We've been lucky - S has always been a pretty good eater. We've had our ups and downs, but she's at least tried most things we've put in front of her. She used to eat like a house (no pun intended.) now she is mellowing out in her consumption amounts. She'll still try new things, but we've learned putting them to the front of the meal is our best bet - usually in the 2nd slot. Give her something tasty and familiar for the first course and then on to the new item, which may or may not be summarily rejected.
And as a 15-month old, she is now in the land of exerting her will. If she doesn't want it, she is most certainly going to let you know it - either with an emphatic shaker of her head, a swat of her hand, or an out and out "No." So, really, she doesn't leave you guessing. When she's done, she's done.
Unfortunately, we've also come into the "let's throw food on the floor" time. Despite every attempt to tell her "No" (forcefully, gently, you name it) she thinks it's a game, breaking into a huge smile when you tell her no. She'll happily eat, but when she hits a certain point, it's all about how much can be mashed into little pieces and then systematically dropped on the floor. It really used to bother me (though thank god we have hard wood floors- I couldn't imagine carpets!) but this weekend we've made the decision to just ignore her, hoping the novelty of the reaction will wear off.
Moms - are you running into the same thing? Any tips or tricks?
I remember bring so grateful that we had a dog during this phase - it made cleaning up the floors so much easier! I think you're right to ignore it. Eventually she'll get bored with it and move on to something else...like mashing it into her hair...
ReplyDeleteThanks Mama S. We had a dog visiting us this weekend and it was great for cleanup. But - it totally presented a new problem - S being so excited to feed the doggie her food as opposed to eating it herself. Ugg...I'll win someday! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of gross, but I've found that if I mix cheerios into ANYTHING, my son will eat it. This is how I get him to eat apple sauce, pureed prunes, spinach, etc. He will busily pick at the cheerios for up to 30 minutes and in the process consume anything covering them. However if he can no longer find any cheerios he will then swat anything left on his tray to the floor.
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