Healthy Solid Toddler Foods for Sometimes Picky Eater

At that age, my kids loved slices of avocado, whole bananas, mandarin oranges, any kind of melon, peas, tomatoes, mangoes, strawberries, cut up grapes, pretty much any fresh fruit or veggies I could get my hands on. For fruits and veggies that are too hard to chew, but you want to introduce the flavor--like raw carrots, they sell those mesh chew sacks (I can't remember what they are called). Those work great for teething too, especially really cold carrots. My kids also liked to dip raw spinach leaves in dressing and eat those. We pretty much tried to introduce them to any food we eat so they will get used to it.

Try giving him some "dip" to go with his veggies and fruit, something yogurt/cream cheese based might be tempting....or there's always peanut butter, hummus, etc. One of my son's first foods was (not spicy) guacamole...he loved it!

You just have to keep putting small, finger food sized pieces of vegetables out there on the tray for him to pick up himself. My daughter was always huge on feeding herself, and had preferences for vegetables like kernels of corn, canned green beans, little cubes of peeled tomatoes, avocados, tiny pieces of potato. Try some firm cubes of tofu as well - she really loved those, and we are not even vegetarians (though I was from perhaps 9th grade until I graduated college). Blanched broccoli is STILL her favorite vegetable - I buy "steamer" bags of small broccoli florettes in the veggie department, put a little margarine on it (a tiny bit) and she will eat the WHOLE bag (not that I let her). And remember, you can blanche just about any veggie in boiling water to soften it for him to eat easily. My 2 year old also likes pieces of cucumber with soy sauce and lightly salted animame.
At 13 months, if he has enough teeth, you can probably forget the pureed baby foods and exclusively give him small pieces of food to eat - just keep offering him those veggies, and he will get used to seeing them on his tray, and learn to like them. Often, parents make the mistake of starting their babies off on fruit puree baby food as opposed to veggies which can make it VERY difficult to get them to eat veggies after they have learned to refuse them and only eat sweet fruit. Be persistant - he will NOT starve himself!

I remember at that age, my kids were sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it came to eating - one day they'd like something, the next day they hated it. There was no rhyme or reason! What I have learned is that I make food that I want them to eat, and put it in front of them. If they eat it, great! If they don't, oh well. But even if they don't eat it once, I will still offer them that kind of food another day. It can take 10 or 12 times of offering it before they will even try it, sometimes.

I think it's crucial not to play short-order cook though. He's still getting milk or formula and is getting nutrition from that, breads and cereals, and the fruits he likes to eat. So it's okay if he doesn't eat veggies right now. Just keep offering them. My kids always liked cucumbers, tomatoes (the little cherry kind, cut in half), baby carrots, and jicama. Maybe give him a little dish of ranch dressing to dip the veggies in. The ultimate food for a kid this age... artichokes! I would give my kids an artichoke and a dish of mayonnaise, and let them go to town. It would keep them busy for an hour sometimes!

Good luck - it's so fun when babies start to become little people with their own ideas about everything!

Will he drink vegetable juice? My 2 year old will not eat any vegetables. I've tried dips, fun shapes, her preparing the food, covering it with melted cheese....Nothing will get her to eat veggies. My daughter will drink carrot juice, Superfood (Odwalla), and other vegetable juices. I don't worry about the fiber since she eats tons of fruit and cereal. There are also cookbooks for hiding vegetables in food for picky eaters. I would talk to your son's doctor too. My doctor told me not to worry about it. Good luck.

I agree with the dips, and although I am not a vegetarian, my daughter and I both love the Morning Star brand (meatless) chicken nuggets.

You may have tried this already, but my daughter loved whole green beans. I would steam green beans whole - not cut up - and she would hold it and go to town. If I gave her beans that were cut up she'd cry for a 'big one'. Also sweet potato fries I bake in the oven cut long and thin.

My daughter also went through a phase when she was a just little older than your son, where she wouldn't eat any veggies at all. I worried a bit but didn't argue or fuss with her and it passed. Just keep putting veggies on his plate and eventually he will eat them again.