Carrots and Other Raw Veggies

[mama2a]

I've been giving my 13 month old mostly cooked veggies so that she can actually eat them. However, I have given her some baby carrots and celery sticks in which she just gnaws on them. Do I just keep doing this until she figures out that she can take a bite out of it?

[chubs]

Do you do dips? Peanut butter, humus, cheeses.. celery is just a dip transporter IMO. Maybe steam it very lightly so that it's still firm but she can get more with the gnawing. Has she seen anyone else eat carrots or celery raw?

Eta shredded carrots are fun too and really work their little fingers.

[somerandomchick]

gnawing is totally fine! Ros used to gnaw on raw bell pepper strips a lot

If they're hungry they might just get frustrated by raw veggies--around 10-12 months DD really started eating in a focused manner and rejected raw veggies because she got frustrated that they took too long to eat. But with some practice she got better at taking bites to eat and started liking them again

If she's getting frustrated you can offer raw veggies at the end of a meal so she's less hungry and more willing to just kind of 'play' with veggies

Celery is actually kind of nice for gnawing practice because the fibrousness means it won't just snap off a bigger piece than they expect... DD is surprisingly good at scraping the flesh off the fibers of a celery rib with her teeth

You can slice carrots thinner, closer to the size you'd put in salads. Raw carrots can be a choking hazard cause they're more brittle and your kid can snap off a piece they can't handle.