How can we get a toddler to eat healthy? for Questionland Seattle

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How can we get a toddler to eat healthy?

When our son was a baby it was easy to feed him balanced meals, since we were actually spooning purees into his mouth. Now he is almost two and at mealtime, we serve a variety of veggies, starches, a bit of meat/tofu and fruit. But rather than eat what we offer, he only eats the starches like pasta and rice, and fruit, and doesn't eat the cooked veggies we offer - no matter how delicious we make them with butter or cheese or sauce. I assume that we should just continue offering these things, but wonder if there is anything else we can do to keep him from rejecting veggies as he gets older. And yes, we do a fair amount of sneaking shredded veggies in pasta sauce, etc.

cbone asked in Feeding the Family 11 months ago | Report

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Why not try offering him ONLY the veggies for a few meals.

He won't starve himself to death. Ultimately you decide what he eats and when. By allowing your toddler to choose what he will and won't eat you're developing an unhealthy habit that could last him a life time.

Other than that, or forcing him to eat the veggies, you can really only hope that he eventually chooses to change his mind.

Arsenic7 answered in Feeding the Family 11 months ago | Report

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Sphinx

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I agree with Arsenic-If his avoidance of vegetables and protein sources is across the board and you're concerned about it, start offering him veggie heavy meals with good lean proteins on the side. Are there any vegetables or meats he likes? If so and he literally won't eat other kinds, it seems reasonable to make sure he's getting enough of the ones he likes to provide the proper nutrition. Also, have you really varied your menus? There may be veggie/protein options you guys haven't considered (if you, as parents, don't like them much) that he would eat. If he wants a snack, offer veggies, fruit, nuts or something like hummus with carrot sticks or a pre-decided upon amount of whole-wheat starch to scoop it up with. You don't have to stop offering all starches, but control the portions. You might have a couple of meals where he refuses to eat much of what you offer, but if it becomes the norm to have less starches on his plate, he will start eating the other things. He's not going to starve if you continue to offer him enough food, whether it's the food he's crazy about or not.

The other thing I have to ask is whether he sees you guys consuming a lot of the foods you want him to eat? I'm guessing yes because you're even bothering to be concerned about his diet, but just in case...you're going to have hard time selling your son on eating his veggies and proteins if he sees you guys scarfing down nachos or cold pizza as a regular meal.

Another thing is that 2 is not too young to start talking about why it's important that he eat right. My (almost) 4-year-old niece has been talking about protein and how it's important for building muscles and having lots of energy since she was about 2. Sometimes I think we forget that, while kids should not have to be able to understand your reasoning to do what you ask, it certainly helps them to cooperate if they think there's a good reason.

My last query is whether your son was breastfed or if he is still. (I know most people don't breastfeed up to 2 years, but it is recommended by WHO, so I'm considering the possibility.) Breastmilk is a whole source of nutrition, so if he's still getting that he may just be picking at the parts of meals that he likes the best and not suffering any nutritional consequences.

Sphinx answered in Feeding the Family 11 months ago | Report

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Perhaps, in order to lead him to vegetables, you might take him to a local farm and tour, or even go berry picking or something similar like that. It might make him more apt to 'liking' vegetables if he knows something about where they're from and how they're grown.

Also, I believe that a child should eat whatever their parents do, as in at family dinnertime. It drives me crazy when I see parents preparing an entire "kid-friendly" meal to serve them, in addition to what they prepared for themselves. If a child has to eat whatever the parent is eating, it will force them to have to try new things. So, like Sphinx touched on, make sure you set a good example with your diet, but don't cater too much to 'kid-friendly', whatever that means.

lilmonster206 answered in Feeding the Family 11 months ago | Report

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A.M.L.

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The only thing I would add to the excellent advice here would be to also include him in your food preparation decisions.

Two year olds love having some power in their choices and he may be more inclined to eat veggies if he picked them and/or prepared them himself.

Helping with mealtimes is also great way to support the message about what constitutes a healthy meal; establishing it as a habit makes it a life lesson, and also fosters independence.

And, as a bonus, his natural curiosity can really add to the experience of meal preparation and to the inevitable meal. Fresh veggies have interesting smells and textures; as a family you can talk about the changes that occur after they're prepared.

When shopping for groceries, pique his interest about the foods you'll be eating together, try ones that are unfamiliar even to you and ask his opinion about how he'd like to eat them.

I think it's important to acknowledge and respect that our kids aren't going to like every fruit or veggie (or ____) that we offer them; as adults we have our own distinct preferences, too. At the same time, it is highly unlikely that they will *dislike* every fruit or vegetable out there. In the context of a two year old, what is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable or a starch, or meat anyway, aside from what we tell them?

I'm not suggesting we lie to our kids about what is a vegetable ... but I have on occasion referred to broccoli as tiny trees that my giant self was going to demolish!

Eating is such a sensual experience, and I think as a parent it's sometimes easy to forget that when you're responsible for keeping someone else alive. Try to keep the pressure low and focus on the enjoyable and adventurous aspects of food and eating. Keep offering lots of variety and modeling good habits; it sounds like nutrition is important to you and I think it's great that you want to start early to pass that value on!

A.M.L. answered in Feeding the Family 11 months ago | Report

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It sounds like you've got it under control.

Kids go through stages where they refuse certain foods - Just keep offering all the foods you are and let him see you eating healthy.

If you're seriously concerned, ask his dr. And get him some gummi vitamins to round out his diet.

Livi answered in Feeding the Family 11 months ago | Report

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You could start imposing the rule that he has to eat a certain portion of everything you give him before he can get up from the table. (Assuming you're not giving him adult-sized portions; it amazes me how many parents do that.) Alternatively, you could insist that he take at least one bite of everything on his plate even if he doesn't "like" it or if it's new to him. I don't recommend forcing him to eat every scrap of veggies, because it risks him developing negative associations with vegetables, but one bite is reasonable and hopefully will help him develop a taste for veggies.

keshmeshi answered in Feeding the Family 11 months ago | Report

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