Need opinions - is milk stopping her from eating well at meals?

[waffler]

Mira is now 14 months. When she turned 1, she turned Picky. All the stuff she loved now she turns her nose up at. Here's a day (a GOOD day) as an example :

0700 wake and BOTTLE of milk 4oz
0800 breakfast - toast, banana+yoghurt, cereal

10.30 Snack (either a rice cake/mini muffin - won't take fruit anymore since turned picky)

12.30 Lunch - Home made fish fingers, baby yoghurt, choice of vegies as finger food, and also some fruit -of course, most of this she refuses apart from the yoghurt and fish fingers)

3.30 Wakes from nap and given 4oz of milk in bottle. SOmetimes i offer a snack too.

5.30 Dinner - This could be anything! Try to give a meal of veg+meat which is mashed, and cheese on toast and home made mango+yoghurt.

7.00 7oz of milk at bedtime in bottle.

Issues are :
- refuses spoon unless is distracted or I make it a game like, she feeds me... I feed her...
- won't take fruit, she appears to really look disgusted at the feel of fruit! She only likes chewing on orange segments WITH skin on. Hence I try to give freshly blended diluted fruit juice (watermelon/apple/berries/mango/pineapple)
- Vegies - she used to take veg in cheesey sauce but since that's with a spoon, it's hard to give it to her.

Just yesterday, she learnt to put food in her mouth with a spoon. I went beserk with the applause, and she loved it so much that she kept doing it because she loved seeing me clap and be happy. Then after a few mouthfuls she threw the spoon on the floor - done I guess!

Well. We have many issues that I'm going through, but the ONLY thing I haven't altered is the milk intake. I'm wondering if that is next step. Last couple of days she now accepts taking cow's milk via a cup at brekkie. So I'm thinking of just going straight to breakfast after wake up. And what about the 3.30 bottle? At this nap, I have to wake her (she'd sleep for hours if I let her!) and is all groucy so the bottle helps soothe her.

And being TOTALLy honest - I love the cuddles I get from the bottle I give her I'm not fussed at this stage about getting rid of the physical bottle and to give it in a cup.

One other thing - she rarely is HUNGRY at meals. Maybe she's just a small eater?

[shanaz]

Hi Ali

Hmm, she eats practically the same amount as Seren except Seren doesn't have big bedtime bottle (she's never been a big milk drinker).  Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with the amount she's eating although you could just reduce the amount of milk she has at the 3.30 bottle and see how she goes.

Seren wouldn't eat fresh fruit until about 2 weeks ago when she suddenly started eating it.  She also won't take much off a spoon, about 3 or 4 weeks ago she completely refused to take anything but is slowly resuming having food from a spoon as long as she has stuff she can pick at on her tray and usually towards the end she has to feed herself for a while (this means having 2 spoons in rotation as she won't let go of the spoon unless there's a new one with food waiting for her to pick it up! )

I know I haven't really got any practical advice for you, rather just to let you know that there are others in the same boat and that to just keep doing what you are doing as she will soon change - toddlers are notorious for this type of behaviour!  It sounds like she's getting a good & varied diet.

Shanaz xx

[waffler]

Thanks Shanaz. I don't really feel like the milk is an issue, she isn't a constant snacker and just seems to be the sort of baby who isn't "into" food! So UNLIKE her mummy LOL

Just have to keep my frustrations inside and wait for this to phase out... 

[shanaz]

That's the spirit!

[KellyC]

Mira may just be at the age when toddlers naturally start to eat less - I'm sure Zander ate more towards the end of his first year than he does now (and he's a big eater - like his mummy and daddy!).

I've actually only been dishing up a small portion of food for Zander lately and then when/if he's eaten it all I ask him if he'd like some more.  Somehow having less in front of him is less daunting and it's also less disappointing for you if she doesn't eat it all!  You may also find that she wants to be independent now so I'd give her her food and a spoon and sit at your own place with your own food (or a nice cup of tea or coffee) and let her get on with it - she may eat some, she may not, she may try and use her spoon or she may choose to use her hands, but hopefully she'll find some enjoyment in exploring her food herself.  If you think she may want some help ask her and she may accept the spoon after she's had a good try herself first.

If these things don't help you might think of the timing of her meals - perhaps bring her morning snack back to 10am so she's hungrier for lunch at 12.30 and then maybe think of that afternoon bottle which is rather close to her dinner time.  Personally I'd only offer a small snack at that time of day (ideally earlier but obviously she's asleep!) but that's just what works for us.

Kelly x

[taygensmom]

Looks like she is taking about 15 oz of milk per day? That should be fine...

I would look more at the timing of your schedule. It looks like she either eats orr drinks milk every 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. I really think if you want to encourage increased amounts of food and increased variety you should try increasing the time between meals/snacks. I would aim for at least 3 hours between each meal/snack (including milk) or your Lo may not be hungry and therefore not motivated to try new foods. Cutting out one snack may also help to increase your LOs appetite and desire to eat. So your schedule could be something like this:
7:30 - Wake and breakfast (with milk during/right after)
11:30 - Lunch
3:30 - Milk/snack
6:00 - Supper
7:00 - Milk
Our LO has a similar schedule to this and eats very well as he is truly hungry at meals. We offer water in between. We also just make a point to offer whatever we are eating, and allow him to choose if he wants to eat it or not. If he refuses, we respect that and wait till the next mealtime, but we don't give him an alternate food or offer him soemthing else. We typically have 4-5 food items during a meal, so he already has many choices!! He rearely refuses though, as he is usually pretty hungry. We also always offer veggies first (as an appetizer) at meals, as he would prefer to eat bread and meat all day if he could (LOL). Then we offer small portions of whatever else we are eating with a few more veggies. HTH

[waffler]

I know it's so hard to imagine that these LOs KNOW when they don't want to eat. I give Mira about 5 choices per meal (and none of which I am eating so you can imagine the sort of food variety we have at home! Thank God we have a dog, who I call the "Food Recycle Unit"......)

I tell myself over and over not to stress and sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. Today I am not giving her the 3.30pm milk.... so hopefully she'll be ravenous by dinner LOL

thanks for all the advice

[KellyC]

I love your user name by the way - I should have nabbed that one for myself 

[waffler]

Can u tell from my posts that I do tend to "waffle" on a bit then? 

[KellyC]

I'm sure you're far more succinct than I am