1 Yr Old Is Anti-vegetables.

Hi A.,
Don't worry...this is so common and exactly what my daughter did. Apparently children grow half as much the second year of life as the first...so they do not need to eat as much. My daughter use to eat ANYTHING and LOTS OF ANYTHING until about 13months of age. It was frustrating at first but after reading "what to expect.." I relaxed. I offered her foods I know she did or used to like and if she ate--fine--if she did not---fine. No fight, nothing. She is now 17 months and eats almost anything again.

I also serve veggies first---she does not even see what else is going to be offered---I give it a few minutes and if she does not eat them I don't say anything about that I just introduce the additional food. As long as you serve nutritional foods you don't need to worry. It is a stage and will pass---at least it has for us.

Hope this helps.
K.

A couple of suggestions:
Try baby carrots...cook them real good so they are real easy to chew and put a light glaze on them...butter with a little brown sugar. If he likes sweet potatoes it's because he migrates to the "sweeter" items.

Also, there is a fruit juice out called V8 Fusion. It comes in three flavors. It provides a full serving of vegetables believe it or not. It's the only juice I buy my son, other than apple juice, for that reason alone. My son doesn't eat veggies either.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

K.

Hi A.!
A GREAT book on kids and nutrition is from the American Acadamy of PEdiatrics. It is "Your Child and Nutrition" ____@____.com
They go over feeding, serving amounts etc... It covers birth through teens.

Most kids go through a no eating type stage. Your job as mom is to provide food. His job is to eat it. The more you beg and cajole, the less he will eat. No child has ever starved themselves when food is availble!
PArt of the routine can be snaking veggies in- Carrott muffins, chocolate zucchin bread, Garden burgers, things like that.

I am a mom of 4 and aPedi RN--- I promise it will be OK! :-)

Feel free to e-mail me w/ any questions!

My son used to push any vegetable off the table and cry! I thought he would never eat vegetables. He was a pretty good eater in all other areas..but anything vegetable immediately resulted in tears!!! This all changed when I found out another way to out-smart my 3year old and now I can outsmart my 16 month old as well!
Thought I would share a great product our pediatrician recommended to us. It's nice to know that my children (ages 3 and 16months are getting added nutrition from 17 different fruits, vegetables and grains every single day! Also, Dr. William Sears says that "Parents who feed their children the most nutritiously have the children who get sick the least. JP+ Gummies is a way to get good nutrition from fruits and vegetables into Kids... a modern day healthy alternative to candy."
For more information and research, visit http://www.juiceplus.com/+sk30979

Hey there,

I'm a pediatric dietitian. The best thing to do is continue to offer all types of vegetables on his plate (at different times, of course) while you eat the same vegetables on your plate in front of him. Expose them to him over and over...he will try them eventually and like many of them, especially if you are enjoying them yourself. Do not ever make him eat anything...it will make the situation worse.

Parents usually exaccerbate the picky eater problem by allowing the child's diet to be narrowed down only by what they think the child will eat. As your child can eat all table foods, serve him what you are eating instead of making him "special" meals.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

A., RD/LD

This happen to by toddler at that age (right after I was braggin he was eating broccoli). ;-) Anyway, I started making vegie sandwiches - I literally put the carrots, or beans, etc on bread and let him pick-up and eat.... he ate it, so maybe he was more concerned that it was texture (wet, slippery, mushy) vs. taste.

Good luck... just when we think we know how these little ones work. ;-)

Sincerely,
D.

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www.mycmsite.com/daniellemohr

This is a very common problem, unfortunately. My best recommendation is to hide veggies anywhere you can. An old trick of mine is to make zuchinni muffins and banana bread (and anything else you can think of) and grate up some additional veggies into the muffins.
Some desperate moms "drown" the veggies in cheese, cheese spread (like Cheez Whiz), butter, and even sugar. However, the problem with that is that it really increases the child's intake of unnecessary fat.
I know it will be a while, but for an older child (age 3 and over), you can insist that he always take one "polite bite" of everything on his plate before he declares himself "finished." This eliminates the battles over food while teaching your child healthy eating habits.

I had this same problem with my son and there is little you can do about it when they just refuse to eat them. If you are concerned about nutrition, you may want to consider Juice Plus. It is a whole food based supplement that contains fruits and vegetables. They come in chewables and gummy form. My son loves his gummies. He takes three of the fruit ones in the morning with breakfast and three of the veggie ones in the evening with dinner. It is the same as him having 17 fruits and vegetables in a day. I have also found that since taking the gummies, it has stimulated his interest in trying new fruits and vegetables in their true form. If you would like more info, e-mail me and I will get you the website info and contact info for the lady I purchase my son's from.

Besides the V-8 fusion, I recommend either Naked Superfood or Odwalla or one of those natural types. The Superfood is green and besides having apples and other fruits, it has spinach, broccoli, spirulina, etc. My son loves this juice. He drinks it up so fast. It's expensive, but worth it, I think, to get the veggies into your child that he needs. I buy mine at Market Street, but am sure that Whole Foods and other natural food stores carry it, if your neighborhood grocery store doesn't.

a friend of mine had the same problem, so she just gave her son fruit like a bannana and then she would add a few corn or peas in the mix and her son would eat it, not knowing it was a veggie.

I have a 16 month old who loves corn, peas, carrots, etc.. I just add a little butter (not much) and cook them on the stove with water and he just goes to town.

Good Luck.. :)

You can try those pediasure drinks. That's is what I did for my 20 month old and she is doing great as far as nutrition goes. They are recommended for ages 1-5.