Clever ways to get toddlers to eat veggies?

[daisymommy]

Let me preface this by saying I know it's a feeding question, but most everything in the "Feeding Baby" forum is for babies still nursing and on bottles.

Joshua is the stereo-typical toddler who doesn't like to eat vegetables. Thankfully he will eat fruit (probably because it's sweet), but unfortunately he will only eat ceratin kinds of fresh fruits--he mostly likes them still pureed. I know, I know. Throw the tomatoes at the bad mommy! But I keep trying to get him to eat fresh fruits diced up, cooked diced veggies, etc, and he won't have any of it. So, rather than risk a malnutritioned child, I give him a bowl of pureed fruit, which he will eat himself with a spoon. But veggies? Forget it!
Are there any clever ways to disguise vegetables so that a toddler will eat them? And I doubt Veggie-Booty puffs count

[wendmatt]

Will he eat stuff in sauce, like spag bol? I steam brocolli and carrot or cauliflower and chop it up really small and mix in the tomato sauce and she doesn't know it's there. It works in spag sauce, mac n cheese (which I don't give her often) and other stuff that I can't think of right now! I also read in a parents mag you can chop into sticks and bake carrots in the oven so they are like fries. I do it with yams (helps her poop!) Good luck it's tough I know.

[redhookmom]

I puree veges and freeze them in an ice cube tray. I take out one ice-cube and throw in with the mac and cheese, pasta sauce, soup, ...

[mom2kandj]

Pancakes and muffins! Carrot, squash and zucchini work the best for us! HTH!


Rose
mom 2 Katie 12/02/00
& Jack 04/16/02

[Momof3Labs]

Rose! I want to try some of these combos - Colin is a veggie hater too. Do you have any recipes?

TIA!!

[Tracey]

Pureed cauliflower blends right in with mashed potatoes. Pureed carrots are great in chili and any tomato based sauces.

[JLiebCamm]

Sauce and soup broth are the keys for us. DS goes to town on vegetable soup but won't eat any of those veggies plain. The soup is excellent because we can also sneak in barley and shredded meat.

[mharling]

> And I doubt Veggie-Booty puffs count

LOL!!! I asked this very question at playgroup today. He eats so much Veggie Booty that I am inclined to consider what he eats over the course of the day one serving. It does contain a fair amount of Vitamin A.

Mary
Lane 4/6/03

[lizamann]

I was just discussing this with my mom who raised 6 healthy kids, and she said that maybe babies hate veggies because perhaps they don't need them! She didn't stress about it with her kids, to the point that one of my sisters subsisted for months on butter and ketchup alone. And she turned out normal...

[khakismom]

My problem is the opposite. Kathleen loves her veggies, but won't eat any fruit except bananas and an occasional grape. I think they are too sweet for her because she makes this face whenever she tries some, and that isn't too often. Any ideas for fruits? :)

[Jeanne]

Flavor is obviously key. Charlotte LOVES butter so I do toss her veggies in butter. We limit her butter intake to veggies mostly, with the occasional piece of bread with butter when we are really desperate due to really picky moments.

Another thing that we've done is to make a picture on her plate - faces and objects. My DS is pretty creative and makes small stick people and landscapes with her food. It only takes an extra five minutes and she has embraced it shockingly well. Broccoli has become trees and shrubs, carrots are hearts and stars, etc... There's a book called "Play With Your Food". We don't own it but I've seen it in the bookstore. We don't do this every day, just about twice a week. We plant the idea and she makes up her own story.

That being said, I also think it depends on the age and or phase. There was an eight month period where she wouldn't touch veggies at all no matter what we did. That refusal occurred at fifteen months. At that time, I cut everything into small pieces and hid it in sauces. But don't be surprised if you see Joshua picking through it. Charlotte could spot anything green and eat around it.

[Tondi G]

My DS was never into vegis just on the plate by themselves but he would eat peas and carrots in fried rice and if I made stew he would gobbble it down. You can put a lot of purred vegis in spaghetti sauce. My neighbors son won't eat vegis still (aside from carrots sticks) and they always do zuchinni in his pancakes! You can also try making carrot, banana, pumpkin, zuchinni bread.... we buy a pumpkin bread that DS loves! You can also try spinach in mashed potatoes. MY DS wouldn't ever eat brocoli until my mom made it... cooked it to death and put butter and salt on it.... my DS watched my uncle hoovering the brocolli and did it too... who knows!?! DS's favorite vegis these days are avocado (it's actually a fruit isn't it!), corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peas.... he's also taken a liking to baked beans... but he won't eat fried rice anymore!!!! Their tastes change all the time!

what about in juice??? carrot juice maybe? My DS didn't like carrot juice at first but he loves it now (I buy the odawalla one when we go to Whole foods cause I love it!). You could make a mix of carrot and apple.... or make a smoothie with it in there???? carrot juice, bananas, strawberries, yogurt and ice? I know my neighbor used to get some juice boxes that were made with fruit and vegi juices... can't remember the name though!

Good luck

~Tondi and Mason 7/8/01