Make something they can help you cook - with my sons 20mths and Max 9mths one of their favourite meals is spinach and cheese caneloni.  I get them to help mash the ricotta, fetta and spinach using their hands and push it into the caneloni shells, makes a bit of mess but keeps them happy I then just bake it in a cheap bottle of spagetti sauce with a little grated cheese.  Both my boys love vegies, we have colour days at my house.  I make up a big pot of carrot, sweet potato and pumpkin soup - The boys put all the scraps in the bucket for the worms and the rubbish in the bin.  Freeze in seperate containers -  It can be eaten as is or serve with a little rice, shredded roast chicken.  Kids love beetroot mash some potato and get the kids to change the colour using a little beetroot juice.  Try corn on the cob and let them go for it watch your fingers but if you have a decent knife you can half the cob to make it easier and dont be afraid to offer them washed raw veg brocolli, cauliflower, mushrooms you will be surprised what the will like

dont worry to much my nine year old is fussy as well

baby apple purree

baked potatoes hot chips

cheese

meat no fat

chichen

weetbix      heaps milk

NO SALZD OR OTER VEGIES AT ALL

I regually have her friends for meals and they cannot believe it either

generally i put all the meat vegies gravy on a big platter so they can serve themselves to as little or as much as they want.

It is hard and we have many fights about it. even when she goes to tea at other peoples houses in the street she takes her own tea as they are fed up as well.

she ate her first cocktail frakfurt last week.

i give my daughter mashed veg sometimes with cheese through it or a little mayo.I mash carrot,turnip,potato,parsnip and pumpkin together.She loves it.Another thing she likes is the carrots in the jar.(pickled carrots.)it got her to eat carrots.I told her to eat them like bugs bunny.she thought this was fun.play group has helped her she eats things there she wont eat at home because the other kids are eatting it.kids always want what the other one has got.the kids my daughter hangs out with are always swapping food.my daughter is 2.

We know how that feels like my now five old refuses to eat fruit (except for bananas) and most vegetables.  She has done this since 2 yrs old.  Everyday we give her vegetables like everyone elese and say if you eat your dinner including vegetables you get XX.  Works a treat with the boys very rarely she eat them.  I'm not worried as my husband didnt eat his vegetables and fruit as a child his mum fretted many anight about it.  Please to know he is healthy 6ft man who loves his vegetables.  They say you must offer more than 10-20 times before saying they dont like it.  If worried go and see your doctor for more advise he/she may refer you to a dietian.

Hi - I know the battle well! My son is almost six and it is only in the last say six months that he will eat a small amount of most veges and a very select few fruit. I never gave up, mashed and hid veges in anything I could and kept putting them on his plate. But it was always a battle to even get one mouthful into him - and it was quite possible that he would throw it back up! I did find a product though that contains 12 dehydrated fruits and veges in a natural pectin base - they look like Gummy Bears and kids love them. I will agree that it is maybe not the best but at least they are getting the nutritional value with just 4 bears per day. You can order them pover the net, contact me if you want the details.

Good Luck

Leonie

Not an unusual situation and may have been determined by previous experience. Breast milk of course is rich in glucose  and therefore sweet. Infant bottled vegies are sweet. So try experimenting with a very small amount of natural spices and flavourings. Light soy sauce is salty, most kid's like most Chinese flavour's. Sweet and sour use the new CSR Logicand sugar rated at 50 on GI index, add a touch of rice wine vinegar (Japanese) corn flour and water to steamed vegies. Hoisin and plum sause are also  favourites,use sparingly.

For the ultimate in Super Nutrition "Chia Seeds" now grown locally are unbeatable. For a 17 month old one teaspoon soaked in very warm water ten minutes add to porridge soup,stew etc , well stirred in. Or a larger quantity through the coffee grinder and kept in air tight tin or jar for a week or two may be added to many food dishes.

Here is what you get:

Chia seeds contain 32 to 39 percent oil, and this oil has the highest natural percentage of alpha-linolenic acid or omega 3 – up to 64 percent.    The oil also contains omega 6 essential fatty acids, and has an omega 3 to omega 6 ratio of 3:2.  Chia seeds are also rich in long-chain triglycerides which help to maintain the proper wall flexibility of the cells and also restore the correct cholesterol to triglycerides ratio.  The omega 3 found in chia seeds is converted by the body into DHA and EPA fatty acids – the same kinds that are found in fish oil.

Well i know what you are going through.  My daughter never liked vege and fruit  when she was young, well she is 11 and still does not eat the recommended amount.   We used to take her to the fruit and vege shop and ask her when she was about 2,  to pick out what she would like to try and she loved the fact she had a trolley(kids trollies not all vege shop have them) and she did pick some veges,  bright colors  like corn,carrot and beans and she liked big round fruit rockmelons,  we then came home and she helped me prepare them and she ate them. and we used to make alot of shapes and faces with out food and see who could eat what first.  I know they say you should never play with food but if they eat it ?????

Good luck with everything!  Don't get to stressed, let him join in in preparing on maybe his own little table... 

I went into my local Angus and roberts bookstore, the book deceptively delishes retails at Aus $35. There is heaps of easy to cook meals and snacks.

Try sitting down and eating some fruit together as the little ones always want what you are eating.  Also try some tin fruit salad or fruit in tiny pieces.  Put it in a bowl with a spoon.  My 17mth old loves to eat with a spoon.

im not sure how you are presenting this to him. at 17 months they are still young. if you are giving  an apple whole then he might struggle with it!

children and adults tend to eat it if its cut up in slices or fours. funny i know you can have a fruit basket full and they wont touch it! but if you cut it up and clean the core they eat it.!!!

if he struggles with the skin peel clean that off until he is strong enough and old enough to eat the apple with the skin on.

have you tried to mash the banana ? you could always try home made  apple stew if all else fails. or pear stew.

vegies can be boiled with meat added even and puree . i used to make a large batch then refrigerate fir a couple of days in glass container. i would make fresh batch every two days. you can throw anything in but try to mix itaround a little. pumpkin for example with other vegies added will give the distinct yellow orange colour .

silverbeet endives chickory or spinach will give it a green effect . but i would only predominately put one of these and then just a little of other vegies.  colour and change is important if you see your toddler getting bored of the same colour and taste

i hope i can be of some help

take care

annie

If he likes licking the fruit, then maybe just give him a slice of apple, banana and one berry (etc) on a regular basis and look on it as fruit sacrificed in a good cause. Sooner or later he'll move on from licking to tasting, and by then it will be familiar. I know the problem - DD1 ate almost every veg & fruit offered to her; DD2 is right down to a handful after being a wonderfully unfussy baby. But we had a breakthru last week - she is back on the cucumber again, after an 18 month break! For 18 months I have always tried to put a slice on her plate whenever I have some in my sandwiches. I have put a blob of her favourite houmous on top of it some days. But no, last week she ate an inch chunk of it, an we havent looked back since! So there is hope for you too.

Remember that baked beans and other pulses (eg the chickpeas in houmous) count as one veg serving a day. Also, if he likes lollies, try making a smoothie and freeze it (or offer it as a drink?). Also remember that if he sees you eating fruit and veg, he is more likely to try it - if he asks for a try of your food, then let him (DD1 tried all sorts that way as for a while she was convinced that mum & dad MUST be eating better than her!). If he doesnt like fruit juices, could it be that they are too strong and need more watering down? My DD2 likes orange juice but only if it is very diluted. If he likes pasta, then try blending all the veggies and mixing a little bit into his pasta (not enough to scare him) and then as he gets used to it over the next few months increase the sauce (still working on this with DD2!). Also, children are great copiers of other children - if you know some good eaters, invite them over or better still eat at their house sometimes - he will be watching you can be sure! Another trick I learned is to offer fruit between meals as a snack. If I offer eg bananas as pudding, she never eats them, but if I offer them at 10.30 when she's hungry, she'll often eat a whole one.

Above all, be patient. If he sees you getting stressed about it he will guess there is something wrong with fruit & veg!

You can pureee lots of veggies and put  them in other foods and the kids won't even know they are there. Then pureed cauliflower in mac N cheese.....LOL

If it's any consolation, Jedd has lots and lots of medical feeding issues. He won't touch veggies at all. We have him on a "complete" vitamin as per DR request and whenever they check his blood levels to see how the minerals and stuff is, he is always smack dab in the middle, right where he should be.

I just had an "Oprah" search and found the book. It's called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I've never had problem with veggies but I do have battles over meat! The reciepes are simple and easy and can be made quickly.

Cheers Raven

Jerry Seinfields wife wrote a reciepe book on this subject. I forget what it's called but I know mums are raving about it. She puts zuchini in brownies! and other puts other veggies and fruit in other foods. Kids don't know they're eating veggies! I have to find and get it for myself but it all looks delious! It was on Oprah too, so she may have it listed on her web site.

Cheers Raven

Ok this is going to sound mean but I am a real toughie when it comes to fruit and vegies. Offer nothing else. Pick bright, appealing and tactile fruits and vegetables that are easy to eat (berries are often a big hit) put them on your child's tray and let them go. A child will not starves themselves. Eventually they will get hungry and eat what is in front of them. Another trick I have seen is to scatter something sweet but yummy in between the fruit/vegies like currants or raisons. After the child has picked out all the currants they will move onto the rest of the stuff on the tray. The important thing is to persist until he eats them- if you give in he will learn that all he has to do is fuss, or throw them, or refuse for a little while and then he gets something else.

Also, it is safe to give cows milk from 12 months on- formula is only required for children with a nutritional deficit. So don't worry about the vitamin thing- he'll be scoffing those tasty vegies and fruit in no time.