I never understood how parents said their children wouldn't eat their vegetables. I just thought babies ate what parents put in front of them. End of story.
Apparently not.
Baby is a super picky eater. No way does she just eat what we put in front of her. I have no idea why this is. I don't believe we've ever given her any indication that a particular food is not yummy. We always make mmmm sounds when we give her something, and even eat it in front of her so that she knows what she is supposed to do with it.
She has a mind of her own, however.
Lately, it's been a struggle to get her to eat her fruits and vegetables. She loves oatmeal, eggs, rice, pastas, cheeses, etc., but not her fruits and veggies. She's become more picky over time. She's even been turning down the Gerber Puffs (which she used to eat like candy), so maybe she has just outgrown them?
I read in a parenting magazine about this very issue a while ago. It said that to trick your child into eating the veggies, serve them as an appetizer before the food the child really enjoys. I've been doing that, and it really works! When Baby sees me start to cook dinner (or when she knows that we are about to eat), she will start doing the hungry sign. I cook the vegetables first and feed those to her while I make the rest of the meal. It's been working great! She thinks she is getting a treat before the actual dinner time, and I feel good because she is actually eating something healthy.
heh heh...we don't need a reason not to like a food or not to eat it! I refused to try eggplant because it just looked weird (even though the rest of my family ate it), until I finally tried it when I was 24. I still won't eat many foods that I have never tried (but know people eat). Don't worry--it's not just baby.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting trick! I'll have to keep that in mind if the need arises. My little guy was getting picky about specific vegetables, green beans mostly. He'd pull them right out of his mouth with a look of disgust! I think Gerber Puffs have been outgrown over here too. We've added yogurt melts and fruit/veggie melts to his snack repertoire.
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