Win an Organix hamper or £50 Love2Shop voucher! Join Q&A on children's eating habits and fussy eaters - ANSWERS BACK

[LucilleMumsnet]

This week we are running a Q&A with Organix who are offering you the chance to ask feeding expert Lucy Thomas about children's eating habits and how to help fussy eaters.

Inspiring fussy eaters to enjoy fruit and vegetables is Lucy's passion. As founder and author of 'Mange Tout', her methods have been recommended by doctors, nutritionists and Great Ormond Street hospital. Lucy has also featured on BBC TV and Radio and is a spokesperson for the Taste for Life campaign, brought to you by Organix.

Post your questions to Lucy before 9am Monday 20th January and we'll send over a selection to which she will provide answers to help you better deal with fussy or unusual eating habits. There is a £50 Organix hamper and a £50 Love2Shop voucher up for grabs for those that post questions. We will post up Lucy's answers on Thursday 30th January.

I don't have a problem with sneaking vegetables into things but my daughter will only eat things that look like lasagne or spaghetti.

It's driving me mad. There's plenty of puréed veg in the sauce etc but she is incredibly stubborn (4).

I've tried bribery. How can I get her to try new things? I was hoping that she'd be pinching things off of my plate to try by now!

My little one always picks the over ripe fruit, so far we haven't noticed any drastic results bowel wise. Is it causing any harm?

Our 6 yr old DD doesn't eat any fruit or veg (apart from banana & date fruit bars and fruit puree pots) and has a very limited repertoire of other foods - hummus, fish fingers, pasta & pesto, plain noodles, bread, tuna mayo. She is very reluctant to try anything new and even when we can persuade her she will invariably not like it e.g. we tried spag with just a hint of bol sauce - she tried one forkful but that was it. My partner and I eat freshly prepared, (mostly) healthy meals but this has no effect. Our 4 yr old DD is slightly more experimental - she eats a bit of fruit but no veg. I've kind of given up now and just hope they will eventually change.......but maybe there's something I haven't tried?

my 6 yo grandson has gone from eating anything to only eating bread (no filling), hoops fish fingers. has stopped eating school dinners now takes packed lunch which is one slice of bread butted, slice of cake which he does not always eat and a pot of custard. His Doc says he will grow out of it. But will he?

My youngest (aged 2) is fab with fruit and vegetables but I really struggle to get her to eat meat. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hi Lucy,

My 4 year old is very stubborn and fussy. Won't eat many cooked foods - prefers things separate and in their original, recognisable form, e.g. raw veg and fruit, bread without toppings...

I try encourage him to try new things, but it is such a battle. It is hard to tell whether he is really genuinely revolted by the texture of some things or just being fussy, so I rather not insist that he eat. Inn fact, on the odd occasion I've put my foot down ("it's only this and nothing else before you go to bed"), he will rather go to bed hungry than taste a dinner he doesn't like the look or smell of. I'm also reluctant to bribe him to eat his main with the promise of puddings and sweets, not that he'd often go for that offer, so I have basically decided to just try and relax about his eating and hope he will get better. In your opinion, should I be trying to push him to try things or just lead by example and hope he will change? Thanks!

My eldest will eat anything and everything at school, but is really fussy at home. How can we overcome that?

A friend of mine told her 2 young children that sprouts were for adults only and said they could try one next time if they were big boys and sit nicely at the table. The next time came and they were given 1 each with a bit of build up about sitting at the table and they loved them! Have you any experience of this and what are your thoughts?

What age would be best to introduce solids to a child's diet?

If a child is overweight/obese how can I encourage a healthy but filling amount of food through the day without other children noticing( especially at lunchtime? Thanks

How do you manage a situation where the child is constantly saying "I dont like that" to food that they havent even tried?

my daughter will eat mcdonalds chickn nuggets but will refuse to eat chicken at home or any meat....shes never tried bacon, sausages, turkey, chicken unprocessed and refuses to even attempt it. Any tips to add it gradually into her diet? i worry about how having iron shortages

Any ideas for encouraging a 7 year old to try new foods? When he was little, many foods gave him a really painful tummy, so we think most of his current reluctance is psychological What he will eat is so limited and any "New" foods he has decided he likes after all seem to be junk or sweet :(

My older two boys love their fruit and veg but I can't get my three year old son to eat hardly anything. The only fruit he'll eat is bananas and he doesn't eat any veg. My problem is that he barely eats anything so I can't hide it in other foods. The only things he'll eat are cheese or peanut butter sandwiches, toast, sausages, yogurt and bananas (ther than junk food). I've tried everything from not allowing him anything if he doesn't eat his meal, yo just giving him what he wants. I'm really stuck for ideas and would appreciate any help.

My baby is nearly one and eats well with a varied and balanced diet but she has quite a lot of snacks. If I don't give her them she wakes in the night as she's hungry. How do I make her eat more on her three meals, once she's decided she's had enough her mouth gets clamped shut? Or am I okay to continue with what I'm doing?

My son ASD and wont eat any fruit and only veg is sweetcorn. He has very limited pallette. Hes very interested in fruit and will sometimes lick but at 6 hes never eaten anything apart from a banana once as a toddler.
His limited food choices dont seem limited by colour or texture as i know can be case with many children with ASD.
Loves peach or raspberry yoghurts so long as no bits, loves smoothies so is accustomed to taste of fruit.

Any tips would be wonderful

My almost 7 year old has always had a lot of sensory problems which include smells and textures. She won't eat a lot of food she likes the taste of - like peach, orange etc - because of the texture (will eat them pureed like you get in baby food jars however). The only veg she eats is broccoli and cauliflower (both have similar texture). She is highly fearful of trying new foods and will gag strongly if forced. She rejects any strong flavours. How do I help her vary her diet and learn to tolerate new foods?

What's the best breakfast for toddlers to start the day with? Also, any tips for a toddler who has just started to get into the habit of spitting out food they don't like?

How can I get my kids to eat 'leaves'? They're great with pretty much most fruits and veg, but salad greens are contunuously rejected without even trying them!

At what age is it appropriate to start introducing spicy foods?

I would like to know how much fruit is too much?
What is a sensible portion?
My 4 year old has been known to eat a whole carton of blueberries or strawberries before we'd even realised he was in the fridge. I know this is obviously far too much, but is a handful of berries enough or is more OK?

my 6 year old son only ever eats his breakfast and lunch, ive tried everything to get him to eat his dinner but failed miserably, tried letting him pick what he would like, helping to make it, made it into random pictures on his plate(smiley faces, dinousaur etc) even tried giving him dinner for lunch and lunch for dinner, nothing works, hes healthy otherwise and loves fruit but isnt getting his 5 a day due to not eating his dinners, i try not to make a fuss about it but it worries me, what can i do?

My 16 month old will eat bananas but no other fruit. He will eat mushrooms but no other veg unless I mash them into potato and sometimes he still finds them and spits them out! I can't just feed him fish fingers and mash or scrambled eggs on toast - any tips or ideas, I am stuck for meal ideas.

My daughter used to love all fruit and veg when she was younger, she's now six and is being funny about some veg, although I not sure whether it's a change in her taste buds or because of the other kids at school. Can her tastebuds change?