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| I will not eat the food you give me woman! I will either put it in my hair or throw it at the pooch. That is how I roll... |
I opened a yogurt - she had two bites and refused to have more.
I made a cream cheese & jelly sandwich - she had two bites and threw the rest on the floor.
I cut up turkey meatballs - one piece in mouth, spit out onto her tray, the rest thrown and the floor and into the pooch's belly.
And finally she ate two bread n' butter stacker pickles, about 5 bites of pineapple and a handfull of mini pretzel sticks.
Gone are the days of me bragging about what a fantastic eater my daughter is. I used to be able to make her things like sauteed tilapia and vegetable quiche. Now I am lucky if she even eats two bites of the same thing. I now dread every meal time as it consists of me making about 10 different things because who the hell knows what she is going to be in the mood for today! I used to be able to make anything and she would eat it...not so much anymore.
Tonight I cut up fresh papaya and avocado, thinking she hadn't had either in a long time and that she would eat them both up. The papaya made it to her tongue and she immediately gave me "the face" and spit it out and then proceeded to throw the piece on her tray on the floor. Papaya is not easy to get up off the hardwood people! And same went for the avocado...one of her old favorites. I then got out some pieces of a chicken I roasted earlier this week, that was a big hit three days ago (to my utter shock she ate it two meals in a row). Yeah you would have thought I was giving her dog food (maybe I should try dog food!).
Then I gave her tiny pieces of shrimp cocktail - spit out.
Then I cooked some turkey sausage - not even put in mouth, just thrown directly at the pooch, who gladly woofed it down (pun intended).
When she said with a big smile "cheese!" I gladly got out some cheese for her. Little did I know she didn't want to actually eat the cheese, but throw it at the pooch.
We finally resorted to a berry, banana, peanut butter, leftover yogurt from lunch, protein powder and milk smoothie. And she drank the entire thing. This also happens to be what she had for breakfast this morning. I guarantee tomorrow she will hate it.
Help! What are some other things I can add to our repertoire!
My son has been doing this for the past 2-3 weeks too! I tried everything- all the old favorites. I even broke down and bought *gasp* American cheese! For my baby who used to love soft ripened goat cheese.....
ReplyDeleteSO, I decided not to cater anymore- to give him what I am eating, and to sit and eat with him. He loves to take food off my plate, and is starting to eat more!
Have you tried distractions? We read books when we are dining at home, which can sometimes help. But as little man has always been a horrible eater, I clearly haven't figured this one out yet!
ReplyDeleteThis is the danger of becoming the short order cook. It seems to me that M is at the developmental stage where she has clearly learned that she is an independent little being and can assert control over your actions and food/meal time is one of her prime targets. Also, the toddler appetite slows down due to a few perfectly normal natural history things: 1) attention span (as mentioned distractions may help -- you sitting with her, books, music etc) 2) decreased appetite because of changes in growth velocity --> have a look at the growth chart, the slope of the curve is leveling out now and 3) discovery of mommy mind control as described above... this is what is going on in most toddler minds at meal time, "hmmm... I wonder what I can do to make mommy and daddy run around more, so that I can see what else is in that cold box in the kitchen"
ReplyDeleteThe suggestion above to not cater to the kiddos every whim is a good one. When they are hungry, they will eat. They are actually really good at self-regulating even though it looks like they are eating nothing. Just think about how frustrating it must be when someone shoves something in front of your face that you don't want to eat and in too large of a portion. Not so appetizing right?
Also, I think that in general we all have a warped sense of what a normal portion size is because of restaurant sized portions. The toddler belly ain't so big.
Okay, so that's my mommy rant for the day. I am totally neurotic about feeding my kid because childhood nutrition is my field of work and I love to cook, so I know it can get really emotional when what you make is not what she wants to eat. Oh the power she can wield over me!