NOW CLOSED Tell Cathedral City's Chedds your top tips for fussy eaters and win a £100 Space NK voucher!

[KatieBMumsnet]

We've been asked by the folks at Chedds, the kids' cheese snacking brand from Cathedral City, to find out your top tips for fussy eaters.

So, if you've ever had to or thought about how you'd deal with a "fussy eater" - what advice do you give other Mumsnetters with a fussy eater at home? What tips can you share to help make this easier to deal with?
For example, do you sneak carrots into mashed potatoes or disguise peppers in a bolognaise sauce? Do you try to alter the texture, colour or taste of certain foods? Do you make food into smiley faces? How would you get nutritious snacks into lunch boxes or for picnics? Or do you simply ignore the fuss?

Everyone who adds their comments to the thread below will be entered into a prize draw, where one MNer will win a £100 Space NK voucher.

Please note that some of the tips posted here may be published on the Chedds pages on Mumsnet.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

We always was together as a family, and eat the same things as each other.

Only one meal served, but I never insist it is all eaten. As long as a reasonable meal has been eaten that's fine, and as hard as it is, I don't make a big deal of things being rejected.

Praise for trying something new, but no significant comment for not trying things (Ds 3yo).

I rebrand things sometimes though for example broccoli becomes little trees, carrot or cucumber circles become moons, etc

My favourite fussy eating story is that of a friend whose mother was reduced to stirring mince and vegetables into fruit yoghurt. As an adult he has never seemed at all picky to me and is well travelled so has probably eaten all sorts of odd things in Africa and elsewhere.

Inviting her friends round for meals has encouraged dd to be more adventurous. Also, as she is a contrary madam, on occasion I have said she doesn't like something and she has tried it and triumphantly told me she does like it.

When we make pizza, I often put carrots and lentils in the pizza sauce and whizz it up. DD has no idea and it is pretty tasty actually.

I do a hidden veg sauce which I use as a base for pasta dishes, pizzas, etc which my DS never complains about but if he saw a piece of pepper in his pasta sauce he wouldn't eat it!

Soup is another favourite in our house, I just ask what 'colour' soup he wants and i'll make it for him.

I used to worry all the time about his fussy eating when he was younger and would end up making a couple of meals a night to try and get him to eat something but I don't do that now and try and eat with him so he sees me eating the food i'm trying to get him to eat.

Give them a choice between two things you want them to eat. Fool 'em into thinking they're making the decision

My children will eat literally anything if I grate cheese on it and melt it under the grill. Stuff they would usually turn their noses up at (baked beans in the case of number 1 ds, and just about every vegetable known to humankind in the case of number 2 ds)- they wolf it down if it's got hot bubbling cheese on it. Maybe it's not that good for them but I don't care!

I take them to the supermarket and get them to choose their own fruit and veg from the displays and pick and choose from the children's ready meals. If I can go the supermarket and be seduced by the packaging and fresh produce displays then they must be susceptible too! They have to try everything, just one bite, and if they like it, I then make my own homemade version. Seems to be working!

Try to eat together as a family as much as possible. Involve your DC in preparing meals, talk to them about what you are going to cook. Try to make mealtimes a positive experience.

My DD was excessively fussy and when she was a toddler I had no idea how to introduce her to new dishes as she rejected most things. The very best advice I was given was that when you introduce a new food it should always be together with something they already like. So for example if they have never eaten lasagne but love chips - serve the two together. Don't necessarily expect them to eat the new food the first time you serve it. Let them touch it, smell it, talk about it and generally get them used to having the new food on their plate.

The other good advice I remember is that the only bad food is no food at all. Don't worry about serving chips and chocolate - obviously not together and not all the time to the exclusion of anything else!! Go with what they like but always keep introducing different foods (and more healthy options) as well.

DS1 is a fussy eater, what has worked with him is:

1. Put the the food on a kebab stick, he'll eat anything that way! Works well with fruit, veg, chicken pieces etc

2. No sauces: He seems to prefer "dry" food as do his fussy eating friends

3. No snacking between meals:He'll eat more variety if he's hungry

4. Let him chose his own dinners in the supermarket then help cook it at home. This works well if there is a fish/meat/deli counter: He really surprises me sometimes ("I want fish with eyes for dinner mummy")

5. No fuss and no pudding if he does not at least try a new food.

6. Eat together as a family, make it a nice experience.

My two dds are both quite fussy, and particularly for dd1 anything mixed up or in a sauce is a real no no! Dd2 is more adventurous and I put that down to blw!

My best tips are to get the children to help make the food themselves - seems to make them feel obliged to actually try, and possibly!, like it. Also, anything in breadcrumbs seems to work for us - so any new fish/meat/mashed up veg in breadcrumbs seems to be more appealing and go down better than served in its plain state.

Blimey, loads of things!

1. Brocolli in mashed potatoe. For three years my son was convinced that mashed potato had green flecks in it.

1. Act totally blasé if inwardly stressing that they won't eat what's been put in front of them.

1. Eat at a table, with no distractions. Keep conversation flowing. "What was the best/worst part of your school day" is a good one.

1. As a previous poster said, make pictures with the meal. Bit of effort but worth it (and fun!). Green beans make great arms/legs. Mash is clouds or any base. Carrots make eyes, wheels. Brocolli for grass/trees etc etc

1. Play "Guess what I ate?" Slurp spaghetti, make food fun.

1. Most important, stick to rules. If you decide that there's no pudding if dinner isn't eaten then STICK TO IT.

Not much seems to work at the moment, but this one is doing ok. Dd is currently very much into the Dinosaurs Love Underpants book. So, when I served up something and she said no, I made it some underpants made of cheese and plonked them on her food.

Yep, she ate it!

Also, she refused to have breakfast this morning. I asked if she'd like a snack instead and she said yes. It was the same food!

I honestly don't know if DD's unfussiness is nature or nurture, though I strongly suspect the former.

However, for the record, this is what wwe did.

1. I ate strong foods while breastfeeding. I don't know if it makes a difference, but she must have imbibled blue cheese and curry with the milk somewhere

1. We never said "You won't like that"

1. As far as practical, she always ate the same as us, and in the same format. So, for example, she was weaned on asparagus spears, not pureed asparagus.

1. Teddys, as we all know, LOVE green trees (broccoli)

1. Messy though it could be, she was encouraged to 'help' with cooking. Often a vast amount of raw veg or grated cheese had gone down in bits and pieces before the cooked arrived.

1. We loved all you can eat buffets. They are great places to experiment with new foods in a stress free environment. Our local Vietnamese was regularly visited on a Saturday for a cheap fill up for the adults and lots of tiny portions of interesting stuff for the small one to try out.

1. Finally, we lived by the toddler mantra that "Food is always yummier off Mummy's plate, even if it looks exactly the same as mine". This still works now that she is 10. (Child ate half my ossu bucco that DH had lovingly made for me as a treat last week )

This is a really interesting thread as I would, and still do describe myself as a 'fussy eater'. My parents who are, and were as a child lovely, however they made a massive fuss of meal times as I didn't eat a lot and was considered 'fussy' as I am a natural and lifelong vegeatarian and not a big eater (no one in my original family or my own family is now) so I did stand out. Looking back at this I think 'So who made the fuss? 'So I am coming at this from a diffent angle perhaps.

My advice which I follow with my own two DSs is be as relaxed as possible, encourage them to try foods but dont make a big deal of 'forcing' to eat or finishing food. I genuinely think children eat more naturally than we do, they eat when hungry without following the three meal a day rule which is ingrained in a lot of us adults. They do have preferences which as long as it isnt all cake/sweets I tend to gear towards their needs and wants. We do have a naturally healthy diet which I worry sometimes doesnt include enough meat but they do eat lots of fish, sausages and mince but we are biased towards cheese, pasta, fruit, vegetables. We are a long way from perfect though with a fair amount of chocolate and ice cream as well!

I am not a fan of sneaking food into other stufff as it was done to me and then I got told about and it put me off for life (eg eggs) but that might just be me!

In summary the overall best tip I have found is to limit the treats that are available in the house though I do have some . Then you naturally lean towards bananas, cheese, other fruit, breakfast cereal when they are hungry which satisfies them more anyway and makes me feel less guilty.

I refuse to turn mealtimes into a battleground. Food refusal by my 2yo is met by complete indifference from me. I'm not his waitress and if he doesn't like what's offered then he can't be hungry, right?

We do have a 'Clean Plate Club' where if he eats everything given he can choose a treat, usually berries or cheese and crackers or something vaguely healthy like that.

I also like taking him to the local old-fashioned greengrocers where the lovely owner tells him about all the different veg and he gets to choose something himself for his tea. I've got beetroot and celeriac down him this way!

Mine eats dairy in all forms and raspberries at the moment but isn't that keen on much else really, unless it is fruit leather buttons, chocolate or other rubbish foods!
About 2 days a week she eats a real meal of meat, veg and all, the rest of the time she picks at spagetti with tomato sauce which is vaguely acceptable on the off days! This has plenty of hidden veg and often a bit of bacon too.
She is only just two and I have to agree with OvO About the control aspect and the small bowls, mine was very happy to be grown up and serve herself on Sunday........
So.. Personal choice, tasty healthy mixtures, hidden good stuff and not making it an issue in summation!

Lucky to have non fussy eaters, but I do respect the food they genuinely dislike - mushrooms for DD, onions for other DD. I didn't give 'children's' meals very often right from the start (fish fingers, spagetti hoops etc) so there was little transition. We have always all tried new ingredients, I let them choose wierd and wonderful fruit or veg when they were small and we would all have a taste. We still regularly try olives when at Italian restaurants, and all still hate them!
I agree with the other posters not to get stressed with mealtimes, it took a close friend a long time to realise that by punishing, keeping them at the table til they've finished etc was all exhausting and unproductive!
Keeping positive, not being fussy ourselves, it all helps.

I know it varies by child, and in the extended family we have a fussy eater who only eats beige food at 18 (no joke, I have never seen him eat any fruit or veg, or anything that needed chewing. And yes, totally NT).

But I do think that by modelling enthusiastic good eating, sharing food with children from the start of weaning, providing exposure to a variety of food, and not letting them fill up on easy food like breads in preference to others helps.

My DS, who's 4, can be quite fussy. He won't really eat meat, which I don't have a problem with, as I was veggie for years, and he likes fish and eggs, so I don't think there should be iron/protein issues.

He's very unpredictable with food. One week he'll eat a whole plate of something, and the next he'll say he doesn't like it.

I hide lots of veggies in things, and ignore it when he won't eat. I don't think food battles are good for anyone. He doesn't get offered an alternative though, if he doesn't want what we're all having for dinner. We try to eat together every night, which he likes, and sitting down together at the table really helps him to try new things.

I'd never force a child to eat something they genuinely hated. I always had to eat everything as a child, and still remember mealtimes as a horror of gagging over being forced to eat onions, which I now know I have a massive intolerance to.

I used to call ravioli "mummy's sweets", sweetcorn "pirates gold" and peas "green coal" to get ds to eat them when he was younger. It doesnt work now he's 6, but now he knows that he likes them. but I dont MAKE him eat anything. I am a recovering anorexic and am very aware of warped food relationships.

I have started pureeing tons of veg into a bolognaise sauce. My kids eat brocolli, peas, sweetcorn, carrot, green beans - but they would not eat courgette, celery, mushrooms, spinach, cabbage, onions etc. (despite eating them happily as babies...started getting fussy around 1.5).

A favourite game I used to play with ds1 when he was little and I had time! We called it 'The special treat game' and I would have 6 coloured cups turned upside down on a tray. Underneath each cup was a surprise (bit of food). He chose whichever cup he wanted and would then eat what was underneath before moving onto the next cup. Not allowed to turn another cup till you've eaten that one up. It was great fun and he really loved it. We'd do it instead of lunch sometimes. I would put things like chopped up carrots, raisins, a chocolate, chopped up cheese, a cracker, nuts etc. etc.

My DS seems to go through phases where he eats loads and everything, and other times when he's reeeeally fussy. I try to relax and not react if my DS is being fussy over food. It can be hard to do as I know if he doesn't eat well (especially dinner) he'll be up in the night hungry, but I don't want to make it a game/battle/issue when he doesn't fancy whatever I've served up. He will always eat cheese though! So bit of grated cheese seems to make things more appealing :) I also grate carrots into bolognese and add other things to mash (like sweet potato). Generally he's pretty good though (so far...)

Healthy competition - a vegitables list with ticks by each DCs name for each vegetable they like - they compete over who has the most, and also use it to check if I try and offer them something they've not had in a while.

Blending food up in stews/soups with lots of tomato

Who can do the loudest crunch competition (DCs can't win if they'll only eat potato!)

Sticks of salad veg to dip in mayonaise or ketchep

Broad definitions of food - eg "green soup" "pasta and sauce" that can contain lots of different things and you can insist they ate it last tim