Support thread for moms of picky eaters - Part 2

[Sam-n-Max's Mommy]

Thanks, everyone.

Sara - unfortunately, he refuses the spoon for the most part and bats it away (unless he has deemed it edible with a sniff and quick taste -- usually only reserved for fruit purees and yogurt these days ).  I keep trying though.  He doesn't seem to really care about putting the spoon in his mouth himself, so  maybe I should let him practice more.  

Wendy - I think that this is probably just a phase since he was a great eater for 2 yrs.  Hang in there!

We had a lousy rest of the day, but it was mostly in part to our failed cow's milk wean  This is the 2nd time we're trying it and he can't tolerate it.  He woke up 40 minutes into his nap this afternoon screaming and was clearly in a lot of pain.  He's also teething badly so at first I thought it was that, but when he wouldn't calm down and was writhing around in pain, I knew it was gas which has to be from the milk (last time we tried he got bad gas and diarrhea).  After giving him Mylicon, he was better within 20 minutes so I know that's what it was. I was hoping to get to milk sooner rather than later since I figure it's less filling then the formula and might encourage him to eat more real food.  We have our 15 month ped visit in about 3 weeks so I guess we'll broach the subject then and see if we should try soy or try the cow's milk again in a few months.  

[Tweakster]

Tonight's dinner was brought to you by pancakes with apple butter, applesauce, a handful of veggie chips and grapes.  Yep running out of ideas lol

[Mom to M&M]

Maybe try goat's milk? It's easier for many to digest/tolerate and we're doing well with it (and he does NOT do well with cow's milk).

LOL Wendy - sounds yummy to me!

[~inbalance~]

Nicole, we do goat's milk here with F as I'm pretty sure he can't tolerate cow's milk yet.

Not a great day but T has been sick (threw up the blueberries and smoothie he had for breakfast) and I have not been feeling well either, so I couldn't be bothered to put together any proper meals for them.     What's the point when they don't eat it anyway?

T is being horrible though, he won't eat his meals but is demanding all sorts of snacks.  But even if I give in and give him them, he STILL doesn't eat them.  So frustrating.

At least this afternoon they each had almost a whole apple each for a snack. 

[~Sara~]

Tonight's dinner was brought to you by pancakes with apple butter, applesauce, a handful of veggie chips and grapes.  Yep running out of ideas lol

Mmm, I love pancakes!!  It's all I wanted when pg with A...lol, maybe that's why he likes them so much.  If it makes you feel any better, he and I ate dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and mac&cheese!  Oh, yeah--we're fancy

Nicole, bummer...it was an idea to keep his fingers clean. Poor little guy   Maybe going ahead and giving goats milk or soy would be good?

I'm curious...does goat's milk taste different from cow's milk?  Bc honestly, I've had goat cheese, and it literally tasted like a goat

[~inbalance~]

I'm not brave enough to try the goat's milk myself (though T has drank it and not seemed to know or be bothered by the difference).  BUT I do love goat cheese!

F loves any milk (probably the only thing he does love .  He loves his BFs, he loved cow's milk when we tried it, he loves goat's milk, and I've no doubt if I were to try any other kind he'd love that too. 

[Jiinx]

Bc honestly, I've had goat cheese, and it literally tasted like a goat Tongue

lol!

[Mom to M&M]

I don't like goat's milk to drink. But then again, I don't like ANY milk to drink! I'm fine with goat's milk cooked in things (like the pancakes) or goat's cheese - well at least the goat's mozzarella on the pizza tastes fine. Matthew doesn't like it much to drink either. But he stopped drinking milk in any form once we took his bottle away.

[Mom to M&M]

Multigrain (square) dairy free waffle for breakfast with EB and some dry Kashi cereal. Then one dairy free Newman-O cookie (cause I was at Dunkin Donuts buying for Marisa's class celebration and course he can't have something there). Refused lunch other than lots of his smoothie. After his nap had a fair amount of pistachios and more than half an organic sliced Granny smith apple (peel on) and more smoothie.

DH and I are having leftover homemade (spicy) turkey chili for dinner. It's SO good but neither kid wants it of course so I made DD (and by default DS) a special request of pigs in a blanket with applesauce and baby carrots on the side. At first DS refused all that but then he ate one pig in a blanket (out of three offered) and a small but fair amount applesauce then requested chicken noodle soup (which I make and always have on-hand) and had a small but fair portion of that too. Good day for us! Tomorrow should be interesting though - the rest of us are having sandwiches since DD has soccer practice from 5-6 and cooking and dinner logistics get tough.

I made a slightly revised version of those pancakes I had posted last night (with the chopped apples and goat's milk) - using whole wheat pastry flour in place of the cornmeal. Will offer them to both kiddos tomorrow morning!

[~inbalance~]

Karen, that sounds like a GREAT day!

Actually, despite the tummy bug going around in this house we have had a decent day too.  Go figure, when I can't be bothered to cook they want to eat.    They both had a few bites of bagel and some pear for breakfast, then T requested toast and ate almost a whole piece with some jam.  Lunch regrettably was all I could muster and not very healthy (I have been so ill), so they just munched on some crackers, peaches, beans, and grape tomatoes (who am I kidding, even if I had cooked something healthy this is all they would have eaten anyway ).  Dinner was great though.  F had a bit of chicken, a few bites of broccoli, and some potatoes.  T was a star though.  He only ate a bite or two of chicken and a few bites of potatoes, but he polished off all his broccoli and mine, and went crazy for the artichokes.  DH makes artichokes once in awhile and T goes nuts for them every time.  The thing is, DH has to help him eat them because of the spikes, and T is so impatient, always saying "more more!" before DH can get him the next one!  lol  Geez, out of all the things to be obsessed with, the kid loves artichokes.  After dinner he had some more crackers and asked for some ham (out of nowhere!), and had a bit of yogurt too.  I hope this means his appetite has returned for good!

[Tweakster]

Chicken burgers with organic BBQ sauce and peas on the side

He actually ate quite a bit!  Although he pointed at the chicken first and said 'no like it' before he even tried it but we managed to talk him into it by trying to take it off his plate.  That's almost one surefire way to get him to at least try it lol  We say 'can mommy have that?' and he says 'no Finley's' and shoves it in his mouth.

[~Sara~]

Wow!!  High fives all around!!!    I can hear sighs of relief all over the continent

[Mom to M&M]

Yahoo to us all! Wendy, I so wish that would work for us. Matthew just laughs if he try and hands us said food. That always worked with my niece though!

Martina - great for T! Wish I could get my man to eat veggies like that (thank god he'll still do the puree pouches or we'd be in trouble). LOL on the artichokes!

[Sam-n-Max's Mommy]

Nice work, ladies!

We had a good day yesterday although it was much of the same stuff he usually eats.  He did try one of those crispy noodles from a Chinese restaurant (not the really flat greasy ones (which as so so good), but the thinner, less greasy ones iykwim).  He is hilarious because he watches to see if I'm watching and he'll hover it by his mouth and then will finally bite it if I look away for long enough. 

Oh- it was also interesting yesterday because I was trying to get him to eat a cookie (I know, I know, how sad - "trying").  He seems to like to feed me and DH, so he held it up to DH's mouth.  So DH took a bite and said Sam's turn. He kept trying to get DH to eat more and DH kept saying Sam's turn... then finally took a tiny bite himself! He offered it back to DH and then threw it on the floor .  I may try this though with other things and see if it works.

Trying to get him to be more interested in using a spoon and fork.  I think maybe (as Sara suggested) that he would be into it because he wouldn't get his hands messy (which he doesn't like).  I just put them out last night at dinner for him and put his food in a suction plate.  He was playing with them and I was showing him how to spear food, but he would just take it off of the fork with his fingers LOL.  Should I just let him play with them at each meal and eventually he'll pick it up?

[~Sara~]

Should I just let him play with them at each meal and eventually he'll pick it up?

Yeah, eventually he'll get it   Although, even at 2, Aaron will still use his fingers after a while bc he just gets frustrated with how slow it takes to feed himself with a spoon or a fork.  It's a process, lol!