Ideas On How To Get DS To Eat?

Im posting this here as it's not so much what to get DS to eat, but more how to get him to eat?

He's always been pretty fussy with food and will go through stages where he hardly eats anything at all but the latest one has been going on for at least 2 months now. Im over the being frustrated and annoyed period beacuse of all the waste of time and money spent on new ideas and recipes. Now im just getting worried that he's not getting all the right vitamins etc that he should be!

He has a very small variety of foods that he will eat eg. sausages, yoghurt, weetbix, chicken nuggets, cheese, ham, toast, sometimes sandwiches. He will eat pasta, rice etc at CC but not at home. :wall: When i make stir-frys or curries, he will suck and chew the life out of the meat, but wont actually swallow it :shakehead:

I need ideas to make it FUN and get him to eat that way. Last week we had soft tacos on the floor of the lounge room like a picnic and he thought that was great. He ate the equivalent of a whole taco, which was actually really exciting! Tonight we made homemade pita pizzas and i let him sit on the bench and help make his. He had cheese and ham on his, two foods that he eats. He had 2 mouthfuls and said "no, i don't want it."

Any ideas on fun ideas we can try?

I've found anything 'bite size', is a big hit here!
Sandwitches, I cut into fingers, and make a big game out of all of the fingers on the plate.
Baby chicken and veg meatballs

She also loves 2 minute noodles, think its because they're wiggly, make a crazy mess, but she eats them!

A friend of mine actually made rissole type thing, and put a paddlepop stick in it? So you could hold the stick and munch away, she said it was a bit of a hit too. Actually i saw soemthing similar at lennards, think they're called chicken pops? something like that anyway

HTH ;)

When we used to have problems getting DS to eat, we used to invite his 'friends' around ie his favourite stuffed toys. They would each get a chair and I would spoon feed them all. One for them, one for DS. For some reason this always made him eat more. Worth a try :)

Thanks for the suggestions ladies. DS drinks soy milk, so i felt at least he was getting calcium if nothing else. But, last night i read through so the soy threads and did some research myself and it seems he's not even getting that! :(

The paddle pop stick thing is a good idea. So is inviting the stuffed toys to the table. Im getting so worried that he is getting absolutely no vitamins or minerals etc.

Maddissun - something that has worked with my DS is where we live, there is a fruit and vegie shop that has little trollies for the kids to push. DS absolutely loves pushing the trolley and picking the vegies and putting them into bags and then into the trolley. When we eat tea, I point to things and say "Tom got that from the fruit shop like a big boy' and it is amazing what he will eat since we have been shopping there. Broccoli, corn, capsicum, beans etc :clap:. I also admit to cheating and he eats things that don't actually come from the fruit shop even though I tell him they do.. He is super fussy too. (I even have to send a sandwich to daycare because he rarely eats their meals - argghhhh!!).
I have a recipe for 'healthy' sausages which is just basically a way of hiding vegies in meat and calling it a sausage if you want me to pm it to you. DS would live on sausages if he could..

That'd be awesome if you could that mrscricket. Im willing to try anything at this point! :)

My DS eats better if we sit down and eat as a family, or if he can feed me or DH. He sometimes prefers the food on our plate, dispite it being the same as his, just not pre cut up. Also he has his own utenstil and will feed himself with it or by hand, I will have one too and can slip in a spoonful or several during the meal.
The first time we made pizza DS would eat some of the topping while preparing it, but would not eat it after it was cooked, I had cut it up in bite size pieces. Second time, I cut thin pizza slices, he ate almost 1/6 (1 slice) of the pizza which I think is reasonable for his age, he had something to eat earlier to.
You sometimes have to keep presenting the same foods several times before a child will eat something, sometimes it is quite unusual stuff they will eat. DS likes smoked fish and tinned smoked oysters, though not prawns.

Good luck, hope your DS expnads his variety soon.

For us, the earlier they eat the better. Sometimes I give them dinner at 3pm.

Sometimes going '5 mouthfuls and you can have a chocolate' and counting down on our fingers works too, on the desperate days. :lol:

We have the same problem with DS.. hes been fussy since he was a baby. Still wont eat vegies.. and hes so damn stubborn, if you were to say, eat that or there will be no chocolate, he'll say ok i dont want chocolate. But one thing he loves is smoothies. So since he was about 18 months, he has had 1 everyday for lunch, filled with fruit. Loves them.

But, as of a month ago, hes actually been starting to try new things. Before then if he didnt know what it was and like it, he wouldnt try it. So just hang in there, its just a phase, and over time he will come past it. I just make sure DS gets multivitamins everyday also.