What did your toddler eat today?

[BabyE'sMama]

Thanks Stacy, Great tips.  I have some good friends who had a very preemie baby last week and I'm driving up to Denver tomorrow to visit.  I'm making some vegetarian lasagna and a quiche so I'll have plenty of meals here for a couple of days.  I have to just figure it out and hope for the best.  I wish this eating phase just didn't exist at all.  It makes me crazy. 

This am she had 1/2 a wheatabix w/milk and 1/2 yababy yogurt.  Better than nothing.

Thanks for your help.

You are a voice of reason in my crazy life!

Margie

[BabyBsMommy]

Stacy, you'll LOVE this - we get back from Mexico and DS gets a tummy bug (complete with nasty poos and barfing) - he wisely connects eating to these nasty occurances and boycotts eating.  Now that he is almost over it he still isn't interested.  I think yesterday all he ate all day was half a slice of bread and half a banana.  Maybe he is hitting a picky phase at long last?  Also a possibility that he is boycotting his highchair as I was fed up with it today and chased him around the living room with a plate of chicken and green beans which he happily ate as long as he wasn't in his chair.  What a little bum!

[BabyBsMommy]

LOL, I know!  I'm just trying to make light of a crummy situation.  I know it's likely the tummy bug passing but it's so weird to see your kid that would scarf down a whole slice of toast, whole yogurt and entire banana just for breakfast and then change to this:
Breakfast - 3 bites bread, 5 bites yogurt, 1/4 banana
Lunch - 1/2 cheese stick, 3 more bites of bread, 2 grapes
Dinner - 1/2 chicken thigh offered on fork as DS is chased around the living room by mommy, whatever green bean made it down before it was spit out, 2 cheerios found on the living room floor and 1 slice of mango declared "mmmmm!" by DS.
 
LOL!
No offense meant to you at all, Stacy!  You rock!

[M2W]

Also a possibility that he is boycotting his highchair as I was fed up with it today and chased him around the living room with a plate of chicken and green beans which he happily ate as long as he wasn't in his chair.  What a little bum!

I find it MUCH easier to feed Weston when he's contently watching a program...He will sit nicely in his highchair for resturant meals and dinner...but to get him to sit at the table for Breakfast or Lunch is a joke...UNLESS of course the WHOLE family is sitting and eating, he will always sit nicely if the whole family is doing it...but if it's just him & I or just him...he won't have it...so I will at times wait until he's involved in a program and then offer him some food and he'll generally take it.

[Mydreamcametrue]

Just wanted to add with the whole boycotting the highchair.  You could try 2 things:

1.) Move him to a booster chair, they fee so much more like a big boy/girl

2.) I bought a child size table for my son and he eats his snacks at his table and if for some reason will not go into his booster, then he can just eat there.

Just some ideas.

[Mom to M&M]

I think Marisa has been taken over by pod people - she's eating so much better! I know we'll be in for another strike soon but this is nice for now. We still have issues with fresh fruit but she'll lick/nibble at apple slices and banana slices. And she loves dried fruit and fruit puree. But she's finally eating VEGGIES! She LOVES broccoli and green beans apparently. Last night I made homemade skillet burgers (no buns) - or hockey pucks as they are called here. She had almost a whole puck (about the size of a golf ball flattened out), probably like 8-10 green beans (steamed with little salt), 2-3 strands of spaghetti and a lot of sauerkraut!!! How weird is that? My picky daughter is addicted to pickled cabbage... A few nights ago we brought in chinese and she was grabbing broccoli out of the beef and broccoli dish! Crazy. Lately she has a medium sized breakfast (usually baby oatmeal mixed with fruit puree followed by cheerios and/or part of a pumpernickel bagel), tiny lunch (often half a yo-baby and few bites of turkey or grilled cheese or something like that) and medium-big dinner (last night was HUGE). And this morning she grabbed the tomato slice off my bagel and sucked it down LOL.

Wendy - how is Zach doing?

[binxyboo]

YAY MARISA!!!!

[BabyBsMommy]

Ah yes, the highchair issue.  We actually brought up the booster chair with a table tray on it from the basement (we usually use it when we are going out to dinner at someone's house who doesn't have a high chair).  It was either coincidence that he was hungry again on the same day we did this OR the highchair was part of the issue because he ate TONS yesterday in his booster and today for brekkie he had a whole slice of toast, a whole baby yogurt, half a banana and 1/4 of my bran muffine PLUS a 7 oz bottle and good sized handful of cheerios/puffs when he got up this morning.  Crazy!

[Mom to M&M]

Marisa tends to make up for lost eating after being sick too.

So after last night's eating event she had her normal breakfast and a small lunch but only a small dinner too - one chicken nugget, one piece of steamed broccoli and a few veggie chips (real dried veggies from Whole Foods). But her teeth seem to be bugging her and her neverending cold flaring up so who knows...

[M2W]

I have been talking with a few friends and it seems that across the board within our playgroup kids...that the ones that got teeth early, eat more independently and the ones that got teeth later, still prefer to be spoon fed.

I did a test because Weston is WAY LATE on getting his teeth, he's one of the last in our group to get teeth...and so I decided to make him a meal (real food, nothing pureed) and feed it to him myself...and sure enough he ate the whole plate full...day two: gave him a plate with food on it...nibbled on one thing...and then signed all done...I put a piece of banana in his mouth for him and he ate it, I put a piece of quesadilla in his mouth, he ate it...INTERESTING...now am I planning on feeding him myself for all meals...NO! I'm going to have a baby in the picture soon that will demand that from me, I need Weston to be more independent...but I did find that 'small sample of kids' study interesting and I did find it interesting that Weston ate better when I fed it to him.

*********

I also started to dilute his formula and juice A LOT! So he's mostly getting water instead of the extra liquid calories...my hope is that he'll eat more...and so far it appears to be working to some degree.

************

I started out first by cutting his formula and juice back and I think it left him without enough fluids, because his poops got hard and less often...then came gas pains and miserable sleeping...so we are back to same amount of liquids, just more water involved and that seems to be solving the issues...

[M2W]

formula could definatly rob his appetite, as it has more in it then milk. Good plan to super dillute!

Kaleb doesnt get much juice, if any for same reason.  If he does its like 1/3 juice, 2/3 water.. and not more then maybe 6 ounces in a day (thats the full amount, so 1/3 of that is juice)

Weston's formula bottles are 1 scoop (which is for 2 ounces of water) to 4 or 6 ounces of water...2 scoops for 8 to 12 ounces of water.

His juice cup is filled with about 2 ounces of juice the rest water and then as the day progresses and he drinks half of it, or so, I just add water until by the evening it's basically all water.

I'm not sure I can dilute any more then that...but with time we'll see...at least he's pooping again, the tummy cramps have stopped, he's playing and sleeping well again...and eating nicely (not nearly as much as some kids, but he's by NO MEANS loosing weight either (32 pounds at 20 months) so I'm not worried, I just really hope he has a good outlook on food in life...that's more of my concern...I want him to enjoy various foods and not get stuck in the cracker/bread mode!

[M2W]

can he not have milk, is he allergic?

No he gets milk on occasion as well...he just likes formula better and the doctor said it's no different that he could have formula until he's 20 if he wants. Weston will ask specifically for MILK (signing and saying milk) when he wants it...and I give it to him anytime he asks for it.

[M2W]

cool you would think he would not prefer stinky formula!

Yeah...he's never cared really if he was getting breast milk or formula in his bottle as an infant and then as a toddler, he'll take milk or formula, but will 'finish' formula..often times milk will have left overs and that can be stinky if not caught in a hot car in time! LOL

When it comes to fluids I don't think he's all that picky really...I just think over all he has more liquids (calorie liquids) that cause him to have less room for real food...but we are getting that straightened out (can see slight differences in this past week) ... watch now he'll get a cold and it will all go to crap...lol

[MrsKirky]

I'm all paranoid now...doc cautioned us at 2 year old visit about DS's weight.  Quizzed me about fast food (VERY seldom - usually only if dad is required to cook), Juice (only a couple of times a week, and diulted, never more than 4 ounces) and eating.  He made a comment about weight b/c ds had a belly that day!  Argh.  He is a normal little kid, as far as I can tell.  Somedays he seems to live on air, and other days he eats and eats!  He's 90th for weight and a more than 90th percentile for height. 

Breakfast - Oatmeal mixed with unsweetened applesauce, 1/2 cup milk, water.
Snack - handful of freeze-dried pineapple
Lunch - special treat - one small slice pizza, green beans, 1/2 cup milk.

For dinner, he'll eat very lightly when he's eaten like this.  The portions are consistent with the toddler's food-guide pyramid - am I just being paranoid?

[binxyboo]

That's pretty sad that your doctor made you feel bad. Your lo looks lovely and healthy to me. It's not like his weight is not in proportion to his height kwim?