Food Issues

My guess is he's slowing down in growth. Also, he is probably just fascinated by his new seat and wants to try it out several times.Kids go through so many different eating phases. I have one who was very very picky and will eat more things now. My youngest used to eat anything, but now it has to pass the eye inspection and if it meets that approval, he has to smell it first! I can't get the kid to eat hardly anything these days, but his pediatrician says it is "just a stage."

Prime time for the "hungry NOW, nope not hungry, hungry NOW, nope - changed my mind, NOT HUNGRY!" phase or the "I only eat cheerios while sitting in the bathtub" phase.;) Keep offering food and he will eat when hungry. You might try offering more finger food type things if he's not eating much at meals so that he gets his nutrients. And he might be entering the "grazer" phase too, where he really isn't all that hungry for meals but just needs the snack. You can make the snacks more "mealish" by doing things like putting a bit of mashed potatoes on a breadstick or something like that. Watch for his "hungry periods" and instead of giving a bottle or sippy cup, try offering food during those times. One thing I did and still do at times for my youngest who is my "eater challenge" kid, is serve him very little portions so as not to make him feel overwhelmed with the amount of food. Even a tablespoon of something can seem like a huge portion of food. I'd give him a teaspoon and he'd ask for more if hungry. But above all...it really is a battle that I wouldn't fight because rarely do we parents win and it just causes too much stress, imo. I know it can be worriesome, but as long as he is eating and isn't sick, he's likely getting what he needs as his body slows down a bit.

Thanks for the ideas. It's just hard, this one, I suppose. I think more so for Josh. I know he doesn't dig the whole thought of "eating cheerios in the bathtub" and that a kid should sit, at the table, and eat when we eat. I'm sure he'll try to tell me we're setting ourselves up for failure by allowing other behaviors (such as eating in the living room like I let him do when we're here alone sometimes) but... gah!That said, now I want mashed potatoes.

H was doing that last week, but this week he's back. I'm pretty much following Crick's gameplan---I try to get him to eat when we are, or keeping regular mealtimes, but if he doesn't do it, I'll offer him a snack a few minutes later----a string cheese stick, some blueberries (BEEBEES!) or a cereal bar. I don't know if it's the booster or not. H has a booster on one of the counter stools at the kitchen island, and he has a little table w/ 2 chairs right next to it. Sometimes he gobbles while in his booster, other times he's happier roaming back and forth to his table. Messy food has to stay in the booster, so if he wants the yogurt, he climbs up there. (by himself---ack!) Good luck. BTW--that's a gorgeous picture on your avatar!

Ah, yes, he's also digging the HECK out of his cereal bars right now. LOL. We are buying a table and chair set for his birthday. Perhaps it might be wise to get it a bit earlier to see if that helps at all?Oh, who knows. Parenting is confusing! ;)

Oh don't get me wrong...still do your table time meals, that's important, imo. We sit down as a family for most meals and I also have my kids eat their snacks at the table. Granted, it's much easier now that they are older to do this. However, when it was a choice of not eating at all or a choice of eating but only at the little art table in the living room or yes, once or twice in the bathtub, well, there ya go! LOL! They still sat with us for family meals and I just used that time to focus more on the family time rather than what they were eating. I had a very picky eater at this age and he's still picky...sigh! Still very much a grazer and doesn't eat much at dinner at all. Luckily we were able to figure out that it's breakfast he's most hungry at and he gets most of his nutrients etc. at this meal. He's also the child who went through the "I'm a dog" stage and would demand his puppy costume to wear to the store.;) You'll like this stage, I PROMISE! Keep in mind too that a child's tummy fills up faster and then doesn't wait for 3-4 hours til the next meal like us adults do. Josh can hopefully be okay with this as long as Nick does participate at dinner, even if he doesn't eat much or at all.

Seems like we've been going through this stage for about a year (Sam turns 3 in November). As a baby and young toddler he was such a great eater...would eat absolutely anything I put in front of him, including shrimp, salmon, asparagus...all the foods you'd think he would reject. We were really concerned even though we knew all the advice that we shouldn't worry. It's really hard not to worry (...Should I give a snack if he doesn't eat dinner? Should I fix an alternate meal if he says he doesn't like what we're eating for dinner? Are we setting ourselves up for eating problems later by cowtowing to their demands? Will he ever get enough vegetables/minerals/vitamins etc. now that most of his diet is protein and carbs? Am I stunting his growth? ...) It was especially disheartening to DH, because it was the dinner meal Sam was refusing to eat, even when it was one of his favorites...and this is the only meal that we're all together, so to DH it felt like Sam was never eating. For awhile there he was throwing fits when we sat down for dinner, and he would run into the den (next to the kitchen) crying, "No eating! I want to play!" At first we tried to coax him to the table, because we worried that allowing him to play instead of join us would pave the way for problems later. Then we realized that if we just told him, "Okay, you go play, we'll miss you while we eat dinner" invariably he would wander in, minutes later, and ask to join us. Thankfully this phase has ended and now when I call him to dinner he says "COME ON, Daddy! It's supper time, it's supper time!" One thing we did try to decrease was the amount of liquids he was consuming between meals. We also read that at this age (2-3) it is very common, and fine, for them to really eat only 2 meals a day. We realized that it was pretty apparent that he just wasn't that hungry at night, because he was eating plenty for breakfast and lunch. We also decreased the amount we were putting on his plate...DH's eyes are way bigger than Sam's stomach and he was putting so much on the plate, I thought that might be overwhelming. That has helped. Now we seem to be getting back to a 3-meal day, where he is hungrier in the evenings. He still doesn't eat that much at dinner but he sits with us even if he's not hungry. We always fix at least one thing for dinner that we know he likes...and we remind him that if he chooses not to eat dinner, he will not eat again until breakfast the next day. He is starting to get that concept. It helped me to have a mother-in-law telling me that her son, my DH, ate very little at this age and that without peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, he would certainly not have survived past 3 years old. :D Needless to say he did survive and grew up just fine, with a very healthy appetite and reaching 6 feet, 200 pounds. Hang in there...it is frustrating and impossible not to worry and freak out from time to time, but "this too shall pass" even if it is a long phase like ours has been! If he asks for something and doesn't want it by the time it's made, that is completely normal. Don't force it or make a big deal out of it, just tell him, "Okay, if you don't want any right now you can have some for lunch/dinner" and put it in the fridge for later. Remember that this is the first thing they can control in their lives - the more fuss you make, the more he realizes he is in control - and it is a big power trip for them. Good luck...we are slowly closing in on Sam being fully potty trained and that has been power struggle #2 for quite some time in this house! Cate

I would second the option of maybe getting a "Nick size" table and chairs. We have one for DS which we so happen to call his big boy table and he eats there. And stands mostly. At this stage I've read, if you can get a balanced meal in them in SEVEN DAYS, you're doing well. This really is the "I've got too many things to do" phase.

Meg seems to cycle through eating and not eating...there are days where she can't get enough, and days where I do worry a little. I'm sure Nick's going through something similar. You can always try the kid sized table and chairs. Also, sometimes all it takes is a new plate or bowl or something like that to "jazz up" the meal time. Also, if he's got buddies he likes, have them over during meal time--he may eat a little more with a peer around. I second the thought about giving food at times where he may want to consume a lot of liquid via bottle/sippy. We recently met with a dietitian who told us M was drinking too much rice milk, and to cut it back to 24oz a day. (she can't do dairy, and may be craving fat, so we are bulking up on healthy oil in her food, but that's another post!) Probably though, he's just waxing and waning like they all do!

I call Jack the scarecrow because he is tall and thin. He had a growth spurt at 12 months and actually lost weight. I worry about his eating so much. Unfortunately, he is a picky, picky eater. I'm still using baby food veggies and fruit because I can't get him to eat the real thing and he is 14 months. I find that I have to distract him with something at the table, like his own cup and spoon to do mixy, mixy, while I shovel in bits of food. Some days he runs to his highchair and grunts..which means feed me..then refuses to eat anything. The worst thing is sometimes he takes the bites or feeds himself and I get so happy that he is eating until...he waits till his mouth is full then he spits out everything onto the high chair and laughs. It seems he likes to squirrel the food in his cheeks. That is all about getting a reaction from Mommy. I think I must have laughed the first time he did...stupid, stupid, stupid. He also sucks on things for taste and then spits them out. It's so frustrating. My ped says it's normal and he is perfectly healthy, but I worry about him wasting away. My shameful secret is that I carry diced chicked in a plastic bag pretty much at all times. I sneak in pieces throughout the day while he is playing. I'm that weird mom at the park that sneakily pops in a chicken piece as she pushes her son on the swing and distracts him by telling him to look up at the sky to see the plane. What can ya do?Peace,K

Loves K's chicken bits story!!! We go up and down w/ similar eating things. ONce in a while, I' ll offer the booster instead of the high chair, but it didn't really make a difference. I don't force him, and if I feel he's really not going to eat, I let him get down.I was a little worried because it seems he mostly eats fruit. I'm afraid maybe too much veggies, not enough carbs, and he won't eat meat much and not eggs at all, so wondering about protein, but I'm feeling a little better about it all. I just remind myself that it all evens out over a week. So waht if he doesn't touch a veggie at all today? He may eat the 3 times the next.... My MIL gives him much more milk the 3 days she keeps him than I do. So I wonder if I don't skimp a little on my days to make up for it, but that just evens it out, no? Goodness. If I end up with a picky eater like I was a a child, then I will end up with an ulcer, if I can't stop worrying! I"m so glad all you others are coming upon the same stages........ It helps to know we have others to understand and support our hunches...

Just an aside here--Stork, the dietitian also said not to stress about the veggies, and that eating fruit is a GREAT thing. That you just keep offerring balance meals, and they'll take what they take!!