2.06.2008

if you'll eat dog food, i'll give it to you

you always hear the stories of kids being finicky eaters--

"oh, you know little mikey. he'll only eat peas if they're 76.5 degrees-on the elmo plate-at the old wooden table in nana's front room-while watching thomas the tank engine-every other sunday-of odd months. isn't that cute?"

--and your own parents can typically dredge up some moment in your toddler life where you gave them hell when it came to eating. but still, in spite of all this, i never thought it could be as difficult as it is. right now. with my daughter. who refuses to eat anything.

ok, correction, she'll lick ketchup off just about any food item. she won't actually consume any part of the food item but she’ll definitely get every bit of the ketchup. I figure, hey, tomatoes are considered both a fruit and a vegetable so she's good. right?

everything i read or hear says it's just a phase. it'll pass. but when your in the moment it sucks ass and all i want her to do is eat something without some major exchange of tears and yells and emotions from all parties involved.

is that too much to ask?

apparently so.

6 comments:

Jod{i} said...

I am not one to hand out advice...truly I am not. Usually I will just sit back...but I guess I just felt the need to live on the edge.
I learned not to make it a battle. WIth the first two it was a struggle. Finally their Doc, when I went ot him with number 3 and frustrated about his eating habits. The doc said,"Those are your eating habits."
I just stared at him. A bit irked at that...He went on to explain, and sat there staring at his idiocy..DOnt try to put too many 'new' foods at the same time. Say you want them to eat broccoli, put broccoli on the plate everyday, and dont say a word about it. Ever. If they wont eat anything...it is more than definite they wont starve missing one meal, considering all the snacks they eat and the fat content in most foods they do eat.
Eventually they may try the new food. Ketchup? We go thru Ketchup like there is no tomorrow. On corn, on spag, yes pasta, name it each one does it on something. Hey if they eat what they put it on? Not hurting them.
Well the doc was right(and I should have known all this as a Behaviorist) and it worked with all 4 kids. Now they each have different tastes. SO there are foods they will NOT eat.
Pick your battles. Make choices. Give a little of what they like and a little of what they dont. If they eat it PRAISE PRAISE..if they dont, ignore it.Dont get in a power struggle. It will then turn away from a simple task of eating to control. Even at that young an age, they are looking for their feet in the world. WHat they can do and what they can not. And how to control it.

Okay I will hush now...
Sorry for buttin' in! Hope it all works out.
Seriously I didnt mean to go and on!
Peace
Jodi (aka daizie)

bryan said...

well shit. bailey is in this phase, too. though to be honest, she has been for months now. she has her days (few and far between) where she'll eat a lot. but most of the time, it is a major freaking struggle. for me. take today for example. at 7am she ate (after me offering cereal, pear, and peanut butter and banana) a third of a blueberry muffin. that actually seemed like a good start. then nothing until lunch, relatively normal for her. so i figured she'd probably be ready to do some damage at lunch. off we go to garibaldi's. what did she eat? a quarter of a lime. seriously, a lime. then nothing until dinner at which point she insisted on oranges, which we ran out of the day before because she ate SEVEN of them on tuesday. we are going to central market 2-3 times a week to stock up on citrus cause that seems to be all she'll eat these days. i'm doing my best to try and see that she's healthy, not losing weight and just suck it up knowing that this will pass. even if i don't really believe that it will.

-bryan(turbobob)

PG said...

yeah, it's easier said then done, but I try not to make an issue out of it too. My 5 year old is not a good meal eater. She is still gaining weight and healthy. But hot damn it's maddening when you cook a kick ass meal and she doesn't even make a dent!

Oh well. She eats when she's hungry.

Anonymous said...

you guys are awesome. thanks for all the words. that's why i put it out there. don't feel bad about sending the advice. if i didn't want it i'd say that. keep'em coming!

Jason Roth said...

We're going through the same thing right now.

Anonymous said...

I promise they won't starve! We have been though this and they will at some point eat something.

My eldest lived on Weetabix,youghurt and frankfurters for months (not all on the same plate I hasten to add!). He's now a strapping sulky teenager - still picky but eats when he's hungry, and sometimes he's not hungry for hours then will eat a horse between two matresses.