How can I get my 5 year old to try new foods?

Question

I am at my wits end and have resorted to shouting which is ridiculous and wrong! She basically lives on cereal bars, toast, smiley faces and yoghurts. I also have 19 month old twins who are not as picky so every time I make their food, I put a little on her plate to try to encourage her - she won't even put it to her lips! I give her multi vitamins every day because I am worried she isn't getting anything from her meals. She is very active and doesn't have a problem with weight but I've noticed recently that when she goes to the toilet, there is no colour in her poo (sorry) and its starting to really worry me now.
Any suggestions would be very welcome but serious answers only please.
Thanks

PS I've tried bribery and it seemed to make her worse......
I also thought about putting her on school dinners but I know for a fact she will just go all day without eating

Answer 1

I've got a really fussy 6 year old. She drives me crazy. You're right to worry about the poo color, she needs meat, fruit & veg or she's not getting the right vitamins.

She is getting much better than she was 12 months ago. She's now at school and the kids talk about what's in their lunchboxes although they're encouraged not to share food because of allergies. From the day she started school one of the questions I ask her when we chat after school is "what do the other kids have in their lunchboxes?" Their school has a policy that they're allowed to eat any time of the day as long as they eat fruit or raw vegetables. (which of course - she didn't!) I would put a variety of stuff in her lunchbox every day and after about 3 months, instead of bringing it home, she started sampling it and talking about it. At the start she used to say angrily, "Why did you put that in my lunchbox? You know I don't like it!" My response (in a cool tone) was always, "If you don't like it, don't eat it, but I thought that you might like it because that's what all your friends eat." One day she shocked the hell out of me and said, "Mum, I tried my banana today, and it tastes ok." I was so pleased I almost cried! I fell into the trap of putting one in there everyday, after about 2 weeks she got sick of them and stopped eating them. So I still put new stuff in there, sometimes she tries it, sometimes not. She gets a banana twice a week, just enough so that we don't get sick of them. Everytime something new comes out that's "in" I'll buy it and put it in her lunchbox, eg. "Bratz" yoghurt (she won't normally eat yoghurt), you can guarantee she'll try it at school just so she can show her friends that she's got a cool lunch.

It feels like I'm wasting lots of food, but it's worth it, if she even tries it. In the last year we've conquered banana, raw carrot, broccoli and even pizza! (they made it at school on "italian day" so now she'll eat it) It's amazing the power of peer pressure.

I've tried buying kids cookbooks and getting her involved in the cooking, and although I'm sure this helps some people it hasn't worked for me.

I've also found that since she's been trying more at school, I can bribe her with more at dinner time. I'll dish something up, and ask her to try it. If she won't try it, she gets no dinner, if she at least tries it, she'll get what she wants to eat afterwards. I don't expect her to eat it all - or even like it - I'm just asking her to try one spoonful. Although the constant sooking & whinging is annoying, she's heaps better than she used to be.

Perhaps find out what her friends are eating at school, and keep in touch with the other mum's. Sometimes they might have a play at a friends house after school and eat something there - but you wouldn't know about it.

I know how frustrating it is but just keep persisting, and you'll get there. Maybe just check with your doctor or natural health professional about the multi vitamin you're giving her - if her poo color isn't normal either she's still not getting the right vitamins or there may be another underlying problem. It needs to be investigated further.

Answer 2

A lot of good advice already given.
I would say, put her dinner/breakfast/lunch in front of her, the same as everyone else is having. But keep the food fairly bland as she probably dislikes spicy foods - the things you say she does eat are quite bland.
Say nothing to her while she is "eating", ignore her, get on with your meal. If she says "I've eaten some peas" (or whatever) just say, "good girl" and go back to your food.
When everyone has finished, say "well done" to those who have eaten their food and remove the plates. You could do a star chart for all three children - she won't like to see her siblings getting more stars than her (even if they don't understand what's happening).
End of story. After a day or two she will probably start to join in.
A lot of kids do this to get attention.
But I should also speak to your doctor or health visitor in case there's an underlying problem.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

What a problem you have!!!!! Try making mealtimes fun. Make faces out of food and then give her meal to her. For example, noodle hair, brussel sprout eyes, a carrot nose, pea teeth and cauliflower ears (you get my drift!!!) Kids love cheesy sauce, try putting that on her vegies also. Make a boat out of dip, with carrot, and celery sticks as the people. The ideas are endless!!! From now on, only offer her healthy choices. If she is hungary she will eat!!! Popcorn can be fun to make and is healthy to eat, or even start your own vegie garden and encourage her to help. She will then take great pleasure in "testing" her results. Good luck!!!!!

Answer 5

No matter what advice you are given it is really really hard. I know I have an 8, 6, 3 and 7 month old. I have problems with my 6 year old boy he will only eat chips and potato. I have had advice from the health visitor etc but nothing works. They will eat when they want to. My 8 year old used to be the same and now she will try different things. Just be a bit patient. It will happen with time.

Answer 6

my daughter is 17 now and still only eats bread, vegemite ,cheese and chicken breast.Seh eats tacos as well.but thats the extent of her diet. fruit wise she eats apples. I give her a vitamin tab. her only problem medically was anemia when she got her period, but that is adressed now. Her problem now is weight, as she had an accident and hasnt excersided all year anbd likes junk food. when she was little ,I tried the shouting forcing etc, but she jsut vomited if I made her eat .she also had some food allergies that didn't help.lactose intolerance and egg.
my eldest was fussy ,not as bad, but now at 19 and having to cook for himself as really expanded his diet and eats most ly everything,though doesnt enjoy many veges or fruits but eill eat it if cooked in with other stuff. my youngest eats anything except beans.EASy :)
theya re all different and Ithink if she is excersiscing and taking vitamisn, you can relax and not shout LOL it only stresses you, she's till not going to eat it!!!
good luck.

Answer 7

I have had to do it with my kids.

Perserverence, keep putting it on their plate. Get her to just lick it to start with and be happy with that, reward her with dessert and then slowly progress. My 3 year old will now suck broccali, we call it brocacli juice and with that he gets pudding after dinner.

My son over the past year has started eating pasta, potatos, carrots and we are are able to introduce more stuff all the time.

Dont panic too much about it, she wont let herself go hungry, just perservere dont put on the pressure and realise it wont happen over night, as I have said this progress has tken us a year.

My 9 year old was a fussy eater, she still is but has the reasoning and understanding to now she doesnt get treats if she wont eat veg or fruit!

Good luck!!

Answer 8

I have a 3 year old and I don't give her the choice when it comes to things like this.

If she goes to bed hungery a few times she'll soon learn that she must eat what she is given.

You are the adult and it is your job to educate her on the correct foods.

It is very important for children to have a balanced diet as they get into habits that last for their whole life.

I would recommend going to discuss with your GP also. There are support groups around and you can bet there are people with the same probelms as you all around. Good luck

Answer 9

The first thing to do is dont worry its quite normal for a 5 year old ,why dont you try inviting her friends for tea ,that might make her eat that is of course there not as fussy.Do you all eat as a family if you dont you should so she can see you eat ,hope that helps they do usually grow out of it at least some of the stuff she eats is ok best of luckxx

Answer 10

To encourage her to eat a wider variety of foods try finger foods like carrot batons, fruit slices, pasta, sweetcorn etc etc.

You could even try to get her involved in making her own dinner, giving her an option of 3 or 4 things and letting her know that she can help you cook it.

Don't make a big deal of her not eating food, don't watch her while she is eating (well don't make it obvious :) )

Up until the age of 11 I would never eat in front of anyone...not even family, if I did, I would just pick at things...at family parties I wouldn't eat at all while everyone else helped themselves to the "buffet" food. I just didn't like the thought of people watching me and "making fun" of how I ate things, sounds weird but that was me :)

The more you make a fuss of it the less she is going to want to eat at all.

Hope that helps.