One of my two-year-old twins no longer likes fruit, which she used to love. She will not eat it, except for raisins (not any other dried fruit). I am sure it is a stage, but I still worry since I am a mommy! I feel like I've tried it all...
Does anyone have any tricks on how to incorporate fruit into her diet? I'm all about sneaking it in! :)
Thanks!
Thanks for all of the GREAT ideas! I'm going to try them this week, along with continuing to put fruit on her plate. Thanks for the encouragement!
Give her a smoothy. My kids like pineapple, apple orange juice with frozen strawberries and bananas blended in.
I sneak it in, too! I just buy pureed baby food (usually about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup per recipe) and sneak it in everything! Blueberry or pomegranate applesauce (not baby food kind) can be mixed into chocolate pancake mix--my son's a huge fan of that!--hamburgers and tacos. Another idea is to put just a little organic cherry and a splash of chocolate syrup or blueberry pomegranate juice (you can get it at Super Target) in milk. It's delicious! I'd keep putting out the fruit though until the phase is over, but don't force it or you might end up with a kid with food issues.
Good luck!
blend it with some milk and give her a shake/smoothie to sip through a straw. Don't make it too thick or chunky! Or you can blend various fruits into a pureed form and then mix it with plain yogurt or cottage cheese.
Hey K., well im a Nana of four, and I know what your going thru,, try some organic pink lady apples,sliced very thin and some Almond butter for the dipping .. my grand children love it .. hope this works for ya
E.
I double the smoothie idea. My kids are not too crazy about fruit or vegetables, but as long as I make it into a smoothie they can drink it all day.
i'm with some of the other mommies. i'm not gonna "pretty up" the healthy foods for my boys. they need to learn to eat what's offered. my boys are 2 and 5, and they are pretty good eaters, lots of fruits and veggies, if they choose not to eat something, no sweat, they'll just be a bit hungry til the next meal.
Nothing replaces fruits and veggies, but there is a company called Juice Plus that makes gummy fruits for kiddos that have all the servings of fruits and veggies that children need. IT'S TRUE!!! They're are sooooo good! Please let me know if you'd like more information!
I'd be happy to help.
You may not like my reply, but my advice is don't sneak in, don't give in, stay firm, you are the one who feeds her so you know what she needs. She shouldn't be the one that decides whatever she wants to eat. If you let her start at the age of two, soon you won't be able to feed her anything. Every person doesn't like a few things, two or three at the most, but more than that and you are in the process of making a picky eater. Frankly, I don't know how people can accept that. If you want a child that eats almost everything, then you have to stand firm. Eating well is a question of education, just like everything else.
Another way is to dice the fruit and mix it into jello. I mix in fruit cocktail, peaches, pears, or sliced bananas after it has thickened just a little. If your daughter likes marshmallows, you can top the jello with the miniature marshmallows occasionally, so that it hides the fruit.
Okay, you can't force her to eat. Just put it on her plate with a variety of things to eat on it and let her eat what she will. She will go back and forth with things she likes and does not like through out her life. You can't sweat the small stuff. Give her a good vitamin if you think she isn't getting a balanced diet.
Now, if you want to sneak food in, there is a book written by the comedian, Jerry Seinfeld's wife, Jessica Seinfeld: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food," . She has recipes for sneaking food into other foods that they will eat, but you also give them a helping of the food in its normal state on the plate so that maybe in the future they will try it and like it. In the meantime they will be getting the nutrition they need.
Good Luck to you.
Lonie
