Toddler Dinners: No Soup For You

This week I am coming to you, internet, for some advice.  It’s all about soup.

How the hell do you get a toddler to eat soup?

Is my kid the only one who doesn’t eat it?

Am I the only mom who doesn’t even attempt it?

I see on Landon’s daily that they have soup and he NEVER eats it. From my perspective that is kind of a “duh” statement.  Soup is hard to eat. You have to have some serious spoon skills. Hell my kid can’t finish a serving of rice without it going everything…so liquid? Not gonna happen. But I have been thinking lately, I am just crazy? Should I be trying to teach him to eat it or wait until he decides which hand he likes to use more?

On top of all this, it is cold and I want to make soup for dinner…ya know…with grilled cheese and shit but I don’t wanna have to make him something else *insert whiny voice here*.  I could sneak in more veggies, introduce new spices and just have another easy meal in my pocket but I am gun shy.

So do you serve soup? Any tips? Magic spoons? Ponchos?

Here are a few selections from this week’s toddler dinners…

Toddler Dinners is my weekly series of posts to explore the world of feeding munchkins. Each Monday I will post our previous week’s meals and a rating on how they went as well as discuss numerous issues we all face. Find out more here. Also be sure to follow me along throughout the week with your creations on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #toddlerdinners.

27 thoughts on “Toddler Dinners: No Soup For You

  • January 23, 2012 at 10:32 am
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    They gave my boys tomato soup in a cup instead of a bowl at school. They would always eat it at school but not at home. We tried everything to get soup in them but they would not eat it as toddlers. Oh wait, EVEN NOW my boys will not eat any kind of soup, even pureed soup. Their loss.

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    • January 23, 2012 at 8:54 pm
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      Yeah I think I am also hesitant thinking he just won’t like it. But I need to try.

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  • January 23, 2012 at 10:39 am
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    My kids didn’t eat soup until they were pre-school aged at the earliest. I was worried about it being too hot, the spoon skills etc. But I have a suggestion: start with the creamier thicker soups, such as baked potato. They stick to the spoon pretty well and you can serve them a little cooler and they’re still fine. My kids will now all eat soup, and that’s the one they all agree on.

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    • January 23, 2012 at 8:55 pm
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      Yeah I figure I need to try and see. If it is too much effort, o well.

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  • January 23, 2012 at 10:42 am
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    I shy away from soup too but when I do try it I’ll make a single serving of rice or noodles to thicken it up and make it easier to scoop.

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    • January 23, 2012 at 8:56 pm
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      Yeah we usually make our tomato sop with pasta so I need to load his up more.

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  • January 23, 2012 at 11:04 am
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    We’ve given our little guy tomato soup once, he liked it, but gave up after a few minutes b/c it was so much work. Give the kid applesauce though, and he’ll sit there patiently eating it for 20 minutes, go figure!
    We don’t eat a lot of soup (hubby doesn’t think it’s a meal even with a sandwich on the side), so I’m not too concerned about it.
    maybe try is in a cup if it doesn’t have lots of stuff in it, or drain the liquid out so its more noodles/veggies?

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    • January 23, 2012 at 8:57 pm
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      A lot of people are saying the cup thing. We will see. Could be interesting.

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  • January 23, 2012 at 12:38 pm
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    We don’t give Ry soup…we’ve never actually tried, but I know my girl and I know she wouldn’t like it. That being said though, we eat grilled cheese and soup at least once every other week or so. She just gets applesauce and leftover veggies instead of soup. And, I’m with you on this…I also don’t want to deal with the ever-loving mess that would surely come from her eating said soup.

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  • January 23, 2012 at 12:44 pm
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    Usually my son (2.5 yrs old) will drink the broth first and then eat the stuff in the soup. Take note that this only goes for Chicken noodle because there is nothing else he will touch. He does the same with cereal and milk. Drinks the milk, then eats the cereal. Maybe you could try it that way.

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  • January 23, 2012 at 12:56 pm
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    Give him the soup but without the liquid. So for vegetable soup, just give the veggies/noodles, etc. Or you could put the all-liquid type soups in a cup for him to drink. My son is 2 and I can’t imagine him eating soup from a spoon. But he loves it in a non-“liquidy” form.

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    • January 23, 2012 at 8:58 pm
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      Problem is we do purée type soups. So that is all there is.

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  • January 23, 2012 at 1:44 pm
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    Okay, so Brady eats soup. He gets it maybe a day a week at daycare and will eat it there. At home we do tomato soup, which he dips his grilled cheese in or just eats or sometimes vegetable soup which is harder to convince him to eat. He will eat basically any soup that has a noodle in it.
    I don’t know if it is because he sees us eating it but he will eat it and does a pretty good job not spilling it.
    (We do take his shirt off for soup…just sayin)

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  • January 23, 2012 at 3:27 pm
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    We’ve given the girls soup before, but to my recollection, I think only once: a cheesy broccoli soup I made from scratch. (oh yeah, I threw that in there for Motherhood Extraordinaire Effect!) Maëlle spilled hers every.fricken.where and it was a total nightmare of a cleanup. But we made bread with it too & she did a lot of dipping her bread in the soup. So maybe next time I’ll do less soup in her bowl, more bread. The older two did fine.

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  • February 22, 2012 at 12:43 am
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    First, I love your blog and your posts. We eat pretty healthy but are definitely in a rut over here. Sophie is getting REALLY tired of steamed veggies, whole wheat pasta and chicken. Found you via Pinterest and I am trying to spice it up a bit. SO many sites suggest soup. No way, no how. We use a “splat mat” on the floor, and even have a dog for extra clean up, but I can’t imagine the mess from soup. I do like the thought of scooping out the veggies and pasta though, and I think I will try that tomorrow for something new. Thanks so much for the suggestions! And for making me not feel like a loser because we haven’t tried soup!

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    • February 22, 2012 at 10:58 am
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      Well welcome! So happy to help. We have tried soup with Landon since I posted and I did tomato with A LOT of macaroni noodles. Hurdle this time was he was convinced it is hot but we eventually got him to eat but playing up blowing on it to cool it down. That added the fun he needed. I had leftovers for the next night and he happily ate it. Maybe he was seeing the hot pot on the stove and associating the hot. Dunno. Hope to have soup again this week!

      If you ever want a specific topic covered on Toddler Dinners, just ask!

      Reply
  • December 28, 2012 at 12:42 am
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    we cut a bendy straw so it fits easily into the bowl and they suck out the soup and then use their spoons for any big pieces 🙂 your blog is awesome!! i love all the toddler food ideas!!! my boys are so picky and we get in such a dinner rut!!! love the toddler ratings!

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  • June 17, 2013 at 5:59 pm
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    Hooray for soup. My 2.5 YO asks for soup every day. I help her with it while its hot then let her at it after I feel she’s had a good amount. They love to dip and soup is no exception. She’s really good with a spoon now too. I whip up soups in no time flat and you can get everything they need in there, with some fruit for ‘dessert’ its a win-win! Best super simple tomato soup is a tiny can of low sodium V8 heated up with cream. Put it in a fun bowl, add straw maybe a grilled cheese or flax crackers, some fresh fruit and I feel pretty good about that meal. I don’t know what I’d do without soup in the rotation!

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    • June 17, 2013 at 6:01 pm
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      Oh, and we are not afraid of mess. As she says “it’s an accident. It happens sometimes” 🙂

      Reply
  • Pingback:Today’s Hint: An Easier Way to Serve Chicken Soup to Messy Eaters – Hint Mama

  • April 20, 2016 at 7:30 pm
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    My son loves soups.. So far, we've made asparagus, butternut squash, mixed vegetable, broccoli and pea soups. My son is goin to be 2 this June. So, when I make soup, I put some in a little bowl for him and hand him a spoon and I feed him the rest. All soups are made with home made stick and I throw in some cheese or chicken for that extra flavour or texture sometimes.. Hope this helps..

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  • October 22, 2019 at 6:30 pm
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    My kids always ate soup. We are a huge stew and left over soup family. As i write this my 3 year old grabd daughter and I are having Chicken noodle soup and loaded baked potatoes

    Reply

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