Toddler not interested in new foods

[Gigi]

yeah, Sensory Processing Disorder has been suggested to me too, as the reason why my 4.5yo is so into purees and mince and yogurt, at the expense of food you actually have to chew and masticate. My DD would happily survive on the Rafferty's Garden puree tubes if i let her. So i KNOW she likes the taste of vegies, but will only eat them, if in that pureed state, in the tube from the shop. My home pureed veg version she will not touch.

I'm trying the "one meal, eat it or don't eat" mode, THIS week. Again. Not sure how long before i cave. When she boycotts lunch, then boycotts dinner, i get the guilts so bad.

Then kindy tell me, "if she won't eat lunch (she rarely does), they give her bread eventually" - and even when i said i don't want her being given the bread, their stance is, she needs SOMETHING to get her thru the day. And i can see their point. She boycotts morning fruit time, afternoon fruit time and most snacks. So some days, the ONLY thing she's eating at kindy, is the bread.

She looks so darn healthy, just very small for her age. The being on the edge of constipation (due to no fruit or veg) is the thing that makes me so anxious. Plus, i would just like to realise, food is an enjoyable part of life, such a nice way to get all the nutrients and vitamins essential for her growth. Her not eating, is very anti=social too, makes me feel like the bad mum who can't get her own child to eat, when all the other kids are happily eating SOMETHING.

mummato1 - what you said about not getting home until 6pm - noticing WHEN your child is hungry is pretty big. My child's window for eating is 5 - 5.30pm. i know if i don't offer her food in that timeslot, i have an uphill battle (more than usual, haha). So if we're going to be in transit, when i know her normal eating time is, i pack a lunchbox meal, and let her have that in the car. Your son is prolly too young for that, but i just wanted to share, that feeding at the time when THEY are hungry, had more success for us, than feeding her when it suited our adult ideas/schedules. I'm guessing you don't have many options, when you're just trying to do the get home commute. My guess is your little man has gone past "hungry" by the time you get home. That is a hard one to work around. Is the CCC close to your work? or closer to your home? Is there any possibility of feeding him dinner at the CCC (either in the actual centre, or outside, sitting in your car)? Not ideal i know, but it's all i could think of.

i discovered my own child's hungry timeslot, back in the days, when i desperately wanted us to "eat together as a family". So that meant waiting until her father was home and ready to eat. Which often meant 6 - 6.30pm. That didn't work for her at all, so i had to let go of my plan, give up on eating together as a family, so that she could eat when she was actually hungry. I could never work out, previously, why she got so ratty, early evening. It turned out, that ratty behaviour, was her being hungry. So i fed her earlier, her behaviour didn't escalate. Seems so obvious to me now, but i had other stuff going on back then, coudln't see the obvious.

Everything i read about Fussy Eaters, all the "the child can try a new food up to 12 times, before they like it" crack me up. Virtually every veg and fruit, i have offered to her hundreds, if not 1,000's of times. She has done the "one bite" of brocolli so many times, still refuses to eat it unless it's in the Rafferty's tube (which i refuse to buy / give her now).

[Miss.September]

I'm needing help too. Last night I was at my wits end with it, DH and I had a fight over it out of frustration, and then I bawled

My problem is she's so clever. She used to eat pasta sauce (not the spaghetti, just the sauce). So I started to hide vegies in it. Now she won't eat it at all, even though the vegies are hidden. Mashed potato has now become the same thing, used to love it and it was our vegie staple. Made the mistake of trying to hide zucchini in it - she won't touch it, even when it's straight mash. She eats very bland food and won't try anything new. She loves blueberry muffins. We got her one yesterday that had raspberries in it too. She ate a mouthful and then refused to eat the rest. But constantly asks for things. Tomatoes. Cucumber. She won't even eat cheese at the moment. So at the moment, we have a toddler (with great communication skills) who won't eat fruit or vegetables at all and only eats bland food. I feel your pain, mummato1

[Gigi]

i tried to bribe bilby, to have a bite of a strawberry. I bribed her with a chocolate bar. Didn't work. She is so determined NOT to eat fruit, not even a choc bar got her to take one lousy bite of a strawberry. Yet she loves strawberry yogurt. I guess it's the sensory thang at work again.

[Kmn]

Have you tried the picnic option - for some silly reason my DS is much happier to try new things when he is either at the park or at someone elses house or at a cafe.

We try and have a "you must try it before you tell me you don't like it" rule.
If he tries it and doesn't like it then he can have something else (but not a favourite thing, just an OK thing). No substitute until things get tried.

Gigi - for the constipation, have you tried things like sultana bran buds, or the tiny weetbix - as "biscuits". They're probably not as healthy as fruit, but they do contain a lot of fiber.