Does anyone's lo actually eat vegetables?

[Mydreamcametrue]

Hey french fries is a potatoe and that is a veggie

I was so glad to see this post.  My 2 1/2 year old will not touch them, but then again he is a very picky eater.

I am going to check into that book.  I will hide anything I can in my kids food if he did not know.  At this age, they don't want to try new things.

I agree though, keep offering it, don't give up and you never know. 

Here is a quote from a book I have about eating:

It is your job as the parent to offer healthy and nutritious foods. (Your job is DONE), It is the kids job to eat it. 

[annabellesmommy]

I'll add something to Kimberly's point on hiding foods.  The more you cook food the less of the "good" stuff it has.  So, if you are cooking to puree, then adding it to something and cooking again - the whole point of eating veggies (for the vitamins and minerals) is sort of lost.

It sounds like the smoothie works well for you.  If you are adding raw veggies and fruits (like juicing) you are getting the most of your fruits and veggies.

Also, have you tried sweet potato (baked whole, baked like fries or mashed)?  Believe it or not it has a very high nutritional value unlike it's sibling the white potato.

HTH

[taygensmom]

Our LO does eat his veggies. One thing that has helped is we always serve veggies as an "appetizer" to the meal, when he is really hungry. We also try to serve at least 2 veggies, so that he has a choice if he really doesn't like one. That being said, we then do expect him to eat a portion of his veggies before we give him all the other meal items (with a few more veggies which he sometimes also eats during the meal). It has become routine at our house, and he now rarely challenges this and has a great variety of veggies and other foods that he eats. Just as an aside, this is the only time that we expect him to eat a food before we give him other things, and we always do it at the beginning of the meal so we are not asking him to keep eating when he is not hungry. After he has eaten a few veggies we will give him a portion of everything else and just let him go and pick and choose what he wants and decide when he's done. HTH

[maggie2]

Thanks for all of the helpful replies, everyone!

I guess it comes down to and idea that I saw posted in a seperate thread - I could probably keep offering veggies along with the foods I know he enjoys (healthy - but I know it's not healthy to eat bread for every meal, either ) or maybe I just ONLY offer him new foods and then he tries them because there is no other choice

I'm definately in the camp of "he won't starve if he decides to skip a meal" - IL's think I'm horrible in that regard so maybe I try a few meals of only offering new foods?  hhmmmmm...  is that mean?

[mari]

Keep offering the veggies and they will eventually eat them, whatever you do don't make the mistake of trying to force them to eat them as then you will have problems.

Alex will eat them when she feels like, last week she liked cauliflower, this week she hates it.  She is consistent with carrots and brocolli so always gets some on her plate and I put everything else but she rarely touches them.  Nathan was the same and he refuses nothing now so I'm just repeating what happened with him.

We all eat the same, at the same time and if she leaves it, so be it.  as long as she has had enough.  Strangely, she hates potato in any shape or form!

[oilerbaby]

Maggie2...

My now seven year old was probably one of the worse eaters around (other than my nephew who now really only likes KD and fries...).  We fought with her every step of the way and tried TONNES of things... if she didn't eat her supper it got put in the fridge for the next morning, no dessert, no bedtime snack unless she ate supper, made her try new foods every meal, one time I even put her supper in a tupperware container when we went out for ice cream and wouldn't let her have ice cream until she finished her supper! 

Well, I've got to say that in between 5 and 6 she just started eating more and more... now she pretty much eats everything on her plate and when I look back at the battles and struggles and tears it just wasn't worth it.  I know if my brother survived growing up on grilled cheese, spaghetti and fries that anything could be better than that.  That being said, we didn't fight with my second, who is now 5 and tries everything all the time because she says that "your tastes always change when you get older" and granted she doesn't always like everything but meal times were more relaxed and enjoyable without the fights.  So, now with our third, there are no fights, we just always offer it to him and if he eats it great and if he doesn't, he might the next time. 

Good luck with whatever you choose to do and just try to enjoy your meal times with your family.

[Mydreamcametrue]

I agree with Shauna 100% on this subject.  Keep offering, if they don't want it, no worries.

Very very good point Stephanie about the veggies.  I was one that would be for hiding vegies in the food, but after reading your point, it really does not make sense.  Thank you for pointing that out.
I guess it just makes the parent feel better for hiding them in foods.

I have added baby jar carrots to smoothie before though.

[15milner]

Maggie - will he dip into sauces?  I can get a lot of veg into Matthew if it's been dunked in hummus.  would he take hummus / guacamole / salsa dip / cheese dip etc. 

[estherofi20]

pheeeewwwwwffffffff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *sigh* im not the only one in this then

[irish3680]

Ella is a big dipper too . She will eat pretty much anything if it's dipped in fat free ranch dressing, ketchup, cheese dip, or gravy/juice from meat.  She also goes through phases where she will love something and then not touch it for a while. We also offer veggies and the protein at the start of the meal when she is most hungry and she gobbles them up. After she eats some of each, she chooses what and how much she eats of the rest of the dinner.

[Mydreamcametrue]

All I can say is the ones that eat veggies are lucky!!!  Count your blessings.

I was at a restaurant yesterday and there was the little girl about 8 years old.  Anyhow, I saw this plate of broccoli (a lot of it).  It went right to her.  I was just in shock.  Then she got up and got her mothers tomatoes and them like they were candy.  I seriously was going to ask her mother how she did that.

I was in shock!

[Deb_in_oz]

wendy - my younger cousin was like that - they used to tel him "you can't have any more vegetables until you eat some meat" 

[skatty]

He he, Leorah is the same! We went to a 1 year olds birthday party and Leorah kept trying to take pieces of peoples salads!! Everyone was asking how we get her to eat healthy and I can only pinpoint it to the fact we eat together so she eats whatever we are eating which is always lots of veg, sometimes she wont eat something but other days she will eat veg only and leave the rest. I think it helps that she likes garlic and spices so as we like flavoursome food it is a bit more exciting than getting a dollop of boiled cabbage on a plate!

As for the hiding veggies in food, I do this to a lot of my dishes anyway to bulk them out so we eat less meat. I buy the best frozen veg available(picked and then frozen quickly to retain nutrients) and steam them until they are soft enough to blend and add them to the recipes at the end therefore retaining as much goodness as possible.

L also loves dips, it's great for a snack time to have a big plate of cut colourful veggies and some dips you can all share, especially good if it's quite good weather and you can eat outside or anywhere that is not like a traditional mealtime at a table 

[amywiz24]

i haven't tried the dips; I always thought it would be a big mess; but what meal isn't? 

[trisharushbrook]

I have twins and one is a bit picky (getting better by the day) and the other will eat whatever I give.  Just yesterday she was eating raw broccoli and raw peppers and loved them - I couldnt' believe it.  My other daughter will only eat the veg if it's mashed up well and soft - she's not a fan of anything lumpy.  Doc told me though that my daughter who eats all and everything is teething so she might be liking the veggies just for texture......here's hoping it will last longer than that...