Fruit and Veg combos, good idea for fussy veg eater?

[emz1907]

My lo has been on solids for a few weeks on hv advise. He started with rice then we got the go ahead to try fruit and veg. He preffered fruit but would still eat some veg like sweet potato and carrot. This week he had a bug which gave him the runs and sickness a bit (caught it off us, whole family been ill ). On dr's advice we didnt give him any dairy (including forumla) for 24hrs, he said to just give him water and basic solids like pear which we did. Trouble is now Ive tried to give him veg again he just isn't interested. He would eat fruit until it came out of his ears he loves it! But the twisty faces he pulls at veg is a picture I tried today with sweet potato again and he wouldn't take more than one spoon, yet when I tried with pear he couldn't get enough. So I tried mixing a bit of pear with the potato but he still wouldn't take it, so I did it the other way round and added a little potato to the pear so it was mainly sweet and he took this better. Although by this stage I think he was fed up so we ended up leaving it there.

My questions are, is it ok to mix fruit and veg to get them to eat more veggies? and if so what are some good combos? Are there any other tricks and is this a common problem? Im scared my little boy will never eat his veggies!

[okragirl]

I would love to know some good combos.  My baby is just the opposite....hates the fruit, but loves the veggies!! Thanks in advance for the tips!!!

[emz1907]

why don't we get our babies together, mine can tell yours how good fruit is and yours can do the same for mine about veg :0) problem solved! LOL

[Freya'sMum]

emz1907,

I really wouldn't be at all concerned about your lo not eating any solid foods at this young age... the primary source of nutrition until 12 months is ds's formula, and any solid food he does eat just supplements this, so if he goes without, it won't affect him at all

Babies' appetites vary from day to day, week to week, month to month, and can be affected by pain, illness, tiredness, distractions, developmental phases, preferences etc - the most important thing is to be a BW and listen to your lo's cues, whilst leading the introduction of solid foods with your adult knowledge of what is in his best interests to eat (ie, milk and a healthy balance of the foods he will eat throughout childhood).

I know some folk advocate disguising foods with others, in terms of BW, this doesn't sit comfortably with me, especially in one so young where he doesn't actually need them yet - I would suggest that it would encourage positive association with food for you to focus on 'normalising' food and eating, involving him in the social/pleasurable aspects of eating (ie, family mealtimes, whether he eats anything or not), and modeling eating a balanced range of foods (so he sees what to do and how to do it) - if it takes him a while to get it, so be it, there is no rush

Ax

[EmMUK74]

we have often mixed fruit and veg, because Rachel always likes to prefer one or the other at different times, so here are ones that work for us

sweet potato and apple
carrot and pear
green beans and pear
avocado and banana



and another top tip; butternut squash has always been eaten like it's a fruit and is great with any veg to sweeten and colour it a lot.  and frozen peas are great as well to sweeten.

[emz1907]

I made him sweet potato and butternut squash today but it didn't go down too well. Some good ideas there though thanks!

[okragirl]

We tried green beans mixed with sweet potatoes today.  He really liked it.  Thank you for the tip on the fruit.  I am going to try pureed fresh bananas this afternoon.  He didn't like the Gerber bananas. I will keep you posted.

[emz1907]

Haha peers sounds good :0)