DS has textural and flavor issues with sauces (and butter doesn't cover over the flavor) so the sauce trick never worked for us. He is a purist and really prefers just one food at a time. And he can taste the zucchini in the bread. I once tried zucchini brownies. A friend swore by this recipe because her kids could never taste the zucchini in it. One bite from DS and he yelled, "Are you trying to poison me? What did you put in here?" It actually took a while to undo the damage of that because from then on he didn't trust me when I gave him a new food. I have been up front with ingredients since then, so if he tries a new food it is something he knows about.
We really did do the gardening pretty seriously. And he fully participated and was excited. But he would still gag and be disappointed because he had wanted to like it. Then he would ask excitedly if we liked it. It was very sweet. And i think we are seeing the payoff now, years later. We kept telling him that tastes change and just because he didn't like it now didn't mean he wouldn't like it later and to keep trying it.
The only thing we tried that worked was freezing the foods. He could eat peas and corn if they were frozen and he ate the whole. Once they thawed though, it was over. I think the cold blocked the taste.
I guess my point is that there are lots of useful tricks, but no magic bullet. I know I got a lot of harsh looks and strong judgments from other parents who didn't have this problem. I don't want other people to feel bad. If you child has taste overexcitibility, you may just have to do what you can and then wait it out.
Last edited by acs; 09/07/08 04:37 PM. Reason: Added more ideas
