Vegetarian toddler very picky

[Teaandwater]

I am currently childming a little boy who is 18 months, minding him 6 months. His parents are bringing him up vegetarian. Over the last month he has literally refused any dinner I have made, some of which where his favourites. I make everything from scratch and really make sure the meals I am cooking are nutritious and healthy.

I do a lot of batch cooking so freezer is full of his meals that he now refuses to eat. I have told Dad at pick ups that he has not eaten his dinner and he always seems a bit shocked even though he has regularly told me that they find it hard to get him to eat vegetables in their house.

I've actually started to dread dinnertime as I know he will refuse to eat I'm throwing so much food in the bin.

Any advice on what I should do?

For lunch he will only eat anything that's egg based so scrambled egg and toast or a cheese omlette. Then raspberries and strawberries and a small yogurt.

Some of his dinner favourites were:

Chickpea curry
Lasagne
Orzo bake
Pasta

I always added extra veg into every meal. He doesn't like soups, potatoes, any type of beans or lentils as I had made them before after his parents said he liked them.

He won't eat veggie sticks, avocado, houmous or any nut butters , tomatoe, cucumber,sweetcorn, so as you can see his diet is extremely limited.

My DC was brought up vegetarian and never had any deficiencies. Offer a selection of small snacks and if he refuses to eat them, you haven’t wasted any more money than if he did eat them.

I think that’s it.

Same. She also had much less time off school than most of her peers.

Absolutely not. I'm not childminding very long and this is the first vegetarian child Ive looked after so was hoping for suggestions.

Eggs, toast, cheese, fruit and yogurt are all healthy and nutritious. Most toddlers go through picky phases.

If it’s any comfort my 2 year old DNephew prefers his bottle (being weaned off it), likes avocado, boiled eggs, toast, biscuit and sometimes eats food but often not. He eats at nursery I’m sure of it. His older brother is a real pig so god knows why he doesn’t want to eat.

Eggs rasberries and strawberries are fine,You are feeding him what he likes just offer some other bits of veg and if he eats it he eats it, does he need his evening meal with you or can you offer him a snack and let his parents deal with dinner.

You need to talk to the parents for suggestions. All children are different.

Some meat eaters are exceptionally picky. Some vegetarians are exceptionally picky. Some meat eaters eat a varied and balanced diet. Some vegetarians eat a varied and balanced diet.

If you are concerned about whether this child's nutritional needs are being adequately met, then by all means, raise your specific concerns with his parents. Nobody on the Internet will be able to tell you what to feed this particular child.

If he’s eating something then that’s better than nothing.

Don't do this!

Parents want him to have dinner in my home. I'm not sure if they offer him a snack before bed or just his bottle and that's why I'm anxious if has refused a dinner while in my care that he will be hungry later on in the evening/night.

I imagine he's malnourished, the poster who suggested mixing meat in might not be far off the mark, you could add some flavour (meat) without him noticing if it's mixed in sauces, I'm not suggesting you feed him a steak. No 18 month old should be on such a restrictive diet unless there are allergies or other medical reasons for it.

Don't be so bloody stupid. She's a childminder, she can't give a child meat against their parent's wishes.

You need to chill. He will eat what he will eat. If he's not eating a lot they will have to give him more food later. You're making this more of a stress than it needs to be.

Well if you tell them he hasn't eaten dinner that really is up to them.

Absolutely DON'T DO THIS! These parents are paying you to care for their child and a vegetarian diet is part of that agreement.

Fussy children won't be more likely to eat something if it has meat in it. The idea that flavour has to come from meat is bat poop. There are so many other sources of protein available.

Meat eating omnivore children can be fussy eaters too. Sometimes it's about texture, sometimes it's taste, sometimes it's just about asserting themselves.

If he's having egg on toast or an omelette for lunch with fruit and berries and yoghurt, that's fine. That's normal, nutritious, balanced, and not UPF.

Keep talking with the parents, share the recipes you used for the old favourites. I can see how it feels frustrating and wasteful but keep offering other things. As for the anaemia suggestion - eggs are a source of iron!

Don't pressure him, eat together so he can see you enjoying the food alongside him, get him involved in prepping the meals. I'm sure you'll be doing this anyway!

Have you been childminding long? 18 months is a really normal age for food refusal and fussiness. It's a normal phase. If they're pooping well, drinking plenty of water, growing, full of energy etc then there's nothing to worry about.

I'm not veggie, my kids aren't veggie. I haven't got a horse in this race other than to say you really mustn't go against the parental wishes for his diet. If I knew a childminder had knowingly fed a vegetarian child meat I would remove them from their care and report it. It's a matter of trust. Same if it were a relative looking after the child.

I would ask the parents to provide a meal for dinner that you heat up to see if it is you or the food.

Honestly

I have no intentions of feeding him meat. Vegetarian cooking is actually easier and cheaper.

I'm glad you're not minding him.

I hope you don't work with children!

Totally agree

I didn't think you were going to sorry, I was just picking up on the mad advice from a couple of other people telling you to do that! It sounds like you're doing a fab job and I can see why it's frustrating.

So ignore the idiots that suggest adding meat like it's gods gift to nutrition (honestly, how dumb can you be). If you fed him meat then you could make him seriously ill because the body doesn't always retain the ability to digest it. Regardless of the ethical question it raises. Pickiness can be all sorts of things as a previous poster has suggested and sometimes they can be due to deficiencies, put that part on the parents to investigate.

The basics of a vegetarian diet are protein comes from sources like tofu/soy, eggs, seitan, beans, legumes, cheese, nuts, seeds and vegetables. These also cover fibre, what you have to be more aware of is the grams of carbs for every gram of protein ratio, as it can be (but isn't necessarily) higher than directly swapping meat.

What you need to do is determine what is driving the fussiness. Is it flavour or texture?
Are there any swaps you can do - like increase protein by changing the yoghurt to greek yoghurt (like Fage) or even soy yoghurt?
Can you make yoghurt based dips that he'll eat (Mediterranean cuisine is great for recipes) these may go better than hummus which can be grainy and serve that with grapes, toast sticks etc?
Egg meals are great, doesn't matter if they're his daily lunch. Can you add in things like mash potato into the omlette?

Then there's experimenting with the sauces, see what he likes as a flavour and then what you can add to it to help improve nutrition. Blended lentils or beans make great thick sauces, if he'll eat mac and cheese, can you blend some butter beans into the cheese sauce? Or half the pasta and add butter beans?

Then it's the usual trick of hiding veggies in.

If he's gone off lasagne, deconstruct it to see what flavours or textures he's gone off. If you're using quorn instead of mince, try a different protein source.

He doesn't know meat textures and flavours so you don't need to use substitutes or flavour things that way.

Good luck and just keep experimenting.