13 months and a FRUIT/MILK junkie!

[Richelle]

Hi,

My DD (13 months) was a phenomenal eater until about a week ago.  She DID start on finger foods very early because she started refusing a spoon about about 8 months.

From 8 months until a week ago she would eat ANYTHING, honestly!!  I was very pleased and it was sooooo easy for me to make sure she was getting a balanced diet, loved veggies, fruit any kind of meat.  We also don't do enriched flour (white breads/pastas etc...) and she still gobbled up whole grain/brown breads/pastas/rice.

In the last week all she will really eat is fruit, namely bananas, maybe some yogurt and finally she ate cereal this morning.  Even crackers and a granola bar (her 'treats') get a turned up nose and hurled from the tray!  She has two molars and one of her eye teeth just cutting the surface so I know that has alot to do with appetite, textures but she ate 1/2 an apple, 1/2 a banana and 1/2 a pear for lunch after refusing everything else, so her appetite is there and an apple/pear are not soft.  Even EGGS, good old faithful eggs are a no go.

She has water handy at every meal and usually has some throughout.

She is also a milk JUNKIE.  SHe has about 600ml a day and would gladly probably drink it all day long if she could get her hands on it but she never has milk before a meal.

I have even put her watching an Einstein video while she sits down to eat.

I suppose it could be worse right?  I am not sure how 'worried' I am just more confused than anything.  Fruit IS good for you, maybe I am just looking for someone to say hey that's fine as long as she is eating something!

Anyway, just wondering if someone has amy thoughts, experience on the whole thing....

TIA,

Richelle

[Mum to cool dude]

Richelle,

I don't have much advice for you but I definitely think that teething is interfering with her appetite. Hopefully it will get better when the teeth come through. Don't forget, though, that toddlers don't need to eat as much as they used to as babies, as the rate at which they are growing is slowing down

Good for you for staying cool. The key is not to get stressed and to keep offering different foods. Also, personally, I would try and cut down progressively on the milk intake in order to increase her appetite for solids

[Richelle]

Thanks Sophie (great name  )

I suppose I hadn't really considered that her growing and development have slowed so maybe her appetite is as well.  She has been walking for 2 months and I think that her starting to walk made her really hungry and now she has "plateau'ed" in a sense.  I know if I am not really hungry it is hard to eat something that I don't really like and a lot easier to eat something I really like

I'll just keep offering everything and I know about the milk.  One day I thought I would just give her her snack at 3 and then just some water.  When I let her out of her chair she went straight to the microwave (knows this is where her milk comes out of) and pointed at it asking 'whozat? whozat?' repeatedly and then she threw herself on the floor crying when I walked away.  I thought jeez I'm not going to struggle over this, have the milk (picking my battles, so to speak).

Anyway, thanks for the thoughts and I hope I can get some protein into this kid, let me tell you all the fruit and fibre is really ummmmmm taking it's toll in the diaper changing area, KWIM? 

[lisa2323]

Well let me say that you are not alone!! My son is 22 mos old and loves milk and fruit as well.  I just try to be laid back about  it.  Obviously I encourage other foods but usaually he will not budge from his milk/fruit diet.  I think there are worse things than having a kid who loves milk and fruit.  However I did notice his legs were getting chunky so I started diluting his milk with water, b/c the whole milk can be fattening.  Anyways he is healthy and I just hope it is a phase.  It may just e a phase for your daughter.

[tylersmommy]

I also have a milk and fruit junkie. He'll go through phases where he'll eat other things, but those are his standbys. Like the other gals said, appetites slow down a LOT after that first year, and it's soooo normal for toddlers to eat nothing for a few days then suddenly eat you out of house and home. Try and go with the flow as much as you can and keep offering other foods while still respecting her preferences. We get creative with how we combine or disguise food in order to keep his diet somewhat balanced. We also dilute Tyler's milk with water to keep him from overdoing it, since it tends to be constipating. And if she's a milkaholic, she should be getting plenty of protein from that.

[Richelle]

Thanks everyone, I'm glad I didn;t get worried about it, silly as it is!!

Silly question though, instead of watering down the milk, could I offer 2% or similar?  Also my MIL thinks that I should still be buying full fat cheese and yogurt for DD but I have been giving her fat free/reduced fat simply because this is what we have etc...Anyone else give reduced fat dairy products?

[Petunia]

Children under two should be getting the full fat varieties of products like milk, cheese, and yogurt.  They NEED that fat at this age.  Children over two who are underweight also need full fat products until they catch up.

Here's a discussion about fats in the diet of toddlers
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=62396.0

[tylersmommy]

Like Petunia said, toddlers under 2 should still get full fat dairy products unless your dr has given the okay. We water Tyler's full fat milk down simply to keep his daily intake of milk at 16-24 oz and keep him from filling up on it, not to reduce the fat content. Too much milk and dairy in a toddler's diet isn't good, no matter what kind it is, as it's very filling and will replace other important nutrients in her diet.