Remember my baby, Jack? The guy who would eat anything? Yeah, not so much the case anymore. For the past few weeks, he has been a terrible eater! Today we made him cheese raviolis which he wouldn't touch. So I added Parmesan. Again, he wouldn't touch. I added alfrado sauce. Guess what he did? He ate the alfrado and left the raviolis!
So, I decided that I would make him something else for lunch. I sliced strawberries and salmon for him. He ate all of his strawberries and threw his very expensive salmon at the dog. I'm like, "Nooooooooooo!" but it was too late. Now all Jack wants is fruit, goldfish crackers (he's so over the graham crackers), Oreos, and peanut butter.
So, Kevin comes home for lunch just now and I tell him what is going on. You know what he says to me? He says, "Well what do you expect when his mom eats nothing but cheese pizza 90% of the time?!" Can you believe that? Just because I'm unhealthy does not mean my tot gets to be! I'm sure this is payback for all the times I wouldn't eat my dinner as a kid.
Ok, so does anyone have any idea what I should do? I don't want him to starve, but he is refusing everything. I can't give him peanut butter and strawberries every day, can I? Help!
Give him the good foods he will eat, try every now and then to give him the good foods he won't eat, and my chi doc said if they miss a meal because they wouldn't eat it, then too bad - with the size pippa was (and jack) missing a meal here and there because they wouldn't eat what you gave them will do them no harm. Toddlers will not let themselves starve. Besides, it's mostly a power thing with something they can actually (kind of) control.
ReplyDeleteAlso, remember that they will do what you DO and not what you SAY! You eat cheese pizza, that's what he'll want. There's no way around that...
I agree with Aunt Laura... Don't make him special meals... don't give him just what he wants to eat... he will eventually learn to eat what he's given if he doesn't want to be hungry. Sage is a very picky eater too, but lately she has been eating so much better. There are some meals that I serve that Sage will not touch, but I know she won't starve herself and I just encourage her to try it before throwing it out.
ReplyDeleteAunt Laura and Madre Adoptiva are right on the money. Madre adoptiva started out as a very picky eater as well. GG Don would wring his hands and cry "she's going to starve!" I would just try to convince him that she would not starve and that when she was hungry she would eat what she was served. L turned out to be a person that is willing to try ANYTHING! Off the meat right now, but that's okay. G.G.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried small churd cottage cheese and fresh cut up fruits? I love pizza too, but am just an old dog...Twink
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the Aunties and GG, he won't let himself starve and will learn to eat what is in front of him...I will eat anything put in front of me and I think that is because when I was young we didn't have alot so eating was sometimes a treat rather than a necessity. Eat healthy with him and he will eat what you are eating, (save the pizza for naptime! or when he is at Grandma Beautifuls house!)
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of tough love. I don't think I ever really appreciated food until I was in basic training where I was extremely hungry ALL the time! Even right after gorging myself when the opportunity struck. So, here's what you need to do: yell at Jack a lot, make him do lots of exercise and learn to fire a rifle and drive tanks, deprive him of sleep then yell at him some more. It got me to eat anything in basic training, I'm sure it will work for Jack too! ;)
ReplyDeletePS - survival training: never knew bugs could be so tasty until food became a necessity!