From the article: Introducing New Foods to Toddlers - Am I Being Too Careful?
Gone are the days when your child would eat pretty much anything you loaded onto a spoon. Now it's macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza and grilled cheese without crusts. You want your toddler to eat more nutritious food. You want your toddler to eat a variety of food. But you also don't want to withhold the few foods he will eat for fear he won't eat anything at all.
So, how do you cope? How do you get your toddler to eat more than just his favorites? Do you sneak it in? Have you ever told your toddler a little white lie to get him to eat something new? Share your strategies for dealing with a picky eater. Share Your Strategies
Order it at a restaurant first
- My kids are always a lot more willing to try new food at a restaurant than they are at home. Their first tastes of shrimp and mushrooms were restaurant food -- and once they'd tried it and liked it, I could re-introduce the items into meals I cooked at home.
- —Guest Petra
Whatever it Takes
- I am not above spreading a little truthiness to get nutritious food into my toddler. I have a "cheese casserole" that is mostly made of squash. It only has about 1/4 cup of Parmesan in the whole thing. I find if I put the word "Cheese" in the title of any new food, it's more likely that she's going to eat it. Cheese Fish. Cheese Chicken. Cheese Green Beans. It only takes a barely noticeable sprinkle of cheese to make anything edible. She'd probably eat Cheese Cardboard if I served it to her. I also sneak food in where I can. I put tomatoes on grilled cheese sandwiches. I make stuffed shells and mannicotti and most of the stuffing is spinach. I put spinach into just about any pasta dish I make, really. If I didn't do this, she'd want to eat grilled cheese at every single meal. (When does this stage end??)
- —Guest de Selby
