Eating

Fixing a hole where no nutrients get in, or How the Beatles helped my daughter eat fruit

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Works-for-Me Wednesday

It is a well–documented fact that we’ve had a hard time getting Poppy to eat fruits and vegetables. Here are a few things we’ve tried:

  • Putting a veggie on her place 15 times in a row. She refused to eat it 15 times in a row.
  • Sneaking in the veggies. She detected the pureed cauliflower in her mac ‘n’ cheese immediately.
  • Making her sit at the table until she’s taken a bite. She put herself to sleep. On several occasions.
  • Throwing a pea at her in frustration. (Yes, really. I did that. I am not proud, and surprisingly enough, it didn’t work.)
  • Smearing peanut butter on an apple. She licked off the peanut butter, took one tiny bite of the apple, gagged and spit it out.

    • That last one was yesterday, the day after we’d come to a Bad Place, digestively speaking. So now I’m trying to appeal to her intellectual side rather than to her taste buds. I printed off the Level One lesson plans and a large, colorful copy of the food pyramid from the USDA’s no-defunct food pyramid site. (The new food site is Choose My Plate.”) We talked about the food groups yesterday, and we started filling out what’s basically a little food journal for kids, so she can see that she’s eating nothing but peanut butter.

    I think part of Poppy’s problem — aside from stubbornness — is sensory. She’s always had a problem dealing with loud noises, and I’ve wondered whether it’s the textures that she can’t get past. With that in mind, last night I bought a few jars of baby food. This morning I made her an apple-blueberry smoothie with it. We called it the “Blue Meanie” milkshake; tomorrow, we’ll try a peach “Yellow Submarine.” (I’m sure she’d reject the tiny seeds in the “Strawberry Fields,” and she doesn’t know the song anyway.)

    And here’s the thing: She drank it with zero fuss.

    Obviously, I still haven’t figured out just works for us in this department. But my 4-year-old is ingesting fruit this morning. I’ll take it.

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    12 thoughts on “Fixing a hole where no nutrients get in, or How the Beatles helped my daughter eat fruit”

    1. It’s so weird what kinds of things kids prefer. From the beginning, Wendy LOVED fruit. We called her our little fruit bat. But try to give her yummy, plain beef stew, and she will not touch it.

    2. My mom was great at this! We had “x-ray vision carrots” and “little trees in a cheese storm” (broccoli with cheese sauce.) Mashed potato lakes had peas as boats. Cottage cheese faces were a regular lunch, with pineapple chunk smiles, raisin eyes, strawberry noses, and shredded carrot hair.

      My kids are not picky, and I’m fortunate so far in that respect, but smoothies get a lot of play around here still. They’re a great way to get nutrition into kids! I use lots of yogurt and frozen fruit, and generally add flaxseed oil for the healthy omega-3 fatty acids. We have “Monkey Shakes” – peanut butter, banana, vanilla yogurt, and a little honey. Yum!

    3. My son is a difficult eater, although not as difficult as I was at his age. I was truly horrible, so although my hubby hates how picky he is, I know that it truly could be worse. He eats 0 veggies, but will eat any type of fruit you put in front of him. He eats one type of potato product…chips…but won’t touch fries, mashed potatoes, tots or baked (not that those are necessarily bad things).

      Growing up, and even now, my aversion was always texture. The things I won’t eat now are 99% related to texture, as I can get past most any taste. It’s strange, but true.

      Good luck!

    4. Did I tell you that she ate an entire blue raspberry slushie at the movie the other day? I think you are on to something with the drink form.

    6. I think he would be fighting comparable fighters in the UFC …

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    7. Both of my kids are difficult in the fruit/veggie department, but most especially, Jackson. He has always liked applesauce and bananas though as well as corn if you can count that as a veggie. Lately, we have added green beans to the mix, but he will usually only take the required 4 bites. It’s too bad veggies don’t taste like chicken nuggets! : ) Thankfully, Everett will eat all that Jackson will eat plus sweet potatoes (especially in fry form), peaches and pears. Hoping that the drink thing continues working! Good luck! I know your frustrations.

    9. smoothies! what a great idea!
      I’ve been known to put fresh spinach in a smoothie, it has a very mild taste and if you use a strong flavored fruit like pineapple or ripe mango, it’s hard to tell, other than the color. I wonder if you could sell that one to her?

      1. Thanks, Heather! I think someone else has recommended the same book to me. I probably ought to look into it, because she definitely is sensitive. I took their quiz, and there were 12 “true” answers for her. It says if you answer “true” to 13 or more, your child is highly sensitive. So I guess we’re fine. (ha ha!)

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