Ideas please for 1 year old fussy non vegetable eating child

[pamplemousse]

DD is nearly one (eek!) and is such a fussy eater. I can't tempt her to eat any veg at all, raw, steamed. in sauce whatever she just doesn't try it. She will eat veg purees but is not wanting her pot of food anymore as she wants to feed herself. I am finding it frustrating as all she will eat without hesitation are berries, toast, and corn crisp things, rice cakes but she can't be getting enough vits and minerals and its stressing me out!

I have a similar situation-ds used to eat puree but now refuses to be spoonfed and will only pick up and eat a limited range-toast, pasta, baked beans (messy) and once a chocolate biscuit but dont want to encourage that. i'm taking hte view that when he wants to eat more he will-i cant force him. i do worry though hes not getting enough nutrients. Still has lots of breast milk...

Well at least I'm not alone! She is still breastfeeding but only twice a day and not much at all - I can miss a feed without any discomfort so I guess she isn't getting much anyway. She won't eat pasta either, am going to try baked beans tonight.

Have you tried her with food off your plate? The temptation to have what you're having is often very strong. You could sit her on your knee, or on the floor, and try sharing a plate of food including lots of veg. Show her how much you're enjoying it, and see if she tries to nick it...

Omelette - cook it thoroughly and cut into squares - can prob hide some veg in it too - spinach or mashed up broccoli work well.

Courgette fritters - there's a recipe on Aitch's blog - have you looked there for ideas?

And fruit -- more sugary, admittedly, but still good for them. And it will see you through a "no vegetables" phase without worrying about vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and so forth.

it might be that she wants small, dry things. look at the things you've said she will eat, all small and dry. so go with it for now. cop everything very small, no sauce. let her pick it up herself. leave her to get on with it, don't keep on at her or anything.

should add... try

dry cereal, or soaked in milk then milk drained off.

tiny cubes of cheese, or babybels.

dried fruit, go to a health food shop they have loads of different types.

vegetable crisps. slice veg thinly, bake in oven so they come out like crisps.

also try spreading things on the rice cakes she will eat, ie mashed banana, avocado, cheese spread.

hth.

oh and potato skins. bake potatoes as normal and give her just the skins, maybe with a bit of potato left on but not much.

I wouln't stress, honestly I wouldn't (easier said than done, I know). This is so common in babies and toddlers. If she likes fruit, pack that into her diet instead, and persist with offering different types of veg every other day or so and seeing if she'll just be adventurous and try it one day (she might not - my son is almost 3 and still, the only veggies he'll eat are potatoes, peas & sweetcorn; but she might!). Sweet veg like cherry tomatoes or carrot sticks might be more tempting than full on broccolli and spinach (!). Does she eat mashed potato? I used to mash swede, turnip, parsnip etc into the potato for my son (he liked it for a while, but has gone off that now, too!). At this age children are learning about self-feeding and often go through a very independent, assertive phase where they'll eat what they want to, how they want to thank you very much. It's often the stage when you find kids will only eat cheerios, breadsticks and bananas or some other limited and odd combination! Honestly, it is quite normal.

I make corn bread (which your DD might like if she likes corn crisps) and my DS will eat anything else I put into the mixture, eg spinach, granted carrot, chickpeas. It's a healthy recipe which also contains egg so it is quite nourishing. If you want the recipe let me know.

I make vegetable / lentil soup...
fried onion base then add 4 more veg, (parsnip, carrot, canned tomatoes, pumpkin, turnip, lentils...whatever) add marigold low salt stock then cook it over a low heat for ages. Finally blend it with stick blender and serve for lunch or freeze into portions.
I have different soups frozen for different days for variety - today he is having curried parsnip (with secret turnip!) with a bit of single cream added.

Serve with Philadelphia sandwich or just a roll and DS loves it.

Three to Five portions of veg easily digested no problem.

nineunlikelytales...please could you post your corn bread recipe...it aounds great..

My DS is similar in that he seems to prefer finger food to mush.

Have discovered he loves pasta twirls and there is a fab recipe in an Annabel Karmel book I have for a 'hidden-veg' tomato pasta sauce (made with carrots, courgettes and mushrooms which are all mushed up at the end to make a normal pasta sauce). I made it the other week and DS loves it - grabs about 5-7 pasta twirls at a time and shoves them all in his mouth at once - very cute!

Ruddynorah thanks you for your suggestion, although reading them I realise my dd eats more than I was panicking about! She eats nearly all the things on your list ; cereal, goats cheese, dried fruit, rice cakes etc. Will try the omlette idea, I think she will enjoy it, she hasn't had eggs yet so it will be new for her, also I can have it for lunch and see if she joins in as habbibu and csws suggested. Will also check out aitch's recipes, I always get distracted and end up reading something else on the website or looking at the gallery pics!
Nineunlikelytales would love your cornbread recipe....
Will try soup too, but she just throws pasta, I'm quite disappointed cos I love it!
Thanks for ideas and reassurance :-D

Have you tried polenta? It's pretty easy to cook and you can chuck some frozen chopped spinach in there plus peas or whatever veg she might eat chopped up small. With a handful of grated cheese and a bit of tomato puree, it makes quite a tasty and healthy meal. If you cook it, let it go cold in a container, cut it into slices and fry or grill it, it's nicely crispy and easy to hold and bite. Polenta has saved my life (I have a similarly veg-hating 14 month old).

I found quinoa flakes (not the grains) v useful - could mix them into various mushes and they have lots of good in them (can't remember what!) Also how about porridge in the morning? I stew pears and dried apricots and whiz it all up then freeze in lumps and add a lump to porridge each morning - again lots of goodness there (she says vaguely!). It also fills them up.

will she eat if you just dont give her anything except vegetables?
this is a good tip i got from my mother in law. it works. hunger = eat what you're given!