Will only try something if held down and shoved in his mouth

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

Khyan won't eat anything other than ham, polony, chicken fingers/nuggets, chips or mac & cheese, vegemite sandwich, yoghurt, scrambled egg and toast - do you notice the lack of vegetables  :roll: other then those there is fruit and other snack type foods

The routine normally goes I cook something "healthy" he eats NONE (won't even put it in his mouth) and then he leaves the table and then about 30 mins later I make him toast or something for his tummy so that he doesn't go to bed hungry :roll:

Anyway today I had enough and cooked up risotto which was a fav of his about 5 months ago so I sat down with him and he refused to put any in his mouth. Well I normally try to do everything with respect - like asking him before I do anything, offering choices etc. Any way today I had enough and held him down and shoved the food in his mouth, he tried to spit it out so I held his mouth together and forced him to swallow (kind of like feeding a dog a tablet) so he swallows looks at me and says " MORE, MORE" and proceeds to scoff an entire bowl  :x  What the....

I have done something similar on other occassions with similar results  :shock: - even scrambled eggs which is his absolute favourite, I didn't give for 1 month and then when presented with it again I had to force it in so that he realised that he liked it  :shock:

I am now wondering if he would eat a fair few things if he would just try them

Do you have any ideas of a more respectful way of encouraging him to try different foods ?

[Nicola_G]

Michaela,

I'm no expert, but I think your lo has clued into the fact that if he doesn't eat what you want him to eat, you will cave in and give him something far yummier later. I know it sounds cruel, but have you tried letting him go without? I think if he is given too many choices he will keep making the bad ones.

And going without here and there will do less damage IMHO than pinning him down and forcing the food down.

[Daniel's mummy]

Michaela, my ds does thte exact same thing and he's not even one yet.  He makes out he hates something but when I 'make' him chew it he realises he likes it. I don't often do this to him as like you said it seems disrespectful, but when you've spent ages cooking something up for him and then he won't eat it, sometimes I insist!

Have no answers.  Sorry.

[JacobMarksMummy]

I have to agree with Nicola, when we were kids if we didnt want what mum cooked for dinner we went without. We soon learnt that it was better to eat what was on offer than go hungry. It will be hard in the long run but better than pinning him down and shoving it in

Nome
x

[Lana]

Well I have to say that I totally understand your frustration with this issue and I have delt with it myself, somedays I still do.  I would just calmly tell him that if he didn't want to eat it then he can get down.  When he asked for food again in 30 min I would offer him the same thing again.  Trust me he will not starve himself.

{{{{HUGS}}}}

[GraceKellysmom]

I am in a different school of thought on this in that I serve my kids what they will eat. I always offer them what we are eating, Grace eats mostly what we do now, and she has really liked some of the things she tries off my plate. I don't force food, I don't bribe with food, I don't punish for not eating, and I think that kids should go to bed with a full tummy and full of love/trust for mommy and daddy.

These little tiny kids are still babies for goodness sakes! It is a lot different if we were talking about a 7 yr old, who understood the consequences of not eating his dinner he would go to bed hungry. I know that Grace understands a lot, but she is not mature enough to make the decision to go to bed hungry. 

[Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle]

I'm with Stacy on this.  Nathan had a very limited range of food he'd eat for maybe a year, I just went with it, I offered him new things but there was always something that he liked on his plate and he'd also get more once he was done.  I would encourage him to try a bite and sometimes he would and sometimes he wouldn't - no big deal.  Sometimes I try the bribe thing, occasionally it works and other times not - same thing, no big deal, it's not done in a threatening way, just "hey, how about you try a bite of that xx while I get some peaches out?" (and I take a while to get them) - if he chooses to that's cool - if the pressures not there, he's more inclined to try something.  Now at almost 3 he eats a wide range of food.  What I find is sometimes he wants to get down from the table not having eaten, but not ask for any other food, so I leave his plate on the table and often he'll return and eat it in his own time.

[Katet]

Yes I find i use the same methods as Stacy & Nikki.
I get the veg & fruit in where I can...although he is great with fruit if I just give it, if I offer it is usually no.
When Liam was born he at 12 different things...but at least one from each food group... I spoke to my Early child nurse about it & she said, make sure I offer him those food groups every day & Offer him from my plate & slowly he is eating more. I often find if I feed him too late he will refuse dinner too, as he is too tired to want to eat even if it is 15mins later than normal.