Editor’s Note: Fruits are packed with various nutrients and are essential for a baby’s growth a development. However, many children refuse to eat it. Our IL ladies have provided tips on how we can solve this issue. Share your ideas with us here.
Include them to help you wash the fruit, keeping the chopper ready, to select their choice of fruit/veggie while cutting the fruits/veggies while preparing a meal they might try to taste it in the process.
Try to carry cubed fruits when you go out and about as she’ll be tired after some time, just offer fruits and nothing else. She may try in outdoors after her playtime.
Try adding fruits/dry fruits(if she doesn’t like raw fruits for time being) in cereals, pancakes, etc. for better nutrition.
You can try banana chappathi,boiled apple with rice, slices of apples in sandwich, mixed fruit dosa rolls etc.
Baking or roasting fruits like apples, banana, pea with wee butter makes a big difference in taste.
A few days back,I saw a lady use grated apples in the alu tikki.
My greatgrandmom used to add ripe bananas while kneading the dough.
You can even make smoothies, milkshakes, frozen yoghurt,fresh fruit ice creams too by using fruits.
Peach karanjis,pineapple or mango sheera,banana or jackfruit muluk,semolina-fruit cake are some other ways to incorporate it in her food.
Also if your daughter likes you can make fruit kababs on toothpicks or fruit chaat or fruit and corn bhel or mixed fruit sasam or fruit sandwich or mixed fruit shreekhand or fruit shikran or any fruit parathas or even fruit panipuri.
If your daughter doesn’t like uncooked fruits you can first use them in recipes where they are cooked and once she gets accustomed to the taste then gradually give her in the uncooked form.
Try to add them in breakfast along with cereals, oats.
Cut them in to small pieces garnish with grated chocolate or chocolate sauce, initially to make her to pick it up and taste. Then slowly reduce the choco content and let her try with honey.
Make it a routine to give her one bowl of fruits per day (let her choose to have it in the morning or evening). adding 2 or 3 fruits like apple, orange and grape like a fruit salad will make it more attractive to eat.
You can try making smoothie of various fruit combinations to start with
1. Banana + strawberry + nuts + dates + jaggery or palm sugar + honey
2. Mango + apple + apricots + fig + nuts + dates + jaggery or palm sugar
3. Chikko + mango + banana + nuts + dates + honey
