Our sweet Little Miss, our Baby Girl will drink grapefruit juice, milk and water. She'll eat bananas, applesauce, corn tortillas, rice and meat - from fish to beef. WHAT SHE WON'T EAT ARE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
"I will not eat them Sam I am ... I do not like" ... Clementines, grapes, strawberries, cherries, sweet potatoes, spinach, peas, carrots, oranges, plums, peaches, apples, olives, broccoli, mushrooms, artichokes, zucchini, squash, potatoes, mangoes, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, kiwi, green beans and yams.
We are at a loss. She's been like this ever since she started eating solids and we've decided it's gone on long enough. So this is a shout out to anyone who has an idea ... We've read books, researched the Web for reputable sources and none of it has worked. Help us find a solution to our most baffling dilemma.
Hide it. I add pureed veggies to spagetti sauce, chili, mac & cheese, etc. Basically, if I can put it in it and Benjamin can't see or taste it, we're good.
ReplyDeleteAlso, invest in a good multi-vitamin :)
She might have a heighten sense of taste and this makes her picky about taste and texture. My suggestion would be to keep putting it on her plate and in theory eventually she might actually eat it. Our taste buds mature over time and it can take many exposures before we actually like some things.
ReplyDeleteThe other options is to demand that she at least taste it but this leads to many battles and is against all the expert advice. We have done this with our kids but I don't think it has been successful. Encouragement works better.
You've probably read this but experts say that we should offer our kids healthy food and then let them pick from that what and how much they eat. I however struggle with this because if I don't expect my kids to eat fruit and veggies they won't.
I usually try to offer more than one choice of veggie at dinner and then let them choose which one they are going to eat that night. I expect them to eat at least some every night and we talk about why it's important. Of course this gets easier as they get older. With our two year old if he's not interested all we can do it try to get him to eat it is by making it a game and cheering for him when he eats it. The cheering often works but when it doesn't I just give in and he doesn't eat veggies that night.
I also try to make fruits and veggies a part of their snacks everyday. They get other things but then if they are still hungry they can have fruits or veggies. If they don't want them then they have to wait until the next meal to get more food. Hunger can be a good motivator
If you are worried about her getting the nutrients from the fruits and veggies then try hiding them but this doesn't help your child become a fruit and veggie eater. The only way you can do that is to keep offering them, eat them yourself and teach your child about good nutrition but in the long run it will be her choice.
Good luck!
I really feel your pain. Elijah is just like that but probably even more picky, will rarely eat meat, started eating bananas just 2 months ago, and gets extremely suspicious of 'specs' in his food.
ReplyDeleteafter trying to get Elijah to eat fruit or veggies for over 2 years, we gave up and changed our strategy. We got VitaMix blender almost a year ago(@ Costco, and I highly recommend going for such a pricey kitchen appliance, not just a regular brand blender, but VM or BlendTec specifically) and I've shed many happy tears since then.
Elijah will gladly gulp down 3 servings of spinach-packed smoothie (with fruit of course) on any day, texture is extremely smooth and he can't tell there's anything suspicious in his smoothies. Our basic one is spinach, more spinach, and a little more spinach with frozen blueberries and any other berries of your choice (don't forget to add strawberries, pineapple or any vitamin C containing fruit or juice to help with iron absorption). I often add carrots too. I make dips with fresh zuccini, pasta sauces with all fresh vegetables, etc. so I have no doubt that Elijah now gets a very healthy amount of fruit and vegetables :)
And I won't even go into how much we love to use VitaMix for non-Elijah foods...
My advice...keep putting it on her plate. She's bound to try it sometime, it's worked with Jack. He eats a lot of stuff now that he wouldn't eat before. We're still working on broccoli and green beans...still can't get him to eat those.
ReplyDeleteI have been asking this question to myself for a few years now. Bre is just like her, while Mace...she loves almost everything! Good Luck, let me know what works and maybe i"ll give it a try. Unlike you I gaveup instead of trying harder :)
ReplyDeleteAnother theory to add to my list of why your SuperMom!
How frustrating! C is hit or miss on veggies but, fortunately, will eat pretty much any fruit like it's going out of style. I found, kind of by accident, that she likes to eat things she normally won't if we let her "dip dip" into some sort of sauce. So for fruits & veggies I use yogurt to dip into & for other meat-type things I use the appropriate condiment. Maybe it would be worth a try? Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI agree with hiding it in her foods, at least until she is a little older and will try more things. This may sound nuts, but I have become an expert at hiding vegetables because Chris hates most of them. He pretty much only likes green beans or corn, if it is on the cobb. Plus, you get the joy of feeling victorious! Just tonight I made egg rolls and instead of cabbage I put in the broccoli slaw from the store. He still has no idea... :)
ReplyDelete