We then moved on to foods like pasta, eggs and ground beef. One thing I would make is Upside Down Shepherd's Pie, and she loved it! Even the turnip. “More, more, more!” She also loved tomato pasta, and mac & cheese.
I thought I was golden. I thought I had it made. Boy was I wrong...
While she has been, and continues to be, good about eating breakfast (see breakfast rotation at the bottom of the post), at around 15 months, she would eat Shepherd's Pie no more. She would turn her head and say "No" to veggies, and other things she'd previously loved like mac & cheese. She even stopped eating blueberries which she used to eat by the fistful! I have pictures to prove it…
I would try, and try and try, to no avail. For months, all she ate were certain fruits, tomato pasta, cheese, yogurt (which remains her favorite food) and if I was lucky, sometimes a couple bites of a sandwich. I felt like a complete failure.
I read a lot of articles, talked to other moms, and tried to get some tips.
- You have to keep trying. Like really try - it can take up to 50-100 exposures for a child to even pick up a food in their hand let alone taste it.
- Try giving them variety in one sitting, including things they like and things they don't. Law of averages, they'll try something new.
- Try something with a sauce that they can dip their food in.
- Think of the nutrition they are getting in chunks of 3-4 days instead of "did my child have veggies today?". If she had some yesterday, it's not a big deal if she doesn't have some today or tomorrow.
- Food trays with 10-20 options.
- A food plate with different colors.
- Cookie cutters to make food more fun.
I tried most of these. I feel like I definitely could have attempted some strategies more thoroughly - like the food trays and the variety in one sitting – I blame my time management for not doing a better job with this. There are just not enough hours in a day!
It's certainly a work in progress. I struggle with giving her veggies every night because it's not in my nature to cook with them a lot. For the longest time, I couldn't eat them without feeling sick, and my husband doesn't care for veggies much. I know, that is not a great excuse, and it’s a terrible example for Sami, but our habits are what drives us.
This whole meal planning thing, is helping me bring more vegetables into our diet, and subsequently Sami's. I'm trying so very hard to make sure she eats what we eat. This way she can see that we like it, and doesn’t think we’re trying to poison her, which the look on her face sometimes… that’s seriously what I think is crossing her mind. Plus, I don’t want to cook 2 meals every night. I don’t know about you, but this mama ain’t got time for that!
What strategies work right now?
Ever since I introduced BBQ sauce (the Kraft sweet honey one is her fav), Sami loves chicken. Go figure.... she'll eat it every night, and often does because she doesn't get protein from anywhere else aside from cheese and yogurt and we’re having to cut back on cheese. I’d say TMI, but who am I kidding, this is a mom’s blog – she has trouble pooping sometimes, so we need to cut back on things that tend to back you up, especially considering her low veggie intake.
Whenever I feel like she hasn't had a lot of veggies, or most of the time, any veggies, I give her a pouch, you know, those veggie/fruit pouches that you can get in the baby aisle? She usually will eat those. I just don't want to give those to her every night because then she'll always know there's a fallback.
She won't touch beef, even ground beef. Even in a quesadillas which again she used to eat. So, I keep trying. One day…
I can "sometimes" hide veggies behind the chicken, slathered in BBQ sauce. But my daughter is no fool:
I made these awesome Spicy Chicken and Sweet Potato bowls. I tried to give her a few bites, but of course "No" was her answer. I made some sweet potato parm fries at the same time I baked the sweet potatoes for the bowls, and also cooked some extra chicken. She actually tried the fries…with dip of course. This is after months of trying to get her to eat sweet potatoes which she used to love. Win for mama – sweet potatoes are back in the mix! The following week, I cooked more chicken for her and this time, made peas & carrots as a side. Not to my surprise, she wouldn't touch them. She even batted them away. However, I was able to sneak a few behind the chicken. She was probably preoccupied because she usually notices what's on the fork, even if I cleverly try to hide it. Last week, I did the same; chicken with peas & carrots. She bobbed her head to the left. Then to the right. She had a puzzled look on her face. She then tilted her head to get a better vantage point under the fork... "What is that?" she exclaimed with a "WTF" look on her face. O..M..G.. It was the cutest thing, and we just couldn't stop laughing (I know, not making my case for getting her to eat peas). Needless to say, I had to remove the pea to get her to eat the chicken.
One of my major struggles right now is finding lunch ideas for her. She’s not getting much variety, and I don’t want to give her chicken for lunch because then she'll get sick of it… Hopefully I can get her to enjoy some of our dinners and she’ll then be able to have leftovers for lunch.
I’ll be working on December’s meal plan next week, and I’ll try to get my November meal plan up in the event you are interested in it, or some recipes anyway. As this blog is still getting going, I’d love to hear some feedback: would you like copies of my meal plans, recipes, what topics would you be interested in reading about. I have ideas for sure, but I also want to make this enjoyable, and if someone out there has frustrations that I share, I’d so love to make you feel not alone in all this. One of my next posts is likely to be about how horrible I am at housekeeping, because really, I am and it’s infuriating to me.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the U.S. To all my U.S. friends, family and readers, I send you my best wishes for this holiday. May it be filled with lots of family time, memories that you will cherish and of course delicious food.
Best wishes,
~Cat
Sami’s breakfast rotation:
- Eggs & applesauce (don't ask, she likes the combo)
- Yogurt (aka goo) & banana (though as of 3 months ago, she won't eat banana pieces)
- Smoothie (banana, blueberries, yogurt, apple juice, spinach)
- Oatmeal with cut up fruit
- Occasionally - waffles or pancakes
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