Pancake Update

Okay, this morning he successfully ate a plate of pancakes - which had in them apple, broccoli, pea and spinach.
It was a tester, I bought a rafferty's garden satchet (from baby food isle) and whacked it into the pancake mix. They were totally yummy.
So, I have my confidence back with hiding nutrition in his pancakes and will be making my own purees to add in. The pancakes will still only be an occasional or a lunchbox food. I just need to add some nutrition to his food.
Think I will make a loaf of bread today (if I have enough flour) and put in some pumpkin and creamed corn.

Great work on the pancakes.

I am at Nonnas now in Syd and purposefully did NOT bring up or purchase the snacks DS1 likes at home (ie, no cheese & crackers and no breadstick type bars). A

lso only offering DS1 a 'meal' (ie. breakfast, lunch and dinner) so you get the 'I'm Hungry' calls and he gets offerred all sorts of fruit (pieces, bars, purees - tubs or suckers).

He has had a Strawberry Heinz bar 4 times in the past 2 days (as he has refused all else for snacks).... so when there is no other choice and he is hungry he WILL eat this item. He ate the Heinz Strawberry bars up to 1 yr ago and then hasn't eaten them since

Isolabella, How is he going?

Book Update - My childrens stories arrived today! Mr Fussy was very keen reading through them, and at bedtime he selected 2 in particular to read.
The monster who ate my peas he seemed more interested in the monster (according to hubby as he does the night reading with the boys).
Mr Fussy really enjoyed "Eat your peas", but the ending wasn't good according to hubby. Bribery trying to get her to eat her peas, then she throws back at her mum that mum doesn't like brussel sprouts ... so instead of a logical ending like mummy eats sprouts if girl eats peas ... they both just decide to eat pudding instead
But, interest is there, so I will put peas out with dinner tomorrow night and see how he goes .... wish me luck!

Some links in relation to food fussiness neophobia, interesting reading


http://www.sensorysociety.org/ssp/wiki/Food_Neophobia/
http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/3/1/14
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2004/09/02/4501.aspx
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m088...20/ai_69697653/

DS2 was given an Easter Egg today. I unwrapped it but he wouldnt eat it, just stared at it. It just melted in his hand. He pretended to eat but just wouldnt do it..... and yes he does love chocolate....

Great thread. I have been having issues with DD1 since about 1 and she's now almost 5. Things have improved with age somewhat i will say. I will go back and read both threads and add some more info later. Today's not the day....
p.s. it's funny to have a fussy eater followed by someone who likes curry and chilli

Bah had a few days where DS actually started eating again (hence why I went MIA) but now he's back to being a fuss pot *sigh* he will eat a tonne of yoghurt if I let him or nutella sarnies but nothing else..

Hi everyone,

DS1 (Dominic) has, in the past 2 days, actually eaten lunch! OK, so he has still only had Up N Go and a little bit of toast for breakfast, and Pommes or Baked beans toasted with melted cheese on toast for dinner (followed by custard, f course), but lunch! OMG!

I have been very busy with a newborn (now 2 weeks old) and have been a bit more relaxed with his normal routine with his Diabetes now that DH is back at work. I have found that mixing up the times that I give him milk/food has made a slight difference. Although, both lunch successes have been the result of low blood sugar. Not dangerously low but definitely not something I want to have happen regularly *sigh*.

At least I feel relieved that he has actually eaten noodles and a sandwich for lunch.

good luck to you all with your food struggles. I was reading a thread on EB yesterday about Nutella sandwiches, and whilst I realise the issue was allergies, I actually found myself wishing that my DS would eat Nutella sandwiches (despite all the comments about how only bad parents would give their child such junk food ). If only they knew what it was like ...

Take care all x

JAK80 - what a strange reaction ... was it an unfamiliar shape to him?


Welcome to the group Tikitour
And I definitely hear you on that one .... DS2 will have a go at just about anything, favourites being red meat, szechuan beef and chicken korma


~Lynny~ , it is so hard and most of the time you will feel like it is one step forward and two steps back

Mum_and_more - Good news on the lunch front there! and yeah, I saw the Nutella thread too. One of the few things Mr Fussy will eat is a Nutella sandwich and I just hated that (in typical EB fashion) how it comes down to, just don't give them it in the first place and they will never eat it or that you are a bad mum for being so desperate for them to increase their food profiles that you give them something of everything just to find something they will eat! Kids need protein to grow ... I will take the measly 1.5g that nutella has dammit!
But I do love the mums that put Nutella right up there with 'poison'
Having said that, I send Mr Fussy to Kindy with pancakes or plain bread and apples - I could not live with myself if I contributed in any way towards someones death.

Updatish
At Kindy I have been talking with the teachers and they agree that it is probably best to send Mr Fussy in with just his 'regular' food (I also include one new thing in there) and continue to work on foods at home.
Though, and get this, they got him to try a piece of lemon! (according to his tastes sheet anyway) ... am so going to pin that teacher down after Easter and find out how she managed to get him to try if (if, in fact he even did).

He appears to be really enjoying the fussy eater children's stories (probably picking up pointers the little bugger). Yesterday he had carrots and peas on his plate. No joy. He kept taking them and hand feeding them to his cousin (she is 18mths). At one point he picked up a carrot and opened his mouth and started the journey to the mouth (I swear it was all in slow motion to me), but he didn't take a bite, he just laughed and gave it to his brother. Brother, of course, knocked off his carrots, his brothers carrots, his peas, what was left of his brothers peas, his potato, his brothers potato, his fish AND his brothers fish! Little Fatty

cathode It was just egg shaped but it was a little melted. So I wonder if that had anything to do with it?? Maybe he didnt like the way it felt??

Well I have been watering down DS2 milk, half milk half water and he hasnt really noticed it. I tried giving him a lesnack just for something different although he didnt eat the cheese he did take a couple of bites of the biscuit. It is now 2pm and I think the only thing he has eated today is 4 biscuits..... Ho hum... but have an appointment with MACH on Tuesday so we will see what they have to say...

Texture is one of the most common problem with kids, I would say.


Mr Fussy never noticed the watering down when I tried it. Then he was off milk completely (almost overnight) for the last few months. He has only been requesting a 1/2 cup again lately (since the "Getting shorter" incident the other night ). Am a lot happier for him to have milk again these days as it at least has protein in it.

Thanks for the reply to my message cathode and for pointing me in this direction
I need some understanding people who dont just dismiss my DS as a fuss pot.
My story is bit long to but will try to keep it as short as possible.
My DS ate everything until about a week after his 2nd birthday.
He has not eaten a piece of fruit or vegetable for 18mths
My GP tells me he will grow out of it, his Speechy tells me children with speech and language delays normally present with eating issues and the natropath cost me $200 for a consultation and something to sprinkle in his food for vitamins that he detected STRAIGHT away. He also does not tantrum about food. He just says "no thanks" and walks away. I have done the starvation thing. He didnt care. It lasted 10 days until I caved. (He did have watered down milk etc, please dont call social services!!)
So for breakfast
*Toast with butter - he used to eat vegemite, this is now off the list
Morning Tea
Water, rusk sticks or pretzels or crackers plain or with butter
Lunch
Used to be a vegemite sandwich or ryvitas etc but depends on the mood wether it is actually consumed
Afternoon Tea
Sultanas or a muffin
Dinner
Hash browns or
Chicken Nuggets or
Sausages

Other things he will eat - Chips, Hot Chips and Maltesers

I get a full lunch box home from Kindy most days and today for example he didnt eat until 2pm.
I think it is getting to the point of a pead visit. Anybodies suggestions would be welcome

Thanks for the welcome

Something I thought I would share in here is something that I've found works for my DD. Not sure if it'll work for others but worth a shot hey? I've been finding that when DD doesn't want to eat something, I pretend its sad that she doesn't want to eat it. For example, she loves bananas but one day about 2 weeks ago, she decided she didn't like them anymore. I drew a face on the stalk of the banana and cracked it open so the stalk flapped up and down (hope you know what I mean LOL) and then I pretended to make it talk and cry that DD didn't like him anymore. She thought it was funny and for the next couple of weeks, all I had to do was draw a face on the banana and she'd eat it.

Similar happened when I wanted her to try a plum and an apricot. She refused until I just pretended they could talk. Obviously didn't draw a face on them LOL, but I just waddled the plum over to her and made it beg her to eat him and give her kisses etc. She thought it was hilarious and agreed to eat it and loved it so no probs having her eat plums or apricots now.

Unfortunately I can't get her to eat meat still LOL, unless its hidden. I know that with meat, its the texture of it because if its blended in with what she's eating, she doesn't blink. Its only if she can see it. Even mince. If its mixed into spaghetti, she'll still pick out the little bits she can see but if its mixed with rice and sauce and she can't see it, she'll eat it no probs. I suppose I should be thankful that she eats fruit and vegies ok for the most part, its mainly meat but gosh its a struggle some days. I'm currently trying to get her to give ham a go because I'm convinced if she tried it, she would probably like it. I might try making it into a face maybe as that kind of approach seems to work with her.

Anyway, just thought I'd post in here what has worked for us lately in case it helps someone else

mummyofharry - sounds exactly like mine! We are just spending lots of time focusing on encouraging him to touch and play with different foods and smelling them etc. Basically just increasing familiarisation and trying to reduce the 'fear'. We also offer new foods with every meal, regardless of if he eats it or not.
The books seem to be making him show an interest (though not eating yet) - link for the books are a few pages back.

Anyway, welcome to our group, and you will find no judgement here, we are all in similar, if not the same, boat!

Sebby - Thanks for the tip. Will give it a bash!

Sebby - great idea with the banana am going to give it a go tomorrow

Welcome to the nubies ..... wish you didn't have to join us too .

mummyofharry - we ate everything to about 15m and since then have given up all meat, fruit and vegetables. DS1 is 4.5yrs now. So I know where you are coming from.

Update (have been pretty MIA as visiting my folks interstate for past 2wks so limited computer time).

DS1 is still going well with the Dinasour Chicken Nuggets. Even ate a 'normal' shaped tempura nugget when we couldn't get the dinasour shaped ones by saying they were 'Aunty X' nuggets. Funnily enough DS1 refused to eat Macca's nuggets on the long (12hr) drive home

We have started to eat the Heinz Strawberry bars..... but only occasionally.

I am actually trying to LIMIT snacks eaten and will only allow snacks of MY choosing for DS1. I really hope that one day we will get back to fruit purees for DS1.

Spoke to Paed OT. She said she would prefer NOT to see DS1 first but suggests going to a collegue of hers who is a Psych and then maybe working 'in tandem' with the Psych. BUT after our SMALL breakthroughs in the past month (of chicken nuggets and strawberry bars on occasion) DH is against going the Psych route ...... so we will just soldier on.


Sebby - glad to hear that route worked for you. Unfortunately for us being 'sad' that DS1 wasn't eating has resulted in a boy who cries at ANYTIHNG..... I have told DH to cut back on the 'sad' stuff. We now say to DS1 when he cries..... "are you hurt, are you injured.... if now then WHY are you crying" as he will cry at ANY form of frustration (ie. little brother gets to bedroom first, someone else takes a toy etc).

Oh i saw this in recent topics...can i join too, i'm slowly going crazy with DD2 who's 17months. She's lactose intolerant and has had food sensitivity issues. she vomits at night with cramps from some foods..who knows what it changes regularly. Though i found an interesting article that sounded just like her and it ended up being reflux..just another avenue to look into.
DD2 eats...egg...and sometimes pasta...that's it. sometimes a few saltanas. a big no no at the moment is Sausage which is bad as she was eating it...she vomited all night a few times after having them.
I moved to the country and found it's so much harder to get help here. I've taken her to Dr's who just say she looks fine..one offered me drugs to calm me so i could sleep (she has never slept due to her issues) soooo i go thru fazes of being fine then worried. Guess i'm at the worried stage as she just looks skinny and i can see her pelvis bone sticking out and her ribs when she was laying down today after vomiting last night.
Anyway, i look forward to reading other peoples stories to see their success and i hope to have some too soon.
Nikki

Thanks for the welcome..
Am going to try the books about eating that cathode has suggested.
The banana trick didnt work but will keep trying
CC teacher told me today she found all the new things I had put in his lunch box in the bin!
He went and did it during activity time so she noticed at lunch time and checked the bin and there it all was
He doesn't make a fuss, just diposes of it. Yesterday it was put on the lunch box shelf!!

Welcome Nikkit, hopefully you can find some info here that will be of help to you.

Isolabella - sorry to hear about the OT Paed and hubby's response.

mummyofharry - I read the kids "Picky Peggy" last night (hubby was at his astronomy class), and I think it was actually quite a good story.
The base of it was that Peggy got a duckling and he really preferred eating just bread, so that was all she fed him (because she wished she could eat just what she liked) ... guts of it was that the duck wasn't growing and was looking dull and floppy, she took him to catch up with his brothers and sisters at the farm, and she spoke with the farmer who explained to her that eating just bread is not good for the duck, he needs his vegetables and stuff to be healthy and strong and to grow.

End of it was that they both start eating various foods, but both Peggy and the duck still hate spinach.

Good luck ladies and keep up the hard work!

oO, before I forget....Mr Fussy has been asking for a glass of milk every day so he can grow better
meh, am just happy that he is having some dairy/protein/calcium again.
It also helped that when he wanted to be measured again, he had grown up to the highest mark on the wall (the one taken when he was wearing shoes) so he has an affirmation that it is working.

Hi all
Can I join too?

I've been reading this thread for a few weeks now, and wondering if my DD was 'fussy enough' to join this group. Here's what she will eat usually in a day:

Breakfast:
Grilled cheese on toast or pancakes (DH makes pancakes on weekends for something special)
Half a cup of apple juice

Morning tea:
Crackers, cheese, biscuits

Lunch:
Tortilla wrap or sandwich (plain, or with ham and cheese)

Afternoon tea:
Crackers, biscuits

Dinner:
I only offer what I have cooked, usually meat and vegetables, casserole etc.
Most times she will eat some meat and will only eat carrots and potatoes. The carrots have to be done as honey carrots and cut how she likes or she won't eat them. If I make a casserole I have to pick the meat out separately to put on her plate.

She will only eat pasta plain with no sauces (although will eat it with tuna mixed through it).

She refuses to eat ANY fruit of any kind and is quite distressed at the thought of having to eat it. I've had to speak with her kindy teacher so that she isn't made to eat fruit for morning tea as she was suffering with stomach pains from the worry of having to try some.

Would quite happily live on carbs or junk food. I'm trying to restrict the amount she eats, but instead she will just eat nothing then complain that she's hungry all the time.


I just read the Food Neophobia link and this describes her to a tee! If food doesn't look how she expects it to, or if it's something new, she immediately assumes that she won't like it and refuses to try it. She won't have medicine AT ALL - although she takes the Heron Multivitamins because they're like lollies. If we try to get her to take medicine (she recently had tonsilitis and had to have antibiotics) she goes absolutely out of control and has litres of saliva coming out of her mouth so there's no way any medicine will get down her throat. Luckily our doctor was able to find an antibiotic that she only needed .5ml at a time so I could put it in her drink and she didn't know it was there.


It's nice to know that there are other people going through this fussiness as well. I keep reminding myself that she won't be like this forever, but it's damn frustrating while we are!

Morts - welcome to the group! Any sort of fussiness is a PITA


UPDATE: Okay, am currently baking Spinach brownies ... taking the lazy ass method first off.
1 x box of low fat brownie mix.
1 x cup of defrosted frozen spinach (the frozen puck shaped style one)

Mr Fussy watched me make it (he didn't want to help) and both wanted to lick the beaters afterward.

Note to self: NEVER turn your back on a bowl of brownie mix and a 2yr old that will eat anything. OMG the mess!

I'll post later on tonight/tomorrow on how it went.

huge SUCCESS!

He loved it! He had 2 pieces for afternoon tea and told me that he wants the rest of the entire thing for dinner
Oh, and "Mummy, you aren't allowed to eat any more because it is all for me!"

Hi there
I've been reading all the posts with interest.
DS is 3.5 and my problem is like some others I've read about, not the quantity of food but variety. My main issue is getting him to eat fruit and vegetables. He won't even try them, and as a result is always constipated.

The CHN said we need to try and get him to eat more F&V but that's easier said than done.

Morts! my DS sounds a lot like your DD. His typical day is
Breakfast: bowl of rice bubbles (dry), 2 weetbix (with milk) and 1 - 3 slices of toast with (in order): butter, honey, vegemite.
Snack: if he has one (not every day), something like sultanas, maybe a rice cracker or two sometimes a sandwich
Lunch: at home - sandwiches (vegemite & honey sometimes ham & cheese, sometimes grilled cheese on toast), yogurt or custard, cheese
at daycare - they have a hot meal usually, Apparently he eats it but if I try & make the same thing at home he won't touch it
Snack: not very often
Dinner: what we are having or left overs from the night before. Most nights he refuses to eat it. He usually takes one look at his plate and says 'I don't want it'.Or if he does, he picks out the veges. And he won't eat anything with rice. And he loves nuggets & chips.
Sunday night is macaroni cheese night into which is sneaked pureed cauliflower & peeled zucchini. It's the only night he's guaranteed to eat dinner and I don't care because there is vege in there.

He won't eat any fruit at all except sultanas. I make myself a berry & banana smoothy every day for breakfast and he won't even try it, even though I tell him its just like yogurt. If there's an easier way to eat fruit I don't know what it is. He won't eat cakes or muffins with fruit and I had one day where he had one piece of the chocolate cake with sneaked in blueberries & spinach, then the next day he even refused that. The only thing we've been remotely successful at is getting him used to wholemeal bread, not white bread because we never ate white bread.

I'm tearing my hair out because he's so constipated and it's really upsetting for him and he knows he has to eat fruit & vege to help him poo, but he won't.

The next thing I'm going to try is to have out vege sticks cut up while I'm cooking dinner.

Welcome to the group sleepydwarf.

Does he like pancakes at all? you can either put pureed fruit into the pancake mixture, or grated fruit. Do you think he would go for that?

Does he eat all of that for breakfast? ricebubble, weetbix AND toast for breakfast? That seems like a huge amount for 3.5yrs. Maybe he is just too full to even want to try anything?

A typical breakfast for my 2 boys is (now days)
1.5 pieces of toast and half a piece of fruit (either apple or pear) each - 2yr old has vegemite toast, Mr Fussy (4.5yrs) has plain butter. That is all they are allowed to have until morning tea at 10.30am (which is fruit and crackers).


To help him poo, does he drink juice at all? Pear juice is very good for getting them going (you can buy it diluted in the baby food isle).
We allow our boys cloudy apple juice, clear apple juice and orange juice (we dilute it at home), but we always offer water first.
Does your son have a good fluid intake? (that may also be affecting the poo situation).

cathode, Those brownies sound yummy!
dd2 ate 1/4 toast, i think most got in there for breakfast today! that's all she's eaten...oh and some twisties DD2 shared with her. hope she'll eat some pasta tonight, going to try and hide some vegies in there..but it's so hard just getting her to eat even the pasta! grrrr. Hope she'll munch on some apple this afternoon...not holding my breath though!

DD1 is deciding to be fussy now which isn't helping. She needs to eat more vegies! i'm getting 'i don't like that' and that's yucky most nights. i've said i'm not going to bother cooking anymore as no one eats their food apart from DH and I. Of course i won't not cook, but i just wish they'd eat!

They were actually really good
I waited till they were just warm, and you couldn't taste the spinach at all and they were really nice and moist. A huge hit with everyone in the house (as well as my nieces).


I know how you feel, but try and always put something different on her plate, even if it is 5 peas and a slice of carrot.
With Mr Fussy, his dinner portions have become so small, but at least there is something on there that he can "play with" in terms of smelling and touching to build up familiarity.
I took him shopping yesterday and he told me off because I forgot to get "Power Peas", so we had to go back and get some
Now if only the little bugger would actually pop one into his gob......

Those brownies sound great!!
We are having no change at our place. I have been attempting to put things on the plate with dinner and am finding it all piled beside the plate whilst DS eats the one thing
So frustrating......

mummyofharry
Mr Fussy used to do that all the time, was so damn annoying - plus I am pretty anal about my dining table staying clean.
We just kept reinforcing that it is okay if he doesn't eat it, but it must remain on his plate (strategy is to keep it on the plate so it becomes familiar). He would dump it off, I would put it back, he would crack it, he would be excused from the table, but I didn't relent on that it must stay on the plate. The encouraging touching and smelling and playing with food was a great way to help keep it on the plate as well.... maybe give that a try?

Thank you for the advice - will be getting tough on it!!!

Yes he does! I don't know if it's because he's starving because he didn't eat dinner the night before?

Last night he did eat dinner - well the meat out of the curry anyway. No rice.No vege. And this morning he only had some bubbles and one weetbix. I actually hadn't thought if there was a link between dinner and breakfast (yesterday's the last thing i'm thinking of first thing in the morning). but maybe there is??!

I like the idea of the pancakes. Might have to give that a go on the weekend.

sleepydwarf - My DD had problems with constipation recently, and I found something that helped her. She likes to have apple juice with her breakfast and I found a brand of fruit box drinks (poppers) called Berri Multi V which you can get 99% apple juice with added fibre. I gave her one of these at breakfast every morning, and within half an hour she was on the toilet.

I also can't believe how much your DS eats for breakfast! I struggle to get much at all into my DD.

Okay, have come across a recipe for 3 vegetable chocolate cake in one of my SIL's magazines.

I am going to make it this weekend, and I will post the recipe later.

Main ingredients are pumpkin, sweet potato and zucchini and orange juice. There is sugar and golden syrup in the cake, but I think I am going to leave that out (I have been diagnosed with Syndrome X and I want to be able to eat it too!). I will write up the full recipe so if you make it, you can decide what you put in/leave out

No real progress with Mr Fussy. He is asking for milk every day now "to help me grow taller".

He has been having some poo problems lately - frequency and tearing - so I have been telling him that eating bread makes his bum sore and chocolate, biscuits and lollies make teeth fall out.
The first is working and he has virtually stopped asking for bread. I think I will have to actually wait till he starts losing the baby teeth before he believes me about lollies, biscuits and chocolate

**nb: he asks for biscuits, chocolates and lollies daily, but he doesn't get them. Nonna is responsible for his taste in these

Hi All

Cathode - the vege chocolate cake sounds great. I might like it myself! If only DS ate cake ...

OK. so I am almost at my wits end. Foods that DS used to eat, he will now spit out and whinge & cry. I think it's the texture. He has big issues with textured foods. He knows what most foods are, can name them, will touch or hold them - even pretend to eat them, but just wont actually eat them.

I think I have reached the point where I need some professional advice. My question is, who do I see? Do I talk to a paediatrician or someone else? GP for a referral (to who?). Someone told me he should see a speech pathologist/therapist, as they look after everything 'mouth' and not just speech.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have just had enough, and now i have a newborn to look after as well. His Diabetes really complicates things too. I am going to have a meltdown of my very own if I don't do something!

Sorry to hear that mum_and_more
I would go and see your GP to get a referral to a speech path or a child dietician.



Our update

Bread is now rarely had. We only have rye or grain bread in the house now (my diabetes was confirmed a few weeks back, along with fatty liver etc).

Mr Fussy still eats toast (that isn't bread apparently ) but if I offer him a slice of bread with his meal or such I get told "I can't have bread, it makes my bottom sore"

He eats a lot more apples now, because I told him that apples make his bottom happy

Morts!-thanks for that info - only trouble is he does't like juice



I told DS he has to eat fruit and veg to help him poo but i don't think he believes me. He walks around saying it, but put any sort of fruit or vege in front of him and he gets upset. Last night we had fried rice and he picked all the peas, corn & mushrooms out.

At play group they all take a piece of fruit to share. On Tuesday Ds got himself a little piece of banana & some apple in a little bowl, sat there with it, picked it up, took it to his mouth, put it down, repeated several times, then said "I don't want it". At least he tried. Last week he asked for a banana and ate the whole thing, but hasn't wanted another one.

The way that I look at it is that even if they just handle it and keep it on their plate, then it is a win


Mr Fussy has taken huge steps backwards. His food is now reduced to chicken nuggets, apples and 1 cup of milk a day.
He is still very good at keeping all his dinner on his plate and playing with it ... but it just seems to be going nowhere at the moment

I wish there was some fail proof method to get him to just try stuff ... I know he would like loads of foods if he would even just put it into his goddamn mouth! ~takes a deep breath~

I have been doing everything they say to do for neophobia and it just isn't cutting the mustard

Cathode - sorry to hear your health has not been the best
We have gone backwards in our house to - He starts to like a new food, but drops an old one. He used to like sausages but now likes garlic bread. I actually cried the other night. Feel as though I am at breaking point. It is such a PITA to pack dinner whenever we go out.
He still carbloads on bread as it is something he will eat. DH and I have noticed though he does like breadcrumbs so we are going to give a few things a go this week.
mum_and_more how did you go at the gp??

Well there must be something in the air, as my little fuss-pot has also dropped one of his favorite meals

mummyofharry - I have not been to the GP as yet, as I am SURE I will be told that it's just a phase and to keep trying.

However, I had my paediatrician follow up appointment for my newborn bubba and i asked him about Dominic's eating habits then. He said to introduce one new food at a time. Just put peas (for example) on his plate every single night with his normal dinner and that once he is used to them being there he should try them.

Well it has been 5 days and so far all he does with them (we decided to start with peas) is feed them to me or drop them in his little bowl of sauce.

Oh, and yesterday he licked some rockmelon and a stawberry. OK, he didn't eat it, but I can't explain how excited I was to see him lick it! Silly, huh?

I am feeling a little better about the lack of food after speaking with the paediatrician - it seems it is quite common. If he does not start responding to new foods within about 6 months after trying the repetition thing, I will need to take him to a speech pathologist to work with textures. I hope we don't have to do that.

I really hope you are all having at least small wins with your fussy eaters x

If only it was that easy. Mr Fussy has had the same foods offered on a regular basis for 3years and he still won't eat them

Mum_and_more - that really is great progress with getting him to lick the foods, so at least he is kind of trying new flavours. I'm excited for you!

UPDATE: We had a small win the other night after a massive meltdown!
You can now buy sweet potato chips in the frozen section, so I thought I would give that a bash ... they look pretty similar to chips, I can get him to do it!
Ba baaah.
I ended up cracking the sh*ts big time and made him stay at the table until he took a bite to try it. Well, after him getting hysterical a few times (and me getting him to take deep breaths to calm down, repeat 3 times) he *finally* took a bite nearly 2hrs later. I was so determined not to cave!
He took a bite, told me it tastes like coconuts and that they were like chips (der) and then trotted off to have his bath.
Next night, they were on his plate again, he picks one up and made a big show out of taking a bite to show Daddy. So now he is eating sweet potato {yay, as they are lower GI than potato}.


Thank you
It is almost entirely my fault - from living the good life combined with some bad genetics

Hi ladies
I was reading an article in a local paper here in WA (Perth's Child) and a Mum was writing about her experiences with ther fussy 7 year old eater. I don't remember the article excactly, but the Mum said that he virtually existed on a diet of idry white bread and chips with tomato sauce. She went to specialists with no joy, but she knew there was something wrong with him. Her Mum lived in the Germany and they were going there on a holiday. The Grandmother booked him into a doctor over there and they ran tests, etc and found out that his oesophagus was inflamed and everything pointed to refulx. Arriving back in Aus, they booked into a gastro specialist for children who confirmed the diagnosis. He is now on medication for it and food is slowly being introduced into his diet. Not sure if this will help any of you ladies as I have not read through all the posts, but thought I would post anyway. Good luck!

@ Cathode:- I've just finished reading through both threads and noticed that your good eater was emulating Mr Fussy for a while there. How long did that last for? The reason why I ask is that it's started happening here and I'm really hoping it doesn't get worse.

Bit of background. The kids in question are my stepsons, aged 4 and 6. They're with us every weekend, and alternate between their mum and their nanna through the week. I don't know how they eat through the week, as there have been conflicting stories - sometimes "Oh they eat fine at my house", other times "Yay! He ate an apple!" and other times "Well you should change your diets to suit the kids." On asking the boys to let me know one meal that they will both eat (other than nuggets and chpis from either KFC or Maccas), they stare at me blankly. DSS1 has steadily reduced the things he'll eat with us, until we've reached the point where he will have dry crunchy nut cornflakes and a sip of diluted orange juice for breakfast, skip lunch entirely, then have plain 2 minute noodles for dinner. If we try make your own pizza night, he eats the base dry and cold.

If we got to a bbq, he will happily scarf down multiple sausages, as long as they're on white bread with no sauce. If we go to a kids party, he'll eat dry cocktail frankfurts, but stays away from pies because of the gravy, sausage rolls because he once found a piece of grated carrot in one, as well as anything else that might have vegetable content or that he hasn't tried before. Like the rest of the fussy ones mentioned here, when offered the choice of trying something then getting something he likes, or going without food, he goes without food. The starve him out option really isn't worthwhile, as he now says to us "I'm only here one night, why can't I go to bed without dinner?" I insist that we all sit together during dinner, because I think it's an important part of being a family. In the past, this has resulted in massive tanties while he watched his little brother eat dinner then polish off a bowl of frozen yoghurt, lots of screaming "Mum knows you're supposed to send me to my room when I don't eat!" (Which leads me to think again that the problem isn't restricted to our house.) The current routine is that nobody gets a special meal cooked, anyone who doesn't want to eat has to sit at the table until everyone else is finished. We've given up getting him to try things, because he can vomit at will, on to the table, which kind of spoils dinner for the rest of us.

So up until the last few weeks, this has worked out pretty well. DSS2 has been a fairly good eater, willing to try things he hasn't had before, and with a special preference for spinach tortellini and panner and saag curries. He's been willing to eat a piece of fish before eating chips and potato cakes, and has also been ok with having a tiny bit of salad on tacos. Recently though, he has ben going the sit there with untouched plate in front option. He has started saying that he isn't hungry even before dinner is announced. If we ask if he's sure because we're having fish and chips, he changes his mind, until the fish arrives and then he isn't hungry any more. Unlike DSS1, he doesn't have four years experience of going hungry, so ends up with head and stomach aches, in general misery, but unwilling to eat anything.

So we now have double the angst, and I would really love to hear that emulation passes pretty quickly. My biggest fear is that this will still be going on when DS1 enters the picky toddler stage, as he's a fantastic eater at the moment, provided he's allowed to feed himself. We can manage if it's only one problem eater, two, or gods forgive, three, would be way too much for me to deal with. If things don't change in the next few months, I'm seriously considering taking my son to my parents' house each weekend so he isn't exposed to it.

Any ideas, other than just sucking it up as we do that already, would be most appreciated. I know we could just get them Maccas or KFC every weekend, but we really don't have the budget for that outside of birthdays.

joshuasmum - thanks for that info. It certainly is worth checking out. For a while there I thought it might have been his tonsils interfering, but we went and had them checked a couple of weeks ago and whilst there is still a little swelling, it has gone done a great deal.

cansei de ser sexy - With Mr Carnivore, it didn't last long at all. If anything, he now seems to be Mr Opposite to Mr Fussy. ie, if Mr Fussy is eating a chicken nugget, Mr Carnivore will not eat any of his nuggets.

It is just as well that we are programmed to love them, otherwise I would probably have bashed my own head in by now.

In your situation though, I am not sure. I do not know how long you have been with your partner for or under your arrangement of having the kids every weekend ... but I would be inclined to think that there might be some acting out ? in regards to the copycat...

I think that you need to speak with the BM (get hubby to do this) and ask her to reaffirm with the fussy one that he must stay at the dinner table until everyone is finished.
You can't really have 2 sets of rules for the same children, and Mr Copycat is seeing his brother get away with stuff and is at the age where he will emulate.

What I would do (apart from the above), I would organise the first meal of the weekend to be one that you *know* Mr Fussy will eat - no matter what it is. Just get him at the table and eating to set an example to his brother.

With our Mr Fussy, we do not keep him at the table till the very end of dinner. If he has made a decent attempt at his plate (I always offer at least one thing that he will eat) and asks correctly to leave the table ("May I please leave the table") and then takes his dishes into the kitchen, he is permitted to leave the table.

Good luck and let me know how you go with the mum and trialling this (if you decide to).

looks like I'm back in here again.. DS(4) was doing so well at one stage but now he's back to square 1.. will only eat yoghurt or nutella sarnies terribly frustrating.. I'm at my wits end with him - tired of begging, pleading and screaming - just want him to finish one decent meal a day or week even

Mine has had a backward turn too Lynny
Down to bread, pancakes and milk with the occasional apple thrown in.

Only difference now is that he keeps asking if things will make his bum sore or make him grow taller.

Cathode - oh no, not you too!

This is so frustrating.. DS wouldnt eat dinner last night and insisted on a sandwich - I managed to talk him into having a ham and cheese one (rather than nutella) and he actually agreed and asked if he could have DH's super bread (I told him that the heart foundation tick on DH's grainy bread means it's super bread )

I did notice that he had 2 servings of lunch at preschool - vegetable soup for crying out loud!! If he's going to eat everything at preschool then I wont hassle him so much at dinner time - just wish he went every single day, atm it's only twice a week