What Should I Feed My Toddler?

Have you ever heard of the Sneaky Chef? She has cookbooks and a website where you can sneak healthy foods into dishes to get the kids the nutrition they need without them always knowing it

great and easy recipe. mac and cheese with tuna and chopped broccoli. chop it extra fine . can of cream of chicken soup with kool macaro0ni throw in a can of mixed veggies. .. you can also hide the veggies it you blend them in the soup as part of the sauce. try the v-8 fruit fusion..
i used to make my own version of smoothies with blended pumpkin and sweet potatoes boiled apples with the peel and blended . adding the fruit and veggies to yogurt. they loved it and thrived on it. good luck and god bless.
p.s. now that my kids are 5..8..11..16..37
they have to show me that they taste what i prepare before i will let them eat anything else. and as long as i am patient and they taste it they usually eat it. i love to make stir fry .

hi, my kids were the same way..I would start by introducing them to healthy things at home and do trial and error. What works for my son- I pack him a turkey & cheese sandwich (which he loves) raisins, apple slices, small bag of popcorn or pretzels (as a treat). Keep these things in the house as snacks and he's more likely to eat it in school. As for veggies- I can't be a hypocrite..I'm not a big veggie eater so I don't really push it too much but if your a big veggie eater, keep all these healthy things in the house and don't keep any junk food in the house. It won't be overnight but eventually it'll happen. Good Luck.

Hi -
I am going through this again and have found three things to be my answer...
1 - keep offering my son a variety of foods (not just meat) and keep offering and eating things in front of him
2 - get sneaky and add vegetables into anything that he might eat (I got some ideas from the book Deceptively Delicious and then expanded for myself)
3 - don't give in and just give junk food for the calories or because of the whining. If he doesn't want to eat right now he doesn't have to (we'll work on that later). I find that when he is ready he will pretty much eat if not pick at whatever he has been served.

Good Luck. Sometimes eating can be such a battle, but don't give up. You can do it and your skinny little one (like mine) will come around.
Jessica

I would just add that rather than thinking of it as trial and error looking for things he will eat, continue to put them in front of him (and I do the call it other names - my boys love to be dinosaurs and eat the trees). He might not like it the first 6 times, but he will eventually begin to like the taste. And yes, if my boys won't eat it...I always offer up a sauce - they love ranch. And even if you don't eat a lot of veggies it's a great time for you to learn to like them as well! Good luck - I know how frustrating it is - been there!

Don't give in on the sweets! Serve healthy meals with a variety of fruit and veggie choices. If they don't want to eat lunch, save their plate, and offer it again when they want a snack. At our house, if you don't eat breakfast (or lunch) you get served that meal again until the next meal. That's what we do over here, and my DD loves a wide variety of fruits and veggies.

I have followed what the other Mamas have said about not giving in to junky food. Sounds goofy, but I steam/boil up different veges, chop them into smaller pieces and give them new names...carrots are drumsticks, cauliflower are little clouds, broccoli are trees, etc...seems to work! I had read that a school started doing this and the amount of veges the kids ate skyrocketed! Have him use a cookie cutter to cut shapes in sandwhiches and slices of cheese. Will he do smoothies with added nut butter? AGain let him help and don't be frustrated if he only tries a little the first few times. Good luck!

My DD can be picky at times as well. The magic trick for her is sauce or really anything she can dip her food with. She didn't used to like veggies but if I mix it with a little bit of ranch dressing she can't get enough. She also like ketchup. For breakfast I give her a little bit of strawberry jam to dip her pancakes in. I haven't tried yogurt, but I bet she would like that with fruit. I figure it just adds an extra serving of fruit or some extra calories which for her wouldn't hurt. If she is hungry she will eat if she says she does not want whatever it is I serve I let her know that she will not be served a snack and will have to wait until the next meal. By then she is usually pretty hungry and not nearly as picky. Hang in there and keep trying!

I put out fresh fruit, my 3 year old knows she can go get an apple or pears etc. any time she wants. I keep fresh fruits and vegetables always. since we've done this I have found that if I don't push my daughter but instead just have them available she is more likely to try then and eat them. I let her use a plastic salad knife and she helps me chop veggies for our dinners getting her involved helps her appreciate her food and she takes pieces along the way. she loves bell peppers which I probably wouldn't have tried to give her--my daughter is just really independent and if I say you have to...odds are she won't do whatever it is but if I give her a couple of choices she picks and does really well. she loves eggplant, found that out tonight--it cooks up slightly sweet and soft it was really good, and even my husband enjoyed it and he had told me before he wouldn't eat eggplant. lol. I cooked it up with fresh herbs and tomatoes celery and mushrooms with pasta and chicken. I try to have 2 vegetables at dinner so if she doesn't like one she can have the other one. same with all of us. I hate brussel sprouts and I don't like artichoke hearts. I don't expect her to like everything but I want to give her a chance to try everything and form her own opinions.
I blend up vegetables into smoothies as well as in my soups. I find the more exposure she has to variety though the more likely she is to eat them. and I don't make her a seperate lunch than what I am having--if she doesn't want to eat it she can wait until dinner. it works for us.