BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Eating For Toddlers => Topic started by: Mom to M&M on January 19, 2011, 19:32:20 pm
-
Ugh.... So my DS, now 19.5 months, was a really good eater until about a year. And has gotten steadily much, much worse. These days he's pretty much only eating:
- chicken nuggets (I make homemade ones at least or use Earth's Best or Bell & Evans)
- freeze dried fruit (mostly bananas or apples)
- raisin bread (would live on this - I buy the whole wheat variety) - but ONLY if untoasted and dry
- chicken noodle soup (I make my own and add extra veggies)
- pizza (usually will accept takeout or homemade - at home I sneak veggies blended into the sauce)
- goldfish crackers
- dry cereal (puffins or Kashi usually)
- pancakes - he LOVES silver dollar ones in particular from diner, etc. Will accept my homemade ones sometimes
Sometimes he'll also eat 1/4 of a toasted, buttered bagel (but lately refusing), sometimes half or so a ripe banana (but very hit or miss), sometimes sweet potato fries (but again, more often refuses), sometimes pasta (but lately refuses). He USED to love tons of fresh fruit and only recently dropped fresh strawberries and apples. Now he considers them evil. USED to love meatballs and the like but lately refuses them too. Once in a blue moon will accept a broccoli potato pancake (which he used to love) or one of my homemade beef patties (into which I sneak lots of chopped veggies).
It's not like he fills up on dairy - he gets an AM bottle of 4 ounces and a PM bottle of 6-7 ounces and sometimes has a 4-ounce yogurt midday. I cook a lot and DD, DS and I usually eat together - with DH eating when he gets home from work later in evening (on weekends we all eat together). DD and I eat very healthily and try to model that.
He cannot have anything in the gourd family (so pumpkin, squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, etc) and we suspect a pineapple intolerance as well. He loves cereal bars but something in them makes him hivey and cranky.
Suggestions on where to go from here? Mealtimes are becoming quite frustrating and nutrition is so important to me. I don't currently have him on a multi-vitamin as I haven't found one yet that I'm comfortable with that doesn't cause a reaction (the last one had him up screaming at night with tummy pains). I do give him Vit D3 drops and probiotics (in his morning milk).
He is currently unwell (bad head cold) which isn't helping but this was going on before illness and in between an ear infection/sore throat a month ago and this current cold as well.
TIA - sorry such a long post!
-
Bumping you up, Karen
-
Thanks sweetie. Any and all suggestions appreciated!
-
Anyone else? Made homemade pizza last night, which he usually loves. Had veggies blended into the sauce. But apparently I made it too saucy and it didn't "feel" right and he'd only have a few bites. Then cried for his raisin bread and had a piece of that... Even pasta and the soup are a no go all of a sudden now...
-
Spencer is down to very few foods as well.
-applesauce/apples
-bananas (hit & miss)
-spaghetti with meat sauce(I blend beans, veggies etc into the sauce too)
-dry bread
-cheerios (would live on them!)
-chicken nuggets/fish sticks
-fries or mashed potatoes (goes from liking one and then the other)
-grapes/raisins (give her diarrhea so we don't eat them often)
-rice cookies (the baby kind)
She has autism and has sensory issues involving food, in fact she used to never even touch foods that were the least bit slimy and hated the lumpy baby foods. What we do is basically the only thing we can-keep putting every kind of food we are eating on her plate too and model good eating habits for her. We never try to feed her or push her to eat, as I know it would backfire. In fact, sometimes I find she eats more after everyone else leaves the table and I am washing dishes.
It can take 20-30 times of seeing the new food before she will even lick it, much less take a bite. It was also suggested to us to take her shopping and let her actually touch & pick out food, get her helping in the kitchen (not sure how to do this as when she sees me prepping supper she wants to eat NOW!) Over the holidays she was so entraced by a veggie tray that she started taking bites out of the tomatoes, carrots & broccoli (and then put it back ::)) which was a major feat. She has some allergies/intolerances and we are currently trying a gluten free/casein free diet, so that is even more challenging.
As for vitamins, we have her on a multi, B complex, D (in therapuetic doses), calcium, and probiotics (crossing my fingers that this kind doesn't give her explosive poos :-X) They are all the gummy vits, as she won't take any other kind.
-
{{hugs}}
Few questions:
1. Do you offer his am bottle after breakfast?
2. Do you offer replacement food if he refuses a meal? Or if he doesn't eat what you make is that it?
3. Do you offer snacks in between meals?
-
Thanks guys. Curious - is the GF/CF diet helping at all? I have a friend considering it for her LO.
I have tried breakfast before bottle before but (1) it didn't help increase his diet and (2) it's just not feasible with our schedule. DS tends to wake 6-6:30 and be hungry right away. I'm not up to feeding him breakfast that early and if I try to hold him off he gets really upset and loud and wakes DD - who I otherwise often have to wake at 7:30 for school. So I do give him a bottle first but it's only 4 ounces. I can reduce that to three ounces if it will help.
If he doesn't eat what I make him he can have a yogurt or some applesauce or a piece of raisin bread, but that's it. I don't cook alternate meals or offer junk. I don't offer an AM snack unless we're stuck in the grocery store and we're hungry. If that happens I keep a banana in my diaper bag and offer that. PM he used to get goldfish crackers or the like (but not many) but lately I'm trying to only offer fresh fruit or yogurt or the like at that time.
Tonight he did end up eating two small homemade chicken nuggets and a yogurt. Refused homemade sweet potato "fries," which he used to love.
TIA again!
-
Hugs Hun. I think you are doing all the right things. I'd keep offering the stuff he used to eat and has stopped and hopefully he'll come around. Have you noticed particular textures or anything that he's not liking? I don't think you can do much more than you are at this stage. Would he try new foods even by licking them or kissing them or would he protest ?
-
Curious - is the GF/CF diet helping at all? I have a friend considering it for her LO.
We haven't gone all out yet, still just trying out substitutes to see if she will eat them, but we had drastically cut back until this week when we kind of got lax and boy is she ever a mess...whiny, clingy, tantrums to end all tantrums...so I'm thinking we'll have to give it a real go for a few months!
Totally agree with Shiv, you are doing all the right things. I would just keep offering and keep a relaxed attitude about eating and hopefully he will start to try stuff again.
-
I have no suggestions, but want to follow along. DS is down to frozen peas, blueberries, strawberries, toast (sometimes with peanut butter) yogurt, cereal, (sort of) sometimes waffles. He eats no meat and has stopped eating beans. His only protein is from peanut butter and dairy. Not sure what I should do with him
-
Fingers crossed the diet really helps!
So keep offering things within reason and if he won't eat them is ok to offer a piece of raisin bread and/or some yogurt?
Not sure with textures. Like I said, he's dropped basically all fresh fruit (which is so crazy cause he used to be a total fruit-a-holic). Not sure he'd quite understand yet touching or licking or kissing the food - maybe in a another month or two? Right now he just gets REALLY upset if he doesn't want what it on his plate and crying ensues. And he's hungry so it all spirals... And DD, DH and I really eat quite well and I really enjoy cooking!
-
Fingers crossed the diet really helps!
Thanks! now just have to pick a day and jump in...
So keep offering things within reason and if he won't eat them is ok to offer a piece of raisin bread and/or some yogurt?
That's what I would do...applesauce is our backup, or just apples, so I don't feel bad giving her something healthy for a substitute. As for the licking, what if you all showed him first? I got Spence to lick a carrot once by doing that.
-
Thanks again hun. He did have a very small piece of challah french toast this morning (homemade) so that was good. We've also noticed that he only wants to eat what he can shove in his mouth. He used to take bites of things but lately just shoves large amounts into his mouth. It's annoying and gross...
-
Quote from: Mom to M&M on Today at 12:46:31 AM
So keep offering things within reason and if he won't eat them is ok to offer a piece of raisin bread and/or some yogurt?
That's what I would do...applesauce is our backup, or just apples, so I don't feel bad giving her something healthy for a substitute.
I don't think theres any harm in offering a healthy alternatives but if you think he's getting to the stage where he is holding out to get his preferred foods you could offer a slice of raisin bread/yogurt along side what you are giving to eat so he will have something to eat but he's not realising you'll take the food away at some stage and produce something he likes.
TBH though we are going through a stage of eating being very poor (and my DD1 is 2.5) and its definately to do with teeth and just being a toddler I think and I determined not to make a big fuss about it and I'm hoping in a few weeks she'll be back to eating me out of house and home and not just living on yogurts and fruit puree!
You really are doing all the right things so keep up the hard work!! That was great about the french toast this morning!!
-
I just worry that if I give the raisin bread or whatever alongside what I'm serving, he'll definitely just grab the bread and ignore the rest. And he has a pretty small appetite/gets filled quite easily (but wants to eat often) it seems?
Any thoughts on why he's not taking bites of things anymore and just shoving things into his mouth whole?
-
Spencer always stuffs her mouth full, we model small bites for her and she'll copy for one or two bites, then just starts cramming it in again. I have no idea why.
-
UGH. Made him pinwheel pasta with cheese/butter sauce tonight. He looked at it, seemed mildly interested, then touched/picked up one piece. At which point he made a face (apparently it didn't feel OK to him) and he threw it on the floor and proceeded to eat nothing but a piece of dry raisin bread and drink a bit of milk. He used to eat pasta all the time - this shape, penne, rotini, with cheese sauce or marinara. Now that's apparently off limits too. It's really not healthy for him to live on raisin bread and yogurt for the most part. And I find it so stressful and depressing and frustrating. And I don't know what other multi vitamin to even try for him that won't upset his stomach and food intolerances. ARGH.
-
What things are you trying to avoid in the vitamins? These are some the Dr. recommended:
http://kirkmanlabs.com/ViewProductDetails@Product_ID@279@Product_Group_ID@1.aspx
I see you can even buy trial size samples...might have to order some for Spencer!
-
Thanks - will check that out. The last brand I bought, Maxi Baby, gave him a terrible reaction. See thread here: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=184385.0
Think it was the fruit juice concentrate but not entirely sure. He has some food allergies/intolerances we are sure of and some we haven't really pinpointed yet.
Tried blueberries again this evening. He won't even TOUCH one - not to feed it to his teddy, not to give it to me, not to just put it in the bowl. He was crying at the site of them. And this is a boy that used to demolish 30 blueberries in the blink of an eye. In fact if he saw, or even just heard the word blueberries, that was all he wanted. I really don't get it...
-
Could any of the foods he is now refusing be causing him tummy issues? Perhaps the root of it is that some things he ate has given him issues and now he is sticking to things he trusts?
-
I did wonder about that too I don't think so. He used to actually sleep quite well after blueberries and was eating strawberries like a fiend up till about 6 weeks ago (when he got a cold and ear infection). But I guess it could be? Not sure how to tell?
Went out for bagels this morning - he used to love fruit and bagels there. Wouldn't touch grapes or his part of toasted whole wheat bagel with butter. Was crying and seemed hungry and finally ate half a banana. Sigh.
-
up till about 6 weeks ago (when he got a cold and ear infection).
Say, did things start to get worse with the onset of the cold? My tastebuds are never the same when I've got a cold, everything tastes blech. Just grasping at straws...as far as knowing if a food is bothering him, I don't think there is any way to know for sure unless he is verbal enough to tell you. Spencer for sure isn't yet, mostly I can tell because things she is intolerant too turn her face bright red & give her diarrhea, but I really don't know for sure what the issue is, just a guessing game on my part! This whole eating/not eating/allergy/intolerance thing just sucks! I cannot wait until the day she can say "well,Mom, I really don't like XYZ because it gives me a tummy ache" (somehow I think I will be waiting for a long time)
{{{hugs}}}
-
Thanks and hugs back at you. It's exhausting... Just now he was acting hungry but refused broccoli potato pancake and only ate few spoonfuls applesauce. He also gets red cheeks and sometimes hives and loose stools and sometimes diaper rash. But it's often delayed. And he's not anywhere close to verbal enough to tell me and I don't imagine he will be for at least another year, if not more...
It did get worse with the onset of the cold, though it had already been going downhill.
-
So I'd like to order those vitamins and had actually seen them a week or so ago when I did a search for hypoallergenic vitamins for toddlers. BUT I'm worried about it being a chewable. I know he'll refuse to eat it - thoughts? Wish it was a liquid...
-
I wonder if you could dissolve them on a bit of warm water and syringe them down...they call them "wafers" though...wonder what that means, doesn't sound like the traditional chewable tablet chalky kind. Spencer will so far only do gummies or liquid, but since Masyn takes the gummies too I just use that.
-
Hmmm maybe I'll try to get a customer service area and ask if they will dissolve in water? Syringing would be easiest for now.
HORRIBLE day here. After the lack of breakfast as posted, DS finally had 3/4 a yogurt after his nap. But it took a while to get even there. Then he was hungry and screaming much of the afternoon but refusing any healthy things I offered him. Finally we cut our errands short and came home and I heated up a piece of leftover frozen homemade pizza (with veggies blended into the sauce) and he had a small portion of that (begrudgingly) and 3/4 a piece of raisin bread as well. I'm at such a lost for what to feed him that is healthy and acceptable to him but not totally giving into his picky ways and making things worse...