Many families have discovered a secret to getting their kids to eat veggies – “sauce.” The secret sauce can be anything – ketchup, yogurt, barbecue sauce, mustard, dressing of any sort.
Different kids gravitate toward different ones; and for other mysterious reasons, your kid may request one over another at any given dining occasion. The flavors your toddler or young child puts together may seem unusual, and may not be to your liking.
Families have asked me as a pediatrician if it’s okay that their toddlers eat vegetables (or other foods) with “sauce.” With the exception of kids with specific caloric or electrolyte restrictions, my response is, “yes!”
Remember that at this age, food encounters are about two things: (1) getting good calories in, and (2) palate priming – exposing your kids’ taste buds to a variety of flavors (in the hopes that when they are older they won’t depart).
Do what you can to get those varied vegetable exposures in! And don’t worry – you’re not dooming yourself to being served yogurt-covered broccoli at your kid’s wedding.
Let them eat sauce!!
Save the veggies! It’s EasyPeasie!
Sincerely,
The Peas