My 5 year old will not eat any fruit or veggies, I have tried everything I can think of. Please help!?

Question

Seriously, he eats no fruit or veggies. He lives on peanut butter, yougart and any carb product that does not have fresh fruit in it! The doctors tell me not to worry, the grandmothers tell me to worry all the time. He will not even eat pizza, hot dogs, or mac and cheese, kid staples! I don't want to have the war of the wills, but if that is what it takes I'm ready. We eat meals together most of the time and his younger sister and I eat well , so he has good role models. ( Dad is not home for most meals, but eats anything when he is.) I could use some solid tactics. He is a smart sweet child, this is the biggest challenge we have. Thanks!

Answer 1

You just described my 6 year old. How fustrating! My other 2 children eat great. Forcing does no good. I give him vitamins. Some ways I sneak fruits and vegis in is apple juice, OLIVES, and sometimes tomato soup. (He hates spagetti) He did eat cooked carrots once but every other veg and fruit he won't eat. V8 spash juice is another good one, it has fruit and vegis. The Doc told me ketchup counts as a vegi. PB and J sandwiches are good. Buy sugar free if worried about sugar,(protein, fruit) My son likes apples cut up with out skin. I try to make him try a bite if he hasn't tasted it before but it turns in to a huge ordeal. I've taken him to the Doc. and they say he is fine. I've heard that different blood types determine how a person eats, whether they are a meat eater or have more cravings for carb. It is hard. I now let him eat how little he wants, but he misses out on alot of treats the other two might get because he doesn't eat. He is now into turkey lunch meat sandwitches with ketchup and mustard.

Answer 2

You know- I have read and read about this sort of thing with small children...I would deny any sort of "treat" or unhealthy foods until he will eat (even a little bit to start with) fruits or veggies. The otherwise healthy child will not starve himself!!

Another idea is to really stretch your creative thinking to the max- fruit is easier- for example, some frozen treats are made with real fruit juice...

I would make sure he gets a daily children's vitamin (my 4 YO will only take the gummy vitamins- which he loves like candy). Another idea would be PediaSure drinks daily- they come in choc, van, strawb and taste like a shake! Chocked full of vitamins and minerals.

Finally, I would be a bit concerned (grandmothers, etc may have your and his best interest at heart but are not necessarily well-informed!!) Contact his pediatrician for a visit and make sure he is not denying these foods for health reasons, (ulcer, etc) and that his going without these foods this currently is not causing him some serious health issues. Good luck!

Answer 3

Don't worry, he is at an age to try to separate from you a bit and develop his own ideas. Don't make a big deal out of what he eats as long as he only has healthy things to choose from. If you make a big deal out of it, he will turn it into a battle of wills.Tell the grandmothers to butt out, they had their chance to raise children and if they did it right, you will be fine. Give him multi vitamins just to ensure that he doesn't miss anything. Serve yummy foods like veggies and dip and fresh fruit salad to his sister, but offer him the same boring peanut butter sandwiches every time.All children love sweets, if the only sweets around are grapes and apples, he will try them eventually. If the veggies and fruit are around, he will try some eventually, although it may take months. In the meantime you don't have to fight with him daily. There will be lots of opportunities to fight with him about the stuff that really matters, like sex, drugs and smoking, when he gets older. If everything is a battle , how will he know which things are really important to you and which ones are just about a parent imposing their will on a child.(from his point of view, not mine)

Answer 4

No problem here. First, let the grandmothers know you are raising the child - not them - and to butt out completely.

Put the food you want him to eat on the plate. He won't eat it? Put it in the fridge until the next meal and give it to him again. After a couple of meals, he will eat what is served - unless you cave in and give him what he wants to eat.

You are the parent. Act like it!! As for the father who is not home for most meals - tell him that being a father is more important than staying at the office late - or tomcatting around which he is probably doing.

Answer 5

You probably have nothing to worry about. He'll grow out of it. But, the way my parents got me to eat fruit and veggies is they just put it on my plate (just a little) and made me try it. If I didn't like it, my dad ate it for me. Most of the time, I loved it. Today, I absolutely love fruit. It is my favorite food group. You might also try telling him that fruit taste just like candy when it is sweet. If he doesn't try anything new in the world the world will be dull.
Also maybe have him help you cook meals. He might relize its actually good.

Answer 6

Kids go through food phases. My nephew ate so many chicken nuggets as a 3-5 year old that I thought he would become a chicken nugget! My cousins at that age would only drink Nestle Quick Strawberry flavored milk. It's odd to us, but normal to them.

Some suggestions :

Let him dip his fruit into the peanut butter or yogurt. Apples are good for that, especially Granny Smiths that are a little sour and very crunchy.

What about a banana and peanut butter sandwich or milkshake?

I do have to say that if this is the greatest challenge you have with him, you are one lucky mom!

Answer 7

Gerber I think, has some veggie-snacks shaped like cereals, try sneaking those in. Keep offering fruit/veggies, one day he will try something. Maybe even set up a "game" where he gets a sticker on a chart if he just tries something. If he gets, say 6 stickers in a week, let him pick something fun to do you with, like play cars , or go-fish, or something that doesn't cost anything. If he finds a fruit or a veggie he is willing to eat on a regular basis, treat him to a toy from the dollar store. Just keep up with his weight and if his doctor's are ok, try to worry a bit less. Will he eat the yogurt with fruit on the bottom if you mix it? Will he drink smoothies? fruit and yogurt and ice in a blender? Try that. Maybe even v8 juice, try it, my kids drink it. (i don't! lol) Fruit n grain bars made with real fruit? What about jelly? CAn you get the all fruit kind? It's kinda hard to sneak in veggies.I'm not coming up with ideas there. Unless you arrange them on his plate in shapes and dare him to eat it! Best wishes!

Answer 8

I've seen suggestions like putting baby food veggies (jarred peas, etc.) in things like spaghetti sauce, or putting other fruits and veggies in things like muffins. What about banana bread? Some ideas I've heard are shredded carrots, also zucchini bread would be an idea (my mom used to make chocolate zucchini bread also - may seem like more of a treat to him!). You can also add applesauce to baking recipes.

I wish I could be more help, I know I've seen recipes specifically for the purpose of adding fruits and veggies to get your kids their daily amount, just can't recall where right now.

Answer 9

my 6 year old is the same way. there is nothing i can do about vegetable and the fruit is limited to grapes which she hardly even eats. I have worried about this for so long, I read one book that reassured me that the child is not going to become malnourished as long as you stick to the other food groups properly and always give a daily vitamin. My daughter used to be so constipated from the lack of ruffage it was so horrible for all of us... I was told to try whole wheats instead and she refused the "brown" bread to! Now they make white whole wheat bread so serve that often too. And when ever you can stick to 100% juice drink...
Ps stick to the doctors opinion, it is as not bad as it seems...your boy is going to grow up healthy and strong even if he is picky!

Answer 10

My daughter had the same problem! At first I would make her something different from the rest of the family. But as our family grew, I realized I was making myself into a short order cook! No, more I said! I started out giving our girls no choices in meal planning. What I would do is to serve them a ...small portion ...of everything that we were having, I would not make them anything different. In order to get seconds of anything on their plates they would have to finish everything on their plates. Of course these are ridiculously small portions we are talking about. After they finished everything on their plates they could have as much seconds as they wanted of whatever was being served. Over time the portions have increased but the rule stays the same. My girls now eat everything that we fix. I have also given them the opportunity to choose what we eat one night a week.