Help...my 5 Year Old Refuses Veggies and Fruits

Hi! You might try dicing veggies up very small and adding them to things. For instance, put kale in a food processor and blend till it is really fine. Then you can put it in sauces or whatever and he won't even taste it. Also, if he will drink juice, you can buy a heavy duty juicer and juice up some veggies and fruit together. You can come up with some pretty tasty stuff...good luck!
P.

Hi J.,

My son ate so well - everything - as a toddler ... then he became 3-1/2, 4 yrs old & the "I don't like it" started!!

So we instituted a firm rule of the house:

No Eats, No Treats

And treats can be whatever, not just dessert ... we've extended it to his nightly treat of a movie after dinner, or his nightly game we play before bed, or limiting the books we read at bedtime....

That rule helps - we still need to remind him at times (his new thing now is taking FOREVER to finish eating!!).

Plus we top the veggies with his favorite Ranch Dressing - that helps broccoli, green beans, asparagus, carrots go down. He really only complains about green beans anymore (I can't blame him - I really don't like them either!).

Hope this helps - Good luck!

Just an idea for the veggies that you might try...I know my kids like it well enough. They are 4 and 16 mos. But, I will make cooked carrots or bake sweet potatoes and let the 4 yr. old "put sprinkles on" which consist of cinnamon and sugar. I know, not so healthy but they get the veggies in and have just a little sugar with them...Hope that may work for you! C.

All the suggestions are good ones. I too have the cookbook deceptively delicious and it's awesome! I haven't found 1 recipe in there that my family doesn't like!

S.

I saw Jerry Seinfeld's wife on Oprah one time addressing this issue with a cook book she wrote. It's called something like "Deceptively Delicious". She basically made "yummy" foods out of veggies that kids couldn't tell were made out of veggies. Like brownies made out of spinach or something like that. Anyway, you may want to see if your local library or book store has it. It was all vegetable puree's that she made and put into the recipes. Worth a try!

you can do the V8 Fusion juice to help.
there also are about 4-5 cookbooks about putting veges in your meals. jessica seinfelds is the most recent and getting the most attention b/c she is getting sued for it. i got it for christmas and have tried a few of the reciepes. for the most part they are pretty good. her kids eat a little blander than my daughter and husband does so i've already altered a few of them, but i mainly started with the sweets and those have worked out well.
my daughter has always been a very picky eater and our doctor always says not to make a big deal about food so i'm sure its a phase and he'll come around.

try the Deceptively Delicious cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld

Same problem here! My pediatrician recommended giving him a glass or two of V-8 Splash (Fruit Medley flavor tastes like red kool aid), and that will give them the serving of fruit and veggies for the day. Tastes great!

Don't worry about it....there are enough vitamins added to all of the other foods that he'll be okay. For fiber, same thing. Just keep introducing stuff. I got to the point where I would give my kids a dollar to take a bite of something new. They eventually learned to like those things. Then keep feeding him the things he likes. My 12 year old will eat pretty much anything now and my 9 year old will now eat apples, grapes, corn and fried okra. He still gags over the other stuff.

What ever you do, DO NOT try to force the issue. I made that mistake....you're not leaving the table until you have eaten all your carrots. To this day my daughter HATES carrots.

Your 5 yr old will eat what his body asks for. He'll get what he needs when he needs it.

My sister tells her children (when faced with a new food) that they must eat one bite. If, after that one bite, they do not want more, then they are not required to finish...but...they must eat one bite. Usually, one bite leads to another, and another .... hehehe

L.

Hi J. ~ I hate to tell you this, but it can get worse! ;) Never fear! They do grow out of it...then back in it...then out of it. My son is 11 and he has his moments to this day. It does get better the older they get because you can reason with them more than when they are 5. At least you are setting the example at the table. He'll come around. In the meantime, you just have to be a bit creative. I'm also a nurse and work in the home care field mostly with the elderly. We need to be creative with them as well. You can always mix the Pediasure with ice cream in the blender to make a shake. Or blend ice cream with fresh fruits to make a smoothie. Fruit juice is better than no fruit at all so count the blessings there. If you are watchful, some juices are truly 100% juice. As far as the veggies go...I'm excited that he eats the spinach dip. How amazing! Try your hand at making other dips with carrots, celery etc in them. I know that my son always liked to "dip" at that age. He liked to "dip" chicken nuggets, fries, chips, crackers. Dipping was a big thing. Sometimes we have to find out HOW they like to eat then adapt what they are eating to match the HOW. Just hang in there and think outside of the box.

I have two suggestions: 1. try to get him involved in the kitchen while you are making meals. Obviously, he can't cut things with knives or turn on flames; however, when I got my picky eater to break up carrots and tear apart herbs to go in dishes, he started to taste things and was quite proud of the dinners he helped make. pizza was the most fun for him because he could do pretty much everything. Make your own pizza sauce by crushing up tomatoes and adding herbs. Let him put on toppings (offer a variety of veg and even pineapple) and I guarantee he will eat it. 2. there is a great cookbook called deceptively delicious where pureed vegetables are "hidden" in everyday foods. a group of moms and I decided to try out several recipes and test them on the kids and it worked really well. it has things like brownies with spinach (which you can't taste, I promise!) scrambled eggs with cauliflower, mac n cheese with sweet potatoe. It's very good! I know you have a litle 5-month old and you probably haven't gotten around to cooking much, but try this when you get the energy. good luck!

try getting one of those juicers and juicing the fruits and vegs so hell drink them.

I wish I could remember the name of them, but there are a couple of books out there about hiding fruits and vegies in food that kids would eat. It's all about puree's. They're fairly new, and you should be able to find them in the book store. I know some things that help with my kids is to let them help cook. If they are in on the preperation, they might be willing to at least try it. Good luck!

There is a good cookbook called "The Sneaky Chef" that tells you how to hide vegetables and other healthy foods so kids don't notice them. I highly recommend it.
Also, since he likes juice, you could try the V-8 Fusion juice. It has lots of vegetable and fruit juice in it. My son likes the Strawberry Banana flavor.

We LOVE the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook, Deceptibly Delicious (sorry if my spelling is off!). She has about 7 different muffin recipes that all hide vegetables. My kids gobble up a mini version...quick snack, no mess. My neighborhood actually established a "muffin mamas" club....we each make a different batch of the mini muffins each month and share amongst each other (then we get variety). The muffins are freezeable too! Totally works!
Also ranch dressing on vegetables helps my kids too.

I like the cookbook Deceptively Delicious. It has a lot of recipes for adding veggies by way of purees, and that way kids don't even realize they're eating them. I added 1/2 lb of broccoli, pureed, to a jar of spaghetti sauce, and no one at the table noticed. As a matter of fact, my picky eater ate an entire bowl of noodles and sauce, and he usually turns his nose up at spaghetti and won't touch broccoli.

Carrots are another easy one to sneak in. They don't have a strong taste and go unnoticed in things like meatloaf and hamburgers and muffins. Speaking of muffins, there are low-sugar muffin recipes that use bananas for sweetner. I've put banana puree in oatmeal cookies and 1/2'ed the sugar before and gotten rave reviews from my sugar-addicted household. Throw in a few chocolate chips, and they don't even realize they're getting fruit! :*)

The cookbook has a lot of other ideas for breakfast, dinner, snacks, and desserts. I just borrowed it from a friend and have put it on my wish-list b/c now I want my own copy to refer to! hth

J.,
Have you heard of the book by Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica? It's awesome. It shows you all of these recipes that have veggies using the purees. Go on Amazon and pick it up it's a lot cheaper there. I bought it for my sister who's son won't eat anything and she loves it. We're talking breaded chix fingers using spinach and cookies using beans. I know it sounds crazy, but the recipes taste really good. Good luck and let me know how it goes. N. H.

I am sorry I have not advice, put if you get some please repost it! I have an almost 5 year old girl who will only eat chicken nuggets, fries and peanut butter!
Thanks

I also recommend the cookbook 'Deceptively Delicious' by Jessica Seinfield. The library has it if you want to try it out before you buy it. All the food I have made so far is so good! My husband is even raving about it....

Hey J.- My son loves his veggies some days and others not so much. I hide his veggies in his food. Mac and cheese- I put pureed sweet potato or winter squash (the kind you get in the freezer section)right in with the cheese he has no clue it's in there it the same color. I found a chicken nugget by Alexa thats broccoli and chesse the broccoli is so chopped up you have no idea it's in there. hope that helps a little

http://www.thesneakychef.com/book.php

My sister has used this book with my nephews 3 year old twins). They are getting a lot more nutrious meals, now.

:)

J.,

Our younger son also will not eat any veggies and has a reaction to almost all fruits. We have him on a kids multivitamin. That's what the pediatrician recommended. I hope that helps you out. :)

K. M

Hi, I have the same issue with my daughter who will be 5 in April. The only thing she will eat is a grilled cheese or macaroni and cheese (kraft). She will eat certain fruits but no veggies except raw carrots.

She won't try any veggies or meat-she will gag herself or cry the whole way through it...I finally got her to eat PB&J but she still struggles with that...I think it is a texture thing-I tried to get her to eat just a plain cheese sandwich and she gagged...

I have put her on whole-food gummies from Juice-Plus-it makes me feel a little better-but I am going to take her to a nutrionist before she goes to "big" school and see what they suggest. Sorry I couldn't be of more help-I am just glad someone else is like me!

Have you tried giving him those juices that have both veggie and fruit juices in them? My 6 yr. old loves V-8 Splash, and Juicy Juice's Harvest Surprise and a juice that looks disgusting (like green baby poop) but tastes delicious cuz it's made with kiwi juice (I can't think of the name of it but we get it in the organic section of Krogers). All these juices have veggies in them. I think that would be enough. My husband always hated veggies growing up and he still doesn't eat much except some salads and raw spinach on a sandwich.
hope that helps! -A.

My son started refusing veggies and most fruits when he transitioned from pureed baby food to "real" food. I haven't had much luck with anything besides bananas, apples and sometimes pears. However, I know friends who do things like mix mashed squash or sweet potato into mac n' cheese and buy chicken nuggets made with brocolli. Good luck. Hope both of our sons "come around" to eating fruits and veggies.

I feel your pain. My son was a great eater then one day - bam! He decided not to eat vegetables any more. I had to start sitting him down before dinner with nothing else on his plate but veggies. If he didn't see the other food, it was less of a fight. Then I told him that he could have the rest of his dinner when his veggies were done. It worked, but took some fight to do. Good luck!

Just wondered if you had tried what we call Banana Buttons??? its sliced bananas, topped with peanut butter..You can also do apples like that and they get some protein as well.....what about dried fruits????

Have you ever heard of Juice Plus? My sister got me started on this and I LOVE IT! They make gummies for kids that have the nutritional essence of 17 different fruits, vegetablea and grains. The concept is whole food based nutrition. It is not like traditional vitamins - they are NOT vitamins. It is whole food. They are made with less sugar than regular store bought gummies - and the sugar that they do contain comes from a variety of all natual sweeteners. Sorry - I could go on and on but here is the real info - my kids love them and have been eating them for a year and a half. My oldest has had ONE cold sice starting and my youngest has had one cold. They eat three fruit gummies and three veggies gummis each day. They love them so much sometimes they go and grab a few extra as a treat! Email if you want me to send you more info ____@____.com or visit www.simplypreventative.com as soon as the website is ready.

Hi, J.,
I am the mother of 4 grown adults who have children of their own. I gave them each the new cookbook by Jerry Seinfield's wife, "Deliciously Deceptive". It is all about hiding vegetables in various items like spaghetti sauce and brownies. They each said they have tried some of the things and liked the results. Also, Juice+ is an option. It is a set of capsules you take, children have gummies. The capsules and gummies are made from 17 fruits and vegetables and the studies behind them are amazing. My grandchildren are all on them and seem to be progressing beautifully. You can contact ____@____.com or ____@____.com if you are interested.
Good luck with your children.
P. R.

Ahhh - just be patient (kinda hard with a five year old ;) Remember it can take up to 20 times of trying a new taste to aquire it. Try the sweet veggies - carrots (you can cook in orange juice and add a little honey for extra sweetness)sweet potatoes (good with brown sugar and cinnamon) acorn squash (also good with brown sugar and cinamon) put some bacon in your green beans adds lots of flavor. And maybe just serve with crackers, I assume he likes the spinach dip b/c he can dip crackers in it. Or try raw veggies with a good dip. If all else fails there is an awesome supplement with a company called Juice Plus, they have gummies for kids - 2 fruits in the a.m. (all whole foods) and 2 veggies in the p.m. It gives you 4 servings of fruits and veggies a day.

Have you tried JuiceBlasters? They are located in the plaza that sits at the intersection of Bancroft and Central. They make the most delicious fruit smoothies. It's only fruit, fruit juice and ice - no sugar or powdered mix. My daughter, who is almost 5, thinks it's the best dessert. We always get the Verylicious which is strawberry and guava juice. When she is on the verge of a cold I get a shot of echinecea and goldenseal added. They have special smoothies for kids. They put veggie juice in with the fruit so your child can get a dose of spinach or whatever you think he/she needs.

have you tried the chocolate pediasure its not to bad when its cold, some one told me their is another one out their but i dont know the name of it and its lower in sugar and is better for them than the pediasure.have you tried stir fried mixes or tried melting cheese over them? i did see on a morning show just a couple of weeks ago that a mother has out a new cookbook where she puts the veggies in a food processer and then uses that in recipes and they (the kids)dont even know its in there. they were tasting some of her recipes and they everyone liked them and this gives them the veggies without them even knowing it.hope this helps i wish i had the name of the book but since its new out it should be easy to find.

try the DECEPTIVELY DELICIOUS cookbook by Jessica Seinfield -- great book - you get all the veggies & fruits into your kids with out them even knowing it....

my daughter is 5 about ready to turn 6 . she use to love to eat vegies until she started kindergarten and now she dont like them. i think its because the other kids at school dont like them. but she drinks v8 juice she loves that.