How Do I Get My Daughter Eat Veggies Willingly

My stubborn daughter too will not eat her veggies so when talking to the dr about it she actaully recommended giving her v8...my daughter loves the fruit juices that actually have veggies in them to. Give it a try

I think you can only do so much. Keep offering vegetables in different ways and she will probably find one or two she likes (my younger son ate green beans recently! After 5 years of refusing them.)

I read somewhere recently, but haven't had time to research it, that fresh fruits have a lot of the same benefits of fresh vegetables. I try to give apple slices, cucumbers, or carrot sticks as side dishes or pre-dinner snack. My kids also like to dip. I recently discovered that french onion soup mix, and the kids like it. I like it that I can put just a little in some light sour cream or plain yogurt so I get just the amount of dip I need for one snack. We also serve a cream cheese dip with fruit, caramel dip, peanut butter with apples, etc.

I think we can all relate this! Have you tried putting out a tray of raw veggies with a little ranch dressing before dinner? I do that with my three kids and all seem to enjoy it. My second daughter sounds a lot like yours and it seems choosing which one she eats has helped. I put out broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, sugar snap peas (her favorite) and cauliflower. I would start with maybe only three veggies at first, but since I have others eating them I put out a lot. I still offer her veggies at dinner, but allow her a one no thank you bite. If she doesn't take her one bite then no more food for the evening, even if she eats all her other food. Don't make an argument out of it, just simply state the facts with no emotion. It took about two weeks for her to stop the drama, I would also pick her up and put her in her room while she screamed - she was allowed to join the family once she had calmed down. She is almost four and she does take at least one bite of her veggies without any fuss every night.

Just a thought, but if you can't get her to eat her veggies, perhaps she'll drink her veggies. I know they have V8 juice and such. Granted it's probably not as good as eating the real deal, but it's a start.

But all you really can do is keep offering her veggies. You can tell her no desert, movie, special trip to the park etc. unless she eats at least 5 bites. But ultimently it is her choice in what she eats, but if you lead by example she might eventually decide to eat veggies along with you.

F.,

This is a concern for many of us and all kids are different on this one. Try not to feel guilty, 3 yr olds have a sudden decrease in appetite anyway and in my experience really thrive on healthy snacks throughout the day rather than 3 big meals.

My oldest did not like veggies as a child (but now is practically a vegetarian in her 20s), I started offering her vegetables with melted cheese on them and she finally started to like them; my middle child loved vegetables - as a child would rather have a salad than McD's and brocooli was his fave food! He's now 19 and a junk food junkie! LOL

Currently My 5 yr old has a definite dislike for vegetables and most fruits - here are some things that have worked lately...

I keep instant mashed potatoes on hand, she loves them, I mix corn or green beans into the mashed potatoes and though she tries to pick out the veggies still manages to eat some.

I don't just put food on her plate and place it in front of her - I let her serve her own food from little serving bowls on the table on to her plate (messy but it gets her interested in the food).

Get her involved in preparing the food.

I Slice cucumbers and make smile faces on them with EZ Cheez, then I put thinly sliced carrots on the table and she can make 'happy face sandwiches' out of them. After she has put food onto her plate, if she has not served herself any vegetables - I put just a couple on her plate "for color" and tell her she does not have to eat them, it's just for decoration, then I put a dessert on the table (pudding cup, yogurt, ice cream, cookies, etc) she does not have to eat the veggies, but if she "tries" she gets dessert - something about seeing dessert on the table makes her want it more.

I try to keep a selection of fruit where she can reach it - a colorful fruit bowl on bottom shelf of fridge, bananas and raisins in a bowl on the counter - even if she just takes a few bites and leaves the rest at least she's getting something.

But I think most important (and you are on track) is to encourage the idea that dinnertime is to be enjoyed, a time when the family sits together and unwinds and communicates, not a time for power-struggling over food.

I like the V8 juice advice from the other mama, am going to try that too.

hugs,

W.

Variety, variety, variety. Keep introducing veggies. Making them in different ways. My daughter to this day, does not like carrots - unless they are grilled w/ brown sugar. However, my teen and tween love mostly all veggies - eggplant, broccoli. salad every night, zucchini, fresh steamed artichokes... these are all their favorites! Get her to eat "just one bite!" Don't get into the habit of making different meals for her because she'll really know how to manipulate the situation. Throw some veggies in a chicken quesedilla. Have her help you make it - teach her to be a future chef!

Yes, it's hard and who wants mealtime to be a battle ground??? My kids are great eaters. And my husband really was the person who forced variety. Even fruits - my kids love mangos, kiwi... really any kind.

Just keep offering variety, dips, fun ways of serving foods. Try not to get frustrated. Make smoothies w/ yogurt, a little juice and fresh berries. Or mix yoplait vanilla yogurt (or any vanilla yogurt) and any combination of fruit together (i.e. anything from bananas, grapes, fresh cherries, any berry, mango). We call it our "fruit bowl" and have it as a dessert or part of our Sunday morning breakfast.

Her eating doesn't have to be totally balanced. If she's getting calcium, protein, grains, fruits,veggies on some days and not on others - you have done your best.

Good luck.

Does she not eat ANY veggies at all?

I would try:
salads- with different colors of lettuce, sprouts, etc
with different dressings

raw veg
veg cooked in spaghetti sauce
veg (potatoes, carrots) grated and fried into patties

veg soup

unusual veg- how about peeling and cutting up butternut squash and tossing it with some oil/salt/sugar and roasting til tender?

baked potatoes?
chili?
broccoli with cheese?
mashed cauliflower in mashed potatoes?

casseroles?

I would also try to get a lot of fruit in to her. Smoothies are good- freeze berries and blend with vanilla yogurt. You can also re-freeze into pops like this. Add some honey if it's too tart.

Fruit salad- apples, raisins or grapes, sliced strawberries, add some honey and maybe some grated carrot

Here's what works for us -

vegetables with/without dip at the table - so they start their meal with this "appetizer"

they see me and dad eating lots of vegetables, raw and cooked, so we are good role model. My kids love trying anything I have on my plate!

they shop with me and help select particular vegetables to cook that week (or to eat raw)

they help me cook - "break the little trees" (broccoli), mash yams and cauliflower, I slice and they add the vegetables to a bowl with seasonings I've set aside and help stir - kids LOVE eating what they cook!

We do the above with soups and stews so they can make their own combination. The first time she can make soup for you and she just might try it!

vegetables always cut-up and in in containers with dip for the kids to reach when they are hungry.

I will do some silly things too - like making a face with round slices (cukes, squash, zucchini) for eyes, etc.

My kids definitely have likes and dislikes so it's ok to let them decide overtime and after several exposures if it is something they like or not. Might even start a picture chart. Cut out a picture of the vegetables of the day and she puts them in one of two columns - the smile column with a picture of a dinner plate or the column with a picture of a grocery bag - to mean keep this one at the store! Likes change over time so you can always go back to the ones that don't make her likes list.

There is a great book by William G Wilkoff, MD called Coping with a Picky Eater that every parent or provider of kids should read and have a copy of. http://www.amazon.com/Coping-Picky-Eater-Perplexed-Parent...

This book has what I call the Picky Eater Plan. I have used this plan with kids that literally threw up at the sight of food and within 2 weeks they were eating normal amounts of everything and trying every food.

First you need to get everyone who deals with the child on board. If you are a provider it's ok to make this the rule at your house and not have the parents follow through but you wont' see as good results as what I described up above.

The plan is to limit the quantities of food you give the kid. When I first start with a child I give them literally ONE bite worth of each food I am serving. The book suggests that every time you feed the kids (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner) you give all 4 food groups. So, for lunch today I would have given the child one tiny piece of strawberry, one spoonful of applesauce, 3 macaroni noodles with cheese on them, and 2 oz of milk. Only after they ate ALL of what was on their plate would you give them anything else. They can have the same amounts for seconds. If they only want more mac and cheese, they only get 3 noodles then they would have to have more of all the other foods in order to get more than that. If they don't eat, fine. If they don't finish, fine. Don't make a big deal out of it, just make them stay at the table until everyone else is done eating. They don't get more food until they are sat at the next meal and they only get what you serve. When I first do this with a child I don't serve sweets at all. So no animal crackers for snack but rather a carrot for snack. Or one of each of those. I don't make it easy for them to gorge on bad foods in other words. Now if they had a meal where they ate great then I might make the snack be a yummy one cause I know they filled up on good foods.

Even at snacks you have to limit quantities of the good stuff or else they will hold out for snack and just eat those snacky foods. I never give a picky eater the reward of a yummy snack unless they had that great lunch prior to it.

It really is that easy.

F.
Just one more tidbit it takes about 21 introductions to a new food before they will really try it. Good Luck
J.