Feeding time for Bella has just gotten more complicated. Now that she's one, we are introducing more 'table food' and less 'baby food.' She has always been an impeccable eater. Remember when I boasted that the only food she had ever denied was tofu? (for good reason if you ask me!) Well apparently that is still mostly true if you offer her food on a spoon or a fork. However finger food is a different story. She used to regularly eat almost an entire cup of peas as an appetizer before her actual dinner. Now she has developed the annoying habit of eating a couple, then wildly thrashing her arms in an attempt to rid her highchair of the unwanted food-thus, resulting in food all over the floor, wasted, and sticking to the linoleum.
I don't know what to do- I can see now how kids could spiral into bad eating habits because of their parents attempt to simply get them to eat. I tried several finger foods on many of your suggestions.
- Eggo waffles: nay.
- Hotdogs: nay.
- Toast: nay.
- Corn: sometimes.
- Peas: sometimes.
- Teddy Grahams: yay.
- String Cheese: almost always.
- Cheerios: usually.
- Cereal Bars: sometimes.
- Goldfish crackers: usually.
- Custard-style yogurt: yay.
I don't know what to do. It is a lot easier if I just continue giving her jars of baby food and rice cereal everyday. She will eat that as long as I feed it to her. I don't want her to get in the delicious habit of eating only simple carbs like crackers and the like. She used to eat so much! The doctor recommended that she get at least 4 bottles a day, and even up to 8 since she is so small, in addition to 3 meals a day. (I am weaning her now.) Ha! She might drink one bottle throughout the whole day. Oh well. Today for lunch she had half of a peanut butter and honey sandwich for the first time and loved it! (Who wouldn't?) She also had string cheese, Cheerios, and some corn.
What do I feed my child?
BTW: at her one-year check she weighed in at a whopping 17 pounds, 1 1/2 ounces! She's actually gone up in the percentiles, but isn't quite on the charts yet. She is in the 10th percentile for height, and nearly 50th for head-size. Oh good. Perfect proportions.
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9 comments:
I don't know what to tell other than that it sounds like you're doing a good job. She's probably just trying to figure things out now that she's able to eat actual food with flavor (imagine that after bland baby food), so most likely she's testing things out and deciding what her favorites are. It's very hard not to make their diet be a steady stream of fishy crackers. You could try various dry cereals, and bits of fruit added to what you're already giving her.
You are at the same cross-road I think we all come to with changing to the realm of reagular food. You are doing great though, this is just how it is- at least that is what everyone told me! Mya would go through phases where she would want to the same *new* things all the time, like peanut butter and honey, then one day just refuse it altogether. It helped that she could sign/talk at that age so she could kind of tell me what she wanted. I notices that there wasn't any fruit on your list, so many go that route? Bananas are and have always been a huge hit for Mya, but try apples, pears, apricots, and peaches. Just dice them up really small. Green beans were always a favorite as well and they have them in small cans that were the perfect portion for her. Mya never wanted to drink that much milk either, so I just gave her more regular, not low fat, yogurt and cheese. They even make baby yogurt, YoBaby or something like that. Cheese chunks were really easy to cut up one day and have in the fridge just in a container. What about Kix cereal? Good luck and know that we have all been there!
I feel your pain. Eva loves strawberries one day, shuns them the next. Sometimes she'll eat cucumber sticks, sometimes not. I just keep trying stuff. She'll always eat scrambled eggs, yogurt, sandwiches, or quesadillas. They say that it can take between 10-20 encounters with a food before a child will accept it! I think maybe I gave up too easily with the boys because I just wanted them to eat SOMETHING. So I gave them foods I knew they liked. With Eva I will try to be more persistent and just keep offering fruits, vegetables, and new things. She usually loves eating whatever is on my plate. Yesterday she ate parmesan chicken and loved it! By the way, I think you could still give Bella baby food if she still wants it. Then you know she is getting good nourishment. Just try giving her finger foods at the same time. I can't believe she didn't like toast!
Oh, and keep offering bottles of milk or sippy cups frequently, before other foods, to make sure she's not too full for it. If she keeps avoiding it, step up the cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.
Kira didn't really make the transition to "normal" food until she was about 14 or 15 months old. I was very comfortable with baby food. I loved knowing that she was getting all her fruits and veggies. I agree with Michelle and Hannah when they say just keep on trying. I would put different solids on her plate (whatever we were eating) while feeding her baby food that seemed to help a lot. Also I would always give her baby food for breakfast and dinner and experiment with lunch (since that is the meal she was least hungry at)She completed the transtion when Josh was born, I just didn't have time to feed her baby food anymore, she adjusted just fine.
I am glad that she weighs 17 lbs. I thought you were going to say something much less. My niece weighed only 16lbs at a year, she is now three, still real skinny but healthy and eats a ton.
Oh, the eating battles have begun at your house! I get so stressed out about Kaitlin's eating habits. When she was a baby eating baby foods she got such well rounded meals. Now I feel grateful if she'll eat several spoonfuls of mac-and-cheese. My advice is to roll with it. There is no way you're going to force her to eat, so don't let it turn into a power struggle. Just offer her a variety of foods and let her pick and choose. Also, if you can think of a way to turn it into a game or something fun (although she may be too young for this, and good luck anyway--I'm no good at this technique!) try that. Oh, I'm cringing right now. I hate this part of motherhood!
Nice colors. Keep up the good work. thnx!
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