It wasn’t seaweed, it was spinach (pictured), which was swiftly extracted by a shrieking BB and left on the side of the plate along with my latest attempt to get her to eat more veg.
Basically, with the exception of carrots, if it looks like a vegetable then forget it. The baby led weaning days in which she happily sucked on green beans and chased mushrooms around the plate with her podgy baby fingers are long gone, and everything must now be diced within an inch of its life (also pictured).
My litany of tricks, and there are many, include sneaking carrot and butternut squash into mashed potato (‘but mummy mashed potato should be white’), grating broccoli and courgette into savoury muffins and baking them in brightly coloured cupcake cases and mashing everything from celery to red pepper into tomato sauces.
So I was pleased to discover a new website where mums like me can share their hide-the-veg tips, called EatYourVeg.org
It’s basically an online library of ways to get kids to eat vegetables, and pearls of wisdom from other mums include:
1. Using a food processor to chop spinach really finely before adding to scrambled eggs to produce ‘green eggs’
2. Telling them broccoli florets are dinosaur trees
3. Encouraging them to chop veg with scissors ‘I Can Cook’ style – apparently the novelty value alone will make them eat them
4. Sneak parsnips and sweet potatoes alongside potatoes when making homemade chips
5. Challenge them to a fast-eating vegetable contest
You can also share your own tips, and upload pics of your success stories to Facebook and Instagram.
I feel a challenge coming on…
Isn’t it amazing how babies who loved their veggies turn (sometimes almost overnight…) into green-phobic toddlers? It’s totally developmentally normal for children to hit a picky stage though, although knowing this doesn’t necessarily make it easier! If you’d like a complimentary copy of my book (War and Peas) for parents of picky eaters, I’d be really happy to send you one – it’s not about nutrition or cooking, but explains the psychology of picky eating and gives parents a whole new way of approaching mealtimes.
Solving Picky Eating
Hi Jo wow that would be fabulous – we’d love a copy, especially as we are about to start weaning Little B too! I’ll contact you via your website with my details x
I used to be convinced that the difference between a fussy eater and a non-fussy eater was the fact that one of our boys had been fed whilst the other had been finger led fed. Now, I’m not so sure.
I fear mixing Parsnips with chips would be like playing Russian Roulette. However, we do get away with mixing them together and presenting ‘Parsnip Mash’. And we’ve even got our eldest to eat corn on the cob, telling him it would help with his loose tooth (and it worked).
We’re so glad we’ve only got this issue with one of the boys and not both. Thanks for sharing #ftmob
I don’t think it matters whether they’ve been spoon fed or baby led – I’ve only just got BB eating corn on the cob & she’s now four!
Hope the tips for helping encourage kids to eat more vegetables work for BB – had to chuckle though at her comment that there was seaweed in the bolognase – that would have been a bit different! Love the sound of adding finely chopped spinach to scrambled eggs to make green eggs – will definitely be giving this one a try! Thanks for linking up to #ftmob 🙂
She now accepts the ‘seaweed’ in the Bolognese – she picks it out but some inevitably makes it in!x