The Banana Phase

[Tweakster]

Well we have a reasonably good eater.  He will try most that we put on his plate and is doing fairly well with eating a variety.  He doesn't eat a lot at any meal but he does get hungry and snack in between so we figure over a day and week he gets what he needs.  He's still growing and staying on his growth curve.  Daycare says he eats well most days.

We have a fruit bowl that lives on the main dining table.  It will normally have bananas in it.  Finn has become an insane banana fan.  To the point that he will stop eating his meal and continue to point at the bowl and yell 'nana? nana?' until he gets some.  If we move the bowl off the table he gets upset and flings his food around and he cries.

How much is too much banana?  It's starting to become part of every meal.  He can eat a whole banana without blinking.  It's filling him up and he doesn't want to finish his meal.  But if we don't give it to him then he stops eating his meal anyway.  Arrrgh.  What do you do when they get into this one track mind phase and start to only want one particular food all the time?  Do you just say 'no banana today' and leave it at that? 

[koe2moe]

banana is always big here and we seriously consider getting some stock if they exist.  DS is 19 mo now and we were on 10 days vacation.  He still ate average 2-3 bananas a day and he ate a lot of other things.  I asked our GP and he said.. not possible to have too many bananas.  I wouldn't worry about it.  I need to go buy more bananas   HTH

[Mashi]

When things like that got really engrained in DS, I stopped buying the food - ie/ no more bananas in the house for a week or so.  Then they are on rotation - I will buy "bananas" one week and not the next.

In terms of how much is too much banana, one counts as one fruit serving a day, so I would not let him have more than one medium sized one.  I also try to buy the ripest possible and then let them sit for a few days until the skin has thinned and is brownish - as the less ripe they are, the more they cause constipation and the more filling they seem to be.  But I personally don't see any harm in one banana every day.

[Mum-of-Two]

I use banana as an afternoon snack.  Oliver will also eat a whole banana without blinking and its a quick/easy snack to leave for daycare when I am not home.

I think I'd remove it from the rotation for a few days too -- and the bowl it is usually put in as well.  Then figure out when/how you want it back in his diet.  I also don't see anything wrong with it provided its not constipating him at all.  Certainly has no ill effects for us and a bunch of bananas ripen so quickly I will still buy them half green (only eat when yellow) because by the end of the week they are brown.

[*Liz*]

I would hide the fruit bowl and all the bananas - just like I have hidden the biscuit tin to avoid the 'nic nic' confrontation and the cake tin to avoid the 'crazy signing man' confrontation.

That way I can say to him would you like a ..... and give it to him. They are not on his mind all the time.

I would say one a say is enough - it is constipating and has a LOT of potassium in it. I don't think it would be common in a LO - but we certainly see issues in adults with potassium and bananas (usually caused by something else and made worse by relatives bringing fruit bowls with lots of bananas).

[Tweakster]

Actually he has had rabbit pellet poop lately, probably a sign of his refusal to drink any substantial amount of liquids and banana overload - *sigh*.  I like the rotation idea, just don't buy them lol  How simple is that.  Then keep the bowl elsewhere, actually it's probably better anyway because I have seen a lot of fruit flies in that area and we eat there so the less flies the better!

[Mom to M&M]

ITA with everyone. I'd move the fruit bowl and not always have bananas in it. I'd also limit to one a day tops, maybe 1/2 if he's getting constipated. And like Mashi said, the more ripe they are, the less likely they are to constipate (in fact a super-ripe banana can lead to loose BMs).

DS is that way with strawberries, grapes and blueberries. If he sees them it's all over for anything else. Luckily we like cold berries/grapes so they live in the fridge/out of sight!

[Tweakster]

Yeah I mean we have apples, and nectarines, and oranges in the bowl, but not like he's asking for those! ;-)  I'll put the bowl on the kitchen island rather than the table we eat at, that is if I can get DH to move all his crap off there.

[Texomamama]

Well, you can add chili powder to the banana in a nod to your other post about spice   Maybe that would slow him down.

[Tweakster]

lol yes it might

Actually we decided to leave the bowl on the table but sans bananas, and hoped that he might ask for other fruit.  He cried last night for his bananas but we showed him the bowl and said 'there are no bananas, see' and he looked at us for a while and looked confused and then went quiet lol  He ate peaches instead :-)

[*Liz*]

Hey - mummy 1 Finn 0.

Makes a change, hey?!!

[~inbalance~]

I'll bet any money he'll be sick of bananas soon enough.    T always goes through this, will want something desperately then get over it and not look at it again for awhile.  He calls them 'nanas' too.    Interestingly I haven't bought any in awhile because he got tired of eating them, and just in the past few days he keeps pointing to the empty fruit bowl saying 'nana?'  Guess he's ready for more bananas! 

[Texomamama]

Yep, they sure do get fixated on things.  Too bad when they get slightly older, they can start to figure out these white lies.  My DD is totally obsessed with apple dippers right now.  She wants them everyday.  Prepackaged was so cost prohibitive that I just bought a bunch of small apples and some sugar free caramel and make them for her everyday (she is eating some right now). 

Martina, love the pic.  We have the same bouncy seat.  I see you are in Collingwood.  My MIL has several siblings that live there year round now.  Awesome place.

[~inbalance~]

Martina, love the pic.  We have the same bouncy seat.  I see you are in Collingwood.  My MIL has several siblings that live there year round now.  Awesome place.

Thanks.    And no kidding about knowing people who live here, sometimes it is a small world!  Well, if you're ever in the area...
And I love the idea about the apples and sugar free caramel, I bet T would love that.

[Mashi]

Too bad when they get slightly older, they can start to figure out these white lies.

Yep!  And this phase came much earlier than I thought!  Now when I say things like "look, all gone, no more!" and show empty boxes, bowls, cupboards, etc, DS goes and gets my shoes and keys and pounds on the front door, signing "shopping"

[Tweakster]

His poop is normal this week with no 'nanas'.  Time for experiment, get some bananas and see if that is the culprit.

[ireneee]

We also hide bananas and keep one in the fruit bowl so LO can see that she can have one then there are no more (until tomorrow...!)