Do you remember not liking certain foods when you were younger?
How you might have screamed and shouted not to eat that specific thing on your plate?
Or how you spit out your food because you didn’t like the taste in your mouth?
Does it all come back full circle to your toddler and their own hatred towards certain foods?
It can be hard to satisfy their own palate when the things they don’t like might be very much beneficial for them.
Why Your Toddler Might Dislike Certain Foods
Let’s first dive into why they don’t like eating certain foods before everything else.
Well, according to Parenting Science, some children are especially sensitive to the sensory properties of food.
With this increased sensitivity, things like odour, flavour and texture might give them more opportunity to notice things they distrust or dislike.
It is also said that young children start life with an aversion to bitter or sour flavours.
Even when they were newborn babies, they react very negatively when their tongue comes in contact with anything that is bitter or sour.
Not only that, but they can detect faint bitter flavours that we, adults can’t.
Your toddler is also designed to seek out sweet foods and they have the tendency to shrink away from new foods.
Foods Your Toddler May Hate and How to Change Their Minds
There are certain foods that toddlers hate and Eva Hill Hamilton shared 30 types of foods many may be fussy about.
There are different reasons why they might not like some of these foods, but there are ways for you to possibly change their mind.
1. Brussels Sprouts
According to a study by Cornwall College, it was found that brussels sprouts contain a chemical, which only tastes bitter to people who have a variation of a certain gene.
As mentioned, kids usually don’t like bitter tastes.
Sally Kuzemchack shared a few ways you can try to make brussels sprouts your toddler’s favourite—she suggested to roast them.
Roast them with oil, salt and pepper.
You can drizzle some syrup or honey over them to incorporate something sweet to encourage them to eat the vegetable.
2. Fish
According to the Washington State Department of Health, fish is filled with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins. These include vitamins D and B2.
They’re also rich in calcium and phosphorus and a great source for minerals.
If your child shows a disliking towards them, it might be because of the texture, smell or look of it.
Wixter Seafood recommended that you choose a mild and meaty fish.
The fishy smell of them might be what deters your toddler away from fish
Fishes like seabass and cod lacks the fishiness.
3. Onions
Toddlers might look at onions, despite being chopped or sliced as something foreign and might not want to eat them.
It could be the texture but eating onions can give your kids plenty of benefits.
According to Spice World Inc, onions can help improve the digestive health.
As they have a high amount prebiotics and fibre, this helps improve gut health by helping with digestion, strengthening the immune system and lowering inflammation.
Erinn Jacobi shared a few ways to help your toddler that hates onions.
Try exposing your child to onions, have them touch, smell or just simply see them.
This might not intimidate them when they first see onions in their own plates.
4. Eggs
Eggs are one of the foods that toddlers hate.
There might be their own reasons why they don’t like it, like maybe the smell or texture of it.
There are many ways to cook eggs and you might just need to cook in a way that doesn’t irk or disgust your child.
If that doesn’t work, just incorporate them into delicious bakes like cakes or make them pancakes.
5. Avocado
According to What a Good Eater, they found that kids who don’t quite prefer avocados because it tastes too plain to them.
As kids love sweet things, the site also suggested that you should try re-introducing your child with avocados by adding honey.
Another great way is to make an avocado chocolate smoothie for your chocolate loving toddler.
6. Cauliflower
According to a research, there’s an odour that comes from raw cauliflower that was ranked most unpopular by both kids and parents.
Dimethyl trisulfide found in the vegetable is said to smell rotten, sulfurous and putrid.
My Recipes shared a few sneaky cauliflower recipes that would benefit your child that hates them and any other adults that have a little bit of trouble consuming this vegetable.
One of the suggestions is mashed cauliflower.
7. Beetroot
It’s not just a dislike to your toddler, there are even some adults that dislike them.
It might be because to some, these purple vegetable taste like dirt, according to Just Beet It.
Detoxinista shared a beetroot smoothie that can help hide the taste of beetroot for your toddler.
They go well with strawberries and bananas.
If you want to hide the beetroot flavour even more, try using some frozen raspberries.
8. Broccoli
Like cauliflower, one of the possible reasons why your toddler doesn’t like this mini tree-shaped vegetable is because of the smell and according to How It Works, broccoli contains a compound that makes it taste bitter.
She Knows also shared a few recipes to hide this vegetable and of the methods is to incorporate them with cheese for your cheese-loving child.
Don’t Force It
If you’ve tried hiding food in your child’s meals and they still can’t eat them, don’t try to force it on them.
Give them time and maybe their preference might just change.
If your child used to be picky about certain foods, let us know what you did to make them like that food.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice from Motherhood. For any health-related concerns, it is advisable to consult with a qualified healthcare professional or medical practitioner.
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