[mom2e]

My dd (17 months) refuses to eat almost all meat. About once or twice a week, I can get her to eat a hot dog (nitrate free). But that is all she will eat. Any suggestions on how to prepare meat so she will like it? I'm thinking of maybe a recipe where the meat comes out really really soft. So far, she doesn't like deli meat, chicken breast, or ground beef.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[Hollycrand]

What's worked for us has been stews or meals where I slightly brown the meat (anything: chicken, beef, ground beef, ground lamb, lamb...) and then add broth , bring it to a boil, add spices of choice (dd loves curry), then cook rice separately. When rice is finished, I drain water, then add it to the 'sauce' with meat and....presto!
My dd is a VERY picky eater. But she can eat bowl after bowl of this curry rice dish with meat.

 

[Ruthla]

How about soups? She can get most of the meat nutrients in liquid form if she'll drink the broth, and to a lesser extent if she eats veggies that were cooked in chicken or beef broth.

 

[alegna]

What's the push for meats? Is there a particular reason you think that she needs meat? FWIW I have a friend who has a child who has always refused meat, they now think that it's possible that he has a metabolic condition that is worsened by eating meat. It's quite possible that his body was protecting him for the last 6 years.

-Angela

 

[celia]

My toddler also refuses all meat (except the hotdogs and chicken nuggets they serve at daycare

) We eat a lot of meatless meals anyway- 3-5 a week, so I just offer her other proteins at home. She likes tofu and LOVES baked beans....I figure maybe she'll like it later, or maybe she won't, no big deal.

 

[umami_mommy]

how do you "get" a toddler to eat anything? or for that matter how do you get a 4 year old to eat anything?

my son is 4 and has eaten meat maybe 5 times in his life.

why does it matter? plenty of kids thrive on a vegetarian diet.

 

[janerose]

I agree not to stress over it. My DD also doesn't like meat, but she eats a pretty well rounded diet. She also loves yogurt and cheese, plus we do legumes a couple times a week. We've begun eating more and more meatless meals because DH finally noticed that he feels better after veggie meals than meals with meat in them.

DD's weight gain/height are OK, her iron level is good, she's developmentally on target or ahead in all areas, and she has regular poops so I've just decided not to stress about what she's eating or not eating. I just offer a wide variety of healthy foods and figure she know when she is or isn't hungry better than I do.

Holly

 

[srain]

Why would you want to?

 

[mamachandi]

I agree with the pp but if you must give it to her. try putting the broth into the foods you already eat,she'll still get quite a bit of protein from it. also i would try giving her other protein foods like beans(my girls love this "finger food"),legumes and tofu. also nut butters like almond butter on toast,(hold off on peanut butter) and tahini (to make hommous with).young children do not "need" meat to be healthy. I worry about e coli in their young bodies cannot handle it. if your worried about not enough fats try putting small amts of olive oil in her food.good luck!

 

[mom2e]

Thank you for all your replies. There are some really good suggestions that I'm going to try.

I want her to eat meat because I am concerned that she's not getting enough protein and iron (she generally does not eat much eggs, tofu, beans, or legumes). She eats TONS of fruit--her diet is probably 50% fruit-- and some veggies, and does eat some dairy and bread.

As a second reason, I'd like her to eat meat because I want to get to the point where she just eats what dh and I eat- and we eat meat 4-5 times a week. I respect all you vegetarians out there, but we enjoy meat and I feel that some amount of meat keeps me healthy.

I'm certainly not going to force her to eat meat, but was simply looking for suggestions on how to serve it so that it might be more tasty to dd. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[anonymous4_20]

I don't have a toddler, but I was funny about meat when I was a toddler, and I had a bad meat aversion during pregnancy. I would suggest hiding the meat in gravies, sauces and casseroles. I don't mean hide it and lie to her, just hide the flavor/texture of it. I still don't like pork on its own, but if I make it in a heavy marinade or sauce I enjoy it. If you have enough sauce or broth around the meat, maybe she'll go for it.

 

[lisalou]

We tend to do things so that it's easy to give her pasta or rice with the sauce from whatever we're eating. I'll then include bits of whatever meat there is along with other things. Sometimes she'll eat it sometimes she won't but I don't make a big deal out of it. Recently she's started eating the meat more. She loves chicken and turkey. And loves shrimp even more. She'll also eat pork, lamb and sausage.

But overall we just make sure we offer it and we're patient. Although it does help that she eats tons of bread and hummus so I know she's getting protein. I do find at least our toddler goes in phases. Some days all she wants and seems to need is carbs. Other days she'll eat fruits and veggies. And other days she needs protein wherever she can get it from. And of course other days it's a combo. I try to look at the week as a whole rather than worry about a day.

 

[sbgrace]

This may be extreme or some may feel wrong but I hide meat for one of my sons. (we have a restricted diet and he has to have it for the protein). You can grind up meat with a food processor and liquid until it is basically liquified. Then you can use it in whatever. I put it in squash based recipes for example because he loves squash (use squash or carrot juice to grind it up). I put it in smoothies too. So I guess my point is that you could sneak meat into a lot of things with a food processor. Chicken breast or other breast meats taste the least and hide a little better and blend better as well just because of the low fat content but I've successfully used other chicken cuts, lamb, and bison.

 

[smeep]

Maybe she's just a veggie baby? I've met lots of babies that just don't like meat. I bet they were vegetarians in a past life.

 

[mom2e]

Thanks, everyone!

That is interesting that the pp mentioned the meat aversion during pregnancy. I normally love meat, but couldn't stand it when I was pregnant with my little vegetarian! Maybe there's something to it...

 

[mamaverdi]

Do a search on protein-intolerance, protein refusal and metabolic disorders or inborn errors of metabolism. Urea cycle disorders among others include refusal of meats, even proteins. These disorders may not express themselves until after the child is weaned or when the child is sick. The mothers of these children often have an aversion to meat while they are pregnant. Some develop symptoms themselves.

But hey, you don't have to jump on my IEM bandwagon.

What I wonder is: what happens when she eats that hotdog?

Or, on another less life-changing note: could she have low tone making it too hard to actually chew meat? You might want to have her evaluated by a good speech pathologist who knows about early oral motor skills. (But with the meat aversion during pregnancy, that probably makes this route less likely.)

Does she have any other unexplained health problems?

The child alegna mentioned is mine.

mv

 

[anonymous4_20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamaverdi Do a search on protein-intolerance, protein refusal and metabolic disorders or inborn errors of metabolism. Urea cycle disorders among others include refusal of meats, even proteins. These disorders may not express themselves until after the child is weaned or when the child is sick. The mothers of these children often have an aversion to meat while they are pregnant. Some develop symptoms themselves. But hey, you don't have to jump on my IEM bandwagon.

While I agree that you should look into this, I wanted to give you some more info on meat aversions during pregnancy in case you're like me and get paranoid easily while googling things! Meat aversions are very common during pregnancy. One study I read said that 28% of women with morning sickness who participated in that study had an aversion to animal products. It's been theorized that it's an old defense mechanism that evolved to make sure that we didn't pick up food-borne illnesses during the first trimester, which are more commonly spread through meats than veggies and fruits. So just having a meat aversion while pregnant doesn't mean that your child has to have protein intolerance. While it's quite possible that there is one, it's probably more likely that you've just got a fussy kid. I doubt that all 28% of those women had protein-intolerant kids.

Mamaverdi, I'm sorry to hear about your son. That must be hard to deal with. I bet you're glad to finally be getting a diagnosis, though. Good luck!