Thursday 3 February 2011

Fussy Eaters

Cutter from Lakeland - anything to get her to eat!

After having yet another meal refused by my almost 5yr old I decided I need to see how everyone else copes with their fussy eaters.

The main things she refuses are potatoes, rice, pasta and anything with sauce, well except for schools savoury mince. What do they do with it?
She will eat cereals, sandwiches if the crusts are cut off, fruit, although she’s informed me tonight she doesn’t like apples anymore and most fresh meat including bacon. The bacon was something she virtually lived on while we were on holiday in Mallorca. Good job father in law knows most of the restaurant owners and we could get away with asking for a plate of bacon for her.

As for getting her to eat new things we have tried everything bribery included. She will try a new food but is usually saying yuk before it even gets to her mouth. We insist on her having school dinners on the days where the option is something I know she has eaten previously so she gets to try new things but most of the time she comes home saying she’s only eaten a little bit of whatever it was. So am I wasting my money and should I give in to her wanting packed lunch every day – not that they get eaten? 1 bite out of 2 quarters of a sandwich is hardly eating it.

If she’s had a lunch at school I’m happy for her to have sandwiches but if not then it’s a cooked tea. She will happily eat cheese or beef spread sandwiches or cereal for every meal if I let her or delightful processed meat but no chips or potato. If she hasn’t eaten at least half of her meal then it’s fruit or yoghurt for dessert, although I’m stopping the frozen yoghurts as she sees them as a treat and so doesn’t see that she is limited because she hasn’t eaten her meal. If she does eat it then she can have a choice of dessert – she usually picks yoghurt anyway but she will ask for biscuits or chocolate but then I only offer her fruit or yoghurt if she’s still hungry.

When she’s at home she’s constantly telling me she’s hungry but I’m not surprised because she hardly has any carbohydrates to fill her up and because of this she continually wants to snack. I try and limit snacks to healthy options but biscuits and crisps are a usual favourite. I have tried to give her just meals to see if she will eat them but this makes no real difference. She seems to be a grazer though and I wonder if this causes problems at school when she doesn’t have access to food all day.

We don’t get a chance to eat as a family Mon to Fri because of the time hubby gets home and I’m often working on a weekend but when we can we do try and sit down and eat together, in front of the tv or at the dining table.

So do I carry on as we are hoping she will eventually get better or do I try something else?
How do you deal with your fussy eaters?
Do you have any tips for me to try and get her to eat more things?

4 comments:

  1. I feel your pain however a D&V bug seems to have sorted E out who is now eating me out of house and home. Mainly bananas! Anyway I have read a book about dealing with fussy eaters and getting them to eat fruit and veg. It mainly involves getting them to touch different things before actually eating them. Getting them to help prepare things. It hasn't been great with Eleanor because there's a lot of discussion involved but you can probably make great inroads with I with it. I'm now frantically trying to find the book/ method it's a green book I just can't remember the title. I'll get back to you!

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  2. Thanks. It's called Mange Tout and we've got a copy. Worked a bit but I didn't really get into it properly. Might have to have another go.

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  3. That's the one it tales a lot of patience and calm which is tricky when you want the to eat. The other one is the house of tiny tearaways some good ideas in that toi

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  4. Thanks hun. I'll have a look at that one as well.

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