Answer: Empirical evidence says YES. Grumble grumble grumble.....
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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Our version of babyhood, toddlerhood, and motherhood.
Answer: Empirical evidence says YES. Grumble grumble grumble.....
Posted by Michelle at 8:45 PM
5 comments:
Oh MAN. OK, I KKNOW you've already tried everything you can think of, but here some ideas off the top of my head just in case you haven't tried these yet.
frozen blueberries (yes, still frozen)
frozen peas (still frozen)
fruit/yogurt smoothies
fruit/veggie smoothies/juice
veggie lasagna
cheese sauce over veggies & pasta
canned chickpeas (rinsed)
any kind of canned bean
frozen, shelled edamame (cooked)
raisins
- make sure she's hungry when you serve her (no frequent snacking)
- don't serve her immediately. first you eat the food & play-up how good it is. make her jealous.
- make a game of her feeding her baby doll, then see if she'll eat in the process to show baby how to eat.
- maybe watching Anna's daughter eat will help? (she'll want to be like the cool kid?)
GOOD LUCK!!!
One more weird thing about the blueberries: Laurel will only eat the Cascadian Farm organic blueberries. Being a former picky eater myself, I am certain that this is because they are much smaller than the others and therefore have smaller bits of berry flesh to feel slimy and gross in her mouth. Big chunks of cold slimy things are NOT appetizing in the least! For the longest time Laurel would only eat them frozen, but finally now she will also eat them if they are thawed. Go figure.
I had a post a while back about how frustrated I was to not be able to find fresh blueberries when they were out of season (Gillian loved them. Note: past tense), so in desperation, I bought the frozen ones, which Gillian had no interest in (I think I sarcastically said something about my little conneisseur noticing the difference between fresh and frozen :-D). Now, I have never tried giving her the frozen ones (still frozen, that is), so that is worth a try! It might feel good on her gums (the cusps of the top molars now through).
Gillian has forfeited yogurt (smoothies or whatever) in the past two weeks. This is sad because yogurt is nutritious and fattening, and it was wonderful when she would drink a smoothie with fresh fruit. The last time I took her to the doc (didn't see our regular doc) she said because G is constipated I should give her juice, but I couldn't find anything with fiber in it (but lots of things with plenty of empty sugar calories). I did find a berry smoothie (not identifiably yogurt-looked more like creamy berry juice) with 5 grams of fiber in 8 oz, so I paid $4.99 for it. Gillian took one sip and threw it on the floor (luckily, it is amazing, so I finished the bottle for her after one last futile effort to get her to drink it the next day). Then there was the organic chocolate milk in an effort to get her to drink milk, which she took two sips of and pushed away, and said "no, no, no!" when I offered it again (what is wrong with a kid that doesn't like chocolate milk?!?). She WILL NOT eat veggies, no matter how I prepare them. Beans and peas get smashed systematically with her pointer finger. Broccoli goes in and then she spits it out. Same with raisins.
Now, I have tried making her things like, say, gourmet quality pasta (with pureed veggies so smooth even I couldn't identify what they are), or a delicious chicken and rice with a tomato based sauce full of unnoticeable veggies (which even Sean loved), or absolutely amazing mini meatballs with an asian dipping sauce (do you know how fantastic a little apple can make a simple meatball? I couldn't stop eating them, and I am not a huge fan of Meat). But, what I realize when I try to feed these wonderous delights to my daughter is THAT IT'S A WASTE OF MY TIME TO BOTHER. Last weekend I cooked for three hours for her and she ate about one bite of each of the dishes I prepared before 1) spitting it out or 2) tell me she's all done and "down, please".
I do think you are absolutely right about Gillian possibly being encouraged by Anna's daughter. I hope she tried to emulate that, anyway. And snacking-food goes away an hour and a half from any mealtime.
We've tried every Jedi mind trick in the book to get her to want to eat food. Now, if it's YOUR dinner, she will mooch for a few bites (enough to get your hopes up).
I will never stop trying, but I can honestly say that I think she is just going to be like this for a while. Another mom told me that her daughter and another child we both know are the only toddlers she knew that did eat (weirdly, this was comforting). Sean's cousin's son is 3 and weighs 30 lbs. He has never been a big eater either. Someone also recently said to me that they had never heard of a toddler voluntarily starving to death. On a general level, this is reassuring, but the day to day still makes me worry. *sigh*
I was hesitant to write anything b/c I figured you'd probably already tried everyhing under the sun, and it sounds like you have! Hang in there. Better days are ahead.
I make Laurel go 2-3 hours between eating -- am I a bad parent?? She won't eat a meal if she was snacking 1.5 hours beforehand.
Huh. 2-3 hrs? I thought we were bad parents if we waited too long (and what is too long, anyway?). Maybe I'll give that a go.
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