Help! Fussy eater!

[hoggster78]

Hi all. I have recently started looking after a just turned 4 year old who is a very fussy eater. I have tried involving her in choosing and preparing food but she still has a very limited diet. If anyone has had any experience with fussy eaters or has any suggestions on how I can introduce new foods I would be very grateful! Thanks

[Stapleton83]

I would still put at least something she doesn't usually eat on her plate every mealtime as long as everyone else is having it. My DD was a very fussy eater but I found that the peer pressure of being with others eating meant that she cracked on and had a go.

The other thing you could do is having tasting sessions but encourage everyone to do it where they smell, lick, put the food in their mouth and hopefully chew it. You could also link it to a reward or recognition chart.

Sam x

[angeldelight]

My daughter was a terrible eater

She would eat nothing ... well apart from spag bol ha ha

She was very tiny born, so grew up being petite anyway

The school made the biggest deal of it ... trying different foods etc and involving her .. none of it worked ... I did the same too

My doctor told me it was the worst thing to ever do to a child , he said let them eat what they want and if she wanted to eat spag bol all the time to let her because she would in the end get fed up of it

He was right , I stopped stressing and let her have it every day .... then one day she decided herself to try what her brothers and sisters were having it was a turn around for her

She is in her 20s now and is still petite but she will eat anything

So my advise is do not make a problem a problem if you know what I mean

If her diet is limited let her eat what she likes and add something extra maybe once a week and leave it there to see if she will eat it

Dont make a big thing of it ... you sound like you have tried all the things I tried anyway and it simply does not work

Relax she will soon join in eating other things when she is ready

Angel xx

[CLL]

I agree with Angel. My son is a fussy eater and I don't stress about it any more. He eats a different meal to us now. I never thought I would be a mum who cooked different things but that is just the way it has worked out. I don't want to battle any more with him over food. I know if someone gave me something I didn't like I would not eat it just to please them.

[clareelizabeth1]

Totally agree with Angel to. When I was little I would only eat plain pasta, cucumber, raw carrot., cooked onion and very occasionally a sausage. My mother took me to lots of doctors who basically told her to let it go. Let me eat what I want and like Angel said eventually I got bored of it and started eating different things. I was the hospitalised as it turned out I was allergic to a few things the doctors then started to talk about the fact the children have a "sensor" in them that stops them from eating things that hurt (I know your now wondering how children drink poison) and the reason I wouldn't try new food was when I did I could feel my skin burn. It still happens now but now I am old enough that people don't try and force me to eat foods. I eat most things now and have always been a healthy weight. If child is healthy they don't worry.