s/o toddlers and eating

[revolution]

One thing I have learned and been told from the pedi is not to look at what they eat in a meal or a day. Look at what they eat over the course of a few weeks.

DD has done the 'only eat strawberries' deal. I do give her a 'PB Lollipop' (big scoop of PB on a spoon) to get something else into her. Or a cheese stick. or Wrap lebanon bologna around a cheese stick. But, really, if she is eating something healthy, I would try to offer other stuff, but not force it on her.  

[Deleted]

I don't know, but I had to stop giving cheese during meals for this reason. She gets it as a snack, but if I put it on her plate at meals she won't even bother with anything else.

Actually, now that I think of it I had to do this with strawberries at some point. I relegated them to snack status only for awhile. She kind of burned out on them, so now I can serve them with her meals with no problem.

I figure I'd be the same way if someone put a slice of cheesecake on my plate at every meal. I have the self-control of a toddler in that regard.

[eddy]

Oct 29, 2013 10:08:27 GMT -5 revolution said:

One thing I have learned and been told from the pedi is not to look at what they eat in a meal or a day. Look at what they eat over the course of a few weeks.

DD has done the 'only eat strawberries' deal. I do give her a 'PB Lollipop' (big scoop of PB on a spoon) to get something else into her. Or a cheese stick. or Wrap lebanon bologna around a cheese stick. But, really, if she is eating something healthy, I would try to offer other stuff, but not force it on her.  

This is very much how I approach eating at this age.

Normal meals or snacks end up being one thing. He finds something he likes and goes with it. He rarely will eat several things.

So with the berries if she ate a lot at lunch I just wouldn't bring them out for dinner. Then try to get her to eat something different.

[luckyval]

The "eat 2 bites of rice and I'll get you some more green beans" thing works about 75% of the time.

Always with the negotiations

[Deleted]

I've been limiting certain kinds of food to time of day. Fruit and yogurt only at breakfast, crackers only for snack, sandwiches for lunches, hot dish for dinner, that sort of thing. I only deviate from that when I'm really desperate to get something in him (which is rare. even if he doesn't like dinner, he will find some part of it he likes)

[eddy]

Leo asks for cheese at every meal. It is so cute and hard to not to just feed him a steady diet of cheese because of the cute overload.

[CurlyQ284]

Mine is a carnivore. I put meat on his tray last so he eats his other stuff. He's too young to ask for it but he will eat his chicken and then fuss.

[shananagins]

I won't take the berries or cheese out of the fridge until they've eaten whatever main food I'm giving them. If they're having scrambled eggs and berries for breakfast I'll give them a plate with the eggs first then a handful of berries when they've finished the eggs. If they even see the berry tub they'll toss the eggs on the ground and shout for berries.

[Deleted]

Eddy, Naomi shakes the refrigerator handles yelling, "Cheese! Cheese!" It's funny and sad.

I've also realized that I can't put a variety of foods in front of her. I think she gets overwhelmed or something. This is why most of her meals at home are casseroles or soups. Something where I can mix the vegetables, carbs, and protein all together. she will eat the absolute shit out of a casserole.

It's easier for me to do that than to try to keep up with her intake over a few days' or weeks' time.

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2013 10:11:46 GMT -5 @missusbee said:

I've been limiting certain kinds of food to time of day. Fruit and yogurt only at breakfast, crackers only for snack, sandwiches for lunches, hot dish for dinner, that sort of thing. I only deviate from that when I'm really desperate to get something in him (which is rare. even if he doesn't like dinner, he will find some part of it he likes)

We do this, too.  Fruit is at breakfast and only at dinner if we're short on veggies.  Jake is able to get them to eat an entire dinner of veggies though so I try not to worry too much.  Lunch daycare takes care of and it's varied enough to keep their interest lol.

The boys have been pickier lately b/c they aren't feeling as well and it's so frustrating.  I will let them have more of whatever they are eating in a meal, but then like Eddy said above I won't bring it out for another.  This also means I give about 3 options per meal and anything I would be okay with them just eating one of them.

We have wasted more food lately b/c they get mad and dump it on their trays  

[eddy]

Tamb I repeat so much with Leo. It is hard. He can't eat all the meals we can eat because of the lack of toofs. Plus I don't have a huge pantry so it is hard to keep 5 trillion things on hand to keep the variety fresh.

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2013 10:13:46 GMT -5 eddy said:

Leo asks for cheese at every meal. It is so cute and hard to not to just feed him a steady diet of cheese because of the cute overload.

Yeeeeup!!

Mo' cheeeez!

Dadeeeee cheeez!

Boos Coos!  Mo' cheeeeez Boos Coos! [if they mention cheese on Blues Clues]

HOW CAN I RESIST?!

[ijack]

It depends on what your goal is. Do you want them to gain weight, or do you want them to learn to eat what you make?
The best rule of thumb is that it's your job to provide a healthy well rounded meal, and it's their job to decide what and how much to eat. We do do a one bite rule at our house, only because my girls are stubborn and will refuse to try things I know they'll love, but that's not always necessary.
This is a good website.
www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/

[Deleted]

So your problem, Tamb, is she's too smart and focused.

Fo' real. The boys will forget unless we mention it. Granted, just the word of whatever they want will trigger asking, but they don't remember on their own.

[Deleted]

I'd just give her the berries for dinner, to be honest. She'll get tired of them. Let her wash them down with some milk and call it a day.

[eddy]

Oct 29, 2013 10:19:27 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Oct 29, 2013 10:15:24 GMT -5 shananagins said:

I won't take the berries or cheese out of the fridge until they've eaten whatever main food I'm giving them. If they're having scrambled eggs and berries for breakfast I'll give them a plate with the eggs first then a handful of berries when they've finished the eggs. If they even see the berry tub they'll toss the eggs on the ground and shout for berries.

I would love to do this but she remembers them from the night before, and will refuse to eat until she gets them. She reaches for the fridge and whines. Then it's like, do I give them to her so she'll at least eat SOMETHING, or do I stick to my guns and say okay, no dinner, no berries? Which then ends up meaning she eats nothing at all.

I am a softy

I would give her the berries if she is really set on them. In a week she will be over berries and there will be something else she can't get enough of.

But Jack doesn't eat veggies and fights trying new food so feel free to ignore me lol.

[Deleted]

If Andy ate a cup of berries, his ass would be in seriously trouble. I did an experiment once to see what his blueberry limit was. Every day I'd give him an extra berry. 5 blueberries, fine. 6 blueberries, diaper en fuego. I don't get it.

Anyway. I bet she will burn out on berries at some point. If it means a lot to you that she eat dinner food at dinner, maybe limit berries to breakfast and lunch. She will probably whine at the fridge for awhile but she will pick up sooner or later that its a breakfast food only, right?

[Deleted]

Can you mix the berries in yogurt or is she a purist?

[Deleted]

I feel like Joanna and Andy are both at a weird age for eating. Old enough to start to have preferences and throw nutties, but not old enough to really understand much. Its hard.

Last night Andy saw me dish out dinner onto his plastic plate and put it in the fridge to cool down. He then repeatedly threw himself at the fridge and laid down in front of it, screaming bloody murder until I took it out. omg.

[eddy]

Oct 29, 2013 10:29:33 GMT -5 @missusbee said:

I feel like Joanna and Andy are both at a weird age for eating. Old enough to start to have preferences and throw nutties, but not old enough to really understand much. Its hard.

Last night Andy saw me dish out dinner onto his plastic plate and put it in the fridge to cool down. He then repeatedly threw himself at the fridge and laid down in front of it, screaming bloody murder until I took it out. omg.

I swear this age man. The flipping his shit on the floor is in full effect with Leo.

And I personally think these guys are too young for the "take one bite thing" I don't think Leo would get it. You just have to KOKO.

Or in our house our motto is "If Leo is happy we are all happy" lol We give the baby what he wants.

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2013 10:32:33 GMT -5 eddy said:

Oct 29, 2013 10:29:33 GMT -5 @missusbee said:

I feel like Joanna and Andy are both at a weird age for eating. Old enough to start to have preferences and throw nutties, but not old enough to really understand much. Its hard.

Last night Andy saw me dish out dinner onto his plastic plate and put it in the fridge to cool down. He then repeatedly threw himself at the fridge and laid down in front of it, screaming bloody murder until I took it out. omg.

I swear this age man. The flipping his shit on the floor is in full effect with Leo.

And I personally think these guys are too young for the "take one bite thing" I don't think Leo would get it. You just have to KOKO.

Or in our house our motto is "If Leo is happy we are all happy" lol We give the baby what he wants.

The boys will maybe 1/2:10 times understand "eat a pea and I'll give you more X."  Unless it's cheese and then all bets are off.

They also USED to be able to get tricked if I sprinkled cheese on top of stuff.  NO MORE!  They pick it out and then whine.

Honestly, eating w them takes much longer now b/c they WILL eat but Marcus needs to eat something he likes first (cheese, cracker, banana, whatever strikes his darn toddler fancy), and both of them take FOREVER lately.  Little grazers.  It's fine but omg.

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2013 10:49:47 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Oh, I am also going to tell my mom not to give her milk after lunchtime in case that's keeping her from being hungry at dinner. When we were talking briefly about food struggles, I told the pedi she doesn't drink much milk, but then I realized that I don't really know how much she drinks at my mom's.

I have noticed Marc will eat less if he drinks more milk.

Gabe is apparently hollow.

[Deleted]

I think all of the suggestions in here are good, but the main thing I try to keep in mind is that figuring out the eating patterns or habits of a toddler is pretty much an exercise in futility. Hell, I don't even know why I do what I do w/r/t food.

Just don't spend too much time thinking about it, or if you do, recognize that all the effort you took to find a suitable approach will basically go out the window as soon as the little heathen changes her mind. Lol. She's so young. Giving her healthy options is about all you can do.

I'm anticipating the day that she refuses all of the casseroles I've lovingly prepared and frozen. Then I'll be back to square one.

[icechalk]

At that age I rarely offered all the food at once.

My older kids are big enough now to negotiate with / threaten / cajole enough to eat everything and get seconds if they finish.

But at that age I typically offered the least favorite / most rejected food first, while they were hungry, and their favorite thing last. So if they ate their veggies then beans and rice then still wanted 3 servings of blueberries that was ok with me.

Only offer water with meals. My kids get milk only at wake up and after dinner. At that age probably another small cup after nap.

Overall though don't sweat it if she eats berries only for dinner Sometimes. The next day don't offer fruits but lots of veggies instead.

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2013 10:11:12 GMT -5 luckyval said:

The "eat 2 bites of rice and I'll get you some more green beans" thing works about 75% of the time.

Always with the negotiations

Yep.

[eddy]

I have tried the "eat one more bite Leo" and I will point to his food. Then he just mimics my pointing to his food, claps for himself and doesn't take another bite.

derp

[youbetcha]

Tamb, I just want to hug you and show you the future where your little cutie will eat all kinds of stuff again. It can happen. I would still classify my DS (6) as a picky eater but he is light years from where he was. When he was Joanna's age, he would eat fruit, deli turkey, cheese and yogurt. THAT WAS ALL. I nearly killed myself. I am not declaring myself an expert, but here are a few things I did.

1) Require one bite of everything for every year of age. Joanna won't get this yet, but next year she will. "You need to eat two bites because you're two." It took a while to get him to acknowledge it as a rule, but eventually he did. Let her have berries and then try to get a bite of the other stuff into her before you give her more. It won't always work, and sometimes you'll just have to give up and let her have a dinner of berries. It will be fine. I promise she won't go to college on an all-berry diet. You just have to be all breezy about it, which leads me to...

2) Act like I don't care. Seriously, sometimes I say the "Look at all the fucks I give" thing from here in my head. The more you are dying for her to eat, the less she will do it. They love to screw with you.

3) Do the "one thing he likes" thing. Yes, for a while it will seem like she is just eating the one thing. But eventually you will stumble on new things that she likes.

I know it seems like the biggest deal in the world right now. I feel so bad for you! When DS was Joanna's age he was having weight gain issues so I was obsessed with trying to get him to eat anything and everything, but I was also dead set on him eating with us. He still sort of modifies our meals to focus on what he likes best, but don't we all, really?

Just keep at it, but also keep not giving any fucks as far as she can tell.

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2013 11:23:18 GMT -5 eddy said:

I have tried the "eat one more bite Leo" and I will point to his food. Then he just mimics my pointing to his food, claps for himself and doesn't take another bite.

derp

If I do this, Andy picks it up and offers it to me. As though I were asking him for it. He is genuinely pleased by this solution. "I don't want it, Mom obviously is interested, WALLA"