Hi all, I have a 6 1/2 month old daughter who has started to refuse to eat her vegetables. she holds the vegies in her mouth and cries, and eventually spits them out. this is followed by her clamping her jaw shut until she smiles at you. Until now she has eaten her vegies (around a month). We have taken to mixing her vegies with her fruit/yogurt or both but do not wish to continue this as she was doing so well before. The only variation to her diet is the addition of broccoli and cauliflower. Any ideas on what is going on or tips to get her eating again would be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps mash gravy in with them for favour..


My ds loves his veggies still eats so many of them . Loves his fruit also .
I'm so lucky he eats ,so well

Hi all, I have a 6 1/2 month old daughter who has started to refuse to eat her vegetables. she holds the vegies in her mouth and cries, and eventually spits them out. this is followed by her clamping her jaw shut until she smiles at you. Until now she has eaten her vegies (around a month). We have taken to mixing her vegies with her fruit/yogurt or both but do not wish to continue this as she was doing so well before. The only variation to her diet is the addition of broccoli and cauliflower. Any ideas on what is going on or tips to get her eating again would be greatly appreciated.

At this very young age I would not stress about it at all, she's only 6 1/2 months and only 1 month into her solids journey.

Broccolli and cauliflower are not the most delicious vegetables and you cant expect them to like everything.

Just keep offering different things and make combinations of several vegies, ie pumpkin, sweet potato and potatoe mash - rather than individual vegies. I would not add gravies or sauces at this point as you need to be wary of the salt content. Try a teeny bit of milk or butter to get a smooth consistency.

Their appetites change from day to day and at this point its still all very experimental, no biggie if they refuse something. Babies naturally prefer sweet flavours so try the sweeter vegies like carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin. No kid likes everything offered to them all the time and there's nothing wrong with making combinations or adding veg into casseroles etc. Its early days, if they eat some veg then that's great - milk is still the mainstay of their diet till 9 months and they will not starve to death if they dont eat their vegies at this point.

don't worry about it. smile

Firstly, she is only 6.5 months old, so she can't have been on them for very long. Secondly, her main nutrition is through milk and solids are for experimenting with. At 6/7/8 months you are only looking at tastes of things, not meals.

She isn't refusing them because she is being fussy. Stop mixing things in with them as you are taking away the very essence of what learning about solids is all about. She should be tasting vegies, not fruit with hidden vegies. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for a very long road of a) creating a fussy eater, b ) not giving her the opportunity of tasting/enjoying/experimenting with individual foods - which is essential to learning about food and how to eat, c) changing her palette to only want sweet foods and d) making life difficult for yourself!

As kids learn about eating solids (which is a gradual ongoing process) they go through stages of wanting to eat and not wanting to. This could be due to not being as hungry as we think they are, weather, stress, illness, teeth etc. If they are going through a growth spurt, they may drink more milk and not be as hungry. Don't fight it. They know what they need.
They also don't like every food. They are people. Sometimes kids also have reactions to food or allergies that you don't know about. I know of a kid who as a baby refused to eat banana - turns out they were allergic. Its not a problem, just try later and don't make a big deal out of it.

In terms of mixing foods in with them, I know what mum of 4 lovely blessings is saying, but mixing gravy in for flavour is something you would do to make an adult eat vegies. (no offence at all mumof4) Vegies have flavour, but in an adult diet full of salt they appear bland so people mix gravy in which is essentially salt and fat.

You have to remember, making your kid eat isn't the goal here. What 6-12 months is about is letting your kid experience food in its purest form. Its about learning to eat, its about exploring textures. eating properly comes later. Milk is the main source of nutrients until they are around 1, so just relax, let them explore the vegies on their own. Chances are, your stress is causing her stress. Instead of spoon feeding them to her, give her a steamed carrot or half a ripe banana. Have a look at baby led weaning for more ideas. In the meantime though......relaaaaaaaax. smile

Totally agree with OC.
also cauli and broccoli can cause a bit of gas so could be creating a sore tummy, I'd lay off those for a bit and maybe introduce them again later - I think DS was 8months when we introduced those.

Thanks guys for your comments, will give it a go and try and relax!!! hopefully she will go back to eating them very soon. I do have the feeling that she is starting to teeth cause is drooling heaps, always wanting to put things in her mouth and only last night decided that she was going to munch on the tray of her high chair