getting a 2 1/2 year old to eat more veggies....

[americantrish]

.....any tips? i've tried offering things repeatedly only to have him say 'nahh' and push them away (or worse case, he'll scream at them!)

he'll only really eat sweetcorn and peas (sometimes).

i've made juice of some veggies and given it to him (and he drinks it.) (i feel like i'm cheating in a way doing this though.)

sigh... he is a healthy, active kid though..and rarely has sweets, crisps or the like.
(its another one of those days for me i think!!)

Mine is not good unless they are disguised either so we do a lot of blended pasta sauce and soup which he eats. I am not too worried as he eats loads of fruit and will eat carrots sometimes.

Not cheating making juices from veggies.

I usually make soups/risotto/sauces with lots of veggies in & they haven't a clue what's in it!

giving them with ketchup - that's how my dss eat broccoli (also we tell them it is a tree).

Just cheat - get yourself a vegetable chopper (Pampered chef do a good one) and obliterate your vegetables so that they are very small and not detectable - then bung them in cottage pie, bolognese, tomato sauce for pasta etc etc (I put diced brussel sprouts in cottage pie!!!)

But in the mean time keep offering whole recognisable vegetables on his plate alongside the 'hidden' vegetables - so that he gets slowly accustomed to them.

the only way ds will have carrot is carrot juice!! (which he likes!) but raw carrot sticks, nope! i wish he'd like pasta, but that's another thing he screams at!

Bolognese then? casserole?

no spag bol, no casseroles, no fish or shep pies..
and to think, he used to eat SO well when he was younger!
i dont stress anymore with it though. i think he's realised it doesn't bother me (at least on the outside!)

He sounds a little fussy. My two are like this too (2.10 and 4.6). Recently I've taken to serving up 'whatever' and simply binning it if they don't touch it - so that they then go hungry if being ultra faddy about their food (they get offered no alternative).

Slowly but surely they are more inclined to eat a broader repertoire of food now...

why not get him involved with the cooking

if i make soup my dds sit beside me and pick and eat all the peelings

sometimes they will eat a whole raw carrot, carrying it around all day long

sometimes if its not served on a plate its more appealling

also, in this house, you get hte same as everyone else and if you dont eat it there are no alternatives

the end

my 3yr old wont eat at all the only thing he eats is pasta no sauce ham and cheese tryed everthing .....so you are not alone!!!

hitchcok wht happens when you give him other stuff?

saadia, we call them trees and use ketchup too!

My dd wont eat any sauces.... wants dry pasta, rice etc. Gets very cross if I mux it all together. Fortunately she eats quite a wide range of veg (at the moment!), but I'd love to be able to 'hide' veg she wont usually touch - leeks etc..

My 2.6 ds is going through a stage of refusing what he calls dirty vegetables which is any vegetable in a sauce like a casserole or fish pie. I have resorted to giving him a separate portion of vegetables and feeding him myself because otherwise he will only eat one or 2 before he is bored.

mashed potato is very useful for hiding other veg - I usually mash in 2 or 3 of sweet potato, carrot, leek, parsnip, spring onion or whatever is lying about!

Mine hate sauce and 'mixed up' food too, but after 4 years of this I am rebelling and they either put up or shut up (and starve in the process) wicked emoticon

ds has become very fussy in the last 2 or 3 months. even when he was 2, he still ate a fairly broad diet. now he doesn't. even things he LOVED before. nope. not now... i 'hide' shredded veggies in his chicken strips.

i will try the idea of offering it to him not on a plate, he may take it!

i just hope when he goes to nursery next month he will learn to eat what they are serving. well, he'll have to or he'll be hungry. (and when he is hungry, he is misery-guts.)

although the wicked part of me gets an inside laugh when he gets all up in arms over something small on his plate like a bit of rice or some shredded cheese ;)

Get them to "help" you peel & chop the veggies as you are cooking - I always have to do more than we need for the meal coz DS (2yrs 7 months) keeps eating half of them!

i find making pizza with smiley face on made with thing like peppers on helps and m dd like making them as well as eating them