Do you feed your baby veggies that YOU dislike?

[aa2mama]

This is a problem that we haven't come to yet, but I'm wondering what other people have done.

I'm a fairly picky eater when it comes to vegetables. I HATE asparagus and beets. And I dislike green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and squash (except for zucchini). There's other vegetables that I really love such as broccoli, spinach, carrots, and avocados.

But what about the ones that you hate? My husband doesn't like them either, so they haven't been a part of our meals up to this point. I don't want to teach DS that these are bad foods, but it seems kind of weird to make these just for him. Should we skip them entirely and focus on the ones that we like? Use jarred baby foods? Gag them down ourselves so that he can follow our
example ;) ?

[slknight]

I hate to admit that I am a VERY picky eater. I like very few vegetables. DH likes a lot of them, but since I do most of the cooking, we did not used to have a lot of veggies in the house (we are heavy fruit eaters).

However, I don't want DS to have my same veggie aversions. I have been trying very hard to feed him lots of different veggies. What I've done during the winter (when fresh veggies are hard to get) is to try a whole bunch of different frozen veggies and feed them to him. I've discovered he loves green beans. He's too young to figure out that I'm not eating them yet. ;) When he gets a little older, he might figure it out, but so far, so good.

[malie]

I'd say go with some jars until you know whether your child likes them or not. After all your child might actually dislike the vegetables you like, so if you skip the ones you currently don't eat, you really are narrowing down your choices

[kijip]

In feeding Toby all kinds of foods, I have come to realize that some of the foods I thought I did not like were edible to me for the first time. Veggies are not my problem (love nearly all of them)- I reject most dairy and I stick to plain ordinary fruit. I am also reluctant to try new foods. The biggest examples I can think of that I have just started to eat when I fed them to Toby are sweet potatoes, yogurt and prunes.

While clearly it is good to try and not pass on our own dislikes to our babies I think it is somewhat unavoidable. Once they are old enough to see what we do vs. what we say and offer them, they will want what we are eating and may reject what we also always pass on. I can't expect Toby to eat things I refuse to eat all the time so I am teaching myself to learn to like some of the things I want him to eat. I think the best solution is to look for ways to like the foods we hate. I have found a brand of yogurt I can manage and I started roasting sweet potatoes and diluting prunes. Vegetable soups and juices, as well as roasting vegetables (for added flavor) instead of steaming or boiling them might make some of your hated veggies easier to eat. If you can't stand something don't sweat it. As long as you are eating other healthy veggies in front of your children, they will get the right idea.

[Sarah1]

I HATE broccoli...HATE it, even with cheese sauce...and for that reason I hardly ever give it to Audrey. When I do feed it to her, I kind of feel like a hypocrite :)

[aa2mama]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I think I am going to start trying to find ways that I can tolerate those foods myself. I don't want to limit his food options by my dislikes. Except for asparagus; I will never make asparagus. {shudder} :-)

[ALLEYCAT]

Funny, I tried to give asparagus to ds last night, dh would not let me but I ate alot of it and this am HIS pee smelled like asparagus. BFing so I guess he got a tast of it anyway! I feed him all sorts of stuff I don't like but dh does and vice versa. We often freeze the tiny bits of veggies we have left over for ds dinner during the week. Viola. Instant dinner even if it is three bites of five different foods. Jars are great for trying different foods also.

[aa2mama]

>and this am HIS pee smelled like asparagus. BFing so I guess he got a tast of it anyway!

See what I'm saying, that stuff is TOXIC! ;-) That's hilarious, I had no idea it would do that!