We don’t want to be the parents that have to repeatedly force/bribe/coerce their kids to eat their vegetables. So we are trying an experiment on Alena to see if we can get her to love vegetables. Disclaimer: These methods were not learned from any “expert” or read in any published books, and definitely not scientifically proven. We are NOT recommending that anyone try this at home on their babies or on anyone else’s babies.
The first thing we did was to put up a mobile made of vegetables on our baby’s crib (made by our wonderful friends Fiona and James). That way she would look up and see vegetables in the sky and fall in love with them (of course, this could backfire on us if Alena befriended the veggies and did not want to eat her friends). Alena loved the veggie mobile, and for weeks would look up at it and talk to the veggies.
The next thing we’ve done is start giving vegetables for Alena to chew on. She doesn’t have teeth yet, so she can’t actually eat the vegetables – but she can taste the juices from the broccoli, gai lan, and romaine lettuce stalks we’re giving her. This is the first type of food she’ll taste besides breastmilk – and let me tell you, having tasted breastmilk, veggies are definitely an upgrade.
Judging from her facial expressions while tasting the veggies (see photos below), you would think that she doesn’t really like them. But she keeps on chewing and sucking on the veggies. Maybe because of the novelty of the taste. Whatever the reason, we hope that she’ll remember this first taste of food and love it for the rest of her life.
Are we being overly optimistic and naive? Will this actually work? Ask us again in a year.
Allie eating Gai Lan (a Chinese vegetable)
Allie eating veggies
Allie eating Gai Lan Jr (a chinese vegetable)