How to I get my toddler to eat veggies?!

[helle]

Im seriously at my wits end. One day he ate them fine, the next, no freaking way! Unless theyre cooked into something he won't have a bar of it. It's driving me nuts as DH and I eat alot of fresh veggies.

Help!

[Danielle_NZ]

I use the 'one of each colour' rule. Or two or three depending on what stage your toddler is at.

Seeing them as colours instead of veggies has helped us. Even my 6 year old uses the rule and remembers it when he's here on school holidays, but he's on larger numbers :-)

[Miss.B]

Ahh, the veggies! This is my friend's suggestion hun. She used to grate cheese into it so it changed the flavour so they still ate their veggies. GL sweets!!

[boomba]

Its so hard, DS1 would not eat them at all and has only just now started, we do holding 10 fingers uo and gets to knock one daown when he has a spoonfull, seems to be working so far. Good luck x

[kawazuki]

we call them funny names

One week carrots are crocdiles, the next chickens.. ( i have weird kids)
brocoli is always trees, beans can be frogs or snakes etc
corn is corn but has to be on the cob more fun apparetly

[helle]

I tried the cheese. Even cooking everything onto a big "veggie cheese" bake thing. He knows!

I don't think he's old enough to get the name thing, or the colours. He's only 1.

[Rivlas]

Let him sit at the table with you and 'eat' off your plate. For some reason they taste better that way. Have you tried grating them and putting them into an omelet or with bake beans.

Just remember what they love/hate today they will hate/love tomorrow.

[peanutter]

can you grate them and make little fritatas or something?

we just give DS a few sticks and chunks of whatever we're eating, but I'm guessing that 8 month olds and 2 year olds are somewhat different ...

[ShootingStar]

We tried every trick in the book with DS.. nothing would make him eat them as a toddler.. yet as a baby i have videos of him eating a plate of corn, peas and carrots. But in saying that, we have now found a light at the end of the tunnel. We told him once he turned 4 he had to starts eating a vegetable with his dinner or he wouldnt grow strong. Well it worked. He now eats broccoli. He wont touch anything else but at least its something. We started out with a tiny piece and each night that piece grew to the point he asked me for 2 pieces, which he has every night. Only catch is, he has to dip it in sauce.. which is fine by us.

But as for a toddler, i would just keep giving it to him every night. Make a game out of it, see who can eat their vegies first? let him dip it in a tiny bit of sauce? But i wouldnt put too much pressure on him to eat them though otherwise he will get scared of it. And in the mean time, maybe give him some multivitamins so you know, if hes not eating the vegies, at least hes getting his vitamins.

Good luck!

[boomba]

I just remembered there is a book called Deceptively delicious I think And it hides all the vegs in things lie choc bikkies etc? Worth a try?

[Catastrophic]

When my boys started to do this, i started puree the vegies, and putting them in EVERY meal. I then started mashing them and putting them in every meal, and then putting them in whole, now they don't have a problem. It took a few months, but it was worth it.

[MummyNaomi]

There is also a book called the Cauliflower Conspiracy that's supposed to be good

Keep offering different vegies and dont make too much of a fuss if they are ignored (as much as its annoying when you have gone to the effort to cook a nice healthy meal)

[helle]

He will have them in spaghetti bog, omlettes, quiche... I even made chicken palm sauce and sneaked zucchini, spinach and carrot into it. So he is getting some. I just would really like for him to eat them as they are sometimes.
Is there such a thing as a multi vit for a one year old?
I tried asking my CHN for ideas and she said he's too young to be fussy and have likes and dislikes -.-; if only I could show her how he will eat a stick of cheese compared to a carrot!

[Gigi]

i didn't find the Cauliflower Conspiracy much chop, too many recipes where the vegies are "as is" and easily identifiable

With Deceptively Delicious, i don't have a kitchen gadget that does purees well enough, to make use of that book (it relies on pureed veg for every recipe).

at one y.o the 100% vegie win we had (with a fussy eater) was the Rafferty's Gardens tubes of vegie puree. really annoyed me that i could replicate same stuff at home, steam up vegies, add to apple sauce and she WOULDN"T eat it.

i have a fussy eater at four. i can't think of any vegie she will eat "as is". If she can see it, identify it - no way. Very few fruits she will eat either. but the same fruit in a tin, dried, etc - no probs.

i'm quite envious that your one year old is eating omlettes, quiches, spag bolognaise, chicken etc - he sounds like a great eater to me! (but i have such low standards, having a 4yo who exists on weetbix and cheese, ha ha.)

[Yeddi]

I tried asking my CHN for ideas and she said he's too young to be fussy and have likes and dislikes -.-;

Pfft! What a silly statement. What, doesn't she think they have taste buds? Does she think they can't tell the difference between textures? Of course they can. They may be immature but they're not non-existent. My DS is 6 months old and already has preferences, easily shown by how little mess he makes eating sweeter stuff like fruit because he wants it ALL but is messy when it comes to his veggies and ends up wearing or spreading half of it across his tray. How is your DS like with the sweeter vegies like sweet potato or carrot? Green veg is generally quite strong tasting vegetables and kids seem to be more resistant to eating them as breast milk is sweet so being so different they are an acquired taste that takes some transition.

[helle]

i didn't find the Cauliflower Conspiracy much chop, too many recipes where the vegies are "as is" and easily identifiable

With Deceptively Delicious, i don't have a kitchen gadget that does purees well enough, to make use of that book (it relies on pureed veg for every recipe).

at one y.o the 100% vegie win we had (with a fussy eater) was the Rafferty's Gardens tubes of vegie puree. really annoyed me that i could replicate same stuff at home, steam up vegies, add to apple sauce and she WOULDN"T eat it.

i have a fussy eater at four. i can't think of any vegie she will eat "as is". If she can see it, identify it - no way. Very few fruits she will eat either. but the same fruit in a tin, dried, etc - no probs.

i'm quite envious that your one year old is eating omlettes, quiches, spag bolognaise, chicken etc - he sounds like a great eater to me! (but i have such low standards, having a 4yo who exists on weetbix and cheese, ha ha.)

LOL. Maybe I'm expecting too much? He just USED to eat them all so well as is (well as good as for him, he's always been a bit Meh with food - more of a boobie man) then it's like a switch flicked his veggie space to off.
I am lucky in regards to fruit. He will eat whatever fruit he's given except rockmellon - but I think that's more of a required taste anyway.

[Ozziehoffy]

Oskar was the same... used to eat it all then nope, but he's slowly starting to eat different ones again, he loves corn and asks for carrot. I just go with it, put it on his plate and if he eats it he does, if not, so be it. Elijah, he won't eat vegies straight lol.. but he does eat them grated into different things, so I try to make sure that I do this a few times a week to bulk up his intake.

[littlelara]

My two are older, but dd used to eat everything. Now she won't touch broccoli or mushies at all (so I keep half regular size and grate the other half so she thinks she gets a choice). They both love raw snow peas and carrots though, if that's any help?