My son ONLY wants to eat saltine crackers. It’s almost as if when he hit 10 months he quit eating the baby food and wouldn’t eat anything that I fed him…EXCEPT crackers. I have tried it all. And when I say “it all”, I mean EVERYTHING! Every fruit and every vegetable I could think of.
He hates fruit. He hates veggies. He hates protein. He loves him some crackers. I have even tried the approach of…setting him in his high chair, offering him veggies, he refuses, I put him down, 20 minutes later he is crying because he is hungry, I put him back in the highchair, offer the same veggies, he throws it on the floor, and we repeat this process over and over.
I figure…if I stop giving in and stop giving him what he wants (crackers) then he will eventually have to eat something healthy.
Nope.
Not this guy.
I honestly think he would rather starve.
I need suggestions. I told myself that I wasn’t going to let Bents get on a bad eating schedule (like P Man)…but here I am…struggling to get him to eat anything healthy. Ugh.
He does like mac n cheese. Again. Not so healthy, so that doesn’t help me much. And I have tried to sneak a veggie in there with it. He’s too smart. He picks it out…or eats the macoroni and spits out the peas.
I am a working mama and I don’t have time to make his food (as much as I would like to). But, I am running out of options here. He CAN NOT live off saltines.
So, I am curious…how do you mama’s get your kiddos to eat the veggies and fruits?
Refusing food is a toddler’s way of declaring their independence. There’s nothing more satisfying to a toddler than seeing what his parents will do when he asserts his will.
So…If he eats anything that has a ‘sauce’ like mac-n-cheese..blend in veggies and meat with the sauce then mix it with the noodles. BUT remember to not choose veggies that have too strong of a flavor. Cauliflower is a good example. But continue to offer a variety of different foods everyday and one day he will take them. Minimize distractions. TV and toys during meals.
I also found that sitting with them when they ate helped a lot, they really want to sit with you. Don’t stress about it. 🙂
have you seen that book “Deceptively Delicious”? I would STRONGLY recommend it, they have tons of recipes for yummy things that are kid friendly, but ALWAYS contain healthy (pureed) fruits or veggies in them, and the kids really don’t notice. Goodluck!
I wish I had some encouraging words of wisdom, but I don’t. I can only empathize. Jack’s diet consists of pizza, mac n’ cheese and those gross little meat sticks that come in a can! Yuck!
I don’t have any children yet, but I am a nanny, and use the cookbook Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld almost everyday! It’s genius! Hiding vegetables in foods like mac and cheese, pizza, and chicken nuggets was such a great idea. You need that cookbook! Good Luck!
Unfortunately, this sounds all too familiar. Amelia ate EVERYTHING in baby food, but then when we took her off it, she wouldn’t eat anything but hot dogs! We finally got her off those, but she’s such a finicky eater. We never know what she will eat or when she’ll eat it. We continue to offer her veggies with every meal, as well as fruit. Most of the time it all ends up on the floor. I’m considering getting a big dog to clean it up because I’m tired of spending 20 minutes on the floor wiping it up! No suggestions here, just another sympathetic mommy!
We pureed broccoli and mixed it in with pasta sauce. Our son loved it. Maybe puree some carrots or caulilfower with the mac n cheese? Good luck.
You know my 14 month old only eats crackers lately too. Must be the age. I just don’t remember my other 3 doing that.
Hi Mand!
I haven’t been on your site in forever–everyone is looking good. The boys are so adorable and Bentley’s party looked so fun and sweet!! Etsy is so great. I can’t believe he’s already a year!! I hope you guys are doing well.
I wish I had great advice for you, but perhaps I have okay advice. The main thing I’ve learned is to try not to stress about things. Jude and Aden really love their fruits and veggies, but they go through spurts…and Aden sometimes goes through spurts where he doesn’t like to eat much of anything. So try not to stress–they pick up on it. Just keep on offering the veggies and fruits and someday he’ll eat them. Jude wouldn’t touch green veggies 3 months ago, but now he eats peas, and the other day when I gave him broccoli he was “mmm, mmm, mmmm”ing and ate two adult-sized portions! And that was after the pasta he ate (some advice is to give it before the food they “like” but I’ve found offering things up at the same time works better for our guys). If you can buy or make pesto, our boys really like the flavor and helped them to eat more green veggies too (b/c they love it on pasta). And finally–mac and cheese? Puree some cooked squash (butternut or winter) and blend it in with the prepared mac and cheese. Our boys LOOOVE that–it’s orange, so it blends right in, and it actually makes the mac and cheese a) a bit more orange and b) sweeter. Other than that, just give it time and keep on offering it up…
xo!