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finicky eater

I've got a 6 year old girl who won't eat fruits or veggies.  NONE at all.  She's been abstaining entirely from that food group since somewhere round 2 and a half.  She refuses to so much as taste them.  She cries when I put them on a plate.  She removes them from her plate.  If they touch her other food she won't eat her supper.  (Such as tonight and she has gone to bed with now supper.) She is normal height and weight for her size and looks healthy. She eats lots of protein (fish, cheese, eggs, almond butter and peanut butter, and chicken but no red meat) and for carbs, bread, rice and pasta.  She drinks juice and milk.She has a great love of sweets which I try to restrict.  I often feel like her daily menu is SO limited and I am concerned that she is not getting a balanced diet. I never insist she eat those foods she doesn't like but I have begun insisting upon serving them to her.  This causes tremendous frustration in her.  Also I often say there will be no desert unless she 'tastes' the veggies.  So usually she goes without desert. Mostly I want to expand her palate so that she develops better eating habits for life.  Also I'd like to see her develop more socially acceptable table manners around dealing with the foods she is not fond of. Can anyone out there give me some advice?  I've heard the line "it often takes 10-20 exposures to a certain food before a child will be open to it".  My kid will not even taste these foods.  She'll hardly tolerate looking at them when she's eating.  How do I keep them in her sphere?  How hard-*** should I be about serving them even though it clearly frustrates her so much? Should I just relax and give her what she wants and quit pushing the veggies and fruit? How much should I push?
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1394601 tn?1328032308
I agree.  It has been made into a battle.  Let it ride.  Don't offer.  Don't put it on her plate.  If you are making something the child absolutely dislikes (even if it is every night) have alternatives that she can make for herself.  There is no reason why a six year old cannot make herself a sandwich (cheese, peanutbutter).  At first she will be excited to have the power in her own hands.  Yummy peanutbutter or whatever she chooses but slowly she will begin to wane and look at the food you are serving and want to taste.  It always worked in our home.
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535822 tn?1443976780
Possibly the pushing it making her rebel so get some of the great juices out there,and take a step back ,ease the pressure ,once she realises you have lost interest it may change, sometimes at this age they want to be in control of themselves, I know we worry but she will be okay Relax your mind about the issue ,see what happens
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13167 tn?1327194124
Since she likes juice,  if you buy her really high quality all natural juices she'll get lots of fruit nutrients from that.

I have a sister in law who's 50 and she doesn't eat fruits and vegetables either,  ever,  and neither do her older teenage kids.  They seem fine.
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13167 tn?1327194124
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