Vegetables - do your children eat them?

[susyp]

My 2 1/2 year old absolutely refuses to eat vegetables. She'll eat peas in a risotto I make and I also make a soup with sweet potato and carrot which goes down - but nothing else, not even potatoes (not even chips). . Oh and she will eat tinned sweetcorn. I have tried bribes, threats, no pudding, sending her to her room (when she refused to eat peas AND chicken in a roast - just ate the stuffing). She eats loads of other stuff but just not vegetables.

When and how do children start eating veggies? I have come to the conclusion that all i can do is offer her food and not give her substitutes if she won't eat it - it's very annoying as I eat with her and do cook myself veg but would love to eat more vegetarian type stuff and there is no chance she would! Should I be worrying?!

susypx

[sophiechristophy]

at her age it is quite common to go through a stage or being paticular in the food department, I would try not to worry about it. It will pass.

i would continue to offer the veggies, and not react to what she chooses to do with them, whether she leaves them or eats them.

S

[catjo13]

My 2.5 yr old has gone from eating most things to existing on weetabix, pasta with pesto, cheshire cheese, petit filous and boiled potatoes. I've tried hiding minute pieces of veg in the pasta or hiding some under the potates, but I am always rumbled and she refuses to eat any of it. She still looks v healthy, has boundless energy and talks non-stop.....am telling myself it will pass.:)

[womanofdulwich]

Make soup and puree it so they cant identify what they are eating. Also spaghetti bolognese type sauces with blended veg.Maybe if they can get involved with choosing at the shop or what you grow that will help? I think because of the vitamins they cannot exist on dairy and wheat products alone. If the puree does not work then maybe you can try a multi vitamin instead. Have you made castles and volcanoes out of mashed potatoes etc etc with sweetcorn and baked beans in etc( my mum did and so did I). Also sausages split open with little green men ( peas inside). Worked for me anyway ;-)

[snowboarder]

Mine won't. Never has. Is 21m. He will eat a tomato sauce with pasta and I can hide a little in it, but not too much or all out rejection! Randomly he will eat a spinach and cheese pasta sauce too. And he does eat some fruit. Have to say I have truely given up worrying about food (he has had no milk since giving up b/f 4 months ago - but likes yoghurt/cheese/eggs) as he is sturdy and generally well. He won't eat chips either - weirdo! He just likes to dip them in mayonnaise! Sigh. What is with these babies?

[Saleha]

Initially my daughter refused to eat them. Then I started giving her stir fried mix veg in a little bit of ginger and garlic. Served with any normal meal - Went down a treat! Now shes 2.5yrs - and very articulate I must say - I am always getting requests for them and my 11 month just copies!

[Pickle]

I wouldn't worry too much, I think most kids go through this phase at one point or another. In terms of eating vegetables in their true form, my son and daughter both have likes and dislikes so I tend to cater for them (i.e., give son broccoli and daughter asparagus). I pack my bolognaise sauce full of veges that they won't eat if they see them (courgette in particular) and they happily tuck into soups which are made from everything I have in my fridge at the time - as long as they have toast to break into little pieces and throw in, to then "fish" out with their spoons!

Daughter will eat peas if told they're little green sweets, son went through a broccoli dislike phase but now loves it as we've got him pretending that they're trees and he's a lumberjack...

Good luck x

[Fuschia]

Child no 1 eats carrots (loves them) peas, corn, sweet pot, peppers raw and roasted, salad leaves, cuccumber, tomato, parsnips, roast squash. I think he just ended up eating them as I eat them every day.. oh he eats celeery too reluctantly. Won't eat potatoes unless chips

Twin 1 won't eat any veg, except potatoes (any way they come) except for cucumber but eats at least 5 portions of fruit per day. twin II, been fed exactly the same, loves tomatoes, cucumber, for a while she refused peas and corn, now she wolfs them down.

Just keep offering, let them see you eating, hide where you can. Fruit is basically the same as veg nutritionwise, mostly

[Fuschia]

Can recomemnd supersweet corn mixed with petit pois and butter, also carrots cooked with a sloch of honey... great BLW foods

[susyp]

yes she eats a lot of fruit too -endless amounts if I let her. She is dairy allergic so I am quite keen for her to eat green veg for the calcium . She used to eat loads too just before she turned 2 when she had a huge growing spurt. But now her growth has slowed and she is v fussy. Will only eat one type of soup but can try some more. At the moment she won't eat any pasta sauce and she used to eat loads but I think she will get back on to it at some point - in the meantime i don't dare hide veg in it - she would rumble all the annabel karmel ideas - she's always hated anything i have tried remotely karmelesque! I suppose you can't force them to eat veg. Sigh.

Like others- also boundless energy and looks well. We are seeing a dietitian this week because of her allergy so will mention it then and see what she says. Not hugely keen on multi vitamins or anything like that.

susypx

[Fuschia]

Hummous good for calcium... x

[crystal7]

I have a nearly 2 year old who exists on shreddies, fruit and pasta with cheese sauce. Wont eat meat, potatoes, chips, any tomato based sauce- I could go on! Veggies are not popular although we have had some recent success with mixed frozen veg- cooked and frozen weirdly! I just assume it's a phase and she'll grow out of it. In the meantime I just make sure she's offered lots of different foods.

[Fuschia]

If children like pesto can hide peas/spinach etc in it

[susyp]

houmous is great she eats tons of that - so that makes me feel a bit better! was having trouble even getting her to eat pasta but i just gave her spaghetti for tea as peppa pig had it this morning and she ate loads of it - sadly it didn't work when rebecca rabbit had carrots one day though!

[nunheadmum]

My eldest is funny with pasta too - but she likes the shaped ones that Franklins do (one lot are trains, planes etc and the other kind I think is animals, in white, red and green mixed colours). We've then managed to move onto tri-colore fusilli, which is much cheaper in Sainsbury's! They also seem to prefer pasta cooked more than we do - not ready for al-dente yet.

Swore I wouldn't get into that kind of thing before I had kids but.........

[samstopit]

I am actually really cross with Lauren Child for her 'I will not never ever eat a tomato' episode and the merchandise that goes with it! My two will eat most veg but they chant the 'never eat a tomato' line if I try to give them anything tomato like. Grrrr. Not even ketchup!

I agree just keep offering, it worked eventually for us, mine will eat broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, sweetcorn etc. I used to offer a plate of steamed veggies with nothing else on the plate and they didn't get anything else until the veggies were eaten. In the end they get hungry and it works! I did stop short of getting into arguments over it as I think it makes it worse.

[Gubodge]

Mine are good with pretty much anything these days, but like every other child had a period when anything green was viewed with great suspicion. I carried on putting the disliked items on their plates though and would insist on at least a morsel being consumed, but would let them get away with the tiniest amount. After a while they would just absent-mindedly eat the lot. The children I know who still do not touch veg are the ones whose parents stopped even offering it and only ever put things they knew to be liked on their plates.

[snowboarder]

Gubodge Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

The children I

> know who still do not touch veg are the ones whose

> parents stopped even offering it and only ever put

> things they knew to be liked on their plates.

Hmm. Oh dear I fall into that category. Rubbish mummy. Pasta for lunch every day. I gave in when my son cried when presented with annabel karmel hidden vegetable (turns out not remotely hidden) tomato sauce. Will try harder. He spat out a single 1mm sq piece of carrot hidden in baked beans last night. On the other hand he ate a pear and an apple....

Edited for poor spelling..

[snowboarder]

Side order of peas and sweetcorn not well received. Would go so far to say they made 21m old little snowboarder quite cross. Have just finished picking them up off the floor...No mean feat at 34w pregnant and planet sized....

[Fuschia]

oh dear sb... possibly more popular when children are into fine motor skills. keep trying though... putting a small spoonful in an eggcup or similar can be popular

[Gubodge]

Sorry, Snowboarder. No offence meant, just my personal experience based on a highly unscientific small sample.

[Fuschia]

I have the same experience, Gubodge. Twins both ate peas and corn at one point, then stopped. Carried on serving it up as DS1 loves them, twin II now loves them too. Twin I chucks them on the floor.

[mrsw]

I mixture of "no veg no ice-cream" and going OTT with praise (clapping and cheering while standing on a chair and stars) when a vegetable was eaten has worked. My son now says he likes broccoli. (okay he will eat sweet stuff all the time if he had a chance...) Good luck!

[snowboarder]

Ha Gubodge not at all I think you are very probably right. I dramatically 'mmmmmm'-ed my way through a pot of edamame beans (go co-op!!) at lunch while he spat the one that did enter his mouth out....

I do think it probably helps when there are siblings or others to cook for - it's only ever me and him really so you do resort to whatever is easiest.

[Fuschia]

SB: my no 1 child is the fussy one so I think there is truth in that. Twins seem to benefit from the approach that everyone gets their favourite meal sometimes.. but not every day... and if you don't et it someone else will pinch it and anyway mummy isn't really watching you but she doesn't really do puddings.