AIBU to 'hide' food in my toddlers food

[Absofrigginlootly]

My DD is cows milk protein allergic. Her protein intake is rubbish.... she will happily eat fruit and carbs and some veg. I've worked on her and she will eat eggs and occasionally fish. But she refuses to touch meat or pulses or milk alternatives as a drink (I still BF but plan to stop soon).

In her morning porridge I try to increase the protein by mixing in flaxseed meal and chia seeds and do things like cut up cooked chicken into teeny tiny peices and hide it in curried rice.

DH remarked the other day that this didn't sit right with him and seems a bit devious.

I know what he means and obviously I'd rather she chose to eat these things for herself - and I will keep offering them to her as Whole Foods -

But I thought this was a fairly standard approach to picky toddler eating??

Or am I being underhand and untrustworthy??

The reason I'm genuinely asking is because I grew up with parents with food and control issues (which among other issues led me to an eating disorder when I was young). Im really keen to present food in a positive way to DD by keeping things relaxed around food.

So I thought 'hiding' a bit of protein etc to boost the nutritional content whilst modeling healthy eating in front of her was the right approach but now I'm questioning myself???

[DeadGood]

Oh, for fuck's sake. Is your husband one of those people who loves telling you what not to do, without offering any pearls of wisdom about how you should do things?

[booloobalooloo]

That's totally normal. She is not old enough to be able to understand and reason through the implications of not having it so therefore you insure she gets it. Lots of shop bought food for kids has 'hidden veg'. Would he rather she had health and development issues from not getting the protein?

[Areyoufree]

I hope you're not planning to be devious and tell her all those awful lies about Father Christmas and the Easter bunny too?

[sonjadog]

I thought everyone did this with toddlers?

[mumonashoestring]

Well maybe he'd like to try having a reasonable discussion with her about dietary requirements and nutritional intake? You can watch, laugh, then go back to doing what you're doing!

I've been hiding vegetables, meat and lentils in DS's food since I weaned him.

[averylongtimeago]

Yanbu, sounds like you are doing it right. I used to hide all sorts of veggies in ds's food, other wise all he have eaten were potatoes and meat. As an adult he now eats almost all veg and salad.
Ignore your DH. Some people just like to make out they know best, even when they have no idea.

[Mumzypopz]

Doesn't every mother on earth do this?... Lots of people 'hide' veg in tomato sauce etc etc

[BarbarianMum]

Doesn't everyone do that? We used to call them "stealth vegetables" in ourhouse when ds2 was a veg refusnik.


Does your 2 year old ask questions about the composition of her dinner OP? Does she have an in depth understanding of childhood nutrition and therefore an opinion worth hearing?

[Lulupierann84]

I see nothing wrong in what you're doing & I do it myself, to an extent. I hide eggs in 'magic toast' (french toast), mix pureed fruit into porridge 'fairy soup', and pureed veg into mash potato 'dinosaur poo'. I disagree with it being 'devious'. Your Dd is a toddler & unable to make informed, or rational decisions about her diet yet. What you're doing is simply ensuring she gets everthing she needs to stay healthy & grow 😊. I say keep up what you're doing & hopefully she'll grow out of the fussy stage soon.

[Pinkheart5917]

Honestly I bet you'd be hard pushed to find a parent that hasn't hidden a vegetable, fruit or whatever in little ones dinners

Devious 😂

[DeleteOrDecay]

Of course YANBU, this is standard picky eater parenting for many. You are looking out for your dd's health and well being, nothing underhand about that.

[Gatehouse77]

I was still making vegetable purée to add to bolognese, stews, gravy etc. until my eldest was in Y7-8 as he had issues with texture and flavour.
He now eats pretty much anything to except mushrooms.

I don't care how 'devious' it is because I/we were responsible for giving him a balanced diet. Which I did.

[Cornettoninja]

Pssshhh, your dh is clearly having a moment of dickness

Your dd will still be able to vaugely detect some of the taste so she's clearly not got a vomit inducing aversion to these foods and they're good for her so what's the issue? Is he projecting his own issues of memories of being forced to eat hated foods as a child? That's not what you're doing so he needs to step back and button it.

Don't tell me he's one of those who won't do Santa because of lying?

[Tazerface]

@DeadGood has very succinctly put forth my opinion.

Your husband sounds like a tool.

[MrsPringles]

I do it all the time, if I can get veg into my 2yr old by hiding it it in his dinner then I'm doing it.

Carry on, your husband is being an idiot!

[Absofrigginlootly]

Thanks you for all the reassuring responses that haven't wandered into insulting my DH. Who is lovely and very dedicated to his family

If anyone has any favourite tried and treated tested protein hiding (dairy free) recipes they want to share too that would be appreciated!

[Absofrigginlootly]

X post with several more insults.

Why can't people just be nice on here??

[BarbarianMum]

Ds1 was dairy free. We found tomato based pasta sauces with red lentils pureed in worked well. You could also try buckwheat pancakes (eggs plus buckwheat). Baked beans? Protein doesn't need to be meat.

[Chillidawg]

Ha ha snort.
We're having macaroni cheese here tonight and I fully expect my 15 yr old to remark "oh god there's broccoli hiding in here and I think I may have eaten some".
It's what you do, keep them healthy and safe until they're old enough to keep themselves healthy and safe.
I suspect dd will go off to uni in a few years and come home as a vegetarian lecturing me about my unhealthy habits.

[Notso]

I can remember my parents doing it to me as an older child and I hated it. I've never done it to my fussy eaters.
I did once trick a very poorly DC4 into drinking by using a syringe and saying it was medicine but he was in hospital on the verge of being put on a drip. I wouldn't with an otherwise healthy child though.

[MissBax]

Sounds fine OP :) don't worry about it!

[thatorchidmoment]

Everyone who has a picky toddler does this!

YANBU.



You're welcome.

[ipswichwitch]

I thought just about everyone did it. If it helps your DH, don't see it as hiding veg in stuff, just that veg happens to be one of the ingredients of whatever you're making. It's just pulverised to within an inch of its life.
I always make bolognese/chilli/whatever with a load of veg blended in.

[MothertotheLordsofmisrule]

Spinach Dhal worked out well for us.

2 portion (6-9 month old)
40g red lentils
25g rice
Pinch of coriander and turmeric
250ml veg stock
25 g of frozen spinach, thawed or fresh trimmed
1 skinned tomato finely chopped.

Now the method is missing 🙄 but I think it was heat 1tsp oil and gently fry lentils,rice and spices till fragrant.
Add the stock and simmer until lentils are soft, add spinach and
Tomato simmer for a bit.
Also makes nice soup with more stock.

[harderandharder2breathe]

Totally normal!

Hidden veg is probably more common than hidden protein but still valid, she needs both in her diet. You can even buy pasta sauce that boasts about it's hidden veg content! Totally a normal thing to do for fussy toddlers.