{Tips For Baby Feeding} Open Up Your Mouth and Eat This. Now.

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what's for dinner? Check out their cute "Quest for Yum!" video and see what happens!

A few weeks ago, we got some tips and tricks for cooking with children. But that's only half of the battle. Getting kids to actually eat the food can sometimes prove to be Mission Impossible. Luckily we're smarter than our kiddies (hopefully), and we can find ways to get them to eat without saying things like, "Open up your mouth and eat this. Now" or "They'll arrest me if you don't eat." Hopefully.

Aiden is one of the pickiest eaters that I know. He even examines his food (all of it) and if it looks remotely odd to him, he won't eat it. At all. Needless to say, meal time used to be a pain in my ass constant power struggle, but it taught me a few things along the way (always a lesson in every situation, right?). Here are a few tricks that I learned. Hopefully it'll help you combat some meal time issues if you have a picky eater like me.

Save The Sweets For Last:
Back when Aiden was just beginning solids somewhere around 4-5 months (ahh, memories...), I introduced vegetables before introducing fruits. It just made more sense for me to feed the kid something that tasted more bland. And it made him grow accustomed to the taste of vegetables. For all he knew at that point in his life, all solids tasted as such. That is until I introduced bananas.

Mix It Up:
Once I introduced bananas, it was a wrap. Aiden only wanted to eat bananas, so in order to get him to eat his veggies, I mixed them up with sweeter fruits. I'm sure you know this already, but in case you don't, it works like a charm.

Blend It In:
To the untrained tongue, mixing fruits and veggies will work wonders. But, once your infant/toddler gets a little older (and wiser), they're more likely to notice. And they may refuse to eat it. Fret not, though. You're not totally screwed. This is why they invented purees. Pureeing is great because you can sneak add loads of healthy options in classic kid-friendly dishes. Broccoli in mac n' cheese? Don't mind if I do!

Give The Appearance Of Choices (my favorite tip):
Toddlers and preschoolers like to feel empowered. (Actually, everyone likes to feel empowered, but that's another post for another time.) Said toddlers and preschoolers like to feel as though their opinions matter and as though they have a say in things. And they should have a say. Most of the time. But if it were up to most of them, they'd eat Oreo cookies or cheese puffs all day (or is that only my son?). I like to give Aiden, what I call, the appearance of choices. I'll say something along the lines of, "Would you like string beans or broccoli?" And then he decides. He's still getting something healthy in there and he feels as though he helped decide what he gets to eat. And he did. Sort of. Total win-win.


For Active Little Ones... Read A Book:
Sometimes it's not that Aiden doesn't like the dish, it's that he's too active and wants to get into too many other things. Eating then becomes a necessary evil to him because he'd rather play. To combat this, I always allow him to pick two of his favorite books, and I read them to him while he eats.

When All Else Fails... Bribe:
No, really. Bribery works wonders. You should try it sometime. Now that Aiden's a preschooler and examines every frigging inch of his food, I really save the sweets for last. Aiden loves Popsicle (or "pot-skittles," as he says), and he especially loves it after dinner. "Finish your food and then you can have a Popsicle," I say to him. "Okay," he replies. And he finishes. And he gets a "pot-skittle," Judge as you may, but... SCORE!

The good ol' folks at Plum Organics is also helping us find tips and tricks for feeding our kiddies, and it's all beginning with this video, "The Quest For Yum!" Check it out (it's super cute) and share your thoughts.

Happy Feeding!

{I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about Plum Organics, visit their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/PlumOrganics.}