How can I get my son to eat veggies????

Question

My son is 16 months old and he used to eat anything and everything I gave him...green beans, corn, mashed potatoes...whatever. Lately I have been noticing he is not eating his veggies. He will eat everything else the meat (except ground beef), breads, and fruits just fine but leaves the veggies. How can I get him to start eating his veggies again??? He just shakes his head every time I try to get him to eat it.

Thanks for your help

Answer 1

The parent who comes up with a one-size-fits-all solution to this seemingly universal dilemma should bottle it and sell it -- a sure way to make a fortune and send all of her/his kids to college and grad school loan-free!

In my opinion, the truth is that there IS no "solution" -- a large number of kids do go through a (long) period when they won't eat vegetables, and will get past it and will grow up to be adults who do eat vegetables, and who are not malnourished. Then, there are children who are never going to like vegetables. At this age, there is so much going on, including a child learning what his own individual preferences really are, AND, learning and experimenting a lot with independence and assertion thereof. The latter of which means, of course, that the more you struggle and make it an issue, the more he will shake his head and refuse it (and in my opinion, that sets up things very badly for him in the future, in terms of vegetables specifically, but in terms of mealtimes and food more generally).

If you're concerned from a nutritional standpoint, talk to the pediatrician. I plan on starting my kids in vitamin supplements after their next well child visit -- also, they should now be old enough to take a vitimin that's not a liquid....those liquid baby vitamins are heinous, and I wouldn't swallow them so why should I expect my kids to? I believe in doing three things to help get your kids to eat vegetables: 1) eat them yourself -- make sure your child sees that you, and your partner, other kids, whoever, eat vegetables, that vegetables are a good part of a meal; 2) keep offering them -- your son may never pick them up off the plate, but you want him to learn that vegetables ARE a part of a meal, and maybe he'll surprise you every now and again, and 3) sneak them in -- some people are really opposed to this, but I think it is a bad idea only when a parent does this in lieu of offering veggies openly. Sneaking them maximizes the chance that your child will actually ingest some even while going through (what is hopefully just) a phase, and benefit from their nutritional content. But offering them openly, and eating them in front of your child, serve a different need, which is to continually expose your child to vegetables to encourage him to eventually *choose* to eat them himself.

I have twins who are 23 months old. They were phenomenal eaters back when I was pureeing fruits and vegetables for them, and now....not so much. I *try* to offer vegetables at every meal (depending on energy, etc. I don't *always* succeed), and I also try to sneak them in where I can. Eggs? Finely diced spinach, chopped mushrooms, a bit of cheese, and we have an omelet that even my daughter usually eats. Turkey burgers? Add some chopped vegetables to that, or some pureed ones (the latter of which makes the meat really super moist, too). If your child likes things like mac and cheese (for some reason mine won't touch the stuff) you can easily add some vegetables to that -- chopped if he won't pick them out, pureed if he will. In the meantime, give him some of those vegetables as a side dish as well, even if you know the side dish will just end up down the garbage disposal.

Anyway, we're going through the same thing here...and it seems that most parents go through the same thing or something similar. Lots of people have different "tricks" and you should try them, of course, but there's definitely no quick fix that works for everyone!

Best of luck.

ETA Jessica Seinfeld's book is called "Deceptively Delicious," and there's another one that came out around the same time, but I can't remember what that one's called. But to sneak vegetables in your toddler's food, honestly, you just need common sense, not a cookbook -- I have nothing against Jessica Seinfeld but moms have been sneaking veggies into food since just about the dawn of time, so while I laud her for doing the hard part of testing certain recipes, she is hardly doing anything groundbreaking! Also, in so far as the notion of kids needing exposure something like 10 times before they'll like something...I hear that from peds and "experts" all the time but a lot less frequently from moms -- I'm NOT criticizing the so-called fact, I just want you to know that if you offer something fifty times and your son still doesn't want it, like it, or even want to try it...it's NOT you!

Answer 2

If he's eating fruit, he's getting the same nutrients as veggies. I wouldn't worry about it. But, since you are worried about it, hide the veggies in other foods. Take macaroni & cheese and add pureed carrots. Spaghetti--almost anything could be slipped in there. Applesauce--pureed corn or sweet potatoes.

Kids go through phases. My son has barely eaten anything but pizza & chicken fingers all his life. Now all of the sudden, he (17) wants condiments on his hamburger (huh?), he wants a caesar salad with EVERY meal. He'll try new foods and is chowing down like a monster. That makes me happy since he hasn't enough meat on his backside to hold up his jeans! But when he was 8, hot chocolate & marshmallows (I substituted Carnation Instant Breakfast) were the ONLY thing he would eat or drink.

He survived, and he's almost 6' tall. Keep introducing the veggies, early in the meal when he's hungry, and one day he'll surprise you and ask for more.

TX Mom
Mine are 17 & 21

Answer 3

This is the time when your baby realizes he has a choice in foods and will find food that he prefers. The one thing our doctors always reiterate to the parents is that if you push foods and force them, it makes matters worse. So I would just continue to offer the veggies. Cook them in different ways to see if you can get him to eat them that way. Also, be creative, let him pick the veggies he wants to eat that night and remember that it can take as many as ten offerings for the child to decide whether or not he likes the food. He may not like carrots when you first offer themt o him, but the next time, he may try them and like them. Don't offer him other foods in place of what everyone else is eating, this is setting up a lot of extra work for you. Keep it low key and fun and see how things go. You can also bring it up with your pediatrician at his 18 month visit.

Good luck!

Answer 4

k so my son is almost 3 years old and i still buy those gerber puffs they make them in fruits and veggis i keep them on hand because there are times when my son will not eat hardly anything during the day so i will break out the puffs and he will eat them like they are going out of style and i am not sure why but that is how i work veggis and fruits into his system once in a while my son is 3 like i said before and he only weighs 25 lbs so he really can not go with out food beleive me i no that but the doctors say that he is healthy and that nothing is wrong with him also if you give your child fresh veggis try giving him ranch dip with it my son likes that as a matter of fact he like ranch with everything i dont no if you give your child celery but try it with peanut butter and some raisns my son also likes that.......good luck

Answer 5

Adding to Debbie's answer...Jerry Seinfeld's wife has published a book about puree'ing veggies and slipping them into all your recipes. Dangit now I can't remember the name of the book!!!

Try googling around for it. I looked through it at the bookstore; it seems like a great idea and she has lots of recipes in there too. She had their kids taste-test everything and most of the stuff, they couldn't tell the veggies were in there.

It's worth a shot if nothing else works...

Answer 6

try to make a veggie shakes that includes fruit so the taste of the veggies won't be notice because it'll be sweet from the fruits

Answer 7

veggies are every parents tough spot. The best thing to do is blend them up, mix them with apple sauce and viola, you're child is eating veggies.

Answer 8

Give the veggies first when he is the hungriest! Or as I do with my daughter, give him ketchup. She will eat anything if she can dip it in ketchup, even apple slices one time!

Answer 9

food coloring. color his food to his favorite color. Besides which, fruit has alot of what veggies have. Maybe not as much fiber, but bread has fiber.

Answer 10

make a "broccolie forest" by puting brocolies together on a tree. say once he finishes the forest, you can go exploring in a real forest. :) hope i helped and good luck!