Where do I begin, my daughter will be 3 years old in Sept and I am beyond frustrated with feeding her. It is honestly something that I dread doing and I honestly believe I may have a breakdown because of it.
Here are the details:
- she does not eat meat, never has. Not pureed, not with sauce, she won't even let it get near her mouth to try. I have been able to get her to eat chicken on occasion, but not without a big fight and a lot of gagging
- she does not eat vegetables. Only raw baby carrots and salad on occasion (only the lettuce, no cucumbers or anything else)
- she eats soup (broth with noodles, no meat or veggies), kraft macaroni and cheese (not homemade macaroni and cheese where I try to sneak in some pureed veggies), grilled cheese sandwiches, toast with nutella and peanut butter and pasta with tomato sauce (no meat)
- she refuses to feed herself and will sit for hours at the table until someone feeds her
- she does not sit still at the table, she plays with her feet, she turns around, she sings songs, talks to herself...she will do anything but eat
Here is her routine:
7am - wakes and has a glass of milk and 1 slice of toast with peanut butter and nutella
9:30-10am - snack
12:30-1 - lunch
4-5 - snack
6-7 - dinner
9pm - bed (but she usually doesn't fall asleep until 10pm or later...she will sing and talk to herself until she falls asleep
She is with us on the weekends, we try to be consistent, but every meal typically ends in disaster. We've tried leaving her at the table until she's finished and putting her to bed straight away if she doesn't.
Tues, Thurs and Friday she is in daycare - I'm pretty sure they just put the food out in front of her and don't really monitor if she has eaten or not. All I know is that when I pick her up at 5pm, she's usually on her second helping of a snack (cookies or other junk)
Mon and Wed she is with my mother in law. My mother in law spoils her rotten. She will present her with a literal smorgasbord of food. If she doesn't like what my mother in law has served for lunch, my mother in law will make her something else. My mother in law will put the TV on to distract her and shovel food into her mouth as she is watching. She then gives her an 8-ounce bottle (even though she doesn't have a bottle anywhere else) and puts her to sleep. She will let her sleep for as long as she needs, usually 2.5-3 hours (she has usually just woken up by the time we pick her up at 5pm-ish). These are typically the nights she is awake past 10pm. My mother in law is very over-bearing and doesn't typically react well when I ask her to modify "her way" of doing things.
I am beyond frustrated. I don't know what to do anymore. I am to the point now where I feed her junk to get her to eat. We have an episode every single day, she is crying, I am crying, my husband is upset...this is no way to live. What can I do?
