Vegetarian toddler driving me crazy!! Any ideas?

[gerbo]

My 17 month old dd has decided over the past few weeks to not touch any meat part of any meal I offer her. She used to enjoy chicken or fish covered with crushed cornflakes (an AK recipe), tuna pasta or jacket, meatballs. However she seems to have taken against the meat part and just won't touch beef, chicken, or fish in any possible form. I've tried (good quality) sausages and fish fingers but these are also rejected - she takes one nibble then chucks them..........so frustrating...

She will however eat salad veg, regular veg, fruit and toast (but is a bit fussy with sandwiches) until they come out of her ears, so is getting loads of vits.

I just worry she's not getting enough iron or protein.

The health visitor just brushed me off with 'try blending' but it really feels like regression when we were doing so well.

So - any ideas? Should I blend meaty stuff, or try to give her other proteiny foods?

Is this normal toddler stuff?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

how is she with cheese? pasta and broccoli?

Other proteins are fine. Eggs, omelettes, cheese, beans, pulses, lentils - all are good sources of protein and it won't do your daughter any harm to have them instead of meat.

It may be the texture she doesn't like, or the chewiness, rather than the meat itself. Have you tried less chewy cuts, longer cooking so the meat is very soft, or using mince rather than whole pieces of meat?

Try her with a bit of meat occasionally to see if she will try it again, but don't worry too much if she won't.

Riven's ideas are great. And (presuming she's not a vegan toddler) eggs go down well in our house, as do cheese, yogurt, falafel and cauldron veggie sausages (my two are veggies).

wow - thanks for all ideas! i'm going to try more beans/lentils I think, and maybe some blending/mincing.

we aren't veggies but it's good to hear she won't come to any harm not eating meat!! it's crazy really how much we all think the meat is the most important bit of a meal and i suppose i did too.

she enjoys eggs/cheese/broccoli which i guess helps. i could try tofu too.......

Yes she'll be fine. Good ideas on here already - just wanted to add, just keep putting the meat/fish you want her to eat on the plate; don't make a big thing of it....just put a small amount on. Did this with my ds when he rejected certain foods as a toddler and it's bizarre but even after huge lengths of time, he'd suddenly pick up something and shovel it in as if he'd never stopped eating it. I'm sure not mentioning/encouraging/cajoling helped. Just thought it might help to put that into the mix!