Katie Elwig, iVillage's nutritionist, hosted a live online chat on the Kids and Food board. If you missed it, here's a sample of some of the questions she answered

My son stopped eating veg

I'm wondering if you could advise me about what I could do to get my son to eat vegetables (or savoury in general really). He is only eight months old and we have been weaning for about three months. I make all of my own baby food and at first he loved everything I gave him including veg but within the last two weeks he has started to refuse to eat anything savoury at all.

Even if you do manage to get him to open his mouth for it he just starts crying and refusing again. He is absolutely fine with all fruit. It is purely veg or anything savoury he is refusing. Is there anything I could try to get him to start eating it again?
mummyofthree

Katie Elwig: You are experiencing what all mothers go through with their little ones and weaning so please don't be too concerned. It is terribly frustrating but it will eventually pass.

Firstly, don't force-feed him foods he is refusing as this will only aggravate him further and also increase your anxiety. Babies pick up on these anxieties and play on it for attention. Just calmly leave it until the next meal. I would actually give up offering those foods he blankly refuses and try them again in a week or so.

Perhaps it is the texture that is bothering him. Most sweet foods are easy to take, just like milk, and they slip down easily with little bother chewing. Perhaps by returning to pureeing your savoury dishes you may have more luck but try and move onto more textured food slowly.

Obviously, it is difficult to assess your son's nutritional intake through this message but I assume that he is thriving well otherwise. If you have further concerns about his poor intake and it is affecting his growth then please don't hesitate to speak with your health visitor or GP and get a referral to see a local paediatric dietician.

Vegetarian children

I've got two sons (nine months and three years old) who are both vegetarian. They are both easy to feed and like most food but I do worry about them getting enough of all nutrients.

Firstly, there's so much hype about Omega-3. They do have dairy and seeds but are there any other sources or shall I start them on a supplement?

Secondly, how do I know if they are getting enough protein? They do have lentils, beans and eggs etc with bread, rice and pasta. Is there a set amount of daily servings I should aim for?
missyaggrevation

Katie Elwig: It is really important for people to know that you can successfully wean your children onto a vegetarian diet with no detrimental effect to their health, growth and development. In fact, some vegetarian diets are far healthier than those that contain animal sources of protein.

You are obviously proof of this and there is no reason for you to change your habits. There are also plenty of cultures around the world who adopt vegetarianism and have balanced diets. It is only those who are not sensible in choosing good alternatives to protein sources etc that fail to follow a nutritionally-balanced diet.

Omega-3 is getting a lot of attention at the moment and your children will be getting all the vitamins and minerals they need from their lovely balanced diets. By offering them nuts and seeds they will most probably get more Omega-3 oils than most other children their own age.

As you may know, oily fish contains high amounts of Omega-3 and this is where non-vegetarians will probably get the most of this oil from. I would recommend continuing with seeds and perhaps looking for milk enriched with Omega-3 oils. Don't worry too much about supplementation at this time as it's expensive and hard to maintain.

My son is obsessed with juices

The other day my 20-month-old son had his first apple juice in a carton. Now if he sees one of those little cartons he's grunting and shouting 'more, more, more'. He's obsessed. I've been quite strict over juices with him as I am concerned about the amount of sugar in juice.

What do you think about cartons of juice? Are they too strong or concentrated for toddlers? Occasionally, I give him juice at home, but water it down at least four times, but it's a bit hard to water down the cartons.
tarabear

Katie Elwig: At some stage toddlers will be exposed to the wonderful world of fruit juices in cartons. Probably the most appealing thing to them is the straw, the little carton they can hold and the novelty factor.

I do not see boxed juices that contain no added sugar, additives and preservatives as being a major problem in a toddler's diet if it is part of a balanced, healthy diet and taken occasionally.

Fruit juices only become a problem if that is all they are drinking and eating. It is important to remember that a toddler's stomach is quite small and easily filled up with fluid, especially filling fruit juices. Your dentist will also recommend against regular juice drinking as the fruit acids and fruit sugars can damage developing teeth.

I would say that you have nothing much to worry about with the occasional carton of juice when you are out and about and continue to offer water, milk and diluted juice when at home.

Six-month-old with lactose intolerance

My six-month-old is currently being weaned and I am lacking in ideas for his meals due to his lactose intolerance. He is only having pureed fruit and vegetables at the moment but I'm worrying about what I can add to these to make his food more exciting.

I went to the health food shop and bought some Soya desserts and some Soya cheese but I haven't got much further than this yet. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

He was diagnosed with the intolerance at 10 weeks old and has Wysoy infant formula milk. He was constantly in agony with griping tummy pains, had green runny poos and shrieked a high-pitch cry most of the day and night before changing him to Soya milk.
mememe2005

Katie Elwig: Now that he is six months he can move more quickly onto a more balanced intake to include meats/fish and other cereals such as wheat. Be vigilant when trying eggs for the first time just in case he reacts to these too, but it sounds unlikely if he is managing Soya.

As for adding other dairy sources, you may want to try Soya yoghurts, desserts and Soya margarines on toast (good finger foods). Shop-bought Soya milks (containing added calcium) are always good for adding into foods and making up desserts with. He cannot have this milk to drink until he is over one year (keep on the Wysoy).

As for re-introducing dairy, seeing as he is tolerating the Soya formula well and I assume growing along his centile in his red book, I would stay off dairy until he is one year old and then do a trial introduction with yoghurts and then, eventually, cows milk.

It is highly likely that your son will grow out of this intolerance. Babies' guts take time to mature over the first year of life and some are more sensitive to milk proteins than others. By this time their guts are better able to tolerate these proteins.

How much milk?

I have a son aged 20 months and a week ago, I stopped him having his milk in a bottle. He has been having it in a bottle with a soft trainer spout since he was about six months old, but he was becoming increasingly obsessed with the bottles and was asking for milk constantly throughout the day.

However, since we stopped the bottles, he has flatly refused to drink any milk at all and he actually doesn't seem upset by the lack of milk. I think it was more of a bottle obsession than a milk obsession! We have tried several different cups, but nothing seems to make a difference. He does happily drink milk from a cup at nursery. So now I am unsure of what to do. He has gone from one extreme to the other!

He is a great eater and I can easily increase his intake of yoghurt, homemade milky sauces, homemade rice pudding or cheese but it would be nice for him to drink some milk too.
pipski2003

Katie Elwig: It sounds to me that you son is doing just fine and by stopping the bottles now and him refusing milk any other way is just a perfect way to end taking milk. The fact that he eats and drinks well is good news.

As for the bottles, don't use them and encourage the cup with other fluids. The fact he takes milk at nursery from a cup is just typical of toddlers. Let nursery continue this. Don't give in and let him have a bottle.

As for his milk quota, he needs only 300ml per day which can be taken through foods rather than drinking milk. You quite rightly mentioned ensuring he has milk on his cereals, cheese, a yoghurt a day etc. He will more than happily meet his 300ml quota alone in foods and receive all the calcium he needs.