Yesterday I Fed My Daughter a Grilled Cheese and Green Bean Sandwich

[Disneylvr]

I feel like such a terrible mother because I can't get my 15 almost 16 month old daughter to eat fruit and vegetables anymore. So I have to hide them in food she does like although halfway through the meal she figures it out and picks out the fruits and veggies and drops it in the floor for the dog. Any suggestions? She absolutely refuses to allow us to feed her and hasn't quite mastered using spoons and forks by herself yet. She uses them more as drumsticks on the highchair tray.

Foods she will eat:
Spaghetti and meatballs
pancakes (I plan on making some whole wheat ones this weekend with fruit mixed into the batter, then freeze them for future breakfasts)
Flavored rice
chicken
turkey
fish
cheese
Nutrigrain bars
she loves milk
Beef stroganoff hamburger helper
mac and cheese
pizza
corn
Cheerios

I hide carrots, peas, green beans, peaches, pears and other fruits and veggies in all of these foods but eventually she figures it out and throws it in the floor. Does anyone have a meatball recipe that has veggies in it???

 

[Lewski709]

V8 Splash is great for getting veggies and fruits in the diet.
Pancakes with applesauce or bananas are yummy.

How about butternut squash? Sweet potatoes? Carrot cake? Zuchinni bread? Banana bread? Spaghetti squash? Veggies with dips? Mashed Cauliflower with parmesan cheese? Broccoli with cheese? Ants on sticks? (celery or apples slices with cream cheese and raisins) Raisins? Cherries? Grapes? Green bean casserole?

Do you have a juicer?

Creative is fun.

 

[Disneylvr]

Originally posted by Lewski709
V8 Splash is great for getting veggies and fruits in the diet.
Pancakes with applesauce or bananas are yummy.

How about butternut squash? Sweet potatoes? Carrot cake? Zuchinni bread? Banana bread? Spaghetti squash? Veggies with dips? Mashed Cauliflower with parmesan cheese? Broccoli with cheese? Ants on sticks? (celery or apples slices with cream cheese and raisins) Raisins? Cherries? Grapes? Green bean casserole?

Do you have a juicer?

Creative is fun.

I haven't tried squash or sweet potatoes yet although she did like them both as baby food. Broccoli with cheese was a no-go but I will try cauliflower. She has just 9 teeth so I am not sure she could chew celery??? The apple slices are a great idea! Cheeries and grapes were also a no-go but she will sometimes eat green bean casserole. Thank you for your suggestions and I will give some of them a try. Can you tell I am a first time mom!!!!!

 

[CEDmom]

If she likes pancakes there are many things you can "hide" in them. I used to make DD sweet potato ones when she was around that age. Meatballs are another thing you can hide things in. Cook some carrots until really soft and then mash them and add to the meatball mixture. Try the carrots in pancakes as well. The trick is too really mash up the veggies so she can't see them.

DD wouldn't let us feed her after about 13 months so I can relate. One thing DD did really like was dipping things. Try plain toast or french toast sticks in apple sauce.

Does she like yogurt? You could try mixing baby food fruit into plain yogurt and giving her that. Or freeze the mixture in an ice pop mold and let her think it's a big treat .

 

[clh2]

I know some people who put veggies in spaghettis sauce - but they have to be ground up (i.e. not chunky) in a blender first. More of the V-8 concept. They can't pick out what they don't see.

Also another thing you can try is fruit smoothies - a little apple juice, some vanilla yougurt, and some frozen cherries or strawberries all blended up. You may want to through in a little sweetener - we use a little honey sometimes - although I don't recall what age you can start giving kids honey.

 

[Lewski709]

My son loved lemons when he was about that age. It may be a texture issue more than anything. Keep trying the same foods. Do you eat them? If you snack on something, maybe she will too. My son loves to eat off my plate, even if the same thing is on his. He's 17mo's. I think you are doing just fine. Hiding the green beans in the grilled cheese was creative. You sound like a good mom, not a first time mom. You are trying to get veggies in. Spaghetti squash is good as you can put sauce right on it and it looks just like spaghetti.

Keep trying.....she'll come around.

 

[Disneylvr]

Originally posted by Lewski709
My son loved lemons when he was about that age. It may be a texture issue more than anything. Keep trying the same foods. Do you eat them? If you snack on something, maybe she will too. My son loves to eat off my plate, even if the same thing is on his. He's 17mo's. I think you are doing just fine. Hiding the green beans in the grilled cheese was creative. You sound like a good mom, not a first time mom. You are trying to get veggies in. Spaghetti squash is good as you can put sauce right on it and it looks just like spaghetti.

Keep trying.....she'll come around.

Yes, DH and I always eat with Madelyn and we eat the same foods. Except yesterday my grilled cheese sandwich didn't have green beans in it, LOL. We do try foods over and over again and hope that eventually she will learn to like it or at least tolerate it. She was so good about eating the baby food veggies and fruits so I am guessing you are right, she has issues with texture.

Thank you everyone for the advice and keep it coming!!! This mom could use all the help I can get.

 

[Denine]

I understand completely! My DD is 21 months and we have the same issues. I have learned that it is a texture thing. I put broccoli cut up really small in her mac and cheese and she likes that. She also likes raisins. She will eat cooked tomatoes. I make a lot of homemade bread with whole grains, nuts and other stuff. I use my bread machine. I used to make this carrot cake recipe I found in the What to expect the 1st year book.

We manage to get stuff in her one way or another.

Good luck!

 

[LadyBears]

Sometimes for my DD, I ground up veggies in the blender & put them in her spaghetti sauce. That was the easiest.

Sometimes it was just a matter of feeding her with "take a bite for Mommy, & now a bite for Uncle XXXXX. Hey, grandma didn't get a bite!". That one still works!!

For sandwiches, sometimes just cutting them into triangles instead of rectangles.

My mom found that for pancakes - if we spread grape jelly on it instead of maple syrup, she would eat them. .

CHANGE THE NAME!!! My DD wouldn't eat FISH, but she WILL eat CHICKEN OF THE SEA!!!!!!! (Hey if it works.........!). Now salmon steaks are one of her favorites!

Try changing colors - if she is into RED, use food coloring to change the color of mashed potatoes, etc.

Ketchup or salad dressing!! My DD LOVES ketchup. Hey, if letting her dunk her food into it gets her to eat it, who cares if it is a REALLY strange combination (Dunking cucumbers in ketchup?? Yuck!)

Make mini "sandwiches" using the cheese as the bread. I will roll up ham or roast beef inside the cheese.

Make Jello out of her juices.

Change the scenery. I found by spreading a blanket on the floor & having a picnic using paper plates & plastic utensils my DD was willing to try "picnic" foods that she wouldn't eat at the table.

Don't force her. My DD knows, that she must eat using the bite by age rule (3 years old MUST eat at least 3 bites, 4 years old MUST eat 4 bites, etc.) Kids will NOT starve. Even though it may not seem like they are eating much, they are getting what their bodies need. Remember, for a little kid, a quarter to a half of a sandwich made with 2 slices of bread IS a FULL portion for them.
One piece of chicken the size of HER fist is the right size portion for HER. Just be sure you are giving her foods that are good for her, & her body will take over. Kids are better at listening to their bodies than adults are when determining when they are full.

Now that my DD is 5, I find if she HELPS make it (like mixing the tuna with mayo for tuna salad) she WILL eat it. Also, if I give her a choice (carrots OR greenbeans) she feels like she is a crucial part of the decision making & is a LOT more willing to eat. ( I did this with the baby food too - showed her 2 jars & let her pick 1). Let HER decide between 2 forks or spoons. Who cares if they are identical. She feels like she had an input rather than being TOLD which she is to use.

Let her eat off YOUR plate. When DD was younger, she wouldn't eat "her food" off of her plate, but she was will to eat off mine (sometimes even food I didn't think she would want yet). I would let her eat as much as she wanted. (There have been quite a few times I would end up with cereal for dinner because she ate ALL of my steak or pork, etc.. just because it was on my plate. I can deal with that as long as she is eating healthy & trying new foods!!)

 

[Disney_1derland]

but here are some things I do.

Super Spaghetti Sauce
Steam 3 or 4 veggies till really soft then puree them and put them in the spaghetti sauce. Use lots of interesting shapes of pasta!

Quesadillas-my kids LOVE them. So, I finely mince a few different types of steamed veggies and put them in the quesadillas.

Also at this age one thing that has worked on both my kids is the concept of 'dip' My children will eat anything they can pick up and dip into a sauce. Ranch dressing is a favorite as is sour cream and thousand island. They will eat most any lightly steamed veggie if there is 'dip' to put it into.

One of my children is a texture weirdo and only eats raw veggies so we bought those matchstick carrots and she will eat those like there is no tomorrow.

And my kids new favorite is mashed cauliflower(which started out as a substitute for mashed potatoes as we are on Atkins) Over steam your cauliflower and then mash it with a fork, some butter and sour cream. I have one of those 'hand' blenders and that makes them really smooth. the kids love them, they taste like mashed potatoes and lately I've been sneaking some 'pureed' veggies in them too.

If you're making the flavored rice out of packets substitute pureed veggies for part of the water.

For meatballs you can use pureed veggies as the binding agent and also use finely minced veggies in them as well.

For my 4 year old we have a container of very finely minced veggies, carrots, broccoli stalk, celery and a tiny bit of red bell pepper. I mince it till it's almost little flakes. She thinks they are 'sprinkles' to be put on her food. So I give her a tiny bowl with sprinkles and she puts them on her food and eats them. That might not work for you now, but down the road it's something to consider.

Good Luck!

Oh yes, one other thing....my children love sweet breads like banana bread, zuchini bread, carrot bread, etc. I use soy and whole weat flour and if the recipe calls for oil I use applesauce. Any cake recipe that calls for oil I use applesauce because you get the moisture and sweetness in one!