How Do You Get Them to Eat Veggies?

for my kids it was a texture thing. neither one ever ate stage 3 foods.....anyway, by 2 they were given a choice - veggies like everyone else or did they want it in the baby food grinder (which, ironically we never used when they were infants). if they chose the grinder, they had to have one bite in their mouths not ground up and chew it (but could spit it out) and then an appropriate sized serving ground up (pureeing would work too). I think my youngest was right at her 4th birthday the last time we gave her pureed/ground veggies. she still doesn't like the texture of some (apple slices, raw carrots and the tops of broccoli in particular) but can choke them down. I can't blame her - I still won't eat raw cauliflower because the texture just makes me gag!

by giving them the choice of ground or whole, it gave them a measure of control and really eliminated most battles. It also kept them used to the taste of veggies so when they were able to stand the "normal" texture, the taste was ok.

we also have a rule of no seconds until you've eaten most of what's on your plate. we'd give a very small serving of whatever they like (i.e., pasta) and there was no more 'til veggies were gone.

each kid also gets one thing we don't make them eat. one kid refuses tomatoes (slices or cherry tomatoes). the other refuses raw sweet peppers.

my other trick works from 3 to 3 1/2 years old and up. the kids get to pick one fruit or veggie I would not normally buy when we're at the grocery store. 3 bites must go into their tummies (presuming the adults can choke it down) or they don't get to choose something the next time.

there's nothing wrong with hiding veggies (I do it w/my husband but not my kids!). but its important to accustom them to veggies straight as well.

I say why make a battle?
My mom tells me I didn't eat anything but hot dogs and bananas from the age of 2 to around 5! She was worried but the doc said I was gaining weight and to just keep an eye on me.
My mom slowly introduced me to knew foods, but veggies still were something I couldn't do. I did grow into salads and many raw veggies, but once you cooked them, no thanks!
I wasn't a sick kid, got all the normal colds that my friend got and was a happy healthy child. So to me, my lack of veggies growing up didn't hurt me in any way.

As a teen, young adult and right on into full adulthood I grew to love veggies and wanted to eat them to become a healthier me. To this day the ONLY thing I can't eat is peas and that was because a neighbor forced me to eat them.

I thank my mom everyday for her relaxed approach to eating. I now love to eat everything and try all sorts of new and exotic foods! I have a healthy 10 month old and am pregnant with my second child. I am active and all around healthy!

So while you may not take the approach my mother did, perhaps pick and choose your battles and at least not make a huge argument out of it. I plan on dealing with my kids in the same way and I hope they thank me some day as well.

Good luck!

try puree and sneak it into your other foods. sweet potato or carrot puree can go right into spaghetti sauce and they will never know. jessica sienfeld has a great cookbook about this very problem. good luck.

It is a power struggle, not a phase.
What you need to do now is really focus on getting past this or it can lead to super picky eating.

Put veggies on her plate, she is to eat half of them before the other things on her plate. Half is enough. I do not agree with hiding veggies as kids should learn responsible healthy eating and as she gets a bit older empowering her with why her body needs those foods is really helpful. I tell my kids, oh carrots help your eyes, peppers have lot's of vitamin c and spinach helps makes your muscles strong...and so on. They love that information and it is more then just saying "eat this because I said so".

You can get creative to make it tasty. My kids LOVE ranch dip, I mean they will eat almost anything if they can dip it. Cut thin strips of red, yellow peppers, they are sweet crunchy and offer up some dip. My kids love raw veggies in most any form if they have dip or something to dip it in. They love salads now, even spinach salads. They don't like cooked, which is fine. My daughter loves green beans in ketchup (I know gross but she eats her green beans then).
My kids at that age loved frozen peas! Cut the corn off an ear of boiled corn or let her try off the cob.
Have her help you pick out yummy produce at the store and prepare it.

I allow my kids to have a few things they do not like, they tried them several times and that is fine. I let them have those things they do not like. I don't think all kids need to eat everything. However, I serve what I serve for dinner, they can choose not to eat it, if they don't that is it. Period, nothing later or I pull it back out of the fridge and they can finish their dinner. Keep her snacks limited close to meals so she is hungry.

Serve her what you serve, do not cater to her favorites. Tell her that is fine if she doesn't want it but not to come to you later if she is hungry. Be firm and consistent, she will not starve and it is not mean. She is testing you and wants what she wants. If you give in, she wins.
Same with milk, she needs it, in the soy variety, chocolate milk, whatever but milk in some form. If not then lot's of dairy in her diet in another form like yogurt or cheese. The calcium and Vitamin D are very important for her growing brain.

Good luck, someone said once, a picky eater happens only because it was tolerated. If you set her up for good eating habits now it will last a lifetime.

What does she eat? Can you blend veggies in with her food (sweet potatoes with macaroni...), or try a pasta salad with tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower chopped up small enough she can't pick them out. There are a few cookbooks out that involve pureeing veggies to mix in with main courses.

Give her apples, grapes, carrots and celery for snacks. If she doesn't eat them, she doesn't get a snack.

We have been making the Steam Fresh veggies. You nuke them in their own bag and they are tasty. My daughter doesn't get to leave the table until she has eaten her veggies, but she has never had a strike where she refused.

Good luck!

I agree more with Jen's response. Don't make this a fight otherwise you will be making your daughter feel she is a "bad girl" because she isn't eating them. My experience with kids at this age, although she may testing boundaries, is that they only want to please you and are not vindictive----she just doesn't like veggies right now. And depending on how you handle it, she may eat them again.

As a child I was hit for not eating my vegetables---for me, it wasn't because of a power trip/stubborness AT ALL and it wasn't until years later, when my sons were identified with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), that I made a connection that it probably had to do with the sensation/texture of the veggies leading to my dislike. (BTW, SPD research has suggested a genetic link followed down the mother's side for passing on SPD.)Obviously, the discipline did nothing to help me get over my dislike for vegetables and I still can't eat them to this day without gagging.

What has helped me, and is popularized by Jessica Seinfeld's book "Deceptively Delicious", is hiding the veggies in the food. Oddly enough, I have no problem with any of my kids eating freshly steamed veggies, plain, without sauce/butter but I wanted to eat and feel better. As long as things are small and mostly without crunch or sliminess, I can get it down. And like your daughter, I hated milk, even as an infant, but my mom/dad would allow me to mix in Nestle Chocolate as I got older and I could drink it. I have no problems with milk as an adult.

And lastly, I would suggest to monitor your daughter very closely for speech delays. There may be a connection to her dislike for veggies and her capability, or lack thereof, to properly use her mouth and the structures within to chew or move food into the pharynx/throat. Child Find, a speech pathologist or an occupational therapist would be able to help discern if there is a problem. Many school districts offer free testing for this, if you felt it was necessary.

Best wishes.

We explain before anyone has started eating, exactly how much they must eat in order to leave the table. Since we tell them beforehand, the excuse that they're full doesn't work. They must eat the required vegetables to have desert. For each of our boys, it only took once or twice of missing desert while everyone else got to eat. Now we don't use desert, but that was a quick way through the phase. We require basically one bite per year. The 2yo eat 2 bites, the 5yo eat 5 bites, etc. Our 2 yo is in the middle of this stage and is very sick. Yesterday he had peas with dinner. He boycotted all food, but asked if he could sit down and eat the peas. Of course, we said yes. :) Also, try giving her frozen peas and corn and such. Our 2 yo really liked those as a little one. He just played with them, but in the midst of play, they found their way to his mouth. GL!