Healthy diet for kiddies!

chewy62

Hi folks! Just wondering if anyone has any tips for getting a 2 year old to eat fruit? The only thing he attempts is an apple and that's only a few bites!:mad:
I've tried smoothies but he doesn't drink that much to make a difference, and he only eats veg if disguised in things.
His big 4 year old bro has always liked apples, bananas, strawberries etc. so don't know if I should worry, he just doesn't seem to like the feel of fruit!:o
Thanks in advance peeps!!!:j

bobsa1

i wouldn't worry. Chop some on top of cereal and make sure it is around and offered but just leave it. He may go off it for a while but if it is a food that is always around and about he will start eating it at some point (with DD1 it did take 4years!!)

If he's eating veg then that's half way there, dried fruit also counts towards five a day so you could try raisins, apricots etc.

babyblooz

Kids sometimes get overwhelmed by a whole apple or a whole banana etc. Put little slices of apple, a couple of grapes, a couple of pieces of strawberry etc. into little yoghurt pots or tubs etc. and let them nibble instead of sweets. I work in a school and those little pots always get picked first by the littlies at lunchtime.


I sometimes find a whole apple a bit heavy going, so maybe they do too!

astonsmummy

DS (aged 2) never used to like frit, so i would just offer him a tiny bit evry so often and not make a fuss, now he cant get enough - the nursery staff told me when they have their mid morning fruit snacks, he goes up for seconds!
He still wont eat any veg so i mash it up and disguise it!

shell2001

Does he go to any toddler groups? I help run a mums and tots group but we are a structured group in that we have craft activity, story time with snacks and song times.

Our snacks consist of kiwi fruit, apples, bananas, grapes, melon, raisins, dried apricots, whatever is in season really. We slice it all up pop in on plates in the middle and my god you stand back from the stampede. The point is I know a lot of the mum say they have never ate that fruit before, sometimes its a case of monkey see, monkey do.

I'm glad to say that alot of the other mum and tot groups have started to follow suit and started serving fruit instead of biscuits. Apparently at one group there were 20 kids running round and my friend counted 13 packets of biscuits being opened!!! Maybe if you go to any group you could suggest trying this (if they dont already do it).

chewy62

Yes, we go to a toddler group and they serve toast, cheese cubes and biccies and crisps, so I suppose fruit would be good!;)
I have tried him with dried fruit and he won't eat that either!
I eat quite a bit of fruit myself but I think maybe I have given up a bit and should try and keep putting it in front of him, and he should eat it eventually!
Thought maybe I could wait until he is really hungry and he might give it ago. Also, he has never been great at number twos and only goes once every three days, which makes me extra paranoid abut him eating fruit, so he has prune juice every day, which he loves!:rolleyes:

shell2001

Another thing we do at lunch time is put bits and pieces on a plate for lunch as in 1 apple cut up and sliced shared between the 3 of us, few raisins on the plate along with sandwich and few crisps.

DD2 is not great with veg so as well as hiding it in sauces I have always put whatever veg with have had for tea on her plate. I've never made a huge fuss about it and it has stared to pay off. She now picks up the corn on the cob and munches, carrots are going down, some cauli, sprouts on Friday. So maybe just put it out and he may surprise you one day and just eat it with his lunch.

Another thing my girls like is making fruit salad. I peel everything and get them to cut it up with their toddler cutlery, pour in apple juice and away they go. Maybe worth a try.

chewy62

That sounds good about keeping putting veg on the boys plates as they will perhaps eat it eventually! I always used to put peas out with their fish fingers but stopped as I kept having to throw them out.:mad:
I did try a few pieces of carrot the other day and they both examined them but didn't actually eat them!:j
I shall persevere, thanks for suggestions!:T

blessings3

All good ideas !! Make sure he sees you eating a lot of fruit as well and that is ''freely avaliabble' and insight ie keep a fruit bowl on the kitchen table.

to introduce new fruits/foods to my fussy 4 year old we also do one tea a week the kids call ''bits on a plate'' lots of differnt things (usually lefy overs or bits near date) all cut up and eaten more casually than our usual tea ie outside in the summer and on our knee infront of a video on a Friday stay up late night. Amazing what they will eat if its among familiar stuff and thier attention is elsewhere/ no fuss or notice being paid to what they are eating

gwinnie

I'm not a great fruit lover either. But I like blending them into smoothies, maybe this could work for your LO? And since I started stewing apples and pears for my 9mo I've discovered I prefer them this way myself! For DS I either serve as is or pureed and stirred through Greek yoghurt or his porridge. (And for DH and me, I stew pears in red wine as a posh dessert )

Sarahsaver

I would say do not peel fruit as that encourages fussiness, although 2 is young to eat whole fruit maybe. Thing is when they are older you want kids to accept that fruit has lumps, bumps, pips, stalks and so on. I was horrified in the past to find that my mum was peeling and halving grapes for my kids :eek: as well as peeling, coring and slicing apples (ds1 will eat the whole apple apart from the stalk)
DD used to like any fruit cut into pieces with a fromage frais to dip it in (the faves were the really thick ones from Aldi)