How can we get toddlers to eat vegetables?
I’ve noticed two main tactics parents use: one is to promise a dessert or other prize if the child eats her vegetables. Another is the old “sit at the table until you finish what’s on your plate,” –or a milder version of that which is nagging the entire meal until the child eats some bit of vegetable.
Both tactics get vegetables where you want them: inside your child.
Both tactics pit the child’s will against yours. She thinks, “I don’t want to do this. You want me to do this.” And we all know toddlers love doing what we want instead of what they want! Meals can become a power struggle.
And, both tactics can result in a child who ignores what her body tells her and forces herself to eat something she doesn’t want to eat. I wonder about the long-term effects of that.
In my opinion, If you feel that your picky child urgently needs greens in her diet, sneak them into a smoothie. Here’s my favorite recipe!
Meanwhile, here are my tips for helping your child develop her palate and learn to love eating vegetables.
Every family, child, and situation are different — I can only share my personal beliefs and experiences here, so take it as what it is: my own subjective perspective. Take what works for you and ignore the rest!
1. Envision your long-term goal
What is your long-term goal? Mine is for my son to grow up to be a man who enjoys eating a wide variety of nutritious foods. I would like him to know how to source the best food he can get, and to care about quality ingredients. I’d like him to listen to his own hunger cues to decide how much to eat. And, I want him to enjoy moderate amounts of sweet treats guilt-free, just because they are delicious.
2. Relax about vegetables
Children don’t need to eat vegetables at every meal. As long as they get some vegetable every day, or even every other day, you’re good. Relax about vegetables while you work towards your goal.
3. Meals, not snacks
Eytan has four meals a day: breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. “Snack” is just a small meal. Classic snacks like crackers, fruit bars, and pouches are belly-space thieves. I don’t buy those. Children quickly learn that they can hold off on eating something more complex because the tasty high-carb option will appear if you just wait long enough.
4. Hunger is the best spice
What to do if your child takes two bites of her meal and then walks away? Nothing! Trust that her belly knows it doesn’t need food right now. She’ll eat more at the next meal. And definitely don’t chase her around the house plying her with snacks!
Whole, nutritious food tastes good when we are hungry. If your child snacks all day, she won’t be hungry enough to really enjoy her meal. Being pleasantly hungry is key to a whole lot of pleasure: anticipation, enjoying the first bite, exploring new flavors.
5. Toddlers eat differently than we do
A part of me feels that Eytan should eat four meals per day, every day. The amount of food he should consume per meal is the maximum amount he has ever eaten in a single meal in the past. But that’s not how toddlers eat. It’s completely normal for them to go days eating very little, and then eating enormous amounts, and everything in between.
6. Accept the natural food hierarchy
It’s natural for a child to scan what’s on his plate and begin with the highest-value food first. When the white rice, potato, tortilla wrap, or pasta are all gone, he will move on to the next-best item. And then to the next. As a result, by the time your kid gets to his broccoli, he isn’t very hungry anymore (or not at all). If he eats any broccoli then, it won’t taste as good because 1) he’s not so hungry and 2) the broccoli can’t compete with a calorically-dense food like potatoes, so it tastes less good by comparison.
7. Give vegetables first, on an empty stomach
Eytan eats vegetables most readily when he’s hungry, like when he first wakes up from his afternoon nap or just before dinner.
I like to give Eytan vegetables when I’m cooking dinner and he’s hovering around me hungry and whining. I let him up by my side in his stool-ladder and put a plate in front of him on the counter as I cook. I put vegetables on his plate and he eats them before the meal even begins. I usually give him whatever vegetable is for dinner that night. If that’s not ready yet, I peel him a carrot or chop a cucumber and serve it with a little sesame oil and salt, or some other veggie snack. This way, when we sit at the table to eat, he’s already got his vegetable quota filled.
I still put vegetables on his plate at mealtimes, and he eat them most of the time. I just don’t concern myself with how much he eats, if any, because I know he got enough vegetables that day. And, there’s always tomorrow.
8. Only give tasty vegetables
If a vegetable doesn’t taste delicious, don’t give it to your child. When we went out to dinner the other day, the “Kids’ Meal” came with three huge, steamed, unseasoned florets of broccoli. I didn’t even try to get Eytan to eat it. They didn’t taste good to me. It’s better to skip a vegetable altogether at mealtime than to teach your toddler the wrong thing: this tastes bad, avoid!
When babies begin to eat solid food, they generally like everything they try. As they gain mobility and learn how to walk, however, their taste buds change and they become more sensitive to bitter flavors. This is to protect them from poisoning themselves as they explore the world and stick everything into their mouths.
Toddlers are much more sensitive to bitter flavors than we are. If you put a piece of celery into your mouth and celebrate how delicious it is, and then your child tastes it and feels nauseated by the bitterness, he will learn not to trust your judgment.
Vegetables are least-bitter when they are:
- In season
- Young
- Freshly picked, or frozen when freshly picked
- Local
- Organic
- Properly cooked
- Properly seasoned
If the carrots you bought don’t taste delicious raw, serve them roasted or fried instead. When I was a toddler, my mother used to fry carrots with cinnamon and a sprinkle of sugar. They were so good. I still remember the aroma!
9. Use fat and salt to introduce new vegetables
The first time I introduce a new vegetable that I think Eytan will love, I cook it fully and then sauté it in salt and butter. Everything tastes better with salt and butter. After the sixth time Eytan has eaten green beans and loved them, for example, I may cut them up and include them in a side dish without the butter (as long as the dish still tastes delicious!).
Your toddler’s taste buds are learning organism. New foods are potentially suspect. Pair the new food with salt, fat, and sweet flavors at first to teach the taste buds that this particular new flavor is beneficial to the body.
10. Trust your child’s body, trust in abundance
If it tastes bad, sometimes it actually is bad. Bad because the child is allergic or intolerant. Bad because the body doesn’t know yet how to process this item. Never force a child to eat something he doesn’t like to eat.
Eytan doesn’t like sauerkraut. I’m ok with that. I continue to offer a tiny bit of sauerkraut when I eat it, and he can continue to refuse it. There are hundreds of other delicious and nutritious vegetables he can enjoy instead.
11. Keep offering delicious vegetables
Part of the way children’s bodies learn that something isn’t poison is by tasting it again and again over time. If you know a particular vegetable is objectively delicious (fresh, mild, well prepared, you want to eat a ton of it yourself), keep offering it every time you make it for yourself. Eventually, it will work.
Eytan went through phases of suddenly disliking avocado, eggs, and oatmeal. Now he loves them again. Since I kept eating these foods, I kept offering them to him. Over time, he started eating them again.
12. Let your child actively feed himself
An easy way of avoiding power struggles and unnecessary emotional drama is to let your child have full control over what enters his body at mealtimes. The same way I don’t force air into his lungs, I don’t force food into his mouth.
When Eytan was a baby, I waited until he finished swallowing his food and reoriented towards me, showing with his face and body language that he wanted more before giving him the next spoonful. At that point, I presented the spoon and waited for him to open his mouth and lean in towards me.
Now that he is two years old and he feeds himself, the same rule applies.
13. Playful presentation
Presenting food in a playful manner can add joy to a meal. In our home, we are elephants when we eat broccoli-trees. Some things are classics for a reason!
Right now, the carrots at my local store are extremely sweet and delicious, so I offer them at snack time regularly. I peel the carrot, break off the lower sweeter third (pointy side), and hop like a bunny holding the bigger piece. I make bunny sounds and nibble on my carrot, then hold out the smaller piece. Eytan hops over laughing and takes the delicious, sweet carrot and eats his portion, being a bunny the whole time. This is such a sweet ritual for me.
Generally, I try to keep a light attitude when offering food. It says, “Here’s something lovely. Want some?” It’s an offer, an invitation to share a pleasure, not a command.
14. Cook with your child
Strangely, Eytan didn’t like potatoes for the longest time. This changed when he was 23 months old and he helped me prepare baked potatoes. He picked off the eyes, washed, dried, oiled, and salted the potatoes with me. By the time they were done baking, he was very hungry. I served them with salt and a butter. His love of potatoes began that day.
Here is Eytan at 16 months old, helping me make scrambled eggs. When he helps make the eggs, he eats the eggs.
Here is how Eytan learned to love tahini. He helped me make it! Scroll to the second video to watch him dip bread into it (I think it’s so cute!).
15. Forage with your child
Toddlers LOVE foraging: picking and collecting edible things themselves. It’s hardwired!
If you have access to a garden, you’ll be amazed at what your child is willing to eat. In this photo, 18-month-old Eytan is gorging on cherry tomatoes in our neighborhood community garden. Eytan won’t touch the same cherry tomatoes once I bring them home, but at the garden he eats every single ripe one he can pick.
I love picking dandelions with Eytan and frying them with salt and eggs – click here to see the recipe. Eytan picked and cook his first batch last year, when he was just over 1 years old. Here he is at two, proud of his freshly picked pile of blossoms:
If you live in a dense urban area and can’t forage in nature, you can take your child to the grocery store. It’s still foraging! Go there for fun, look at all the vegetables and name them. Let your child pick anything that appeals to her. Then, cook together at home.
16. Sprout grains, seeds, and legumes
Sprouting makes some grains, seeds, and legumes more mild-tasting. The cook-time for the sprouts is much shorter, too, which makes getting dinner on the table easier. I only sprout long enough for the tiniest root tail to appear (so they stay starchy). My current favorites for sprouting are lentils, black beans, brown rice, and quinoa.
I like quinoa ok, but I never crave quinoa. Sprouted quinoa, on the other hand, is so delicious I actually crave it when I’m hungry. Here’s my sprouted quinoa recipe which explains how to sprout, and here’s what Eytan thinks about my quinoa:
Some people believe that sprouted seeds, grains, and legumes are more nutritious and easier to digest. Maybe that’s why they taste better.
17. Chop sharply flavored vegetables extra fine
Chop onions and aromatics extra fine before cooking them. It makes sense: toddlers have much smaller mouths and teeth, and much more sensitive senses of smell and taste. Chopping extra fine helps create a better flavor balance per bite.
The same goes for raw onions. When I make tuna salad, for example, I chop my green onions into specks. Eytan devours it. If I use larger pieces, he picks them out. Eytan eats fresh herbs if they are chopped fine, too. I use fresh dill, cilantro, and basil regularly in his food. But, if the pieces are larger he picks them out.
18. Put carbs to good use sometimes
I like to use easy-to-love food items to introduce a spices and flavors. I put allspice in applesauce, ginger on bananas, curry in rice, mashed sardines (finely mashed) in pasta. Last night I chopped basil, chives, and green onions extra fine and spread them on top of baked potato. Eytan ate all of the herbs because he loves potatoes so much. This way, he learns to enjoy a wider range of flavors. If it’s a tasty carb, I give it a job!
19. Go outside
Sometimes I cook Eytan a nice healthy lunch and he won’t touch it. He’s not that hungry yet, and he knows there are other things hidden in my cupboards and fridge he might like better. When this happens, I put it all in Tupperwares and go outside. After playing in the fresh air for about an hour, he eats everything. I give him a small Tupperware with vegetables first, and then take out the rest of the meal.
20. Eat other people’s food
Eytan’s friends like to eat the food we bring on our playdates. They eat things they would never eat at home. Other people’s food is more intriguing. There’s an element of foraging, of wanting what someone else has, and of exploration. Your child may refuse a cherry tomato at home, but eat it off of your friend’s plate, or at a restaurant.
21. Start them young!
In the US, many babies don’t taste any food at all before 6 months of age, and nearly no food before 12 months. I wonder how that affects future food preferences.
I was lucky that my pediatrician said I can start giving Eytan food to taste at four months old. From that point on, he tasted every single thing I ate, mashed very finely. Eytan ate over 130 different foods before he was 6 months old.
My friend’s pediatrician told her to wait until 6 months, and then only feed one item at a time for a week or two before moving on to the next. We live in the same town, and got such different recommendations.
Breastfeeding also helps children develop a broader pallet because breast milk tastes a bit different every time depending on what you eat. The baby learns to like these flavors and recognizes them as safe and nutritious.
Another thing I did when Eytan was a little baby was to let him smell everything I ate, way before he was old enough to taste it. I have a happy memory of his little nostrils flaring when I let him smell an orange for the first time when he was two months old. His eyes were wide with amazement. He loved watching me eat as a baby – the mechanics of it fascinated him, and he enjoyed seeing and smelling the food. I’m sure this contributed to his eagerness to try new foods.
22. Enjoy treats, but not at every meal
I like following the 80/20 rule with food. As long as 80% of the time Eytan eats whole, nutritious food, I’m happy. Eytan eats ice cream and cake when we eat out, and sometimes at home, too. I don’t worry about restricting all sugar and processed food. Food should be enjoyed, and as long as he brushes his teeth afterwards I don’t worry about it. As far as Eytan is concerned, sometimes dessert appears in our home, and when it does we enjoy together. He doesn’t expect a dessert at the end of every meal. We usually have a reasonable portion out, and when it’s finished it’s just … finished. We ate it all. Toddlers can understand that.
I hope this post inspires you to approach sharing vegetables with your child as a pleasure, and not as a chore. I’d love to hear any thoughts and ideas that work for you that you would like to share!
CHILD COOPERATIVE CARE & Enrichment 
Leave a comment