My child will only eat bananas!

My eldest at the age of three ate only egg (crispy) one rasher of bacon (streaky)' yoghurt, banana and crisps. She worried the life out of me but I could get nothing else down her. She started to eat 'properly' when she began school and is now an extremely healthy adult having done very well at university.

All I would say is relax and enjoy your three year old. As you can see I know what I am talking about when I say he will eat what he needs. This time you have with your child is very precious. I wish I hadn't wasted mine by worrying and I must admit, getting angry and upset.

When my children were young they had a friend who for years would only eat toast. He was strong and healthy, good at sports and although thin was tall for his age. He has grown up to eat normally. Since then I have always been a bit sceptical about the mania for 5-a-day etc!

Yog - calcium and protein - tick

Chips (don't peel the spuds) - energy, fat and vit c - tick

Bananas - various vits/minerals and fibre.

You need to get some iron in there somehow. Minadex?

Don't worry. Go along with it for now. He will be fine.

These aren't all Geraldine's grandchildren Flickety

A few years ago, I was very worried about my grandson, who would only eat hummus and pita bread and bananas.
He is now 11, and eats lots of different food, including veg. stews, made from carrots, celery, onions and lentils, as well as wholewheat pasta, brown rice, eggs and many different sorts of fruit.
I found it very hard not to interfere at mealtimes! He is now a healthy strong boy. Such a relief!
I do not know why he was such a picky eater when young. I couldn't see any psychological reason - he's always been a happy boy. Maybe most kids grow out of these problems?

I would say what I said to my DiL when she was facing food problems with her first: don't start a battle that you can't win. And unless you are prepared to force-feed a child you can't win this one. Ignore it, make sure 'proper' food is always on offer but let the child eat what it will eat and sooner or later his/her body will start to crave the missing nutrients. Making food a battlefield just stores up problems (such as eating disorders) for the future.

After having DD1 who was not interested in milk, breast or bottle, but would eat ANYTHING, I was a little non-plussed with DD2 who drank milk by the gallon but refused all food except the odd hard biscuit/crust to chew on and .......Bananas. She would also take a little cheese, raw carrots, etc. so I reckoned she had all bases covered and left her to it. Saved a lot of time making purees, only to have them rejected. DD2 grew up to be vegetarian and still eats a limited, but very healthy diet.

My mother was a 'clean your plate' fanatic and I spent many a miserable hour left sitting at the table, looking at a plate of congealed, cold whatever. Alternatively, I would be sent to bed with no supper, but that was no punishment as I had secret supplies of sweeties and biscuits (supplied by my Aunt) for just such occasions.

I vowed never to inflict this 'eat up or else' philosophy on my DDs or DGC. Why should they be forced to eat things they do not like, when us grown ups never do this? However, I did embark on a few subterfuges which resulted in them believing that home grown fruit and veg were the ultimate treats much more desirable than sweets, crisps or chips.

I thought there could be a problem eating too many bananas because of the potassium content, which would be worse with children being so much smaller than adults?

When my daughter was young both of us loved a series of books by Russell Hoban all about a very anthropomorphised little badger called Frances. We both loved them because she could identify with Frances because she did what she did, refuse to go to sleep, be unsure about a new sibling etc and I could identify with the parents as they responded to all the minor dilemmas of bringing up children.

One of the books in the series is 'Bread and Jam for Frances'. All about the time she decided she would only eat bread and jam and how her parents responded.

GeraldineGransnet get it from the library, you will find it soothing and if you read it to your grandson he may recognise himself.

My niece (a much longed for 'only') ate very little but bananas as a child but when she came to stay with us I just said that with three children of my own I could't cater for everyone's likes and dislikes and if she didn't eat what was produced at mealtimes that was her choice. She soon started trying other foods when she became really hungry and apart from reporting to her mother on her return home that aunty was 'very strict!' fitted in with our family meals after a couple of visits.

Geraldine. is this all going on in the Radio Times at the moment? I stopped buying the mag a few months back, but I think I may have to start again.

Chips are a perffectly good food for a growing kid. Cook them in rapeseed oil and leave the skins on the potatos.

I know a certain young man who lived for many years on a diet of three meals a day of - Ready Brek. (plus the odd packet of crisps and chocolate biscuit). And I do mean many years. In fact, it was his girlfriend at uni who first managed to get him onto "proper" food.

He didn't suffer at all physically, quite the opposite in fact. But, that diet was high in protein and calcium plus the vitamins added to the cereal and from the milk. I think you need to add some iron in some way (perhaps from a children's tonic). He is getting protein and calcium from the yoghurt, fibre from the bananas, vitamin c and loads of energy from the chips. I would say don't push it, don't make a fuss. So long as he thrives physically, let him be. If you make a fuss it will make it worse.

When my husband was a boy he would only eat sausages so his parents decided to teach him a lesson and that is all they gave him. He loved it and happily wolfed down all the sausages that came within his orbit but the parents got fed up and then stopped buying them without mentioning it. Funnily enough he then ate whatever was served!

My nephew came to stay with us one summer and wouldn't eat anything at all. It was very hard but we just went along with it and made no comments at all. It took three days before his food strike was over and then he ate anything and everything.

Goodness knows what was going through these children's heads but sometimes you just have to be totally relaxed and go with things until they naturally come to an end. Often it is nothing to do with food but is only the attention that they want so perhaps it is worth giving loads of attention in a completely different sphere.

My GP once told me that a healthy child can survive for a good month without food so long as they are well hydrated. Kids are always tougher than us mere adults though so I doubt we would manage as well!

You have two choices, it´s up to you and how you want to handle this. Allow the child to continue with the bananas and yoghurt. And allow chips ONLY as a special treat, like dessert. Bananas and yoghurt are very nutritious, so don´t worry about im not getting a balanced diet
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=124

And bananas are a meal-in-one, with so many nutrients, why bother if he only eats that?
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=92

When sticking to the bananas and yoghurt diet, then leave him be, to eat as he wishes, while the rest of the people at the table eat and enjoy their meat and veggies. Sometime or another, he will realise that there is more to life than simply bananas and youghurt. And, really don´t bother about the chips, there is very little nutritional value in them, so use only as a treat, once a day.

OR

you can go the hard line, and serve only what is on the table, and watch with a sad heart how he eats nothing, all the while you are worrying that he is hungry and not getting anything to eat. Do not give in to the banana and yoghurt pleas. As others have said, he may start eating other food when he realises that he is going to get nothing else, and no one is reacting to his demands for yoghurt and bananas.

If it were my child, as a mom, I would have had my worries about this diet. But, now I am older, I would definitely let the child exist on his bananas and yoghurt diet, because I now know how healthy that combination is. Just see that you buy natural yoghurt with live cultures (probiotic) with no added sugar.

I think, that your grandchild will, on his own, start asking to taste other foods. Just don´t push it. When he sees that it is no big deal only eating bananas and yoghurt, he may find this becoming very boring.

Bananas and yoghurt are covering his basic nutritional needs.

Good luck

Sorry to sound flippant but actually bananas and chips are good for energy! And yoghurt is good for calcium and you can sneak the fruit into the yoghurt so we are missing protein and veggies...hmmm veggies forget it until he is much older. What about pasta and tomato sauce ? My kids lived on it. All fully grown now.

Thought about a macdonalds? Or sitting with family in any cafe, offering him what you have, making the occasion social with no pressure. Not watching him to see what he eats. Like the daughter of Suzi61, I guess he will try stuff if there is no stress around. He can sense that you want him to eat. He doesn't know why but hey what a brilliant attention getter!

Pizza? Making his own pizza ? Making his own anything in fact? Slowly, slowly he will catch on .
Just don't make an issue of it. If he is running about, sleeping ok and seems on the ball, he's fine, isn't he?

So you put other stuff with his favourites for his meals? Like a piece of chicken and chips followed by an apple and half a banana? So he will eat the chips and the banana? Is that what is happening? So gradually make the dinner less of chips and banana.

But one thing from my own experience: if what is offered is refused, don't fuss about making anything special for him. Just leave it. Ignore it. At the next meal [ and try to keep the in between snacks down] he will eat a bit more.

And the problem is?

This is something I actually have experience of. When I was a child I would only eat bananas. I mean absolutely nothing else. So my dear Dad gave me bananas for every meal, mashed up in sandwiches, fried, in omlettes etc and it didn't do me any harm. I think I just got fedup with them for every meal in the end. Now I will eat everything except tongue and tripe.

Try giving them all on one plate for every meal, he/she'll soon get sick of it.

My daughter would only eat spaghetti bolognaise if it was served up in separate dishes. We think it's hillarious now and she doesn't understand why she insisted on it at the time. Fads and phases are just part of pushing the boundaries and learning.

I would go a couple of weeks without buying yoghurt, bananas and chips and then your child would have to eat something else. Get a variety of things in that are full of goodness and make sure he knows there is nothing else. Your child will not die of hunger believe me! You need to be strong and win this battle for his sake.

I'm sure someone did some research on this years back, and they found that, although children seemed to be eating a somewhat lopsided diet on a daily basis, when it was looked at over a period of time it turned out to be very well balanced.

So many children have eating so-called "problems" at this age that it's clear that adult expectations are at fault rather than the child's choices.

I can remember finding some foods painful to eat (Cheddar Cheese stung!) and some slimy and repulsive (tinned spinach in American food parcels). I loved other foods so much that I never wanted to eat anything else. Most children will grow out of idiosyncrasies. One of mine ate only apples, dry bread and plain yoghurt for what seemed like years with no discernible ill effect. Challenging my willful toddler by taking these foods away would have broken me long before it put the slightest dent in his determination. Offer other foods in tiny quantities every day and never make a fuss; the child will survive and so will you.

My daughter is using baby-led weaning and it is fantastic. She puts everything her and her partner eats in front of him (he's 13 months now) and he tries everything. Some things he loves and some things he hates. And his tastes are constantly changing - having adored blueberries, he's now gone off them. And to see him tucking into a corn on the cob is a delight. The rewards - no battles at mealtimes - he decides. When I think of all the aeroplane games and other acts of bribery (no pudding if you don't eat your dinner etc) I played to try and get my children to eat - it was stressful and now I realise, misguided. I was proud of how I prepared all their meals from fresh ingredients and blended them. My daughter never blends - it turns flavour into tasteless mush - her way is so much better. Mealtimes are always fun and he is learning what he likes and doesn't like and makes good choices. I love what is describes as intensive parenting - it treats babies as real people with likes and dislikes and allows them to grow naturally. Just offer him a variety and let him choose.

susiecb, great answer! Until very recently everybody except the very rich had a limited diet. Poor people across the world still do and yet world population is still growing.

My grandson is something the same, a real pain about food.

My grandaughter eats almost everything, she always looks for healthy foods and loves when I make her a nice yoghurt dip with fresh veggies..

My daughter would only eat marmite sandwiches [as far as sandwiches go; she ate a fairly balanced diet when it came to meals] Because I thought she was being silly I put a tiny sliver of cheese in a sandwich and gave it to her so I could say 'see, you ate cheese in your sandwich today'. She totally gagged on it when she tried to eat it [bit like the princess and the pea...].