Will Not Eat Fruit

rsideemd

I can't get LO to eat fruit. I've been buying fresh fruit and cutting it up into little pieces. She will eat maybe one or two and will refuse to eat the rest. She does fine with meats and some vegetables. I'm just concerned she's not getting what she needs. I've resorted to getting the Gerber fruit strips just to get a full serving of fruit in her each day. She loves the pureed fruits, but I know she needs to be eating table food now.

We just feel like she's not eating enough period, because we've cut down her milk intake to 16 oz. a day. Overall, she doesn't seem interested in food... just her milk.

Anyone have any tricks or advice?

ASmallWonder

Ditto @LalaMama81  a serving of fruit is really a few bites.  You could also try smoothies or putting it in oatmeal.  Have you tried giving it to her with yogurt dip?  My kids way more of anything if there's some sort of dip  And really, if she's eating table food, thereby showing you she's developmentally appropriate, there's nothing wrong with applesauce or pouches in addition to her other foods.

APendola

I have the opposite problem...fruit is the only thing I can get her to eat! haha  She loves blueberries, watermelon, apple slices, grapes and mango.

If she is eating veggies, that's great!  If you want her to have more fruit as finger food...just keep offering it.  Eventually she might like it.  Try some different fruits...she might not like the texture or flavour of some...but she might love something else.  Mix in little pieces with cereal or make homemade popsicles or smoothies.  There are lots of ways to sneak it in.

doggie mama

I was surprised at this, but my pedi said she only needs only 8-16 oz of milk as well. I don't really sweat it though, as she eats cheese and yogurt.

I wouldn't worry, just keep offering, like folks said. Fruit is nutritious, but it does have a lot of sugar, so it's not perfect. DD eats a lot of fruit now, but she wasn't nuts about in the beginning. One thing I did at that time is dice apples, sprinkle them with cinnamon and nutmeg and a little unsalted butter and bake them until tender.

rubber_chicken

DD is 16 months and gets most of her fruit and veggies in pouch form.  She also still eats baby oatmeal for breakfast.  She's just not a fan of the texture of real food.  Doesn't matter what it is, meats, veggies, pasta, fruit, even cookies, she'll chew it a bit and then spit it out. Only thing this kid swallows is pureed foods and cheerios.

And that's totally ok.  (Believe me, her pediatrician and nutritionist are both ok with this for now)  Some kids just take to table food more slowly.

blu-eyedwife

I would keep offering a variety of fruits, prepared in several ways.  If you're doing the traditional apple/oranges/bananas, maybe try berries or melon.  Mango was one of my son's first favorites (although he also went through a phase where he wouldn't eat it).

And while I never did purees, I did make homemade applesauce/pearsauce which really isn't that different (and is probably one of the easiest things to make!).  We also do smoothies (big hit over here) and my son loves to eat frozen pineapple chunks.  Sometimes he likes apple slices, other times he likes the fruit whole, so again, preparation can be changed which might help her be interested.

aeh72

We're having similiar problems with fruit.  DS will eat bananas and he used to eat strawberries but we had to stop giving him those for now because he may have had an allergic reaction.  I still try fresh cut up fruit regularly - apples, pears, watermelon, etc. - but since he pretty much won't touch them, I also give him these:

https://www.brothersallnatural.com/fruit-crisps/

DS loves them.  We've only done apples so far but I'm going to try some of the other fruits too.  It's not an ideal substitution but when nothing else is working, I felt like I needed to try something and these seem relatively healthy.  I'm hoping I can start cutting up fresh fruit to look similiar and maybe it will be an easier transition for him. 

ETA - we also do applesauce and fruit pouches too.

StacyJYay

My LO (22) months also doesn't really care for fruit. He'll have a few bites; that's it.  He loves vegetables (everything from broccoli to red bell pepper), meat, eggs, and gets plenty of vitamins and minerals that way.  If your LO is eating various veggies, I wouldn't worry at all about his eating only a bite or two of fruit.  Keep offering it and encouraging, but don't worry -- sounds like your LO is eating well! 

fanofanne

for a while dd would not take any fruit, although her twin brother ate it like crazy.  we just kept offering, and she would just shake her head, and we would just give her the stuff in the pouch, which she was also not a fan of.  she did looooove the juice though.  i'd mash up watermelon, apples, honeydew or whatever else was mashable and she'd go crazy for the juice - yah I don't get it either.  anyway, long story short, i'd say about a few months of this went by and then bam! all of a sudden, she was a fruit fiend.  I guess my advice is to just keep offering fruit to her and hopefully she'll realize how yummy it is.  good luck!

vintagejjane

DD wasn't much of a fruit eater until recently (16 months now)

It was more of a texture thing for her. she didn't like the cold feeling. I instead started giving her freeze dried fruit as a snack. She loved it and eventually went onto fresh fruit.