13-month-old deciding he's a vegetarian
So I realize that toddlers go through phases with their food, but our 13-month-old son has been boycotting meat for at least a week now. How long do these phases last? Any suggestions for getting it re-introduced? If I try to force feed him some meat, he spits it out. If I just put out a plate with a mix of options, he'll eat the carbs, the fruit, sometimes the veggies, and then he'll ignore or throw the meat on the floor. I've tried mixing things up (e.g., pasta sause or other such combinations), but he separates and spits the meat out too.
Any suggestions?
3 Answers
-
Hi! We've had a very similar issue! There was a time when putting beef stew in front of the kid resulted in nothing but stew being eaten! And then she started spitting out everything that looked like meat. The only way I could get her to ingest meat was to hide some minced cooked chicken under the melted cheese on a slice of bread. So she had a lot of tofu instead while we sat back and wondered if a diet of tofu and broccoli might be a little narrow in the long run. And then, last week, it dawned on me to try a different tactic. I made her meatballs. She's only eaten about half of a meatball at any given meal, and it's not the first thing she puts in her mouth, but never mind. Her issue is that she likes foods to be separate, preferable untreated and whole and big. She ate a whole tomato in one go, but will ignore smaller pieces and just scatter them around. Same thing with meat - she wants big chunks. Which is what some of the baby-led weaning people suggest - give them fist-sized chunks of foods to enjoy and explore.
And now I realise that it sounds like eating steak is what every baby must do. Which is not so - there are perfectly healthy vegetarian babies for sure. But getting a bit of meat into their diet seems like an easy way to ensure iron intake. For us it is more about format, now, than it is about the flavor. For something easy to chew you could try making turkey meatballs as a first.
Might be related - my son (almost 12 mos) is a really good eater but also likes to play with his food. Last night, I put some pieces of chicken on his tray and then continued to make dinner for the family. He gobbled them up and asked for more. I put more on his tray and again, went back to what I was doing. 2nd round of chicken gone. When I sat down across from him to add some carrots to the mix, he started spreading the food around the tray, playing and not eating.
Perhaps the veto of food is only because your son has an audience and, therefore, chooses to play instead of eat. I'm not saying leave the room but see what happens when he has a chance to explore without you watching him.
- Alana, Apr 2, 2010
Our rejection of meat lasted some weeks. And overall pickiness is going to just increase. So I go between accepting the pickyness, and then trying things that have been refused or new things that we don't know about just for the sake of trying every once in a while. I'd say at any given time, there's a number of reasons why the food will or will not get accepted and eaten, and the actuals substance it is of, is nowhere near the top of this list of reasons.
- its shape, size and color (look familiar? familiar size? easily eatable?)
- was it on mommy's or daddy's plate (bonus points if from parents' plate and with parents' fork)
- how hungry baby is, and what else was already offered
- how interesting the environment was and what other stuff there was to do
- taste of food
We have not had gagging issues since a horrible experience with a pine needle many many months ago. So we have been quite confidently giving her big chunks of food and she does fine. But this is a VERY individual thing and skill, so don't think about what he maybe SHOULD be able to do or not do, but focus on safe, pleasant eating experiences. That said, they learn quickly, so probably worth trying new stuff every couple of weeks to see how things are going. The meatball victory is a small victory. We'll keep on experimenting!
- katja, Apr 2, 2010
-
I just came across a great website - www.keepkidshealthy.com. Check out the Nutrition section. Lots of good info.
-
Regarding fist sized food, it actually helps to teach kids how to take bite size pieces, chew, and pace their eating. With a bunch of precut food, I've seen my daughter cram whole handfuls into her mouth and subsequently choke.
Thanks, Katja! Sounds very similar. He's recently been on a heavy tofu diet also, and I've been adding cereal as well to ensure iron intake.
Per your idea - I still worry about choking on big chunks of food. How long was it until you no longer worried about this? I might be a little more paranoid than I need to be, but once in a while, he still makes slight choking noise on his cereal - and this stuff is liquidy!
- Evelyn, Apr 1, 2010