Top tips for getting a toddler to eat veg!

[DisneyGirl2329]

Please can I have some top tips/ideas for getting veg into a toddler.

My 17 month old eats well (but only the things he likes!). He loves fruit which is great bit the only veg he will eat is carrots. We are getting into a rut with meals and I just need some more ideas. He basically lives on mash , gravy, carrots, sausages and Yorkshires and macaroni cheese. He loves baked beans, spaghetti and all bread products. I've tried mixing egg into baked beans and cheese but he picks bits out the same with pasta (when I put leak into it). Sausages are the only meat he will eat (not great I know!) so any tips for a non meat eating and non veg eating toddler would be greatly received. First time Mum here and just trying my best but feeling guilty about lack of veg!

Does he eat pasta sauce? Whizz veg into that?

Don’t panic. That’s a pretty nutritious list to my mind.

I would recommend just having one thing each meal that isn’t on the toddler approved list. And just a tiny bit with huge praise for trying it. We still do this now with new things (asparagus this weekend) and DSs are 6 and 9 and pretty good eaters.

He is only 17months old. Keep trying a little bit of something new on his plate and repeat. No fuss if not eaten but ask him to try. Lots of praise when he does. Get some children's books on trying food from the library I really cannot remember the name bit it's a kids book and goes 1 bite Yuk, 2 bite hmm, up to yum and repeat it with him while trying something new.

Try putting little bowls of things on the table. Let him pick something from them to try. Eg baby corn, broccoli trees, green beans etc. No pressure or games just there and available. Failing that hide in pasta sauce!

It’s honestly not that bad. I know it may seem a bit samey but most toddlers go through a fussy phase and you’ve actually got a decent variety of tastes, textures and food groups there. I’d just keep offering e.g. serve his usual carrots plus some peas or broccoli alongside and don’t make a big deal of it. It might take a while but eventually he should try it. Also a teeny bit of salted butter on veg was a success with mine!

When ds went through his veg hating phase he would still eat any veg as long is it was mixed in with his mashed potatoes. Started small and slowly increased quantities and size of pieces. At one point we would mash up broccoli or carrot so much it simply looked like green or orange mash! We used to ask him if he wanted green or orange mash for dinner so he got a choice too.

twisty pasta which sauce clings to
Make egg custard!
Does he eat pancakes (I get the impression he doesn't eat eggs??)
Re mash potatoes - you could try mashing sweet potatoes &/or parsnips into them or grate them into mince? try (mild) chilli - you could use different beans or mixed beans or even baked bean with a little mince & lots of sauce (which you finely chop capsicum & grate any white or red veg) introduce "trees" broccoli - very finely chop onions so they are very small
egg mayonnaise or tuna mayonnaise or peanut butter & peanut butter can be put into sauces aka tomato based ones
keep reintroducing food in tiny amounts after a few weeks gaps in different ways
have you tried brown rice? & some pastas have things like spinach in them

What age are dc allowed to eat peanut butter now?

You want to start from what he already eats and likes and do tweaks that gradually introduce new things.

What about bacon or minced pork if he eats sausage? Or how about making a sausage casserole with very finely chopped veg in? You could try serving rice instead of mashed potato (I usually save left overs so have a back up plan if something is refused). What about trying hummus or cream cheese to dip carrot in to? Could you add a small amount of grated / spiralised veg into the macaroni cheese? You can mash butter beans into potato mash and really not taste it, and beans are pretty nutritious - or add a small amount of butternut squash or sweet potato (this last one is a lot easier to taste so don't add much at all initially).

Across my 3, the easiest veg to get into them other than carrot are peas, sweetcorn, broccoli followed by green beans, courgette and butternut squash. Baby spinach I can still only get it in stews if chopped finely and well hidden. Things like peppers, aubergines, mushrooms or salad have a much stronger taste, and are a lot harder!

Would he eat muffin pizzas? I successfully hid spinach under the tomato sauce for years for my DD. She was outraged when I finally confessed (she's 20 this year). I just had a block of frozen spinach in the freezer and put a layer looking suspiciously like basil under the sauce.

I also did the Jamie Oliver 7 veg pasta sauce.

I had a recipe book called Deceptively Delicious which was all about hiding veg in food. I know the jury is out on whether hiding vegetables in food isn't teaching them how to eat vegetables/try new things but I found it useful to know that there was a baseline of variety when she was in her fussy eating phase (lasted around 16 years).

Example recipes include hiding cauliflower puree in scrambled eggs or banana bread, sweet potato puree in pancakes, using spinach to make green eggs (Green Eggs & Ham!), hidden sweet potato in home made chicken nuggets, mac and cheese with pumpkin puree etc etc etc. I think it's still available on Amazon.

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to respond to me. There are some lovely suggestions and comments. I will reread with a cup of tea and take it all in!

I got a lot of ideas from myfussyeater.com. Lots of different pasta sauce recipes, the butternut squash one and the broccoli pesto are favourites here.

We also do cucumber and tomatoes arranged as pictures on plate which seems to help, especially dinosaur shapes.