What Did Your Toddler Eat Today? Part Four

[mumofalice]

Mashi - I totally understand what you mean  As you know I've posted before about how I find it difficult trying to get the balance right because Alice (just like her Daddy  ) always has 'room for pudding' - that's DH's favourite saying as he's a big fan of anything sweet, he will always eat his main course and no matter hotw full he is still finds room  However, it's a bit different with Alice who will sign finished after a mouthful of main course (or even before she's tried it  ) but will immediately sign yoghurt or biscuit as soon as you take the plate away  I struggle with this for a couple of reasons - we were always brought up to finish our main course before we could have our pudding. I've since heard that this can encourage your child to overeat  (that's my excuse for carrying a few extra pounds . . . or stones!!) I also remember reading (possibly on a thread here, but not certain) that food shouldn't be seen as a reward - and saying you can have the yoghurt or biscuit if you eat your dinner is making it a reward  I beat myself up about this all the time - as you can probably tell . . . way too much time worrying about it. Can't remember who said on here that they ask their LO to take X more bites (was it Brenda?) - have tried that a couple of times ie have said I need you to have 1 more piece of pasta, 1 green vegetable and one piece of sausage (tonight's tea) and it seems to have worked - tho have to admit would prefer not to! Think it's because I always thought of Alice as being a good eater and she would always clean her plate and quite often ask for more - it's rare for that to happen these days. I do *think* that she is better suited to a BIG lunch and a smaller snack type dinner - but we tend to eat the *wrong* way round  At the end of the day they always say that a child won't starve itself and will eat when it's hungry . . . and the last couple of days Alice has been hungry 

Today:
B: jam on toast, satsuma, milk
S: (at my Mum's) think she said pack of Organix snacks
L: (out) egg mayo sandwich - even ate the crusts dipped in my vegetable soup!!, 3 cocktail sausages with brown sauce, grapes, juice
S: savoury flapjack
D: sausage, courgette & tomato pasta (ate a reasonable amount), yoghurt, small pot of peaches in juice, biscuit & hot choc

[nelliestar]

Today we went out with my folks shopping and had lunch at the supermarket cafe so the kids meals weren't the healthiest! we usually only give DS veggie sausages but todays were pork ( I hope!)

B - 2 sultana and lemon pancakes, whole small banana, some of my apple, warm fruit tea
S - berry rice cakes and water
L - sausages, mashed potato, baked beans, yoghurt, small cookie, water
S - rice cake and grapes, water
T - homemade veg and barley soup - 2 bowls full! Grapes, malt loaf, water
Supper - weetabix and warm milk

N xxx

[brenda2]

Can't remember who said on here that they ask their LO to take X more bites (was it Brenda?) - have tried that a couple of times ie have said I need you to have 1 more piece of pasta, 1 green vegetable and one piece of sausage (tonight's tea) and it seems to have worked

yes that was me.  it's funny...my lo was such a great eater until about age 2...before that she ate a lot and mostly healthy food as we didn't give her cookies as an option.  and then with playdates and birthday parties and christmas etc she "found" cookies and of course prefers them to any other kind of food.  she wakes up asking for cookies but can be persuaded that cookies are only for after dinner.  tonight she ate 2 bites of dinner and then said she was done.  she left the table and 15 min later was asking for a cookie so i said well if you finish the dinner that is still on the table (maybe 5 bites) you can have one and she ate every bite without hesitation.  she certainly is not overeating, she is so skinny!

B-1/2 raisin toast and cream cheese, mandarin oranges, OJ
s-juice, mandarin oranges
L-1/2 peanut butter and jam sandwich, crackers, jello
s-rice cakes
D-turkey casserole, cookie

[squeakersmum]

I seem to always do 'One More Bite' at the moment as Ben is eating so little.  Funny...I never have to do it with pudding 
He's very good about it though and knows that 'one more bite' or 'last one' means that he's done.

Nothing to report here either...he's even stopped eating his beloved blueberries completely 

[*Liz*]

Funny how different these little things are - 'one more bite' here is a sure way to end up with the food on the floor or my head  . But he is a little younger so might not have that degree of comprehension yet. To date I have found no form of encouragment to be helpful - he either eats it or he doesn't.

Yesterday was a reasonable day
B Shreddies, rice crispies, toast
S Humzinger bar, organix sweetcorn rings
L Bit of banana, few blueberries, cheese, bread roll

Went a bit wrong after that as he was having a hungry day I was not prepared for

S Cheese, blueberries, raisins, cheerios
S Plain pancake (after going mad in the supermarket - but the late snack ruined dinner  )
D Teacake, few bits of salmon, yoghurt and mango

But look at that - REAL fruit 

[MummyToBen]

But look at that - REAL fruit  

Yey!  Go Jacob  .  I see he's having humzinger bars too - Ben has them sometimes and I find their uncanny resemblance to dog chews slightly gross  !!  


We're having a bit of a random time here....for days he barely ate anything as he was ill, but now he pretty much says/signs "eat, eat, eat" ALL day   ....and I am unsure what to do really.  He eats healthily, but he is getting chubby and I'm really not sure what to do??!!

This is what he ate yesterday:

Pre-breakfast snack(!) - Tiny bowl of cheerios
Breakfast - big bowl of porridge with some frozen rasberries and a touch of vanilla bean paste mixed in, whole pear.
Snack - box raisins, whole pear  
Lunch - whole banana, cheese and pickle sandwich (2 slices of bread), more pear (spot a theme?!)
Snack - half a piece of toast with banana, small chunks of cheese, small scotch pancake.  Milk. Still wanted more - so had a small pot of chopped up peaches.
Dinner - Huge bowl of thai red chicken curry (homemade) with carrots, peas, onions.  Rice.  Plain yoghurt with some prunes mixed in


And today:
Small bowl cheerios.  Bowl of Mini wheetabix, bit of blueberry cereal, milk.  Whole pear. Toast with banana. Ran out of ideas (and food!!) and he had a couple of animal biscuits
Snack - raisins, shouting for "more eat" but we were in the car so he didn't get anything  
Lunch - we went out for a treat lunch (he started walking today  ) and Ben had an American style banana pancake.  Pear.  More raisins.  Chunks of cheese.  Couple more animal biscuits.  2 cups of milk. And he STILL was saying he wanted more!!
Snack - piece of toast with sardines, and now is shouting "EAT!!!".  Ammended to add that he has now eaten a pot of plain yoghurt and a box of raisins and is STILL shouting "more" 
Dinner will be leftover thai red curry from yesterday, and dessert will be yoghurt and fruit again.  

Does this sound like too much?? I'm just not really sure what to do when he just keeps asking for more and more....he'll head off to the kitchen and started rummaging through the cupboards shouting "prune! Fruit! Toast! Biscuit!" if I don't feed him - so I know he is genuinely wanting food rather than just saying it out of habit   .

By the way - I do know it is much more stressful having a child who is *not* eating, and so I am not moaning at all - I just want to make sure that I'm not over-feeding him, or if anyone else has any similar experience.  
xx

[mmom]

Claire, my LO falls into the category of odd and very little eating.  However, my nephew would eat all day long if allowed.  My SIL asked her ped about this because he will really keep eating at meal times if there is food there and all day long he is asking for more.  Her ped said just feed him when he wants it and since he is only in the 50% for weight, that it isn't a problem.  Just wanted to let you know, since you are worried about your LO's huge appetite.  It does happen!

[Mashi]

Claire especially if he was ill for a few days and not eating, he may be taking in the extra to make up for it, kwim? Or could he just be having a growth spurt?  When DS has had growth spurts he eats and eats and eats - though for him it might mean he takes in 1000 calories in a day instead of his usual 200

[mumofalice]

Claire - I echo what PPs have said and just let him eat when he wants as Alice used to be the same and would eat for England. Wouldn't surprise me if you're worried about how little he is eating in a few months time 

Brenda - my DD was the same. Very healthy diet until she discovered (at CM when spending time with older LOs) that biscuits and cakes were available  And with here Dad's sweet tooth and my love of chocolate and ice cream there really wasn't any hope for her LOL!

Liz - J's doing really well at the moment - even REAL fruit.

Claire - PMSL when I read your comment about humzinger bars and dog chews - uncanny resemblance indeed 

A has eaten quite a bit today, but not necessarily her healthiest day  :

At home:
B: jam on toast, satsuma, water

At CM:
S: banana and milk
L: spaghetti hoops on toast, yoghurt and water
S: biscuit and water

At home:
D: mutton stew (inc carrots, pots and onions) with onion bread - ate more than I expected (have to say it was more like a soup as Mashi already knows!), banana, yoghurt, biscuit and hot choc

[MummyToBen]

Ladies, thanks  .  That makes me feel better - I think I would be more concerned if he was like it *every* day, but I suppose he must have some sort of appetite control as there are the occasional days where he eats a bit less. He has just started walking too, so perhaps he will finally start to burn some of it off  .

Saying all that however, he did, true to form, go to bed after eating a huge dinner, shouting "MORE EAT!!", and then scraping crumbs off a random plate into his mouth  !!

xxx

[*Liz*]

WOW Claire - that is a lot of food  - I don't envy your shopping bill in a few years time!

I don't get the humzinger bars either as they taste pretty gross to me as well - but he seems to like them. Especially ATM. I think it is a teething thing.

Today wasn't awful, but not great either.

B shreddies, wheetabix, few bites of toast
S sweetcorn rings and chocolate buttons (pure bribery as in the middle of his hair cut which he DOES NOT like  )
L banana chunk, few bites of cream cheese sandwich, few bites of pancake
S Apple, nicked a bit of bacon out of my sandwich, rest of pancake
D Potato wedges, chicken nuggets (MEAT  ), yoghurt and blueberries (refused cake after  )

It is slow progress, but it IS progress 

[squeakersmum]

Soooooo - today was interesting...again.

B (after 4 disgusting nappies)- most of a nectarine, decent amount of readybrek
No S early nap as v early wake this am
L - tucked in most happily to best part of a sausage roll from the Bakery, and some of my tuna sandwich...

...thought about it for a bit and threw up most of a nectarine, a decent amount of readybrek, the best part of a sausage roll from the Bakery, and some of my tuna sandwich...all of which was identifyable.  Ew.

He whinged and whined because he was hungry (wonder why?!?) so for snack had a box of raisins and a banana even though I was dubious about letting him have anything.

D - Carrot, pea and tomato risotto - some puree fruit pot

[nelliestar]

So far today..

B - apple and blueberry porridge, banana pieces, grapes
S - breadsticks, malt loaf
L - Moussaka and mashed potato, Yoghurt, mini cookie
S - rice cake and piece of mummy's chocolate
D - going to a friends B'day party so lots of party food and cake no doubt

I have said it before but I love this thread!!!!!

Can you tell me what humzinger bars are and can you get them in the UK?

Nell xxx

[emz1907]

HI everyone, Ive been lurking on this thread for a while as my ds is having a few food issues and I was looking for ideas. I feel better now as it seems you all have the same thing with eating well for a few days then not so good for a few days. My major issue is getting him to try new things, we've had some success but just now gave him pasta with a different sauce to normal and Ive just had to scrub the whole lot out of the living room carpet!! He even said 'no different pasta' it hardly looked any different the monkey.

[mumofalice]

Can you tell me what humzinger bars are and can you get them in the UK?

I asked the same thing a couple of weeks ago  They are a fruit bar (that look like dog chews LOL!) and can be counted as 1 of your 5 a day (I *think*). You can definitely get them in the UK - think it was LizJ who I asked about them. I bought mine in Sainsburys but I think Liz said she got hers in Tesco. I found them by accident they were in the section that sells dried fruit snacks and cereal bars - I was going to buy some of the naked cherry infused raisins and bought a box of humzingers as well  Very handy they've been too - need to get another box now!

My major issue is getting him to try new things,

Hi emz1907 & welcome!
Keep trying with the new things - I was reading something the other day something about having to put a food (whatever it might be) in front of a LO about 10 times (can't remember the exact number - sorry this is a bit vague  ) before they will actually try it. Quite often they will then eat that food over and over again until they become obsessed by the next food . . . which makes me wonder when my DD will get sick of her beloved cheese LOL!! Hope you managed to get the 'different pasta' out of the carpet  Had to giggle at your LO's comment!

Today:
B: boiled egg, couple of bites of toast, oj
S: humzinger bar 
L: home-made cabbage & bean soup, onion bread, cheese selection (smoked stilton, mature cheddar, maasdam), asked for a banana (which she broke into 3 pieces and shared with me and DH)
S: yoghurt coated sesame snaps (DH gave her them - think she had 2)
D: sausage, tomato and courgette pasta with cheese - she didn't eat much at first but DH encouraged her with a few more bites as she wanted a yoghurt after the first bite  , strawberries with creme fraiche on the side for 'dipping', satsuma, hot choc and biscuit