods....

[MunchMummy]

She started getting fussy at 18 months. Eats alot of things, but will NOT eat meat. Apart from sausages and fishfingers that is.

She's 4 next week and I'm just wondering how I can get her to try new things. I think if she could just get it into her mouth she'd decide its quite nice and get used to it and maybe even like it.

Sweets, puddings, timeout etc don't work. Even DD2 eating all her food doesn't work.

Any ideas????? Or will she grow out of it?

Anyone - the football can't be that interesting.....

Just serve it up to her. Dont make a fuss abou tit, just have it on the plate. If she mentions it just say "well I put it there as I thought you might like to try it" end of. She might get curious and try it. She will either like it or not. If she doesnt try it or DOES and doesnt like it, just say "ok just leave it at the side of your plate then" No discussion, no forcing etc. Just make sure there is at least one thing on the plate she does like. She honestly isnt going to starve herself and I have read (somewhere?!?) that it takes about 20 exposures to a new food for a child to 'accept' it. It may take a while, but you never know...she may surprise you1 (as long as there is no pressure iyswim?)

Was going to add, eating and toileting are such battle grounds because at that age, they are the only things WE as parents cannot gain control over. We cant MAKE them wee or poo and we cant MAKE them eat, iyswim? So if you back off totally and make sure she is otherwise getting all her vitamins and a balanced meal, then let her have her control (which is actually OURS but they dont know that!) For example, give her fish fingers for lunch so that you know she has had a 'decent' meal and then give her something different at dinner. That way you know all bases are covered. Does that make sense?

MM, my DS1 is nearly 5 and today ate the very first pea he has ever eaten. Won't eat fruit, most vegetables and loads of other stuff, despite the act we grow a lot of our own.

I think you just have to patient, and just give her the food that she will eat for now. She will grow out of it

This is probably very bad parenting practice but DS1 is quite fussy with food and there is a limited number of dishes he is guaranteed to eat. If I were to serve him up something new there is no way I can imagine he would just try it, so usually I dont bother.

However most recentley the way we have got him to try new things is that if DP and I are eating something different to DS (which happens quite often when we get sick of spaghetti!) then he will sometimes ask to try what we're having. As a result he is now eating a lot more meat than he was previously (I am still praying that one day he will ask to try a piece of brocolli or similar mind you!).

I suppose because he doesn't feel he is expected to eat it then the pressure is off. If he tries it and doesn't like it we say nothing.

I know that getting food off other people's plates is not an ideal, but if you have an older DC it might also seem to make it more appealing?!

Many thanks everyone. I do try to ignore the fact she rarely eats much evening meal, but its hard when she's just a slight thing already. I know she'll probably just grow out of it, but why can't she just tuck into meat like her 2yr old sister who eats it with gusto.

I will try ignoring her harder keep on waiting for the magic day she happily starts to just try things.

Many thanks everyone

MunchMummy my dd is the same, and has just turned 4. I take comfort from the fact that she has tried some new things in the past few months, like cashew nuts, custard, cheese. Hmm perhaps she likes foods starting with c?!

She doesn't eat any of those 'new' foods with regularity though. If she was hungry and was given a bowl of custard with apple pie, and knew nothing else was forthcoming, she would have some.

We did try and force the issue, we did a star chart, bought some toys and treats for the star chart, and served her unfamiliar food for every meal. Often if she refused it, the same thing would be made afresh for her next meal.

Well she ate very little several days. She got one star on her chart for trying celery - fucking celery, not the protein and carb filled new food I had hoped she would eat. She cried. She was hungry. It went against every instinct I have. Then I noticed she had a little temperature and seemed unwell, so we called the whole thing off. Towards the end of the evening we twigged that she had Norovirus, which I quickly came down with too.

I regret trying to 'force' her. If I offer her new foods now, I do it one new food out of say 3 / 4 foods on her plate, and I have to reassure her that I won't force her and that it is her choice, but she can't have her doughnut unless she tries a bit of pasta. She refuses, eats all her normal foods, and gets her doughnut after her next meal.

At least we know where we all stand!

I am just glad that she doesn't appear to be phobic about any foods, she does not feel that she has a 'problem' with food and as much as it worries me sometimes that her diet is too restricted, I remind myself that it is her choice and that a great many other children her age are just the same.

As long as she is getting a decent range of carbs, protein, bit of dairy, cereal, and fruit and veg (and she is big on fruit and veg it's the rest she struggles with!) and seems full of energy and has a good appetite, I am okay honest even though she is a bit on the skinny side for a kid her age, mind you she is a bit tall for her age too and had always been long and lean.

In short, I think she'll grow out of it.

Disclaimer: when I say 'force' I mean saying 'this is what is for lunch' and that's it, no alternatives.

Thanks Nemofish - that sounds exactly the same as we have.

My DH says don't worry too much, as shes not thin, has tonnes of energy and is always alert, so there can't be anything wrong with her.

Sigh, back to sarnies this lunchtime then with fruit and cheese.

My dd decided to go veggie at 18 months too. People look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that, but after a visit to the local 'farm' type thing, she refused her chicken and made clucking noises, saying 'no, mummy, no' and pushing it away, did the same for fish (with fish 'bob bob bob' noises) the next day and that was it from then on.

Dh is a vegetarian so he thought it was great, I will eat almost anything am not so I was a bit more

But what can you do?!

Hi Munchmummy, my DS is 4 in October and any new food is stared at, asked what it's called and then we are informed that he doesn't like it... end of. BUT this morning I had a breakthrough, went for his normal cereal and had forgotten the box was empty... panic... made him a Weetabix (DD's cereal) and asked him if he wanted to try a special new thing called Breakfast Biscuits.

Biscuits, I like biscuits, he says and has a look, is that weetabix he asks suspiciously and informs me he doesn't like weetabix, no I tell him, it's breakfastbix, special breakfast biscuits for good lucky boys. So he tried it and low and behold he loves breakfastbix!

So that is my new plan, give it a funny name, which relates it to something he really likes and make out it's a treat! I always said I'd never lie to my children but that went out the window years ago and he ate it so I don't care!!

Get a friends Mum to serve it!

Seriously, DS's friend was strictly sausages & fishfingers. He came to tea regularly and we got fed up, so gave him spag bol. He said "Yum" and ate it & his Mum nearly fainted when U told her.

The next week he ate Chicken Korma with us!

DS would try anything that we had 3 coloured rice with - he was fascinated with the stuff so you could mix anything in, then tell him after that he now liked X, Y or Z

It's odd. I tried for years to get DS eating salad, but on a camping trip he tried some friends Baby leaf mix & asked why we didn;t get that at home.....

My DS1 is fussy but getting gradually better (he's 3.5). I try to follow the same approach as Nemofish -- he has a roster of about 6 hot meals that he will willingly eat, and I try to put something new in front of him every few days, but I put it on a separate plate, explain what it is and say that he doesn't have to eat it if he doesn't want to. But if he does eat it then pudding gets upgraded from yoghurt to chocolate custard.

This has led to him trying quite a few new things and one or two have gone down well enough to be added to the menu.

He also likes choosing food so eg I will make a big deal of a trip to the supermarket where he can pick out a different kind of fruit or pasta shape etc to have with his tea.

lol at the upgraded pudding.

I should mention that yesterday dd ate a cracker with poppy seeds in it and ate another two with her lunch today. Which is amazing, considering that they have 'black bits' in them.

I think she has sussed my talk name and password and is reading all my threads

Not really, she's only 4!