Fruits, Vegetables, and Salad for a 2 Year Old!

My tactic from the beginning was not to make a big deal out of anything new. So...
Put it on the plate, that's what is for dinner or snack. We all eat the same thing, my daughter see the example we set. If she complains, "Oh, well, then I guess you'll be hungry later."
Lately I've gotten complaints, and my response is the same every time, "Oh, if we haven't tried it, we don't know if we like it! There's a one bite minimum for new things at the table!" (Then there's a three-bite minimum for dinner, i.e. if I was remiss in giving her a snack too close to dinner time.)
Good job mommin'!

p.s. last night it was brussel sprouts, roast chicken & sweet potatoes; after her first bites she realized she liked the food and kept eating. ;)

Make candy and sweets unavailable (i.e. not in the home). I didn't give my son any sweets until he was over 12 months old and I still give him very little, and only when I absolutely can't avoid it. He eats everything. He loves broccoli and carrots and beans of every sort.

With the right kind of dip, my kids will eat most any vegetable or fruit. They love ranch dressing and italian dressing, and there are some really yummy fruit dips you could try.

Hi Brandy,
Every mothers challenged, getting our kiddos to eat the good stuff! This has worked for me....take a muffin tin or an ice cub tray and cut up different fruits and veggies and put it in the tin/tray with a little dipping sauce if you'd like (peanut butter, avacado, ranch). Stay away from dressing with MSG, so look for one in the produce/refridgerator section. Set the tin/tray on a table at their level and let the have at it. Remember, it can take between 10-15 exposures for a child to eat a fruit or veggie. This really helps because they can go up to it in their own terms and its a fun presentation.

I also started my son on Juice Plus. It is 15 different fruits and veggies in a soft chewable. I have to tell you, it is our nutritional safety belt especially on the days when I can't get him to eat anything in the fruit and veggies department! :) I ordered them online at www.DenverJuicePlus.com

I hope that helps.
L.

Cut out the other foods and serve only the foods you want him to eat. Eliminate milk and only serve water. Milk will be used as a food source during this and they wont eat so don't serve the milk, certainly not with or before meals..

Don't try to get a 2 yr old to eat salad. All my kids eat it now, but I think most babies wont eat lettuces.

just keep cutting it up and offering it. he will eventually eat it if that is all that is offered.
I do want to ask if you are showing a "good" face when offering. Are you eating with him? Do you eat the same veggies and fruit?
Kids take some time to get used to new things. If you keep putting it in front of him with NOTHING else, he will eat it.

My kids won't eat a dip. There is a "three bite" minimum enforced before they can say they don't "like" a food.

Try to start implementing some body ecology rules like adding probiotics in his diet to get the body in balance. Some Bio-K, kefir, etc.
How about homemade coconut pudding from young coconuts?

Kids like to dip so let him dip the veggies in different dressings and the fruits in yogart

We used to have a nanny who would make quesadillas and she would put diced, fresh veggies in them. She'd cook the quesadilla really slowly so the veggies would get soft, and our daughters would gobble them up! We never had a problem getting them to eat veggies after that. I think they had become used to the taste of carrots, broccoli, spinach, etc.

Also, it might be fun to take him to the farmer's market or even a farm if there's one nearby. My girls will eat anything they can pick themselves.

My only suggestions would be, as I think others have said, incorporate them into whatever else you're having (spaghetti sauce, etc.) - i think there are a couple of sneaky chef type books out there for that. You might also try different types of juices, like the V8 fusion, or even frozen fruits or veggies. My son is obsessed with frozen strawberries/cherries/whatever. Good luck!

The advise so far is good. But learning to eat healthy foods is a process. Multi-sensory learning is vital for kids to learn to eat whole foods. Limit snack foods, junk foods and replace with whole foods using multi-sensory learning (involve all the senses). You can find a lot of info on this site: http://www.BabyBites.info

I agree with dipping things to make things more tastey etc. But if he refuses to even TASTE new foods, dipping won't do much good. Kids like to PLAY. Make it fun. Let him build a shishkabob man out of the fruits and veggies (maybe throw things in with it he likes like marshmellows or something) and pretend he's a giant dinasaur and gets to eat the fruit/veggie man. Let him pretend he's a piggy and gets to eat all these yummy foods out of his trough but he can't use his hands. Give him fruits and veggies to choose from and tell him he gets to put together a picnic made out of all these great things for his mommy and him to share. Put fruits in blue jellow and tell him he gets to go fishing and eat what ever cool fishies come out of the water. What ever you can do to make it fun for him. He might decide he likes a few of these "fun" foods and start choosing to eat them on his own.

I have found that having my toddler help prepare her food and then eating it with her makes a big difference. Keep trying everything you can get your hands on. Sometimes my daughter (16months) likes the strangest food (dried seaweed sheets). I tear little pieces for her, and she likes to place them on top of other food on the spoon as I feed her. I book I read told me that it usually takes ten times of giving a toddler the same food before they will eat it. So try everything, lots of times. Also, organic food tastes better. I think the chemicals in processed foods might be a little much for their delicate palates.

Put out some veggies or fruits before meal time. Eat some and don't offer him any. My kids love veggies the most when they are hungry. They also like to eat them when they think it's my food....there is something about eating MY food for instance. I don't remember when I had a meal to myself :-)

With my youngest I real quick like put a 1/2 grape in his mouth and scraped it on his teeth to get the taste in there. It worked because he turned around and asked for more. Before that he didn't want to even look at them. He is a fruit eater but I can't figure out the vegetable part.

I also have a very picky eater, and have had only limited success with him. Two things that have worked are letting him put a little chocolate sauce on certain fruits, or this chocolate peanut butter that he likes on apple slices. And I sit with him and eat my healthy food (had a lot of weight to drop after pregnancy) and eventually he became curious about my foods, which included things that I wanted him to at least try.

Well, I've never been one to make my children eat everything I put on their plates. But I do have a rule that they can not leave the table until they have taken at least one bite of everything. Not just on their plates, but everything on the table. If they don't like it, they don't have to eat it. But every dinnertime whether they've already tried it or not, they have to take one bite. Appetites change after all. So if he won't try these things, just tell him that he can not leave the table until he's taken one bite. Even a nibble would be enough for to know if he likes it or not. But until he tries it, he can not leave the table. He won't know if he likes it or not until he's tried it.

sounds like he's headstrong-- mine is too. :) she loves to feel empowered. How about taking him to the grocery store and telling him that he can try any fruit or vegetable that he wants to, that he gets to pick what the whole family will try. let him take his time, don't make suggestions and even if he picks something odd let him. make it an adventure, we tried starfruit (which we all hated lol) brussel sprouts (again all hate them) mangoes which we love, watermellon turnips which we also love, and lots of other fruits and vegetables in the process, she now eats most things, she doesn't like fresh tomatoes, I'm okay with that, she eats pears, sweet potatoes, grapes apples etc. she's 4 now and I still let her pick out one or two of the fuits or vegetables we will be having--AND she thinks that carrots and celery are the BEST treat ever! lol. It worked for me to put the power in her little hands. worth a try--

My daughter went through this from about 13 months to now (almost 3 years old). We actually went to feeding school at Memorial Hospital for 6 months. It helped a lot. She is not a perfect eater but at least she's eating. I will tell you that they encouraged dips, too, but my daugther hates most dips, so that didn't work for us either. We almost just stopped "trying" and put things out and if she asked for them, great, if not, oh well. She now eats some fruits and veggies, but not a ton. It's a process for us. For her it is a texture thing, so that may be the same for your son. Good luck!

Try smoothies! Add fuits even vegtables to them. I use a stick blender to blend whatever frozen and fresh fruits in a mix of water, milk and (Naked) juice and ice. You can add yogurt as well. I almost always have and add frozen blueberries (a favorite snack for my sons) also bananas, melons and other berries. You can even add cucmbers or a few fresh spinach leafs in time when he gets a liking drinking them. My Pediatrician suggested I give my oldest Pediasure and this was one of the only ways he would drink it- mixed with other healthy and yummy foods.
Even if my kids are sick and won't eat anything else this is a great way I can get them to ingest something I know is healthy. Don't get yourself stressed, kids often go through stages where they only want to eat certain foods. Like most things, it will pass.

If you have only healthy food in the house, then he won't have a choice. He'll get hungry and eat what is there! Just don't buy junk food, and it won't be available.

Veggies are hard unless you can mix them into things. My son used to love them, and eats them at daycare, but doesn't do so well with them at home. For fruit, can you try to give him a whole plum or apple? My son loves to eat them this way, much more so than the slices.

I agree a healthy sauce is always good.. Celery, carrots, cucumbers with peanut butter, fruit with any yogurt.

Also I would give our daughter tiny plates to eat out of or tiny bowls so it did not look like so much.. I would then replace the eaten piece with another one.. Just 2 or 3 cut up pieces of any food when she was being picky.

My children are older and we never really had a big issue with vegetables. But we would allow them to dip their veggies in salad dressing/dip. We would call broccoli (steamed) trees and they would enjoy eating their trees.

Hope this helps.

You can make a cake using zucchini

I have a great solution. Does he like ice cream? I make a fruit/vegie icecream. I make it without milk, but will use Rice Dream instead. I Put in a blender (I use BlendTec) one cup Rice Dream, a few frozen strawberries, part of a frozen banana, grapes, fresh spinach, cucumber, and carrot. Use your imagination. Blend everything together. It tastes so good he'll have to drink it up, and get all his fruits and vegies at once

My daughter LOVE, LOVE, LOVES dipping things in "dip". Anything! I give her hummus to dip her veggies in sometimes - it's fun for her. You could also try peanut butter. You could do ranch, but it's got an awful lot of sugar in it... It might be worth a shot!