Author Topic: Am I doing the right thing?  (Read 1058 times)

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Offline lizarias

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Am I doing the right thing?
« on: June 26, 2007, 16:16:14 pm »
Hello everybody! I need your help, my 14 month old toddler doesn't want to eat well and according to growth and weight curves, he is below average with no progress in the last 3 months.

He usually takes:

6am: 7 oz of milk
9:30 am: very small amount of sweet fruit with cereal and 2 or 3 oz of milk
Lunch 1:30 pm: tiny bites of chicken/scrambled egg/or so, maybe some cheese and 2 or 3 oz of juice if lucky. Some days he wouldn't eat any lunch at all.
3:30 pm: 3oz of milk
7:00 pm: he won't eat supper, he'll cry and make a drama you know, until he gets sweet fruits with cereal.
8:30 pm: bed time 5 oz of milk

I'm very concern about him not eating real meals and practically only wanting sweet things and milk.

So, I decided to stop the drama and let him leave if he doesn't want to eat supper, but I won't offer him any fruit either. And I wonder if I should also stop offering his bed time milk. However, I'm very worried thinking he might get thinner, or he might reduce his stomach and get used to not eating...

I don't know if I'm dong the right thing. What do you think??


Offline willowonyx

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2007, 17:04:17 pm »
Have you consulted his ped?  Maybe there is something going on that may be reducing his appetite.  That is where I would start first.

Other than that, is he going through any developmental changes, teething etc....

Offline Meggie

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2007, 01:40:44 am »
He's not losing weight, so that's a good thing.  I was told by my pedi that many children hit a plateau at about a year old with their weight for a couple months.  Their appetite most always decreases as well.  Has he always been below average (I am assuming you mean the 50th%) in the growth curves?  Has he always been a little eater?

Have you tried skipping the 3:30 bottle and replace it with a snack?  The milk may be filling him up so that he is still not hungry for dinner.
Meghan, Mommie to Baby Kaitlyn


Offline dkjokisch

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2007, 18:18:35 pm »
I agree with pps, but I would also switch the 6am milk and breakfast. 
Deborah
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Offline tylersmommy

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2007, 19:02:34 pm »
Like Meghan said, it's normal for weight to plateau around their 1st birthday. There's a huge decrease in appetite and many toddlers stop gaining weight for months at a time. Unless your dr is concerned, there's nothing wrong with being "below average" for weight or height. Genetics have quite a bit to do with your toddler's build. Both of my kids have always been in the low percentiles for weight, but it makes sense if you see me and DH...we're both very slightly built, so it makes sense that our kids would be too.

You can try to make some adjustments if you want, though. Milk is very filling, especially in large amounts at a time, so you might replace that 6AM bottle with breakfast and the 330 one with a snack and offer milk afterward or with the meal. Dairy intake should be around 16-24 oz, but it can take some experimenting to figure out how to fit it in without killing his appetite for food.

As for dinner, it's very common for toddlers' appetites to get smaller as the day goes on, so dinner is often a tough time of day. Personally, my approach at that age was to allow DS to eat what he wanted, as long as it was healthy. It wasn't until he was much older that we started limiting his dinner choices. Food jags are incredibly common and normal. As long as what he wants is healthy, there's really not much of a point to making it into a battle and getting stressed out. After a couple of weeks of fruit and cereal, he'll move on to something else. I'm also a big believer in letting them decide whether or not they want to eat. Toddlers know when they're hungry and when they're full, and it's normal for appetite vary enormously from day to day.

Good luck!
Melissa
Mommy to Tyler, 12/30/03 and Mackenzie, 10/17/06
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Offline lizarias

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2007, 14:15:11 pm »
Thank you very much for your explanation and suggestions. I feel more relaxed now. I'll do what you said and I'll tell you how it went.