Need Help with Veggies

I had that same problem with my 2 little ones. have you tried cooking the veg. with butter and brown sugar my husband cooked dinner one night and thats what he did and suprisingly my sons ate all there veg. and wanted more. they dont eat all veg. though they does like green beans and carrots though most now.

Here is a trick i learned, my son won't eat veggies either. Get baby food and mix it in with other foods. He won't see it and will probably eat it. Like carrots in spagettie sauce. Good luck.

Don't sweat it. As long as he is eating don't make a big deal out of it. My kids were fussy over veggies now they eat them all ages 9 and 5 and they are very healthy kids. You could have bigger problems.

We are fortunate and haven't encountered this. We put the same food on everyone's plate. We have a one bite rule. Our son must try one bite of everything. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to have anymore. Over time he has developed a taste for things. We also put out pepper strips, carrot, celery sticks, brocolli trees, jicama, to dip in hummus, dressings, etc for snacks, or make roll ups with spinach leaf around a bit of ham or cheese. Try roasting veggies in oven with olive oil/salt and pepper, changes the texture and flavor a lot. My son loves sweet potatoes and peppers like this.
I agree tricking him will turn it into a power struggle. I put a bit of browned butter and salt and pepper on less than favorite veggies and my son will then eat them. It will just take experimentation, persistance, and not turning it into a power struggle and eventually he'll try them.
If all else fails add Nature's plus animal parade KidGreenz chewable whole food concentrate supplement.
Good luck.

I have found that my son will eat just about anything especially if I tell him it is "a dog" or "horse" Brocolli is "little trees". He especially likes to name the bites of food himself. "This one is a big dinosaur mommy" Hey it is silly but so are little boys and if you can get it in him then so be it!
Good luck.

C., My suggestion to you is NOT to try to trick your son, it will only create distrust between you too. Besides how many times do you really want to serve him pasta with tomato sauce/ pureed veggies in it? Just put the same foods at meal times on everybody's plate. Like we all have chicken and broccoli and corn. And when he says that he doesn't like them you simply say "that he doesn't have to eat it, but everyone get the same food on their plate." After about 2 weeks he probably start trying different things. And really two weeks may seem like a long time but when you consider the time that you'll be feeding him nutritious food, it's not long at all. If you still don't like this Idea go to http://www.mothering.com/sections/recipes/recipes.html

There is a ton of really good kid friendly, and super healthy recipes. Maybe you can get some other ideas. My daughters favorite is the Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas. My daughter is almost 2 and can be very picky as well.

I wish you the best of luck.
A. M.

My son will drink V8 - does that count??? :-)
How about grape tomatoes?
Or try Guacamole - He can dip crackers in it.
Will he eat corn on the cob? That is fun to eat!!!
Good luck!

have you tried mixing it with other stuff that might blend the veggies in with other foods. I am currently working on that with my 14 year old he has been like that since he was young and it works out sometimes but others it don't all I can say is keep trying it.good luck.

carrot muffins, zucchini bread, just try putting veggies in everything! he will eventually get it...
my daughter is now 6, and will eat her veggies, thankfully!
good luck!

p.s. for a great carrot muffin recipe, message me!

well...hmm...he eats everything elesE? you're a lucky mama.
ok, so i don't just post without an advice. what i do with my two and a half year old girls, they usually don't like food, so if i am serving them something they don't like (which is pretty much everything) and they push the plate away. i say, ok five bites. you need to eat five bites now. and i start counting. if it is the main meal i count number two like 3 times, number 3 like 2 times to get them to eat.
:)
ok if he eats a few bites of veggies that's ok. the thing is that if my girls think i am being funny then this counting bites won't work. so i make a serious face and i eat one spoonful and then they need to.
sometimes it works.
my girls eat some veggies just because i haven't made a big deal out of veggies. you know how kids love cookies, anything sweet and they beg for it, and then when it comes to important food it is us the parents that make a big deal out of it. when i started giving the girls veggies,i always put the veggies in a separate plate from the main food. kind of like 'a treat.' and i am not a good cook at all, so i just get those frozen veggies, cook em for a bit with some butter and some seasoning and usually serve them in their favorite plate which is nemo themed. so maybe you take your son and ask him to help you buy a 'veggie' plate. let him choose it and then always give only the veggies in that plate, kinda followed with a wink or whatever.
really, there isn't any formula as to how to get them to eat. just gotta play lots politics with them. at least with my munchkies
good luck
vlora

I have a 6 month old so I don't really have that problem yet. But I do remember my mom would give my sis ketchup with her greens and she could dip it like french fires. Also could try breading and frying them like french fries. I know the fat from the oil might turn you off to that idea, but if you use a lighter oil it would be healther. Another thing is take him to the produce section and let him pick out the coolest looking veggie and have him help you make it. If he has a part in making it he will at least want to taste his work. Good luck!!

why not try to give him sweet veggies and dont tell him they are veggies. Like mashed sweet potatoes, pureed carrots, mashed squash. You can also put some veggies in milk shakes (cucumbers) that way he will get the "sweet" taste you get with fruits but still be getting the nutrition of veggies. oh also make breaded eggplant parmesan and tell him its chicken parm, etc. i bet you he wont know he's eating veggies.

Have you tried the Gerber Graduates pasta pick-ups? I always keep a few of the Spinach filled ones on hand when my daughter (almost 3 y/o) refuses veggies. She loves them and I'm happy because they have spinach. They also have ones with carrots (I think they have chicken and carrots).

I have 3 boys, ages 5, 3 and 1. The older 2 would not eat their veggies, so I showed them how yummy they taste with ketchup!!! That made them love green beans, and corn. Then to get them to stop eating ketchup on their veggies I took them to my sister-in-law's house for dinner and her older boy declared how yummy veggies were without ketchup, which made my boys think they were ok without ketchup.

Dear C.:
My mother-in-law used an interesting way to get my husband to eat his veggies when he was a child. My husband still eats his veggies the same way but..hey he eats them.
Try taking a bit or warmed applesauce, if your son likes his applesauce warm if not leave it cold, make sure the vegetables are cooked down very soft...don't worry you are going to use the water where all the vitamins and minerals have gone to make something else for him. Put his applesauce or any other type of fruity product over his now mushy veggies. As for getting him the vitamins and minerals that are now in the water you boiled the veggies in. Make a light gravy for the meat he is eating with it. Use 1 chicken/beef depending on the meat bullion cube and place it in the hot Veggie water, in a small measuring cup use 1 cup of boiling water to as much flour that will make it the consistency of pancake batter. Now with a wisk, combine the two, you and your husband will find it quite a tasty gravy as well, and it is not fatty at all as you are using the vitamins and minerals from the vegetables as apposed to meat fat.
I hope this helps you, I still do this for my hubby...I put the vegetables for myself and my son in a metal collander on the boiling pot with my husbands veggies going mushy. Everybody is happy that way, my son and my veggies stay a bit firm like we like them and my husbands are how he will eat them, it isn't as much of a stressor as one might think.
I hope that this helps you out in one way or another.
Good luck and remember, kids do go through phases where they will refuse certain foods. This is very commen in the toddler years. My son, now 17, went through a "I only eat yogurt" phase at about 3. It ended after about 6 months of me hiding other things in his yogurt... and my son has a genius IQ, so he wasn't stupid...for most kids this is there first control issue after potty training.
Again Best of luck and I hope this works for you.
Regards,

J.

Hi C.,

My son is the same exact way! You can't conceal, hide, or trick veggies into my 2 year old! The only way I can get veggies into him is if I cook some and put them in the blender and add a little to spaghetti sauce. What I usually do is cook up every veggie I can think of in a big batch, blend it and freeze it. Then whenever we make spaghetti, I add it to the sauce. So...does he get veggies on a regular basis, hardly but I guess every little bit helps. Oh, we also give him a vitamin that contains veggies. If you want the name of it let me know, I can get it for you. Good luck...and dont sweat it, he will still grow up to be happy and healthy even if he doesnt eat his broccoli!!

I'm not sure if you've tried this yet:

You can puree them and mix them in with cheese or tomato sauce. There are also some sweet bread and cookie recipes with vegetables in them. If all else fails, you can make vegetable stock by boiling clean, vegetable scraps (or just save the cooking water from your cooked veggies). Then use the stock to boil pasta or put it in soups or other things he might eat. You can make a whole lot of stock at one time and freeze it in leftover yogurt or similar containers. I actually do this for myself sometimes because it's healthier.

Hmm...that's almost exactly opposite of my "problem". :) I don't know what to tell you about getting him to try his veggies...maybe if you have him help you make them he might be interested in trying them. I'm sorry I can't be more help, but if I come across anything I'll keep you in mind!

Good luck!

Its hard to get children to eat their veggies. My children will eat sweet potatoes and peas. I did however find snap peas crisps. They are at redners wharehouse. They are in the produce section they come in a bag and the taste like cheese curls. My kids love them and they count as a veggie. I say just always put a little on his plate. He may not eat them but they are there when he decides to give them a try.

A.
www.youravon.com/annawest

I hide veggies inside my kids favorite foods. I make homemade baked french fries that my kids love. I put spinach, green pepper, zuchini and summer squash in my lasagna and in spaghetti and my kids don't know and they love it. They will also eat peas and diced carrots inside rice, like a fried rice you get from a chinese resturant. They don't know and they eat it. I would also try to cook different things in different ways and just keep tryin to get him to eat. Maybe put some cheese on it or let him dip it in ranch. I hope I could help....good luck!