How To Get Your Baby To Eat Vegetables

How To Get Your Baby To Eat Vegetables
By Christine Albury

Vegetables contain so many vitamins, minerals and nutrients
necessary to good health that it's important to ensure your baby
is eating enough of them. Understandably, then, many parents
become concerned when their little ones refuse to eat vegetables
at all!

When starting solids, it's a good idea to try introducing
veggies before fruits - the thinking behind this is that babies
will be less happy to accept vegetables after experiencing the
sweetness of fruits. Despite this, though, some babies just
don't seem to particularly enjoy vegetables - so here are some
ideas to help incorporate these nutritious foods into his diet:

1. Try cooking your baby's vegetables in homemade beef stock or
chicken stock instead of water (avoid commercial stocks, which
are too salty for use in baby food preparation). This is a
popular solution that works well for many parents.

2. Try stirring some pureed veggies into pureed fruit. It
sounds awful, but actually tastes pretty good - babies have no
idea which foods should "go" together, so you'll be surprised by
what they enjoy!

3. Top a dish of cooked veggies, whether pureed or cut-up, with
grated cheese. A subtle difference, but one that many babies
appreciate! Alternatively, serve veggie pieces with a cheese
dip.

4. Add pureed veggies to your baby's favourite soup or pasta
sauce - he won't even realize he's consuming all those
wonderful vitamins!

5. For older babies, add grated squash, pumpkin or carrots to
your homemade muffins.

6. At mealtimes, offer your baby a plate of cooked vegetables
to feed himself at the beginning of the meal (if he is
developmentally ready for finger foods). This is when he will be
most hungry... and therefore most likely to try them.

7. If you are making mashed potatoes for your baby, use sweet
potatoes instead of white ones - they are highly nutritious and
a great source of beta-carotene.

8. Don't overcook your veggies! As well as losing their
texture, vegetables lose their goodness AND their colour when
cooked to a mush. If you want your baby to enjoy vegetables,
they need to be appetizing and visually enticing, too!

9. Set a good example by eating plenty of veggies yourself -
eat them in front of your baby, with exaggerated enjoyment...
and your baby might just copy you!

About the Author: Christine Albury is a mother of four and the
author of http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com - your
complete guide to solid feeding during baby's first year.

Source: http://www.isnare.com

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