vitamins and fruit/veggie questions

So my dd JUST starting eating a few bites of strawberries...she doesnt eat fruit-I think it might be a texture thing? Anyway, she will eat freeze dried fruit and those gerber fruit strips...but is this enough to get all of her fruit servings? Speaking of servings...what constitutes a serving of fruits/veggies? The size of their fist? Because that could be like 1 strawberry,lol.
Also I would like to put the kiddos on a vitamin. The pedi said thats definately ok with her and the aap is actually starting to reccomend it. She said we could do flinstones my first vitamins-crushed up, or a liquid. Just looking for thoughts?

 

Your ped could prescribe a liquid vitamin. We gave the twins gummy type vitamins, but that wasn't until they were over 2 years old. Serving sizes are relatively small at this age. My kids just LOVE fruit/veggies so that wasn't ever an issue.

 

I got my boys a liquid vitamin for dads health food store. My three year old uses the chewables.

 

At their 1 year well baby visit, their pedi told me to start giving them Poly-Vi-Sol drops without iron. You can get it at Walmart for about $7. Target also has their own brand for about $6.25; Walmart only carries the name brand. I give the 1ml every morning. It says you can add it to liquid, but I have such a hard time getting them to finish their milk in the morning I don't think they would get the full benefit so they get it right from the dropper.

If you are concerned about them getting their full serving of fruit/veggies you could always go back to Stage 3 baby food until they get used to the different textures.

It's funny you mentioned how they will eat only freeze-dried fruit. Both my boys did the same thing and eventually they started to eat fresh fruit and veggies.

 

You could try smoothies maybe? Just get some frozen fruit, add a bit of milk or yogurt and put everything in the blender.

None of my pediatricians said that vitamins are necessary but my kids eat a lot of fruit and some veggies.

 

My pediatrician also recommended Poly Vi Sol drops as well ( we have to do the one with iron for DD because hers is low). I've heard a serving for a toddler being the size of their fist or a tablespoon for each year ( age 1=1 tbsp). Mine like fruits and veggies when they are in the mood for them, so I just give them how much they are willing to eat.

 

My kids ate all kinds of fruits/veggies so the vitamin thing wasn't really ever a concern for us... I also kept all 3 of my kids on Stage 2 Formula until well over 18 months, for the exact reason of getting them more vitamins/nutrients then whole milk could offer.

Are they still getting bottles at all?? You can put a Stage 2 container of fruit in the bottle and mix it in.. I used to do that when I was introducing them to new flavors. But it would work in your situation to get more fruits into them until they get used to the whole food concept. Or if they're done with bottles, put it in their sippy cup with milk/formula, whichever.....

 

To those who suggested purees-she actually hates those and will not let me spoon feed her anything except yogurt.

No, they dont get bottles anymore. DD had feeding issues and actually hasnt drank from a bottle since she was 6-7 months old...all of her formula was spoon fed; now she does drink whole milk from a sippie...thank God.

I like the smoothie idea...I will try that.

 

This is what I do. I give my LOs fresh fruit puree with a yogurt mixed in. They love it & they get about 4 fruits that way. As your LO doesnt like purees, you could try the liquid form and offer it as a drink? Or, you could try mashing avacado with banana and a banana flavoured yogurt mixed in. If it´s really thick, just add the juice of a fresh orange, or 2. Mine love chewing on melon too.

Lunch is still purees here (DD won´t eat food though DS is getting there) but I don´t puree as much so they are forced to chew! Again, I blend 4 or 5 veggies with fish or meat. I worry they arent eating other food, like spaghetti etc, but at least they are getting some good stuff! Maybe you could lightly mash some veg together. Would she go for that?

Dinner is easy, for all of us, as they are overtired after nursery (6 hours awake!) and I admit to giving them flavoured baby cereal mixed into milk. It has all the vitamins and minerals there. They love it and have been eating it since they were one! :blush: I will have to change it eventually...

Anyway, GL!

 

My boys love fruit, but 1 of them won't touch veggies. I'm pretty sure it's a texture thing, so I offer him veggies and encourage him to try them, but I "top him up" with a jar of veggie baby food. My guys will eat an almost unlimited amount of yogurt (they get it 3 meals per day), so I will add pureed applesauce, bananas, avocado and even spinach to it! It's amazing how a little sweetness can cover up the taste of a serving of veggies in yogurt.

You can also add pureed spinach or small amounts of other veggies to fruit smoothies.

As far as vitamins, we don't have fluoridated water, so we need to give liquid vitamins with fluoride.

I'm finding it very difficult to find any hard recommendations as far as how much fruits/veggies a toddler should have per day, but a few sites say between 3/4-1 cup per day.