Fussy eater...please help!

[sammc_74]

Hi folks...I really hope you guys can offer some advice.

I look after a boy 3 afternoons a week after nursery so mam wants me to provide lunch. He's a very fussy eater and refuses almost everything unless its a chese sandwich made with white sliced bread.
As hes going onto school dinners in sept mam wants me to encourage him to try new things but I'm really struggling as he simply refuses. Any suggestions?

[kel1983]

I have a 3 year old mindee who is a fussy eater. Her mum supplies lunch for her which I am glad of. I hate having to throw food away that she hasnt even touched. I'll be watching this thread for ideas on how to get her to just try new food. I know she will eat when she is hungry. Buut it does annoy me a little

[Pipsqueak]

i would sit down with Mum and work out a menu together that way mum knows whatyou are giving and trying. Got to say though that Mum and Dad should not be totally leaving this up to you.

Start with smal small portions of other stuff - encourage just a bite of this or that and build up .

Encourage with the shopping, cooking and serving

What sort of strategies to employ... no pud offered if they don't try x on their plate for instance
once you have discovered other things he will eat is pud going to be withheld unless he finishes all of it on his plate.... that sort of thing.....

[maryp0ppins]

I have a fussy eater...I dont supply food parents bring their food...BUT he still doesnt eat half of the things mum brings.....She freely admits she feels like throwing the plate out of the window in frustration with him.....

[sammc_74]

Thanks guys...I think a meeting with Mam is on the cards as I've thrown out 4 meals in the lst 2 weeks and its expremely frustrating (as well as annoying!!!)

I've asked Mam to supply a list of foods he will eat (twice!!!) but still haven't got it yet so I hope a meeting will make her realise that I mean business...in the nicest possible way of course

She supplied a packed lunch for her old childminder and I'm starting to see why!!!!

[AliceK]

I had a fussy eater. He was 3 when he started with me. We started off and made a placemat together talking about what foods he likes for breakfast, lunch, tea and also treats. We talked about healthy foods. When he made a good effort with his food and tried new foods he got a treat afterwards and he got a star on his chart and at the end of the week if he had done well I made him a certificate to take home. He was so proud. He is now at school and he will eat virtually anything now. Like anyone else he has things that he's not too keen on but I can give him anything for tea now and lunch in the school hols and I know he will eat it.
Ofsted loved the fact that not only had we talked about and made a placemat showing healthy foods but also treats too.

xxxx

[cs01]

As a parent of an extremely fussy eater, I can understand your fustration. I would be happy for my child to be given a cheese sandwich every day if I knew she would eat it but as a childminder, I would not be happy to provide a mindee with the same repetitive lunch everyday!

Unless the parent can give you a rotation of choices she knows her child will eat, I think it is unfair of her to expect you to provide a variety of meals.

Whilst I believe the child should be given opportunities to try new foods and encouraged to do so, as minders, we do not really have the time to do this.

If mum is not willing to work with you then perhaps the best solution is for her to provide her child with a packed lunch. At least then the worry of what he eats is hers and not yours.

Hope it all works out in the end.

[blue bear]

Mum needs to work with you, I would make a list of foods child likes by asking child.

Than I would show mum the list/ possible menu choices from this list and would say I will add new foods after they have been tried at home first.

I would cook with child/prepare tea together. I would work with child what is reasonable goal to aim for, so maybe touching a food five times then can have sandwich or two bites of something new is rewarded with favoured sandwich etc. Really depends how fussy he is. Best to keep it fun with immediate rewards, lots if praise and everything that happens at yours backed up at home.

You need to both tackle the problem, it's not fair for you to be the bad guy and parents giving child the easy choices or vice versa.

[mumto3]

maybe get mum to bring in a small portion of dinner that maybe they had the night before, then warm this up and put on the same plate as the cheese sandwich and encourage, he will eat when hungry and what he fancies

i agree with other suggestions of holding back a treat if he doesnt even try a little bit and a star chart is good too

[Dragonfly]

I have a fussy mindee, he only likes marmite sandwiches has them the 3 days a week he comes here.Mum done marmite and cheese (together) today , he picked all the cheese out I know shouldnt laugh and I didnt at the time.

[sammc_74]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Had a meeting with mum tonight and shes promised to write the list for thurs (his next day with me!). We've also discussed strategies...if he tastes it and really doesn't like it he can have a sandwich but if he simply refuses to try he has to wait til snack time later on so no pudding. I'm relatively happy with this and would have done the same with my own but felt as a minder I really needed consent from mam before I made him 'starve'.

I love the idea of the placemat. We've already talked about foods he likes but half the things on his list I've tried and he refused so not sure whether to believe his choices or not! He told me he liked pizza, so made him pizza, refused to eat it and Mam said he doesn't like it

I think a sticker chart is a fantastic idea so think thats my next task. We can sit down and talk about what the new food 'rules' are and what his rewards will be. Fingers crossed Ofsted will like all my hard work about creating a healthy menu and encouraging a child to eat

[louise]

This is interesting. My holiday only kid is very fussy. It doesn't help that I only have him 2 and half day in the holidays. I'm hoping I will get to know what he likes more during the summer. So far it seems to be unmixed foods. He did say last week he will try a pizza we will make for lunch on mon, It came to it and he didn't want to do it. In the end he put a tiny bit of tom puree, sweetcorn and cheese on a muffin. He ate 1/4 of it but I've learnt he eats little and this was a try.
Where as my hardest to feed term time only was with me that same day. He has always refused to eat cheese. He will only eat it on pizza. Well I ddin't know I was having him until the last minute so again expected him to have a tiny bit of cheese. He asked which cheese he could have as I had 2, I asked him to try them and see which he prefered. He loved both and then fighted with my son over the left over cheese and asked for more. I was so shocked, I told Mum on pick up and she was surprised as well. Just hope it isn't a one off.

[louise]

Oh also I managed to get him to try lots of diff fruit. We went to the market where they gave me loads for £1.60, we all tried them with a chart to tick if we liked it. Although I was naughty and let them have some melted choc to dip them in but they also had to try with out the choc. We are going to do it with Veg next time.

[sammc_74]

Oh also I managed to get him to try lots of diff fruit. We went to the market where they gave me loads for £1.60, we all tried them with a chart to tick if we liked it. Although I was naughty and let them have some melted choc to dip them in but they also had to try with out the choc. We are going to do it with Veg next time.

Hope you're not dipping veggies in choc although thats one way to make them eat their 5 a day!!!

Getting my mindee to eat fruit isn't a problem hes even happy to try new ones without ANY fuss but its the savoury stuff and veg I have a prob with. Think we might do the same and visit the market...he can dip his veggies in cheese spread as I know he loves that.

[Louise0208]

What sort of strategies to employ... no pud offered if they don't try x on their plate for instance
once you have discovered other things he will eat is pud going to be withheld unless he finishes all of it on his plate.... that sort of thing.....

i got told by a few members on here i was not allowed to do this as i had had the same problem last year.

personally i dont offer my own kids pud if they dont eat there dinner & i do the same with the mindees.....rightly or wrongly! im not into 1 rule for 1 & 1 rule for another

[mumto3]

Not sure what i will do when i start childminding coz my kiddies dont have pudding, just a decent size dinner

[onceinabluemoon]

Not sure what i will do when i start childminding coz my kiddies dont have pudding, just a decent size dinner

I dont do pudding either.

The children have plenty of fruit, cheese, yoghurt etc at snack time and it does away with the whole 'leaving my dinner to get pudding' thing as we don't have any.