EATING TIME IS GETTING STRESSFUL!!

[samijoe]

hmm...let's see...i don't really have a picky eater.  just an eater who is driving me bananas!!~ and btw, she won't eat those either!

she is being really frustrating.

she can use a fork and spoon, but still uses her hands too.

i am NOT letting her drown herself in milk....so it's not like she is replacing food with the cow juice!

plates, bowls...used to be fine, but lately just something to dump over.

i have even ditched the tray of the highchair and have her eating at the table.

SO according to my mother, i was a horrible eater too....doc just kept saying that i was healthy and that i would eat when hungry.  It is VERY possible this is what i have here....

but can someone tell me how NOT to lose my mind!!?  Every meal is a toss up---she might eat, might not....or she'll want more (and perhaps there is no more cuz ive given up making too much!).  We maybe have ONE great meal every three days!

I KNOW toddlers do this.
I KNOW the more anxious i get about it, the more she'll NOT eat.

I JUST NEED TO HAVE my rant cuz i am sick of making food and having it not get eaten.....

it's not dumping onto the floor.
we have lots of poking our fingers thru the foods we don't want, or just plain MASHING our hands into the whole plate until everything is everywhere!

I have taken the approach to her eating as, i am not making another meal.  I leave yogurt/fruit etc till i see what kind of attempt she has made to her food, then bring that out in hopes of getting something in.  But lately yogurt is even a no go.

I KNOW IT WILL STOP....but will it stop before i KILL her???   lol, only j/k!



sami


ps--looks can be deceiving! lol

[Ennypen]

Aw hugs xxxxx

I recognise that feeling xxxxxx

H xx

[Jonahs Mom]

I knew her evil side would sneak out eventually..... he he he 

Love the pic at the end BTW. 

I take the approach of "Well, if he eats it, it is gone. If he doesn't eat it, it is still gone, just somewhere else (in the trash or disposal, or my stomach)." One way or another, the food has a beginning and an end, but sometimes we just don't get to choose the end. 

Now Avery....go eat your food for your mommy!!!!

[Jimbob]

My dd was a little like that. She did not make a mess with the food but if she did not want it she would just refuse it. If we tried to convince her to eat it then she would gag and make herself sick. Like your dd good meals were only every few days. I learnt to accept this and a year later she now eats well. Olivia is always wanting to try new things again, which are not always a hit but its great that she will now try things. I no longer have to hide vegetables in things which is great. Hope your dd improves soon and try not to let it get you down.

[samijoe]

Thanks all!

Yeah, it's not a case of pickiness here.  She eats a good variety of stuff...just maybe never the same things in a row!  There simply is no rhyme or reason to why she won't eat something!

We don't make her eat anything...and in fact, it is all up to her.  She hasn't let us feed her for at least a few months.

i just try to cope as best i can....lol  (and that means a rant now and then  )


sami

[samijoe]

Other option is she cant see her food t hrough all her hair and maybe MOMMA SHOULD CUT HER HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get off the hair!  She's a GIRL and girls have hair!


Thanks for the suggestions.  Independance or not, the poor thing may very well starve.  lol.

sami

[J & J's Mum]

Hi,

We're still having this problem at 28 months, so I can totally appreciate how you feel!!!  I'm just hanging on to the hope that he'll grow out of it!!!

[¤ Efka ¤]

Well but you have to say she looks cute whil eating

[AJs Mom]

This quote was exactly what I'm thinking Sami

"I JUST NEED TO HAVE my rant cuz i am sick of making food and having it not get eaten....."

It's hit and miss with AJ.  He's driving me crazy!  All he wants to eat are apples, orange slices, yoghurt, and crackers!!  He refuses to have noodles now.  What's with that?  He'll eat veggies, if he feels like it, but NOT mixed in with anything else.  He's changing and almost on a hunger strike.  Your whole post steals the words out of my mouth.  Even the part about you not being a good eater when you were young.  My mom took the same trip to the doctor about me, and got the same response.

You have my empathy and sympathy.

Sonja C

[waffler]

Okay here's my take on it....

When Mira turned 1 (Same bday as you Sami!) she just plain refused all food. I was panicking, and going "oh woe is me" etc. Took me .... 2 months? Before I finally went - sod it. If she wants to eat cheerios and yoghurt then so be it. All I kept asking myself was :

So... Ali... can you remember the days you'd have a cup of coffee for breakfast, a simple sandwich for lunch, and a salad for dinner, loaded with lots of gin and tonics of course - and you didn't go hungry until a week later?

And I'd go - okay, Mira is just a little adult.

ANd now.... she eats! By God she eats! I mean, still not GREAT but she loves Fried Rice, and will eat Fruit!! WHich she totally went off! I find that fruit is much better if mummy's sharing. And she ate today.. Bak Choy!!! And seeing that we live in SIngapore where bak choy is like carrots to you, that's great!

So. I'm just saying, chill.... and don't give up trying! Just try a totally different thing one day. She may be bored with what you're giving her?

[samijoe]

I wish i could find ONE thing that she loves right now.


Please tell me what that is???

If all she wanted to eat was yogurt and cheerios...fine by me.  My problem is she WANTS nothing!

We'll keep at er....obviously i MUSt feed her.  Maybe we'll just start opening the fridge at mealtime and asking her what the heck she wants!

lol

thanks girls
sami

[TDR'smom]

Kaleb doesnt use food to do that, he throws sweet tantrums instead.

Same with Tyler.  He enjoys his food too much to use it as a "tool."

Try and take a DEEP Breath and know that this "phase" will pass.  Just try to be consistent with whatever you decide to do and try NOT to make a big fuss about it.  It will just feed into it more.

((HUGS))

[franchick]

Samijoe - poor you - (hugs) and rant away. You sound like a super mum to me.

Re opening the fridge door and just letting her at it - do you know, I think if I was you I would try this, all jokes aside.

Every night for tea we always ask Katie what she wants and then we make it. I know this sounds like we are setting her up to be picky and, TBH, she is a little restricted in what she eats, BUT she eats reasonably well and is usually happy to eat what she has picked (plus often someithing off our plate too). Some days I literally let her open the fridge (which she can do) and just pick out bits and pieces of what she fancies. She also helps herself to our fruit bowl whenever she wants to (funny because we find apples with little bitemarks taken out of them all the time!!).

I know someone else who fills up little tubs of various foods and leaves them on a shelf with some made up water / juice // drinks for their LO to help themselves to whenever they want to throughout the day, although they do sit down for dinner every day together.

Maybe you could try that one - just put out lots of different things that are not particularly perishable (i.e. you can put them back out the next couple of days) that you know she has eaten at some point in the past and leave her to it.

I know that there is merit in having 'meal times' and eating is a very social thing, but maybe her internal meal times are completely different to everyone else's and maybe she is just a grazer, who knows?!

Sorry if I am suggesting things you have already tried / don't think will work.

Best wishes anyway and just have to say your little girl looks absolutely adorable and very, very healthy!