How Do You Get a One Year Old to Eat Her Veggies?

We had to see a nutritionist for my son at 9 months- she had said it was fine to add toppings to the vegetables/protein to get them in. Sugar, salt, guac, olive oil- we can't have dairy or soy right now- but along the same lines- cheese, butter, and soy sauce. Then once they start eating them again, you can decrease the amount of toppings. Good luck!

My daughter (now 19 mo) has usually been a really good eater, but she's gone through phases of not eating her veggies. Just keep putting the veggies on the plate along with other foods. Sometimes I can put out just a few pieces of a veggie, and when she eats those I'll give her something else. But if she just won't eat them, then just put them out there alongside the other foods. And try doing the hiding behind fruit trick to get them into her system. Often parents give up too easily on the veggies simply agreeing that their child doesn't like them... my advice is don't stop giving her the veggies. Suddenly one day she'll be eating one and you'll be amazed.

ok i want to make this clear....EVERY one year old goes through this. I have been working with kids since i was 18 and they all so this. It is what you do right now that determines what happens next! See most kids at his stage want snack foods. goldfish, crackers, rice crackers, etc. I ( for two weeks) bought none of those things and offered my daughter the foods she once did enjoy ( no sense it trying new foods at this point) she refused and barely ate for days ( now she did eat but some nights she wouldnt eat dinner) then she decided if she wanted to eat then she had better eat the food on her plate and she did! NOW the children i know that pulled that same stuff and their parents said " well i would rather they eat goldfish for dinner than nothing" are the same kids that are not eating too well today ( a year and a half later) so its up to you what to do ...but remember they will not starve themselves, and of course they are going to want junk food if they can get away with it....My daughter eats almost any type of veggie, she loves to come to the grocery store and puck them out with me and t people always comment on how she eats her veggies.

There is a great book by William G Wilkoff, MD called Coping with a Picky Eater that every parent or provider of kids should read and have a copy of. http://www.amazon.com/Coping-Picky-Eater-Perplexed-Parent...

This book has what I call the Picky Eater Plan. I have used this plan with kids that literally threw up at the sight of food and within 2 weeks they were eating normal amounts of everything and trying every food.

First you need to get everyone who deals with the child on board. If you are a provider it's ok to make this the rule at your house and not have the parents follow through but you wont' see as good results as what I described up above.

The plan is to limit the quantities of food you give the kid. When I first start with a child I give them literally ONE bite worth of each food I am serving. The book suggests that every time you feed the kids (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner) you give all 4 food groups. So, for lunch today I would have given the child one tiny piece of strawberry, one spoonful of applesauce, 3 macaroni noodles with cheese on them, and 2 oz of milk. Only after they ate ALL of what was on their plate would you give them anything else. They can have the same amounts for seconds. If they only want more mac and cheese, they only get 3 noodles then they would have to have more of all the other foods in order to get more than that. If they don't eat, fine. If they don't finish, fine. Don't make a big deal out of it, just make them stay at the table until everyone else is done eating. They don't get more food until they are sat at the next meal and they only get what you serve. When I first do this with a child I don't serve sweets at all. So no animal crackers for snack but rather a carrot for snack. Or one of each of those. I don't make it easy for them to gorge on bad foods in other words. Now if they had a meal where they ate great then I might make the snack be a yummy one cause I know they filled up on good foods.

Even at snacks you have to limit quantities of the good stuff or else they will hold out for snack and just eat those snacky foods. I never give a picky eater the reward of a yummy snack unless they had that great lunch prior to it.

It really is that easy.

Just keep offering them. The two mistakes most parents make in trying to introduce new foods to their kids are offering too large a portion and giving up after just a few tries and deciding the child 'won't' eat it.

Studies show that kids will eat what you eat- you just have to keep giving it to them over and over, in very VERY small portions. I think hiding veggies in other things is a terrible idea- all you do is teach your child that they are icky and need to be hidden!

Kids are just like adults, except their palates are more sensitive to flavors and spices, etc. But they get tired of the same things just like we do, or go through phases. If your little one is off of sweet potatoes just now, try carrots for a while.

Cut them tiny, make fun veggies faces out of carrots and cucumbers and raisins- be creative! Mix sweet potato puree into other things for the nutrition if you want to, but TELL your daughter- 'Aren't these muffins yummy? These are my new favorite! They have sweet potatoes in them to make them sweet," etc.

Just keep offering all different veggies choices in very small amounts. Make sure she sees YOU eating all your veggies and loving them. She'll get the hang of it :)

I have a few "other" answers that you could try. If she likes the jarred baby food, I would continue to offer that as an alternative to cooked veggies. My daughter took a while to accept many new or favorite veggies when she was getting her teeth. She would eat the jarred (single veggie or mixed with fruit) and eventually transitioned to cooked veggies.

Another interesting option my friend does...put sprinkles on them, yep, sprinkles. She offers several kinds and let's her son choose which sprinkles he wants on his veggies. She puts a little on (as you would with salt) and voila!, he eats them! Who cares if there is a little sugar on them? It's nominal.

One other thing...offer veggies that you might not think of otherwise for yourself like harvard beets or maybe an braised cabbage or a seasoned succotash all found in cans/jars at the grocery store. Sometimes a little flavor that is unusual goes a long way. Don't let your bias of these types of unusual veggies prevent you from offering them to your child, she may surprise you with her taste.

Good luck!

I have 2 little girls ages 4 and 5 that both love raw and cooked veggies. The thing that I did when they were learning to eat was ALWAYS start the meal with nothing but the veggies. When they learned to self feed, I would throw the peas, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, etc on their tray. Since they were very hungry at that point in time, they would eat anything on the tray. I would then add the meats and whole grains once they had eaten most of the veggies. I always used the breads and pastas as their "treat" when they had consumed a decent amount of the healthy foods first. They still eat their veggies first, even tho they have their full meal on their plate and are able to make their own choices. I am an RN in the NICU and it works the same way with the premature babies when we feed them. We have to start with a small amount of milk mixed with their medicines in order to get them to take the meds. They are so hungry at that time, they will eat anything, but if we put their meds in a full feeding, there is no way they would finish it all. It seems to be a concept that carries into the toddler years. I would also recommend watching the amount of snacks that your toddler eats before dinner time. If your daughter isn't all that hungry at dinner time because she has had snacks, then she will not be at versed at trying new foods. Good luck!!

try mix it with the food she likes,i do it like this

rice with cauliflower and carrots,but i let the veggies all soft like mushy texture,also mac and cheese with brocoli,and when they are hungry as snack i offer a tomatoe cut in slices

I agree with Elizabeth. Also, this is the time when kids start refusing foods. My daughter was the BEST eater, ate everything you put in front of her, then at about one, she stopped. You'll figure out her favorites, they may change and then they may change again! Most toddlers eat the food pyramid not in the course of a day, but in the course of a week. Keep offering her foods and she'll be okay. My daughter is 2.5 and only recently has she started to get more adventurous in her foods again. One day she just picked up and ate some veggie I had put on her plate...one that I had been putting there periodically for a year and she refused each time...so there is hope!

we smash up yams and sweet potatoes and put ground cinnamon in them and she LOVES it!

Try mixing in small amounts into food she does like. There are a couple of cook books on the market that specifically deal with this. One is called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld, (yes Jerry's wife) and at least on other one but I'm not sure the title. I have the first one and there are some awesome kid friendly recipes and they are so yummy you would never believe that the veggies are snuck right in.

Could you make fruit smoothies and add some veggies in moderate amounts, like carrots or spinach. It is like a dessert or treat with great nutritional value :) I am sure there are some great smoothie recipes online, good luck!

I am having the same problem with my 13 month old, he used to eat everything, but now veggies end up on the floor. It is very frustrating. He will eat them if they are in other things though. I always keep frozen mixed veggies in my freezer and add them to anything with tomato sauce and also rice. I add frozen broccoli or spinach to everything with cheese sauce. (My husband complained for a little while, but likes it better this way now too) The canned veggie soup does seem to be liked by all my kids. Also if you have a juicer they really are wonderful! I make carrot, apple juice frequently (I also add spinach, celery, and whatever else looks good that I have on hand). I like the way it tastes and though I can't get my older kids to drink it, my baby still will.
Good Luck!

This has worked with both my kids. We each put a veggie on our fork and play "1-2-3" We count to 3 then eat it and we say "num, num, num" I think it's making it into a little game and doing it together that got them into it.

Also, with my son, I would bring the fork with the veggie on it to his mouth, he'd turn his head away, so I'd say "no" playfully like he couldn't have it and take it away. Once he "couldn't" have it he wanted it, then I'd pretend he got it off the fork when I didn't want him to. This pleased him to no end.

Ah the veggie fight. I had one about zuccini with my son. Never ate it when he was little, then there he was one day, twenty something years old and eating away. So point is, find alternates for awhile for vitamins and fiber. The doctor can recommend a vitamin and do give veggies she likes. yuk, sweet potatoes, I won't touch them either. They like other things, why does she have to have sweet potatoes? What does she like? Just don't make a big deal out of it for awhile and see what happens.

Its all about ways to hide them in food. Smoothes are great places to hide lots of green veggies. I usually use strawberries, bananas, other fruits on sale and then I put in broccolli and spinach. It works great. If I didn't put them in there myself I wouldnt even know.

Also adding veggies to spagetti sause, mac and cheese, meatloaf. The best thing to do is get a little food processor so that the veggies are puriad.

My son is almost 3 now and I don't have to hide them anymore but his new thing is dipping everything in something. He will eat broccolli dipped in ketchep or ranch.

Good Luck!

In addition to the answers you already have, try the crunchy (freeze dried) green beans at Trader Joes and the Snap Pea Crisps - they should be in the chip or dried fruit isle. We also love the Terra Chips. My son's nutritionist suggested these because he prefers crunchy foods.

Also, he loves frozen peas and corn.

If at all possible blend her veggies in with something she likes. Even try her on the raw veggies. I know my grandson hated veggies, however he would eat them raw with a little dip. This way she may find it fun when shes' able to dip her veggies rather than eat them cooked. They go through stages' and this will pass. Try the raw with some dip that you know she likes, use carrots, celery,beans, anything that you can think of. Good luck, she will change in time.

Oh the joys... there are cookbooks out there that "hide" veggies in food. Haven't tried those yet. With my kids, I found mixing sweet potatoes w/ applesauce worked. Pureeing (spelling?) them in pasta sauce also worked. You can try dipping- let her dip her veggies in apple sauce, ketchup, ranch, butter.... carrots (cooked), brocolli,... dont' give up. They go though stages. My son is like this - he'll go refusing them for a while - then he'll just eat them one day .... I just make sure they are on his plate as an option every meal -... good luck.

D.M. has some good advice. My daughter ate any baby food but never liked regular veggies (cooked or raw). I would offer them to her and she would do what your daughter is doing. So I started giving her 1/2 vitamin (per the ped) and a glass or two of V8 Fusion every day (1 serving = 1 serving of fruits and veggies). Sure it has sugar in it but I knew she was getting her veggies. I have also tried hiding bland veggies (baby food) in mac and cheese - my daughter ate that but I couldn't put very much in it because she would say it tasted weird! I did put some in spaghetti sauce too.

When you go to the grocery store, let her pick out a vegetable and make it for her. Cover it in butter and cheese - not the healthiest but a good option. Have you tried giving her veggie soup but draining the liquid and just feeding her the potatoes/veggies. I've heard this works because the veggies taste like veggie soup!

Good luck - my almost 3 year old didn't eat many veggies for the past year and nine months but is now eating more - broccoli, salad and that's about it!