Share your tips with other members of the Mum and Working Community. Ever month there will be a different theme...and for the best advice our partners Community Times are offering a £50 prize!

Our subject in February is Food & Feeding. To send in your tips about food - it could be anything from getting your little ones to eat vegetables, recipes, making time to sit down and eat together to healthy snack ideas - email tips@mumandworking.co.uk.

Food & Feeding Tips!

Secret Vegetable Sauce: The easiest way to get my reluctant children to eat green vegetables was to make ' Secret Vegetable Sauce' and serve pasta liberally coated in it ! To make Secret Vegetable Sauce all you need to do is microwave as many green veg as you like such as courgettes, broccoli and peas, blend the veg and mix it up with lots of pesto sauce. The children think they are eating plain pesto - you know different. Just don't tell them what its called ! You can freeze small portions of this so you always have some on standby.

Kate - Mum to Edward (5) and Emma (3)

Who ate that?!: Children just cannot resist joining in this game: Put a small mouthful of food on the childs fork/spoon hold it in front of the child and then look away and say something like "I hope you don't eat that while I'm not looking!" (at first you may need another person to encourage them to eat it while you are not looking) THEN when you know they have taken the "bait" look round at the fork/spoon and do a double take or jump as if shocked. Ask them who ate it! I have been a childminder for ten years and this method of getting a child to eat their veg has never failed, the key is only give one or two forkfuls each mealtime, so that they get used to eating them. For a really fussy eater it's best to play this game at a table with other children and wait until they ask to join in.

Jenifer

3 top tips!: 1) Tell children that research has proved that if you try a food 16 times your body then likes it (This is supposed to be true!). Get them to agree to try a mouthful each time you cook that veg and to see if the research works. Kids love 'experiments' and it has worked on every food my three kids have tested. 2)Have a drawer/ or fridge container of healthier snacks that they can eat between meals, such as apricots, raisins, carrot batons etc. Make sure there is a choice so there is no sense of a chore. 3)Serve fresh fruit in slices in bowls, (or grapes, strawberries etc) for them to eat while watching television etc. They hardly notice it going down and eat more than the equivalent of one whole piece (e.g. apple)

Elaine

Messy Helpers!: My children were really fussy eaters when they were little. With my youngest I found that if she helped me to make her tea etc she was much more interested in eating it, for instance making pizza's with faces on etc, fruit juices and smoothies with her putting the fruit in the machine to blend etc, she loved doing that although the mess was a bit scary - if she eats healthily who cares!

Michelle - Mum to Emma (11) and Abbi (7)

Mummy Truth!: I've got three young children - 5 year old twin girls, Charlotte and Libby and a 4 year old son, Ben. I've always put things on their plate, and asked them to try a little - adding a little bit of Mummy truth helps too - broccoli is trees from the land of little people, runner beans make you run faster, carrots help you see in the dark - get my drift!!! Getting the kids involved always works too, putting on the pizza toppings, allowing them to put their own salad toppings on taco's, and if desperate make them a soup or a casserole, and hide it!!!

Michele - Mum to Charlotte and Libby (5) and Ben (4)

Only for Grown-Ups!: Another tip to get children to eat vegetables is to cut up some raw carrots or pepper or baby sweetcorn and pretend to sneak off and it some by yourself in the kitchen. They will soon track you down and demand to know what it is you are eating and why they can't have some. If you say it is 'Mummy's treat' they seem to want it even more. If you are eating it whilst enjoying a glass of wine this seems help too ! When they make off with your bowl of raw veg (cue much protesting from you) and chomp their way through it whilst watching tv you can relax about them not eating the broccoli you are going to give them with their fish fingers later....

Kate - Mum to Edward (5) and Emma (3)

Rewarding behaviour: Freya hasn't ever been particularly keen on eating, and I've spent lots of time trying different methods to get her to eat. I found using a sticker chart the best way to incentivise her to eat. If she managed to eat a certain amount each day we could put a sparkly sticker on her chart and if she got 5 we picked a small reward together - anything from a little book to a pair of new socks!

Marie - Mum to Freya (4) and Esme (7 months)

Lunch is in the bin!: When Jack was really little he wasn't good at eating at all and I used to spend ages making lovely home-cooked food which just ended up being thrown away. One day my friend said to me next time he doesn't eat his lunch simply throw it in the bin - making sure he sees you do it - then don't give him anything until the next mealtime - no snacks, no fruit, nothing. Although it was really hard to do, it sent a clear message to Jack - if he didn't eat his food it would go in the bin and there wouldn't be anything until the next meal. Sure enough as soon as it was teatime he was at the table like a good boy wolfing it down! I knew missing one meal wouldn't harm Jack, and it sent such a strong clear message we haven't had any bother at mealtimes since.

Judith - Mum to Jack (4) and Amy (2)

Food Diary: I used to get really worried that my daughter wasn't eating as she wouldn't eat proper meals at mealtimes. So I kept a food diary for a week marking in anything she ate - from a banana to a box of raisins. I soon realised that she was 'grazing' throughout the day and that because she was snacking all the time she was actually eating quite a lot - just not at a set time like lunch or dinner. It made me feel a lot less worried knowing that she was consuming probably the same amount as other children just throughout the day. She still isn't keen on huge meals even now and would rather have 3 or 4 little snack type meals. If you feel at all worried about your child keep a food record for a week and I am sure you will be suprised!

Nicola - Mum to Alice (11) and Nathan (9)

Family meals: I have 1 year old twin girls and have tried in the past feeding them nutritious meals separately from the family - this has not always been successful as they are sometimes distracted by what is going on around them. We now try as much as possible to enjoy meal times together and often feed them from 'grown up' plates - they really do eat much more readily and are less fussy.

Millie - Mum to Leah (1) and Aimee (1)

Apple on the Move..: My twins are 7 years olds and still battling with the food fads but its getting easier. When they were teething or just wanted something to chew on or suck (particularly useful out shopping when they're strapped in the buggy!) I used to buy dried apple rings from Holland & Barrett and use one of those dummy attachments (string will do!) to loop through the apple ring. That way they couldn't throw it on the ground and when they have sucked or chewed it off (or it looked particularly past its best!) I would replace it. They gradually soften as they are sucked and being completely natural with an appealing apple taste they were a sure hit!

Susie

To read January's top tips about Potty Training Click here

For fun recipes and information about cooking with children visit the 'Cooking with the Family' pages at - www.bbc.co.uk/food or for younger children check out the Big Cook Little Cook pages at