Author Topic: How do i make sure he's getting enough????  (Read 1839 times)

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Offline Rebecca247

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How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« on: January 23, 2009, 01:12:13 am »
Hi there, my DS has just turned 12 months and has never been a good eater, and has never rea;;y been a big drinker, the maximum amount he drinks in his bottle at a feed is 130ml.

I know milk is no longer his main food source, but he wont really eat much other food either, and we have quite frequent NW's aswell...

The only way i can get him to eat is to follow him around the house while hes crawling and shovel food in..and even then its not a great amount..
He has cut up finger food which he likes but he'll take one bit (maybe 2) and throw it over the high chair...

so i need tips on getting his calories up so it stops his NW's and hunger...



Bek

they have my heart, they are my everything xxxx

Offline mum101

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2009, 03:59:59 am »
hi, are you sure he's NW due to hunger... or is it something else?

If he does eat/drink overnight, perhaps you could slowly reduce that down to encourage day eating/drinking. So if hunger at night is waking him, if he takes a bottle overnight, water it down, or gradually reduce. His day hunger should increase.  Don't worry about his food intake while you adjust from day/night eating, think of the overall.

Food wise, he will eat when he is hungry (I know that's all good in theory but what about practise and for your child!!).  But he may not be a big eater, he may be getting more overnight than in the day and so encouraging food in the day is an uphill battle. 

If he's throwing food over the high chair, he could be not hungry, overwhelmed by too much food on the chair, or doesn't like that food.  It might be a game he's playing right now, but I know DS manages to chuck all the things he doesn't want to eat or is too full for when I'm not looking. I put it back on once in case he slipped or some such, but then it comes off if he doesn't eat it.  I'll try something else then get him down if he doesn't eat it. As soon as he starts to fuss he's out of the chair, I know he won't eat anymore and I respect that he doesn't want to. (I think in the long run that will work wonders). 

I would resist the urge to feed him while he plays and crawls, it won't solve anything in the long run.  It won't allow him to learn to eat when he feels like it, they know when they want to eat. It allows him to control his intake. Some people on here mention that kids can grazers so he eats a little frequently. I have a friend with a fiesty active boy and she allowed him to eat anywhere and it was absolutely painful. You couldn't just sit down and eat, she was forever running around after him, instead my DD new that you ate at the table and once she had her fill she was off. 

Another idea, watch him for a few days, write it down if you want (that makes a huge difference to me, to see it on paper) and perhaps his hungry times don't match eating times. Actually even if you write it down, you may see he eats quite a bit overall or that your idea of how much should fill him is different than his needs. So hard to tell when they can't speak to you about it LOL

When my DD was little and I wanted her to try something new, I'd make it a game for her to help out cooking while she was hungry and she was keen to try it out (especially with no pressure to 'eat this now', she felt it was on her terms) or leave it within reach and she'd come by and try it out. It was a good way to introduce new foods, but not a long term plan.

Some things to think about.  :-*
mumma to 2 former BW babies, DD 11, DS 8

Offline Rebecca247

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2009, 09:52:53 am »
Thanks so much for your reply, I am in the process of sleep training at night to stop the bottle and work on NW's. i dont think the NW's are entirely due to hunger, i think its habbit aswell but I didnt know how to resettle him and he has always been below average in weight so i;d give him a bottle...

Now he is starting to pick up a little with his weight, i dont think he needs the bottle at night, and he is waking more frequently now aswell...

I think from tomorrow morning I will start making him sit in the high chair for all meals, it is really starting to wear me out chasing him around everywhere to get him to eat something!
I have also started giving him back the food he throws off the highchair once, if it goes back over I take him out, otherwise he only gets very grumpy!

I might also start a food diary tomorrow morning and post everything tomorrow afternoon, see what you think!

Thanks so much again
bek



Bek

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Offline Rebecca247

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2009, 10:05:27 am »
Hey there,

Today wasnt too bad with his eating:

he woke at 5am and I gave him a bottle then, and he slept until 7.30am
I gave him breakfast straight away and he ate a small jar of cereal and a few peices of diced up rockmelon/grapes...

He then had a bottle at 9am and slept until 10am
we went to a friends house for lunch and he ate some diced up rockmelon/strawberry/grape, and about 4 hotchips...

He then came home and had the full 150ml bottle and slept 2.30pm-4.00pm....
for Dinner he had 1/2 jar of Heinz little kids spaghetti, and some more diced up fruit....(he's really lovin the fruit right now)

He drank full 150ml milk before bed...
so today I was pretty happy with his food intake considering most days he doesnt eat even half that amount!



Bek

they have my heart, they are my everything xxxx

Offline mum101

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2009, 20:35:20 pm »
cool! 

Did he wake through the night at all before 5am?  My LO has only just started going 11 hours without a night feed. So he is waking at 6am for a first feed.  But he will still wake at 1am and 4am to 'check in'. I'm going to keep a watch on the times as I think those times are the same each night. Only takes a minute to go in, but it would be nice to get rid of one of those if it's a habit, so I get one good unbroken stint of sleep!
mumma to 2 former BW babies, DD 11, DS 8

Offline Rebecca247

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2009, 21:58:20 pm »
Hi there, yep he did wake before 5am, I think it was around 11.30pm, but It only took twice for me to go in and lay him down and he went back to sleep until 5am so i was very happy with that as he was alot like your LO waking around the same time to check i'm still here..

Last night wasnt quite as good though, he did wake around 11.30pm again, but went back to slee pretty easy, he woke again about 2am, but went back reasonably trouble free, then woke again at 4am so i thought I'd try a bottle, he drank the whole bottle and I put him back to bed, but then he decided it was poop time at 4am  :o he never does it at that time, so now i'm thinking the other NW's before this was probably due to a tummy pain...once he was all cleaned and fresh he went straight back to sleep until 7.30am...

He's now had his breakfast and some water in a sippy cup and I'm getting him ready for another nap in half hour at 9am...

How old is your LO??

what kind of foods does he eat.. I'm just looking for some yummy healthy ideas thats easy for him to eat,.
I have been dicing little peices of fruit for him totake places so he can just pop it in his mouth easily...
i might steam some veggies today and dice them up small and try him with that as he doesnt eat a great deal of veg, thats why i've kept him on the toddler milk instead of going straight to cows milk!

thanks again



Bek

they have my heart, they are my everything xxxx

Offline mum101

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2009, 05:22:14 am »
Leo is 9 months, he's eating some cheese, red meat, lots of fruit, sometimes english muffin with cream cheese, or vegemite. He enjoys things like tomatoes, but turns his nose up at carrot sticks or sweet potato. I think I might try roasting some chunks for him to try, he might enjoy them better. He actually likes hand rolls with tuna and avocado too, but doesn't like avocado plain. Crackers of all kinds too he likes. Still hard to keep up with interesting things!
mumma to 2 former BW babies, DD 11, DS 8

Offline Rebecca247

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2009, 08:35:49 am »
It is hard to find interesting things that they like...I'm just experimenting with different fruits, he loves most fruits actually, not a huge veggie fan but i'm working in it...just perservere with him and i'm guessing he will start tio like it...

Max used to love mashed avacaod and mashed banana mixed together, he's eat every bit, might try avacado on its own....he loves honey carrot sticks, but thats about it in veg!

I just want to keep it interesting for him!!!

He actually tried his first tiny peice of fairy bread today....of course he loved it!!!
it was cute watching him eat it, I dont usually allow sweet treats as he isnt the best eater, but his 11 month old friend was having some....how could i say "NO" ;)




Bek

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Offline mum101

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2009, 09:43:34 am »
mashed avocado and banana sounds great! I could add it to an english muffin or crackers.

Another thing I make which is a huge hit (as he wouldn't eat off a spoon I needed to find a way to give him iron instead of rice cereal)... I simmer a steak in water until cooked through, puree, then use it inside a sandwich, along with things like grated cheese, or pureed sweet potato as a binder. I just put in fubekt chopped onion and pureed peas last time and he's absolutely loving it. I then made it into a toasted sandwich by putting it in the frypan with a light spray of olive oil to compressing it right down with a flipper. Cut it into squares and put it in the freezer. Leobin eats them frozen and loves them!

Plus as they are frozen you can take can them with you and they'll stay colder until you eat them, so they don't spoil.

mumma to 2 former BW babies, DD 11, DS 8

Offline Rebecca247

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Re: How do i make sure he's getting enough????
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2009, 10:03:39 am »
wow thats a great idea, i might try that one...

thanks..



Bek

they have my heart, they are my everything xxxx