Remember the days when I would brag about my wonderful baby who would eat anything I put in front of him? Yeah, well… those days are gone. LONG GONE! Here are the days of throwing, smashing and swatting food away. You would think Oliver was aspiring to be the next member of the Blue Man Group the way he launches food out into the audience. (Me, FTD and Professor the cat) It SUCKS!
I don’t know what happened! When he first started becoming a picky eater I attributed it to teething. So at each attempted feeding, after I finished scrapping his meal off of my face and the cat (who is always at Ollie’s feet a feeding time waiting for a bite), I would let him skip to dessert, frozen yogurt squeezes, ice cream or popsicles.
Eventually, concerned for his nutritional needs, I started trying to give him soft meal options- peas, corn, more yogurt, avocado, pasta... really anything I knew he liked that was soft. No luck! Sometimes he would even throw the pasta at me. Which is totally bunk since I know it is his favorite! WTF?! I don’t get what is going on! Things I know he likes he still launches at me.
Every meal is a crapshoot. I feel like I should start a game show that features Toddlers called, Will he Like it? Or Will I wear it? It’s not right. I have a big plastic tarp I put down now to catch all of the ridiculousness he propels at me. My kid is freaking Gallagher!
Oh, I am SO FRUSTRATED! At this point all that I now he will eat for sure is frozen yogurt squeeze sticks, ice cream and popsicles.
You all don’t even say teeth! No way can teeth be the reason for this. It’s been over a month! Plus, things I know he loves he doesn’t want anything to do with. Plain and simple, the kid is messing with me. FULL STOP!
Little does he know, I found an invention that will make meal time much easier....
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| Kidding... Kind of... |
I am at a loss. Everyday I try something new, and when that fails I give him the stand-by, crackers, strawberries, a banana and something frozen. I hate giving in, but the man-child must eat! He used to be such an awesome eater. I hope this is just a phase… dammit it better be!
11 comments:
I'm sorry that you're going through this, it doesn't sound fun at all. AJ went through a similar period where he would throw, smash, spit, and/or feed the food to the dog. I just moved his meal to 30 minutes later and it solved most of the problem. He just wasn't hungry at the time I was feeding him. He still has his days when he doesn't want to eat a lot. I know it's normal, our dr told us at our 1 year check up that his eating patterns will fluctuate the older he gets and to just keep trying to give him food.
I hope it gets better for you, it's nerve wrecking when they don't eat like they are supposed to.
I'm sure (I hope!) it's just a phase - another example of asserting his independence by flipping you and your meal ideas the bird in favour of deciding for himself what to eat... I hope?
I have no direct experience myself but my little niece is going through the same phase (yes, let's hope it's just a phase).. sometimes her parents can get her to eat when making dinner more fun and less, well.. dinner. For instance, she ate twice as much sandwiches when she came over to my house last time and only because I used cookie cutters to give the bread funny shapes (Christmas in June fun, haha). But it worked! Funnily, she enjoyed eating the man-shaped ones best by biting off their heads first...
Right there with you April! But I'll tell you something that I discovered that works for us more often than not... James WANTS to use utensils. And as messy as it is, he will patiently sit there and try to stab his food with a baby fork or put applesauce on a baby spoon and feed himself. I can no longer cut up pieces of meat or vegetables and expect him to put them into his mouth with his hands. He wants to use silverware. The only reason I discovered this was because one day he was throwing everying off his tray that I put in front of him even the crowd pleasers like chicken nuggets.... I was so frustrated that I gave him his spoon and fork hoping that would distract him while I fed him. Instead he started feeding himself and eating food on his tray he normally wouldn't try. Talk about independence!
Oh! I remember the time when my toddler started picky eating. What I did was I made eating fun. I changed his eating utensils to those colorful ones. I made boats out of avocados, trees out of broccoli, stars with carrots and all those things. I made all the silly things that I can think of. I didn't care as long as he was eating his meal. :)
'Tis normal. They'll eat when they are hungry and this too shall pass. My toddler went through a freaking saltine-only phase. SALTINES. With every saltine I at least knew he was getting 14 calories (ha!). But it passed...and every meal time is a chance for them to assert their autonomy :)
Hahah...you totally crack me up with the pic! Can't agree with you more. Now I will only feed my 7 month old when he is stripped down naked!
I am sorry you guys are going through this. Do you think it could be a behavior issue? May be it started with the teething and once he realized that skipping ahead to the dessert was an option he continued the behavior. I am not knocking your giving him the popsicles or anything .. you were doing what all good mothers do comforting your child. I fell into a similiar trap with sleep a while back. My baby had an ear infection and was having trouble sleeping so I started letting her sleep on my chest. Well soon the infection cleared up but she still wanted to sleep on me. After a few tough weeks things finally went back to normal. Keep up offering his food but may be wait a little while before offering an alternative if he rejects his meal. (Easier said than done, I know). Anyway, as has been said "this too shall pass. " You are doing a great job. Good luck.
About 1 month ago, I was at the same point as you.. Exasperated, confused, frustrated, desperate. I put a post on a local mothers forum asking for advice and got soooooo much support from other mums saying "it's a completely normal phase" plus tips and ideas. Every child is different but I found it took about 3 days of me not offering any alternatives and suddenly he was eating like a champion again. Yeah, he didn't eat much for a few days until he figured out that I wasn't giving in but it truly didn't hurt him and he is back to being a good eater :)
LOL! I was wondering where the straight jacket pic was going... and yeah- I have been worried about nutritional values- but more so for my nephew. Chase typically eats anything/everything- but Nathan just pushes it away and rubs his eyes- UGH. The food flinging? I quickly scoop up whatever it is and put it away. I may try once or twice, but after that? It's just playing and damn if I'm not tired of cleaning everything. Tough love I guess... honestly- I prefer the toddler phase of food over the elementary aged attitude towards it. That's worse when they vocalize their preferences (or dislikes). I try to include them in meal planning, but some days? It's eat or starve.
This is hilarious. I know that my son loves to throw food on the floor, especially, when he is finished. Thankfully, we have two eager dogs who are willing to clean up the mess.
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