[robidora]

My daugther is 14 months. She is a decent eater, loves meat, dairy products and fruit, but I am having a hard time getting her to eat veggies, especially the green kind. She will chomp on a carrot but i think that is mostly because of the teething factor. If anyone has any suggestions, please pass them along.

thanks.

rebecca

 

[Commanda13]

My kids have always loved veggies with dip!! Popular veggies for my son around that time was avocado, cut up cherry tomatoes, pepper strips (in dip), broccoli. You can also make pumpkin or zucchini bread or muffins.

 

[mandcc96]

A friend of mine's little girl also refuses to eat veggies (of any kind!). She just keeps offering them at every single meal. We stuck with a lot of the sweeter ones (peas, carrots) and tried different cooking/non-cooked methods. Dips also are a wonder as Commanda13 said. Hummus has been my dd's fav. dip of choice with anything and you can get veggie style. Good luck.

 

[veganf]

Just keep offering veggies at every opportunity, model eating them every day, and don't offer any junk. With summer coming, it'll be a great time to expose her to the joys of picking and choosing veggies fresh from the farm/garden/farmstand/market. It'll happen!

 

[JosieWhales]

I have two boys, 5 and 3. They eat anything from asparagus to zucchini. Friends have asked me how I've accomplished this, so I've summarized the rules that I follow with my family. I've pasted them here for you. #6 and #7 are probably most relevant to your situation. 14 months is still young...but if you keep these in mind as a future goal - slowly working towards them, and take the great suggestions by other Mothering members, you'll have a veggie lover! I truly believe this is why I don't have picky eaters. To your health!

#1 Meals are served at the table and eaten as a family at the same time. Snacks are eaten at the table too.
#2 Everyone eats the same thing for the meal. No preparing separate things for separate people.
#3 Put some of each dish (e.g.. meat, veg, starch) on each person's plate. Serve only healthy, natural, whole foods. Put small amounts of food on the children's plates, what you reasonably expect them to consume.
#4 The only food available for eating is what is on the table. Don't allow the children to help themselves to the refrigerator or pantry.
#5 Don't force a child to eat. Don't make her sit there until she finishes. Excuse her from the table when you see fit, but don't scrape the food from her plate. Either leave the plate on the table or put plastic over it and put it in the refrigerator.
#6 No seconds on one food item until the child has eaten everything else on their plate. You may be thrilled that your child ate her meat and asked for more, but don't allow more until she finishes her peas and potatoes too.
#7 No snacks or dessert after meals unless the child ate the previous meal. If your child says she's hungry, direct her back to her meal plate on the table. No exceptions. These (6 & 7) are the most important rules. You simply tell the child, "If you're not hungry enough to eat lunch, then you're not hungry enough to eat a snack."
#8 No snacks just before a meal, i.e. no spoiling appetite. One exception: if the child is chomping at the bit, and she just can't wait for dinner, and there's nothing left of the meal before, then you may serve cut up raw veggies.
#9 The only thing available to drink is water. No milk (except breast milk), no juice. These tend to fill the child up and don't offer the same nutrition as eating whole food.

Follow these rules every day. Enforce them 100%. Remember, you are the parent...you know what's best for your child. Your children will be eating better in no time. Children are wonderfully adaptive. They'll become accustomed to the rules and embrace the new healthy habit.

 

[lucyem]

You might want to post this in the toddler section to get more responses. 14 months seems pretty young to me to do more then limited exposure. Toddlers are notoriously picky. Plus I found with mine their tastes changed a lot as did their acceptance of various textures as they grew.

My DS's are older - age 3 & 6. We try and expose our DS's to all kinds of veggies in all different forms. We expect them to take one bite of everything to try. I am not into forcing veggies (or any food for that matter) because I hate them too. Plus my DH was forced once as a child to eat something and proceeded to throw it up on his mom. After the one bite and they hate it then they do not have to eat it. I always have a second veggie I know they like. We always praise for the one bite and both DH & I follow the one bite rule to show a good example.

I also make a lot of foods with veggies hidden. Spaghetti sauce with added veggies, chunky salsa and black beans on chips with cheese. I always have two veggies available at dinner with one being a favorite like peas. There are toddler cookbooks with great recipes with veggies so its worth a trip to the library.

My most picky hates broccoli but tried some right out of a garden and loved it. He did not bat an eye when he was given a piece to try since he was so used to trying a bite. He then begged all winter for broccoli in the garden and who am I to say no

 

[EmpoweringBirth]

My children are wonderful veggie eaters so I haven't had to try to do anything to really encourage it further. However other mom's in the Mom's club I am part of rave about the cookbook Deceptively Delicious by Jessica
Seinfeld. Several of them have told me it gave them many useful ideas.

I do want to add that not giving a child milk as mentioned by a pp suggestion #9 would concern me. Specifically it concerns me on if the child would be getting enough vitiamin D especially in the winter months. Now if it is a child that is having breastmilk this wouldn't concern me, but as the child gets older it would.

I love all of the other ideas. Just remember studies have shown it takes exposure 8 times for a child to begin to like something they initially dislike.

Good luck,
Annie

 

[JosieWhales]

Keep in mind that milk is fortified with Vitamin D, it does not contain it (in those levels) naturally. The body makes its own Vitamin D when exposed to sunshine. There are times when children do need more in their diet, like during winter months in northern latitudes like ours, or when parents apply too much sunscreen. A good quality multi vitamin or a little cod liver oil in the winter months helps with this, plus these have Vitamin A for a healthy immune system during cold/flu season to boot.

My #9 is difficult for people to understand and accept. The general notion in this country is that milk and juice are healthy and nutritious. But think about where you learned this dogma... from the milk industry ("Milk it does a body good!" "Got milk?") and from the OJ industry. Always be skeptical of someone trying to sell you something. Juice is less nutritious than the whole fruit from which it comes. And milk is for babies and small children: breast milk for human babies, cow's milk for calves. And as for fortification, nutrients are always best when gotten from their natural source. And if you're going to supplement, best you choose the source of the vitamin/mineral, not the food industry in whose best interest it is to just choose the cheapest.

If you're willing to rethink your thinking on cow's milk...read "Devil in the Milk" by Keith Woodford (Craig Potton Publishing). Dr. Woodford is a professor in New Zealand, and he's done a fine job summarizing the scientific literature. Also look up work by Frank Oski, former Chair of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins. His work was a major influence in the 80's and 90's to make baby formula more like breast milk. He's the reason why formula now has ingredients like DHA and ARA. He shows many reasons why cow's milk is not good for children.

Best to all you moms who do so much to love your children.

 

[veganf]

We use most of those rules too, especially her #6 & #7! So I think it really does work. And while we do offer other drinks occasionally, most of what they drink is water. We don't use dairy of any kind (except for human dairy of course!).

 

[robidora]

Thank you for everyone's feedback. We are not trying to force her to eat veggies. I guess I was wondering if anyone had any tricks of the trade, unique ways to get veggies into meals she may eat. I have a friend that adds some veggies to smoothies.

As for the milk discussion, I know the milk issue is contraversial and I go back and forth all the time and I am very torn. I have always drank milk and I am not really sure if we should be or not.

Our situation, you do what you have to. I tried to breastfeed and couldn't because she had thrush when born and just wouldn't latch. I pumped for four months and bottlefed, accidentally got pregnant and didnt know and my milk disappeared. Ended up having a miscarriage. We had to transition to organic formula. At a year our naturapathic physician told us to drop the formula and give milk as the milk would be better than the formula. He said between the milk, cod liver oil and whatever she does actually end up eating, for now that will be fine. Eventually her interest in other foods will grow.

Thanks again for all the great input and discussion! I am going to print it all out and share with my husband. He stresses about her not getting enough green veggies. I think maybe we both just need to relax more.