Author Topic: Please help, losing my patience with 18 month old spirited DD  (Read 7905 times)

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Offline Sweetpeajanet

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Hello,
I desperately need some advice. I am having a really hard time feeding my DD. She usually eats two to three spoons and that's it. By the second spoon she is picking out the meat/chicken and throwing it on the floor. Flat out refuses to eat meat even when cut small. I have no idea what to give her anymore. What do I do if she refuses to eat? I take her out of high chair then put her back to get same result. Should I offer fruit and yoghurt after or not? Thanks

Offline *Becky*

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Re: Please help, losing my patience with 18 month old spirited DD
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2013, 18:24:37 pm »
it's really hard eh? I think it is a stage most toddlers go through and some are just more picky than others. Is she teething? DD has been teething recently and eating very little.
I tend to offer the meal and if she starts messing about it goes away. I must admit I do give yoghurt and/or pureed fruit but because I know she is teething. I don't offer alternatives to the meal.




Henry James and Martha Rose - my spirited pair!

Offline creations

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Re: Please help, losing my patience with 18 month old spirited DD
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2013, 13:58:23 pm »
My LO refused meat or fish for a long time even though he very readily tried anything from 6 months old. I switched breakfast to a protein meal, making omelet or sausage almost every day for months to get protein into him. He would happily eat it then and I no loner worried about his unbalanced diet so it took the pressure off of lunch and dinner.  He's gradually started trying different things, a couple of cubes of lamb, a few different types of fish so long as I breadcrumb it, and yesterday even tried a very small mouthful of roast chicken after I told him I'd really like him to try just a taste of it to see what it was like.  He isn't a super fussy eater but times of teething will eat almost nothing, like Becky has said, and then make up for it afterwards.  Just recently (almost a year older than your LO) he has widened his diet quite a lot, many things he didn't previously like he has tried and liked.  I think keeping meal times pleasant, sociable and stress free for everyone is a really important aspect of encouraging eating.
I also put everything out separately, even if we have stew, I pick out all the bits and put separate piles of each thing on his plate so he doesn’t have to pick out and discard.


Offline Sweetpeajanet

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Re: Please help, losing my patience with 18 month old spirited DD
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2013, 03:10:53 am »
Thanks ladies. I will try to stress less and hopefully in time she will improve. She is teething so maybe that has a lot to do with it. I've also tried limiting snacks to improve main meal eating.

Offline creations

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Re: Please help, losing my patience with 18 month old spirited DD
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2013, 13:24:15 pm »
My DS eats almost nothing when he is teething, but makes up for it after with huge portions!

Hope it picks up soon.


Offline Emami

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Re: Please help, losing my patience with 18 month old spirited DD
« Reply #5 on: May 21, 2013, 13:26:50 pm »
Just another thought - how much milk does she drink?  For ages I was giving my dd a cup of milk first thing in place of her morning bottle, and she never ate much breakfast.  I just thought she wasn't much of a morning eater until it occurred to me to cut down the milk and she started eating a much better breakfast  ::) Now she drinks more water through the day and I give her a cup of milk after lunch so she doesn't fill up on it beforehand, and one at bedtime.
Emma






Offline altpj11

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Re: Please help, losing my patience with 18 month old spirited DD
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2013, 01:44:58 am »
I found some great advice from a website http://www.weelicious.com about toddlers eating. The lady writes a cookbook as well with advice about getting kids to love healthy eating from very young. Getting them involved with the process helps, including having them chose their fruit or whatever it is from the store, etc. Just passing it along in case it can help others:)