refusing Veggies

[scucci1979]

My lo is nine months old and used to love all veggies.  She is now rejecting them and will only eat protein, a little fruit and starch. How can I get some more veggies in her. She is mostly on finger foods-will rarely take a spoon.

Any ideas?

[We Three]

Just when you get used to something, they go and change on you, right???

At that age, sometimes something will end as mysteriuosly as it began.  Sometimes it's as simple as putting food on the tray as opposed to in a bowl, or vice-versa.  On your lap vs high-chair.....they are strange little beings!!

I'd offer her things she WILL eat, and still put the veggies out there with that. Like, Cheerios or toast or what have you, but still with a few pices of veggie as well.  Give that a try!!

[*Liz*]

Sabrina - you MUST stop worrying about her feeding so much  .

My mum once said to me to never fight over food as they will always always win!! I was a terrible eater from about 12 mths until 16 years so I guess she has some experience with it.

Just keep offering a bit of this and that.

Try the plain veggies. Try some roasted veggies with a bit of herbs on to give a bit more flavour. You could even try making veggie burgers with breadcrumbs on for little hands to hold. Try some very small cubes to see if they are as much fun as cheerios  .

This week Jacob loves little sandwiches - you can hide allsorts in there  .

And if she doesn't want them don't worry. LOTS of kiddies go off veggies from time to time.

Jacob eats very little veggies TBH - but last week ate a carrot stick off my plate. It will probably be Christmas before he does it again  .

[Mashi]

Agree with Liz....the more you relax about it the easier it will be on both of you!

Offer her her regular meal of things you were already planning on giving her, and add a couple of veggies.  And by a couple, I mean TWO PEAS.  Ignore them.  Don't hold them to her, don't offer them, don't ask her to eat them, nothing. Just put them on her tray. If she throws them, leave them where they land.  (My DS would NOT touch carrots except to throw them. Let him out of his highchair and while I was cleaning up, he would ALWAYS crawl around under the chair, pick up the carrots and eat them. Drove me crazy.  Now he just throws.  No longer picks up.....   )

I wasn't much for cooking one or two veggies at a time, especially when I was going to be washing them off of the walls 10 minutes later so at this point I switched to canned and frozen veggies. The little tins of mixed peas and baby carrots were good - I dug out my old one ounce freezer pots from puree days and put a couple of carrots and few peas in each and froze them so I could just pull them out.  Tinned sweet corn, same.  Frozen green beans, you can take our four and to "cook" them, I just boiled the kettle and poured an inch of boiling water on them for a few minutes until they were warm.  No effort required was what made me stay calm.

At nine months she is just developing her pincer grasp. Over the next month or two as she learns it more, she will LOVE LOVE LOVE to pick up peas and corn. And you will find them in her nappy, whole.     Try not to think about meal time as "feeding" or as a time when she needs nutrition and calories, because at this point, that is still mostly form milk. Think of her veggies as play time, practicing her pincer grasp and her throwing skills - motor development is JUST as important and learned SOOOO much through mealtimes that it's really just as important as what she manages to get in her mouth!

[scucci1979]

Things seem to always be changing.....

I know I should relax more.  Liz, you know all about my struggle when feeding her. My mom also told me that I was a difficult eater until the age of 8.  Today, she took a piece of banana and mashed it in her hands and then began to examine her hands.  LOL. I did manage to get some yogurt in her. 

Mashi, you are always full of wisdom. 

So I should keep placing them on her tray and relax more. It feels like all she eats is starch and chicken.  I try to make her a balanced diet but that doesn't work.  She does enjoy blueberries.

Does anyone know of any good finger food books/websites out there?  I am running out of ideas for mealtimes.

[*Liz*]

There is a simple book by Jennie Menzies which has some good ideas. I have also read the annabel karmel one - but most are a bit too cmpilcated to bother with if they aren't going to eat it imho.

Don't woory about a balanced diet - they will be 3-4 before they manage this in one meal - but if you look at the month as a whole you will be suprised how 'balanced' it actually is.

Have you read the BLW book? Does help you relax a bit!!

[Mashi]

Things seem to always be changing.....

And that will continue, weekly, monthly....the more you learn to roll with it the easier it is. As soon as she decides that she is not going to eat anything but carrots three days in a row, the next day she will look at you, pick the carrot up, growl and smash it on her highchair tray.   

Today, she took a piece of banana and mashed it in her hands and then began to examine her hands. 

100% absolutely totally normal. And developmentally appropriate.  This is what is meant by the saying "Before one, food is for fun."  Part of learning to eat is learning what food looks like, what it smells like, what it feels like, and how it sounds when it gets squished between fingers.  Let her squish it, continue with the meal, and let her lick it off when she feels like it.  At about 8/9 months or so, all meal times were naked for my DS! Nappy only! 

It feels like all she eats is starch and chicken.  I try to make her a balanced diet but that doesn't work.  She does enjoy blueberries.

And perhaps this week starch and chicken IS all she is eating. That's fine. As long as you are not just OFFERING her starch and chicken. Make sure that at one meal in the day she gets a starch that she likes so that she will get something. But if you keep offering chicken every day, then she will come to think that's all there is on the menu, and that is all she will want. And then one day she will get sick of it and there will be nothing to replace it. 

Remember, until she is one, her balanced diet is her milk. As long as she takes 20oz of formula per day then she is getting the perfect balance of calories, calcium, fat, vitamins, minerals, sugars, etc.  Anything that she eats as far as solids go is bonus!  The main thing is to keep OFFERING the balanced diet - and balanced is balanced over a week, not a day.

As far as books go, I agree with Liz on the Annabel Karmel - there are lots of good recipes in there, but they really ARE recipes for a mother who has time to cook all day.  They are more "family" recipes - things you can make that your family will like to eat that are appropriate for a baby/toddler as well, rather than things you can whip up in a minute or two. And, the book that I had was really pasta heavy - six or seven different tomato based pasta sauces, which really was a waste of pages in my opinion. The book I have on order is

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1844830365/ref=s9_simz_gw_s3_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=1VM3NRX38P6A9MG9J20S&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128133&pf_rd_i=468294

I've got high hopes for it, the reviews seem very good.  The only thing for me is that the bookstore here that can order it for me will take 3 - 4 weeks to get it in, so until then I am waiting, but you should have no problem getting it quickly in the UK! 

[Lucie preciosa]

Lucie only eats peas and potatoes on full sight! the rest have to be hiden in form of sauces and make this mean pasta sauce that she loves: blend carrots, tomatoes and a garlic clove and have that as your sauce for pasta. you cook it for 5 minutes and add tiny pieces of mushroom and last minute add chopped spinach. Add to pasta together with grated cheese and that's it!, you can alter this with any other veg like courguettes, squash, brocolli, you name it!
Burgers are a great way to hide veg too.
But I agree with the rest 'stay relax' they do keep changing taste buds!

[scucci1979]

thanks for the wonderful advice and support.  I am going to cook a pasta sauce with carrots tomorrow. I am sure she will enjoy that.  Now I just have to investigate on some finger food books. I agree with you Liz, the annabel book is great if you want to cook all day.