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Let's talk veggies...

missisuemissisue
in Attachment Parenting

LO is 13 months old this week, and we've followed the BLW method since 6 months. Early on she would explore vegetables, but now she won't even touch them, let alone bring them to her mouth.

Several moms have recommended that I start "hiding" vegetables in her other foods (like pureed cauliflower in mac and cheese, for instance). While I understand this would help her get more nutrients, I'm not completely comfortable with the idea. My goal is that she grow up with the ability to eat and enjoy healthy foods. I feel like if I hide them, I'm preventing her from learning to like veggies as a stand alone food. 

I'm not too worried about her nutrition since she still BFs, and I've come to learn that her eating habits can change quickly, but I'd be interested to hear your perspective... Do you hide veggies? Why or why not?

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Jacob and Melissa | Sept. 3, 2007 | Riviera Maya, Mexico

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Re: Let's talk veggies...

  • nosoup4unosoup4u member

    Nope, we don't hide them. My younger son really loves cooked tomato-based dishes (marinara sauce, soups, chili, etc.), and I put various veggies in those, but I don't puree them or anything.

    I totally agree with you, hiding food doesn't let your kid figure out how to enjoy them. Just keep offering them to her, she's still really little and learning about big people food. hth

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  • AmamsnebAmamsneb

    We go for a combo approach.  For instance, I recently pur?ed half a bag of fresh steamed broccoli and carrots and mixed it with the slightly spicy tomato sauce I made for DS's spaghetti.  I then offered the other half of the veggies whole.  He did reject the whole veggies, but still got a nice big helping of vitamins and fiber because he gobbled down so much sauce I had to cut him off.  And we ate the veggies in front of him, which I think is the most important part.  If they don't see us eating these foods, they'll never even try them.

    Also, and forgive the lack of formatting...I device, I like to offer veggies in weird preparations.  There's a company that makes crispy snap peas.  He ADORES them!  The crunchiness totally makes it okay.  I've also found sweet potato crisps that he loves and will eat by the handful.  

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  • celiabwatsonceliabwatson

    I do both. I offer veggies in their whole form but I also "hide" them in other things. In some cases I "hide" them in plain sight, like on a pizza and it works. 

    The BLW book says not to hide them but I think if you hide and still offer the same amount of whole veggies as you normally would then it's not a problem. Just don't stop exposing to whole veggies. 

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  • AnaKat405AnaKat405

    I agree with the advice of hiding them and offering them whole.

    When I was a kid I loved veggies that were "fun".  With broccoli I felt like a giant eating little trees, snap peas I liked to pick apart and eat the little peas out of them first, loved raw carrots with the green still on them -- even though I didn't care for the taste I knew Bugs Bunny ate them and that made them great.  My grandpa got me to eat spinach by showing me Popeye and telling me it would "put hair on your chest" (still not sure why that worked).  Never cared for lima beans, but ate them because it meant I got to sip apple cider out of a stemmed glass like the grown ups at the table did (even thought I'm guessing they weren't having apple cider).

    Those are things that worked for me.  Maybe there are things that she can associate with eating veggies that will be fun for her?

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  • francophoniafrancophonia
    I don't hide veggies, for the same reason you stated. My kids are going to need to take care of themselves one day and it's important to lay down the groundwork for them to be able to make good choices. If I'm putting cauliflower in mac and cheese, I'm putting visible, identifiable chunks in so they know it's there. DS (4 yrs) sometimes separates his veggies out of his meals, and if we catch him doing that we ask him to eat his veggies too. If he refuses and won't budge on it he loses dessert if it's a dessert night, and on non-dessert nights he loses a privilege. Both DD and DS were/are pretty good about veggies as toddlers, though sometimes they refused. If they didn't want what we were offering we tried a different type of veggie. A few times when DS was 1 or 2 he would throw a fit and none of the veggies we had were good enough for him. If that happened we'd alternate bites between veggies and peaches (his favorite).
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