My toddler refuses vegetables — should I worry?

Why toddlers reject vegetables

Food neophobia — suspicion of new or bitter foods — peaks around age 2 in almost every child, and it's thought to be evolutionary: a newly-mobile human who won't eat unfamiliar plants is harder to poison. Bitter is the flavour of many vegetables, so they take the brunt. This is a phase of normal development, not a verdict on your cooking or a nutrition emergency.

The playbook that works

• Tiny, pressure-free portions of the refused food alongside food they accept, served without comment.
• Count exposures, not victories — research consistently finds 10–15 relaxed encounters before a new food is accepted. Most parents give up by attempt three.
• Eat it yourself, visibly — modelling beats persuasion at this age.
• Judge the week, not the day — toddler intake averages out across days in a way single meals never show.

What backfires

Bribing with pudding teaches that vegetables are the toll and pudding the prize. Hiding vegetables works nutritionally but doesn't teach acceptance. Short-order cooking rewards refusal. And pressure of any kind — pleading, praising each bite, the aeroplane — measurably increases pickiness. Boring persistence wins.