My 2yo DD has been refusing to eat her veggies lately (shocking, I know...). I have tried several things to get her to eat them... Hiding them in other foods, giving her different dipping sauces (which used to work sooo well.), making them with different recipes, trying to make them fun... everything I can think of but she does NOT want to eat them! I even tried resorting to giving her ONLY veggies, and not letting her eat anything else until she ate at least part of them... but after going all day without eating ANYTHING I gave in and let her eat her regular food. Tonight has been the only exception in the last month, when I got her to eat her corn and peas by telling her to eat green or yellow. (apparently, they taste better if they are colors instead of veggies. lol) Here's hoping the colors thing works for a while!
So in the last couple weeks, I have taken to feeding her myself in order to make sure she eats them... I will sit with her and pop a spoonfull of veggies in her mouth every couple of bites she takes of other food. But this is SOOO annoying! I don't feel like I should have to sit there and feed her like a baby, when she is capable of doing it herself.
So... does this sound like a stage I should just stop stressing over, and just deal until she gets over it? If not, any suggestions as to how I can make veggies more appealing to her? Any kid-approved veggie recipes are welcome! :)
You are lucky that she will even eat them. She is only 2, what is the big deal about popping some veggies in her mouth a few times? If she was a good eater before, she will be again. My son is 4 and I still have to feed him his pasta. Last night he claimed peaches were yucky but ate an entire one when I fed it to him. As long as you are not feeding her all or almost all of her food then just do what you have to do.
My 5 yr old boy and 2 yr old girl like corn, green beans, carrots. I keep what I know they'll eat on hand. For new veggies, I put a tiny amount on their plate and tell them they can have a "no thank you" helping.....which is they HAVE to try it once. If they don't like it, they say 'no thank you' and I'll offer it again a different time. Of course every day is a Disney day, so tonight, to get my DD to eat her carrots, something she likes, I put sprinkles (just enough for her to be enticed) on them. All gone in a flash!! I did this same thing with tilapia and asparagus over and over and now they eat it whenever I make it...like the fish tonight!! Good luck!!
I have recently found a recipe for popsicles that have spinach blended into them! It sounds kinda gross, but you can't taste the spinach at all. My dd loves them. You can see my blog with recipe links here - http://melosculinsaryadventures.blogspot.com/2012/07/heal...
There is also a cookbook by Jerry Seinfeld's wife called Deceptively Delicious and it's all about hiding veggies in other dishes to get your child to eat them. I don't have it but I've heard great things about it. You could always check it out at the library and see if you like it (or if it works). Good luck!!!
My seven year old wouldn't eat veggies or fruit. I just had to keep offering. He started eating corn on the cob when he was about four, raw carrots at five and raw cauliflower and brocolli at six. That is all he will eat, but it is better than nothing. Both my kids prefer raw veggies to cooked. I make sure he takes a vitamin supplement.
My 4 1/2 year old still wont eat most veggies or fruit... she always tries one peice and says yuck. I am sure one of these days she will eat them, but I do not make a battle over it. I just give her vitamins to make up for it. As far as a recipe she will drink fruit and veggies if they are hidden in smoothies though. There are a lot of recipes on the web, but PM me if you want me to send you some.
As far as feeding her, my daughter still likes to be fed every once in awhile. As long as yours feeds herself most of the time, I would not worry about it...
There's a cookbook I got a couple of years ago called Deceptively Delicious. It contains loads of recipes that involve hiding veggie purees in dishes where they're not obvious - sweet potatoes in pancakes, yellow squash in blueberry lemon muffins, chicken nuggets with broccoli, deviled eggs with cauliflower and carrot, etc. I've not made all the recipes, but the ones I have done were good.
This probably is a stage, but one you still have to feed her through. It was around this age that I introduced the concept of the "no thank you" bite to my kids. They had to take one good, single bite of whatever food was in front of them. After that, if they did not like it, they could say "no thank you." That way even when they were in the picky stages a wide variety of food was still in front of them and at least being tasted. It has paid off - I have a pair of adventurous eaters now. You'd have never known that's how they would turn out when they were two, though. (To make this work, adults need to model the no thank you bite, too. We did so, sometimes with lots of overacting for humor. In the name of fair play, I had to eat one bite brussels sprouts. My hubby had to eat tofu.)
I hope this helps some.
Repeat the mantra:
It's my job to provide healthy food choices to my child. It's my child's choice to decide whether and how much to eat.
Just keep putting the veggies in front of her --- no hiding ... unless it's really well hidden.
When she's older, then you can make it a requirement that she "eat one bite" or whatever. Right now, she's in the stage of knowing that food is something she can say NO to and that that gives her control.... which then turns into a power struggle which is a bad idea. So, give her the choice and control, and just make sure that she has healthy choices in front of her.
Sounds like you are creating a power struggle.
I put food on my kids plates, and if they eat it, they eat it.
Carrots. Grill them (slow roast with some oil) and then put maple syrup on them. Can't go wrong.
this is definitely a stage most kids go through, at least somewhat. it's one of those "I hope ketchup is a vegetable because it's the only one my kid will eat" type moments LOL
Go with whatever works to get those good veggies in her. having her eat by colors, feeding them to her, whatever. If she'll eat them without a thought when you feed them to her, it's probably a way to spend a few extra minutes with you. It's fine to keep doing that until this phase passes. As well as finding other methods to get her to eat them.
My kids (3.5 years old) will go back and forth on vegetables. Some days they will eat them without issue and other days, they just refuse the ones they were willing to eat the other day. When I get really concerned that they just aren't getting enough good stuff in them, I resort to those baby food self-feeding pouches. There is something about them being able to eat directly from the pouch that makes them want to eat it. I won't pretend to understand. It seems like a room temperature pouch of Spinach, Pears, and Peas cannot be more tasty than the non-pureed version. But, at least I know they got something good in them.
I've been trying to reduce the dependency on the pouches, but sometimes getting them to eat some vegetables is better than nothing.
Sometimes giving my kids a choice beforehand helps. Do you want broccoli or zucchini? Sometimes it works...other times they might say "I want goldfish."
For some kids, having them help make it motivates them more to eat it. It kind of works with one of mine, but the other one gets bored with the cooking part that comes after the prep part and loses interest by the time the food is really ready.
I've heard of someone doing color themed meals. I'm not knowledgeable about a lot of diverse foods, but here is one web page with ideas:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Meal-of-One-Color
I'm just not sure how to fit in a meat portion for the color of the day.
