Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Picky Eater

Meet Coby.....


He may be cute but lately he is such a pain to try and feed. He won't eat baby food anymore. Coby used to be a great eater, but then he got sick about 6 weeks ago so I stopped forcing him to eat and just gave him a lot of liquids. I guess this formed a bad habit and now he refuses to eat anything except Cheerios and rice checks. If I try and put a spoon near his mouth, or if he sees a spoon within 3 feet of him he freaks out. He shakes his head back and forth really fast and screams. I refuse to be that mom that says my child will only eat xxxxx. So Jake I decided last night (when he flung a jar of applesauce across the kitchen) that enough is enough. This boy is going to start eating his meats, fruits and veggies. He's only 14 months old, surely we can figure out someway to get him eating the right foods again. For the next week we are cutting out all snacks and cereal and giving him only 2 bottles of milk. We'll just see what happens. Hopefully he'll be eating like the girls by the end of the week. The girls are AWESOME eaters. They eat everything, and I mean everything. They eat peas like they are some kind of candy. They love broccoli, and asparagus. They love salads with leafy greens, artichokes, cucumbers, peppers, you name it they'll eat it. They eat every kind of fruit and veggie as well as steak, chicken, turkey, ham, beef and tofu. So my goal is to have Coby eating like they do by Thanksgiving. Today was the first day we started Coby's new diet. For breakfast I gave him bananas, grapes and some sliced ham. He ate NONE of it, not even a bite! So he was super cranky all morning but boy oh boy was he starving at lunch time. For lunch I gave him peas, pears, and a ham and cheese sandwich. He ate his entire sandwich, every speck of it, but no luck with the peas or pears. He'll be seeing those peas again at dinner so we'll see what happens then. If anyone has any picky eater baby advice send it my way please!!!

"What is this gross smushy stuff on my tray and why do I have a fork? Also why is there water in my bottle instead of milk. What is happening?"


"ewwwww"


"I'm not gonna eat it, no way."


"It's so funny that you think I'm going to eat this banana."


P.S. There will be a potty update coming soon!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I feel for you! Jack used to be the best eater ever (when I was still feeding him). I would marvel at what he would eat and how much. Once he learned to feed himself it was all over for some reason.

I am like you, I REFUSE to allow my kids to eat only one thing. So they get milk 2x a day (nap and right after dinner) and water the rest of the day. They get no snacks at all (I have found if they eat a snack then they don't eat the next meal-if we eat dinner early enough I do give them snacks at night since it won't effect their meal time eating). I ask what they want for breakfast (whoever speaks up first gets to choose-Amelia choose before Jack could talk). I choose lunch and dinner. They have to eat everything on their plate for each meal-if they don't then when they come to me saying "I'm hungry" I ask if they ate all their breakfast/lunch/dinner. If the answer is no then I tell them "too bad so sad-you have to wait until the next meal". If they are still hungry after eating everything then they can have as much as they want of course.

Neither of my kids are great eaters like your girls. I do a lot of hiding veggies in stuff. But when Amelia hit about 3.5 she started eating like crazy-so I am hoping the same thing happens with Jack. I am a firm believer (and your story with Coby has already proven it) that kids will eat when they are hungry. My nephew was on formula until 4 because he ate nothing but french fries (no joke).

I wish you luck, this is one of my biggest battles in our house (that and whiney kids)

Anonymous said...

i have a picky eater and shes 4. stick to your guns cause otherwise you will end up with my problem which is a child who only eats certain things like oatmeal,mac and cheese, cheese pizza, and grilled cheese . not a single veggie some fruit and absolutely no meat. mealtime is real fun at our house. stay strong
allison

Willis said...

I saw on your blog that the Koprowski family is going to be on Baby Story. Is that you guys? How cool! Let me know. I'll have to watch.

Yes, we adopted from Vietnam also. Our boy is from Ninh Thuan (about a 7 hour bus ride north of Saigon).

Heather
www.willisadoptionstory.blogspot.com

The Hines Family said...

What a smart plan! Good advice! :-)

Also, we'd LOVE an invite to the blog!

hines4christ at carolina dot rr dot com

Thanks!! :-)

The Hines Family said...

PS... I'm SO super excited that I have another chance to catch your episode of A Baby Story!! I've missed it every time!

Haley said...

I've got a picky eater too except he's 10 months so we can't be quite as pushy about it, but when he gets hungry enough then he eats a lot! Are you guys going to do the Baby Story Where are they Now that you'd mentioned?

Anonymous said...

You're right. He is cute :)

-Derek

Timbra said...

let's see. . . do you think molars or some developmental stage could be the culprit? we don't really take a hard line on eating, grazing is our life. . . and it's one of the few things kids can control, so be aware a power struggle may be on it's way :) eventhough the girls are "good" eaters, this is a typical toddler phase, to become picky. . . offering him a wide variety is the key to developing a good attitude about food, even if he doesn't actually want to eat it. . . good luck!!!!

Timbra said...

we'll have to plan a mutual trip to Seattle one of these days. actually, we're headed to my parents' house for tgiving, but i don't know that we have a stopover planned :) and do your kids come with boxing gloves? my kid is cute from a distance, but it's been a long struggle to use "love hands" and though things seem better, we are still struggling through this "phase" which, i've heard from other parents who have had children with various aggressions. . biting, etc (she's not a biter) it could be a couple of YEARS. . . so, you know, by the time they're all 10 maybe they'll be able to play nicely together :)

Colleen said...

Well, I just had a show down with Linlee over this issue and she won. She spent an hour and a half NOT eating the one bite of dinner I insisted on (she's almost four, so I think she can try one bite of "real" dinner each night). Finally it was bed time and I let her take out the piece of chicken which had been sitting in her mouth for a half hour (after an hour of tears about having to eat it) because I wanted to brush her teeth and put her to bed and I didn't want her choking or spitting the food out on her bedroom floor. I feel exhausted and defeated tonight.

Sharon said...

Every time my kids get sick their eating habits change for a few weeks after...sleeping habits too..UGH. It always goes back to normal though...well except when my oldest threw up after a veggie burger...He hasn't had one since, and it's been well over a year!