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5yo doesn't like the smell/sight of vegetables

7 replies

givemushypeasachance · 11/03/2025 10:56

5yo boy, a fairly classic case of fussy small child beige eating preferences. The only vegetables he knowingly eats is cucumber, tomatoes and olives. He has some other vegetables hidden - grated up carrot and courgette in bolognaise sauce. He's quite sensitive to smells of things, and if he thinks a smell is "yucky" it will make him gag and be sick. He always had a hair trigger gag reflex for things like bits of tomato skin getting caught at the back of his throat or taking an overly large bite of something, instant vomit. If he smells something like cat food that he doesn't like, boom, is sick.

He has taken to saying that even the sight/smell of vegetables on other peoples' plates is yucky. If he comes to the table and sees e.g. broccoli on another plate, even raw carrot in a bowl on the opposite side of the table, he refuses to sit at the table, cries that it's yucky, and presumably if "forced" to sit there would pretty quickly work himself into being sick. So he eats his dinner on the sofa.

Wondering how to try to work through this, as anything that results in him being sat at the table with other people but then vomiting is clearly not a win, but it's getting quite awkward to try to work around. We've tried things like building a cardboard wall so he can't see it, but he still says he can smell it and gets upset. Even when it's something that doesn't have a strong smell, like raw carrot sticks. Notably if he's distracted and engrossed by something else, he doesn't usually notice it's even there. So it's consciously seeing a vegetable and then deciding he can smell it and it's yucky that's the issue.

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Oioisavaloy27 · 11/03/2025 11:18

Put veg in things like spag ball chopped up small so he won't notice.

Scutterbug · 11/03/2025 11:23

Quite a lot of sensory issues there, is he ND?

givemushypeasachance · 11/03/2025 11:23

Oioisavaloy27 · 11/03/2025 11:18

Put veg in things like spag ball chopped up small so he won't notice.

From my OP - "He has some other vegetables hidden - grated up carrot and courgette in bolognaise sauce." So we're already covering that, he does actually consume vegetables when they're hidden. He just doesn't like seeing/smelling other people having vegetables. There are other people in the house who want to sometimes eat some veg in other ways!

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givemushypeasachance · 11/03/2025 11:31

Scutterbug · 11/03/2025 11:23

Quite a lot of sensory issues there, is he ND?

Nothing diagnosed and no particular concerns raised by childminder or school yet (he's in reception year). As with a lot of kids he ate all sorts of things like fish stew at the childminders that he would never consider at home. He has school dinners and while he's probably not eating veg there I don't think he fusses about seeing it like he does at home. He's a friendly and sociable boy. He was a covid baby so was a bit shy with strangers when he was younger but fine now. He didn't like the noise of hand dryers in toilets when he was a toddler, as the main thing that stood out! He gets quite set ideas in his head about what he wants and likes or doesn't like, but it seems like in a "stubborn 5yo way" rather than a blimey this is a medical issue way.

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lovingtheworld · 11/03/2025 11:45

My son was like this but with sausages.
Any sausage just couldn't stand it.
He's 22 soon and still the same.
I think it was my husband's fault for telling him how they were made.
Op im sure its just a faze and it will get better.

LegoTherapy · 11/03/2025 12:27

I'd be asking for a referral because this sounds like classic ARFID as part of being ND.

Oioisavaloy27 · 13/03/2025 20:41

givemushypeasachance · 11/03/2025 11:23

From my OP - "He has some other vegetables hidden - grated up carrot and courgette in bolognaise sauce." So we're already covering that, he does actually consume vegetables when they're hidden. He just doesn't like seeing/smelling other people having vegetables. There are other people in the house who want to sometimes eat some veg in other ways!

How on earth does he go on in school then? Surely they would be sending him home all the time because he's thrown up?

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