Okay, that's it... she's going veg!

My daughter is 6 and food has been a battle with her since birth. The only thing she EVER ate without a fight was breastmilk... and she's been weaned for almost exactly 4 years now and I am completely tired of fighting.

She doesn't like "spicy" food... what constitutes spicy changes day to day, but it's usually anything seasoned with Mexican, Italian or Oriental spices.
She doesn't like "icky" food... what constituteds icky changes day to day, but it's usually anything too mushy or terribly chewy.
She doesn't like broccoli... unless it's covered in cheese.
She doesn't like most pasta dishes... macaroni, ravioli, spaghetti... nope!
She doesn't like chocolate or most sweet foods.
And lately she won't eat meat... ANY meat!
Oh... but she doesn't like most non-meat proteins either.

Yesterday I took her to Burger King, just to get her to eat more than 3 bites of something. She got a hamburger with extra pickles (her favorite) and onion rings (also her favorite) and didn't finish half of either.

Vacations are another nightmare... she goes on a near-complete food strike whenever we're away from home for more than 24 hours which makes me think there's gotta be something going on inside her little head that's connecting food with... home? Comfort? Something else? But I can't pin down what.

She's 6 years, 1 month and weighs 37lbs. My husband is a teeny guy & I was tiny until my pregnancies so being small isn't the issue... but she won't eat ANYTHING!

During the past 3 weeks she has not taken more than a bite or two of anything with protein. I talked to her over the weekend & explained that if she didn't want to eat meat that was okay, but she would have to eat more... and listed everything I could come up with that had protein in it. She just bawled, and said she didn't want to be a veggie. I asked why, and she told me "because vegertamarians don't eat bacon!" I promised that bacon could stay in her diet, but that didn't help. She's absolutely upset by this.

So does anyone have any ideas how I can... umm, TRICK her into eating something that would be good for her? I hate to be resorting to this, it seems so dishonest. But she barely eats anything as it is, and she needs to eat something other than just carbs & fruits.

She likes fruits; ALL fruits.
She likes most veggies.
She likes most beans (just not lima).
She likes pizza.
She likes "stir fry noodes" where I top soba noodles with veggies & sweet/sour sauce.
And I can sometimes get her to eat wrap-sandwiches; cheese & veggie strips wrapped in a cream-cheese spread tortilla shell.

Just about everything else on the planet has a 50/50 chance of being eaten or ignored given the day of the week, mood, dew point and color of the birds outside. So I am ready to try just about anything at this point! I'm thinking of just preparing her meals seperately like my own, and having her go veggie... but not make a big deal about it or really even tell her until she asks. (which is gonna last about 2 days; she's not stupid!) If anyone has any ideas, even silly ones please let me know??? I'm ready to tear my hair out here!
love,
mom

 

does she like smoothies?
try making her one with her favorite fruits, and blend some of that protein powder stuff in it when she's not looking

 

did you see that "vegan lunchbox" blog that YBH posted? now i understand that that lady is quite ambitious, and i dont expect you to be, but you may get some good ideas. like, she made this "make your own taco" lunch. i definitely wouldn't make a big deal out of being veggie. just offer her mostly veg food and if she asks for bacon, cook it for her. maybe the first time you could try to give her "veggie" bacon

 

as for protein, you should consider making some sort of whole wheat bread or muffin and adding some flax seed. you said she doesn't like real sweet stuff, so maybe some pumpkin muffins or banana bread? or even blueberry muffins. plus, if you let her help you make them i'll bet she'll love to eat them

 

Damn, a little girl who likes LIMA BEANS?! Well, I'll be dipped in mollasses ...

Find out of she likes soymilk! Plenty of protein in that.

 

hahahhahaha ^^ i conquer!

 

Ohh, thanks everyone! Yeah, she likes smoothies; that's about the only thing we can get her to eat while we're away from home. Where would I look for a protein powder? Sounds like the kind of "magic" I ought to keep in our car-cooler on trips!

I'm checking out the vegan lunchbox next... sounds perfect too Thanks! We do bake together every monday, and pumpkin & banana anything are favorites. I've already got flax on hand too... I take it myself for my hair & overall health. Maybe we can call them "secret ingredients!" That always works.

Hikaru, limas are the only beans she's tried that she doesn't like so far. My son loves them though... I think his genes are scrambled or something, 'cause I think they're nasty too! She does like soy milk; I give it to her when we run out of cow's milk. But I'm still nervous about messing up her estrogen levels pre-puberty and try to limit how much she gets. It might help in a pinch though.

Thank you all so much! I am so tired of fighting with her. She's a tough little bird, and I don't want to break that spirit... but she needs to eat!
love,
mom

 

Tomorrow will mark 2 weeks of nearly fight-free mealtimes in our house. We have adapted Her Majesties' diet to eliminate what little meat she was eating, and adjusted her proteins accordingly.

No, there's no magic condiment to make her finish her meals... she just couldn't care less about food. I try not to make a huge deal about it, but there have been entire weeks when she hasn't touched more than a cupful of oatmeal and 3-4 pieces of fruit.

Since switching her to a veggie diet though, she's been munching her raw fruits with a little nut butter for dip, and we've added smoothies in as a midafternoon snack. (yup, I "spiked" them with a bit of protein too... thank you SOOO much Drumminmama! I'm keeping this in our car during trips!!!) And she is happier than she's been in months. I'm keeping cheese in her diet until we can find a palatable substitute, but she is now drinking soymilk with me more often as well.

It took her a whole 3 days to realize what we'd done, and when she asked if I was making her into a vegetarian I told her honestly that no, that was her choice... but that as long as she was choosing not to eat her meat, I was going to make sure she had healty options that DIDN'T have meat in them. She's pretty excited about it really, she thinks that she & I are in an exclusive "just us girls" thing together and loves that we are doing this without the guys, and she's been investigating new foods with me quite happily. We are learning what tastes good with hummus right now, and find that so far our favorite is dipping cherry tomatoes in it.

I made breaded chicken (baked) sandwiches for the boys this afternoon, and she & I crunched on morningstar nuggets. She tried one of my buffalo nuggets, and declared them "nastyukky" but loved the parmesan ones I found for her. (I cut a pattie into strips for her) And where she never would have eaten more than 1/2 of one chicken nugget, she ate the WHOLE THING... AND her veggies & applesauce!

Thank you all SO much! I just might survive this kid's adolescence after all... maybe
love,
mom

 

That's great

Hope it all works out, you're a great mom.

 

I'm glad it's turning out well.
She sounds like such a smart little girl Aww!!
"she thinks that she & I are in an exclusive "just us girls" thing together and loves that we are doing this without the guys"

that's fricking adorable. I love it.

 

You are veggie but not raising her veggie? I am asking not as scolding, I just wanted to know.
The best thing I have come across is to keep healthy foods in your house and your child's body will tell it what she needs....however if this is a 4 day, week, 2 week thing, obviously you do have to step in.

I also suggest giving her fake bacon. Bacon tastes good, but if you're veggie... eew, I won't allow meat in our house.

 

My son is the same way. He is six, and has survived his whole life on peanut butter and cheese, in any form, but mostly sandwhiches. He goes on hunger strikes. We have tried to starve him out and make him break and eat whatever, but doesnt work. He stayed on time out for two hours once, on his knees, still didnt eat.

Going to my wifes dads house for a week is a nightmare. My wife is Vietnamese, so needless to say, he sure as hell wont touch their food.

He likes chicken nuggets, but only certain kinds from certain places.

It is quite aggrevating.

My 2 year old on the other hand will eat whatever you put in from of him.

 

I'm a new veggie... just started last Thanksgiving. I had planned on making sure *I* had it down right & could manage not to miss anything for a full year before trying this with anyone else in the family. My husband is anything but veggie, but he supports me 120% and we're working together to figure out what my lil girl will eat without a fight. It would appear that she's gonna be a lacto-veggie. Doesn't like eggs very well, but loves her cheese.
love,
mom