Posted on 15. Feb, 2015 by in Infant
No carrots for me, thank you
If your one-year-old daughter suddenly rejects the vegetable that she loved last week, let her. If you don’t make a fuss today, she will probably come back to it next week or next month. But if you pressure her, you only make her decide that that particular food is her enemy. You turn a temporary dislike into a permanent hate. If she turns down the same vegetable twice in succession, leave it out for a couple of weeks.
It is naturally irritating to a parent to buy a food, prepare it, serve it, and then have it turned down by an opinionated wretch who loved the same thing a few days ago. It is hard not to act bossy at such a time. But it is worse for the child’s feeling about food to try to force her to eat it. If she turns down half her vegetables for a while, as is common in the second year, serve her the ones that she does like. This is the wise and pleasant way to take advantage of the great variety of fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables that we have. If she turns against all vegetables for a while but loves her fruit, let her have extra fruit. If she is taking enough fruit, milk (soy or cow’s), and good quality grains, she is not missing any of the nutrients in vegetables.