I agree with you for the most part, I think it's the delivery that is getting everyone riled up. If DD doesn't want what I give her, she can have yogurt or a banana or applesauce. We don't even buy chicken nuggets and the like, so she knows that kind of stuff just isn't an option at home.
This is us, too, pretty much. If he won't eat the meal, I'll give him some multigrain bread or cottage cheese/yogurt, or cut up grapes/strawberries, but I saw my sister quickly get into the habit of making 2-3 meals a night for her picky kids and my other friend whose now 2-year-old only ate nuggets, tater tots, fries, and maybe a little fruit every day and decided I didn't want to go that path. So while he may not end up with the most well-balanced meals every night I didn't want to get into a habit of giving in and giving him nuggets or hot dogs every night. But I can definitely still see the other side where parents worried about their LO's weight are just happy to see them eat anything. I'm guilty of pouring ranch dressing over his food just to get him to eat more bites. At least it's fat free ranch, right?
My kids don't eat veggies either. We include them in cooking, we have a garden that they are active in helping with, but they still have no interest in eating the stuff. The only veggies Annie will eat are corn on the cob and if you give her a big carrot, she'll gnaw on that thing for the novelty of it but then spit it out rather than swallow it. Still, I think she gets some nutrients from it.
I make cheese pizza with wheat crust and it is delicious. I like it better than take-out pizza. In the sauce I'll add some pureed carrots or green beans. Same with spaghetti sauce. One of my kids' favorite meals is Lentil Loaf (meat loaf but with lentils instead of meat- we're not big meat-eaters) and it calls for tomato sauce. I'll throw in some pureed veggies there too. I tried putting veggies in smoothies but they could tell and wouldn't drink them.
I just have to insert that statistically, picky eaters grow up to be skinnier/normal BMI than non-picky eaters.
So there, all you judgemental hors might wind up with obese adults.
Healthy weight doesn not equal a healthy body. Non pregnant, I'm 5'4 and 130. DH is 5'6 and 140. We eat mostly crap b/c of the way we were raised. We don't like veggies, he won't eat fruit and drinks mostly soda. Before DD we'd eat pizza or fast food 2-3 times a week. We look healthy by weight standards, but I guarantee our innards tell a different story. I don't want that for my child. Weight has nothing to do with it.
I just have to insert that statistically, picky eaters grow up to be skinnier/normal BMI than non-picky eaters.
So there, all you judgemental hors might wind up with obese adults.
Healthy weight doesn not equal a healthy body. Non pregnant, I'm 5'4 and 130. DH is 5'6 and 140. We eat mostly crap b/c of the way we were raised. We don't like veggies, he won't eat fruit and drinks mostly soda. Before DD we'd eat pizza or fast food 2-3 times a week. We look healthy by weight standards, but I guarantee our innards tell a different story. I don't want that for my child. Weight has nothing to do with it.
Jaysus, I want y'alls metabolism.
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I just have to insert that statistically, picky eaters grow up to be skinnier/normal BMI than non-picky eaters.
So there, all you judgemental hors might wind up with obese adults.
Healthy weight doesn not equal a healthy body. Non pregnant, I'm 5'4 and 130. DH is 5'6 and 140. We eat mostly crap b/c of the way we were raised. We don't like veggies, he won't eat fruit and drinks mostly soda. Before DD we'd eat pizza or fast food 2-3 times a week. We look healthy by weight standards, but I guarantee our innards tell a different story. I don't want that for my child. Weight has nothing to do with it.
I understand there is a difference, but you are still probably better off than a morbidly obese person.
Yes we all want our children to eat healthy and grow up with a perfect body image and no health concerns. But some of the people are coming off as very sanctimonious in this post. It is personally not how I choose to feed my toddler, but I understand that it is not as easy as people make it out to seem. I also love how apparently the only things we can judge on thebump is what you feed your kid and RFing.
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But I also strongly agree with Twats that daycare food is the devil. We had been sending DD to a nice center with a mostly homemade menu and she would eat anything. When I found out I was pregnant we had to find a more affordable place and every other single center served crap. I do send in organic turkey dogs on hot dog days to try to offset some of the processed foods, but I've noticed a HUGE difference in her pickiness since switching daycares. It sucks.
Can't you send in your own food for your kid to eat at daycare (at least for lunch)? I don't understand this whole "well my kid goes to daycare so automatically eats crap" camp. My oldest has gone to a center for 4 years now and I've sent her lunch every single day (and now send my 1.5 yo one too as he's in the young toddler room). We have the option to purchase a "hot lunch" for her once a week (choice of subway, mcdonalds or pizza) but never in a million years would I because she gets enough of that crap on the weekends and I treat weekday lunches as a prime opportunity to provide her with what I want her to eat. She eats the center morning and PM snack and as it's not what I prefer her to eat and I probably could dictate that she get a home-provided snack as well, I don't fight that battle. I DO fight the lunch battle and provide her a very healthy, well rounded home packed lunch every single day (that I have confirmed with director and teachers she eats most of every day for the past several years).
Nice thought, except many daycares do not allow you to bring in your own food unless your kid has a documented food allergy.
That be crazy.
I mean, I can see why they might do it, but that would probably be a deal-breaker for me. If they're feeding my kids junk on a daily basis, I'd want to be able to send an alternative.
I am genuinely wondering what the fallout from your parents 'allowing' you to be a picky eater was.
What were the consequences?
Sorry I'm late to respond--I was at the park with my kids all morning.
To answer the question, because of my crappy diet I had severe anemia. I had ulcers at 16 and had (and still have) an awful immune system.
My niece went through a "picky" stage at 2. At 6 she's still in that "picky stage" and wants nothing to do with vegetables and everything to do with hot dogs and mac and cheese. I think it's better to develop good eating habits as toddlers vs trying to change your 5 year old's opinion about food.
But yeah, I think many dacyares just want to deal with one menu rather than juggling a ton of kids' different lunches. If there were a DC that let me bring my own food, I'd be there.
Yeah, that's what sucks. I used to work in an elementary school with no kitchen so all the kids had to bring their lunches and I was like "wow, that sucks, if I lived here I'd have to make my kids' lunch EVERY DAY?" but now I'm hoping my kids won't want the school lunches very often. Unless they significantly improve them in the next 5-6 years!
But yeah, I think many dacyares just want to deal with one menu rather than juggling a ton of kids' different lunches. If there were a DC that let me bring my own food, I'd be there.
Yeah, that's what sucks. I used to work in an elementary school with no kitchen so all the kids had to bring their lunches and I was like "wow, that sucks, if I lived here I'd have to make my kids' lunch EVERY DAY?" but now I'm hoping my kids won't want the school lunches very often. Unless they significantly improve them in the next 5-6 years!
Wow, learn something new every day...The fact that you can't bring your own food DOES suck and makes me angry and frustrated for you due to your limited options. There's so much focus on childhood nutrition etc etc and it should start this early, not elementary school. What are the reasons that they give for not allowing you to bring your own lunch? Refrigeration?
But yeah, I think many dacyares just want to deal with one menu rather than juggling a ton of kids' different lunches. If there were a DC that let me bring my own food, I'd be there.
Yeah, that's what sucks. I used to work in an elementary school with no kitchen so all the kids had to bring their lunches and I was like "wow, that sucks, if I lived here I'd have to make my kids' lunch EVERY DAY?" but now I'm hoping my kids won't want the school lunches very often. Unless they significantly improve them in the next 5-6 years!
Wow, learn something new every day...The fact that you can't bring your own food DOES suck and makes me angry and frustrated for you due to your limited options. There's so much focus on childhood nutrition etc etc and it should start this early, not elementary school. What are the reasons that they give for not allowing you to bring your own lunch? Refrigeration?
Just chiming in re: your Bump name:
Maryland, we're all behind you Raise high, the black and gold Cuz there's nothing half so glorious Than to see our team victorious We've got the team boys We've got the steam boys Keep on fighting...DON'T GIVE IN M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D MARYLAND WILL WIN!
Sookie - is there any way you can get a grassroots effort together and get some of the other parents onboard to help revamp the menu if they won't drop the center-served menu only issue? There is so much peer-pressure involved in what the kids eat for lunch too...I've found that I'll send things that my kid might of not necessarily liked for dinner but will eat the whole bowl of it for lunch because everyone else is eating and her teacher wants her to eat kind of thing. I've been astonished at the types of things that I'll send her to eat that she wouldn't touch for dinner but will eat at daycare. Then I can at least at night when all she'll eat is a cheesestick or yogurt say, well thank god she ate good for lunch!
So what would you judgy hors do if you had a underweight toddler who was also a picky eater? Withholding food isn't a viable option when your 23 month old is the size of an average 10 month old.
I will say that my kid is finally starting to become less picky the closer we get to age 2, but three months ago, if all she would eat was pizza, then by god, she got pizza.
My DD is also on the lower end of the spectrum (8th percentile for weight) and we add pounds of butter to the vegetables she eats. LOL.
I mean, I do think there are expections to the rule. If you have a special needs child that has a true food aversion or a failure to thrive child that *needs* to gain weight, you gotta do what you gotta do.
I think there's a world of difference between catering to a kid that's a picky eater and a kid that has a true medical condition, though.
Well, butter is usually the answer to everything.
But when your underweight child spits out those buttery veggies? What then? Do you hold her nose until she opens her mouth and them cram them in with a shovel? Or take them away and put her to bed hungry against your pedi's advice? Or simply find her something else to eat? I mean, what's the reasonable course here?
You do what you need to do and try your best to ignore everyone in posts like this. :-)
We went through something similar with DS, and now DD (but in a different way). We were lucky in that DS at least loved to drink smoothies, so we could bulk those up as much as possible. DD pretty much refuses to eat anything that will make her gain weight. She will eat veggies and fruit, but not if there is anything added to them. She will eat one or two bites of meat if we're lucky, but doesn't eat bread products or most dairy products, LOL. She's a picky eater in the opposite direction.
One time, we decided to do the hard line thing with DS, to see if he really would eat when he was hungry like people said. Yeah, it was a major fail. He didn't eat for two days and woke up vomiting from low blood sugar on the third day.
To give you some hope, he DID start eating better sometime between 2 and 2.5. By 3, he was ALMOST normal. At 4, he'll even occasionally eat lettuce!
I'll be 100% honest: I don't
have the time, energy or desire to make homemade organic chicken nuggets
and puree veggies into pizza sauce. We serve Mac what we eat, and when
he doesn't eat it, we give him other food.
There are some foods we do
*not* have in the house, like hot dogs, but that's as much because *I*
don't like them as it is because of nitrates, sodium and choking. When I
have donuts or cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday, Mac gets to
have bites (the tiniest bites I can manage, only because I'm greedy) if
he's around while I eat. He decided a few months ago he hated the veggie
pouches; so much for that.
I hope he's less picky over time, but I'm
not going to lose sleep over it. I already get up at 5 am - even on
Saturday - and I am exhausted by 9 pm. Judge away.
I'll be 100% honest: I don't
have the time, energy or desire to make homemade organic chicken nuggets
and puree veggies into pizza sauce. We serve Mac what we eat, and when
he doesn't eat it, we give him other food.
There are some foods we do
*not* have in the house, like hot dogs, but that's as much because *I*
don't like them as it is because of nitrates, sodium and choking. When I
have donuts or cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday, Mac gets to
have bites (the tiniest bites I can manage, only because I'm greedy) if
he's around while I eat. He decided a few months ago he hated the veggie
pouches; so much for that.
I hope he's less picky over time, but I'm
not going to lose sleep over it. I already get up at 5 am - even on
Saturday - and I am exhausted by 9 pm. Judge away.
Its 'cause you're old.
"Seriously, mommy forum people are some crazy ass bitches." New Year New You
I'll be 100% honest: I don't
have the time, energy or desire to make homemade organic chicken nuggets
and puree veggies into pizza sauce. We serve Mac what we eat, and when
he doesn't eat it, we give him other food.
There are some foods we do
*not* have in the house, like hot dogs, but that's as much because *I*
don't like them as it is because of nitrates, sodium and choking. When I
have donuts or cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday, Mac gets to
have bites (the tiniest bites I can manage, only because I'm greedy) if
he's around while I eat. He decided a few months ago he hated the veggie
pouches; so much for that.
I hope he's less picky over time, but I'm
not going to lose sleep over it. I already get up at 5 am - even on
Saturday - and I am exhausted by 9 pm. Judge away.
I am genuinely wondering what the fallout from your parents 'allowing' you to be a picky eater was.
What were the consequences?
Sorry I'm late to respond--I was at the park with my kids all morning.
To answer the question, because of my crappy diet I had severe anemia. I had ulcers at 16 and had (and still have) an awful immune system.
My niece went through a "picky" stage at 2. At 6 she's still in that "picky stage" and wants nothing to do with vegetables and everything to do with hot dogs and mac and cheese. I think it's better to develop good eating habits as toddlers vs trying to change your 5 year old's opinion about food.
Did a doctor actually diagnose that your diet was the cause for anemia, ulcers, and a shittty immune system? All of those conditions can be related to any number of things, such as stress.
I'll be 100% honest: I don't
have the time, energy or desire to make homemade organic chicken nuggets
and puree veggies into pizza sauce. We serve Mac what we eat, and when
he doesn't eat it, we give him other food.
There are some foods we do
*not* have in the house, like hot dogs, but that's as much because *I*
don't like them as it is because of nitrates, sodium and choking. When I
have donuts or cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday, Mac gets to
have bites (the tiniest bites I can manage, only because I'm greedy) if
he's around while I eat. He decided a few months ago he hated the veggie
pouches; so much for that.
I hope he's less picky over time, but I'm
not going to lose sleep over it. I already get up at 5 am - even on
Saturday - and I am exhausted by 9 pm. Judge away.
Its 'cause you're old.
And crotchety, too.
I luff you.
"Seriously, mommy forum people are some crazy ass bitches." New Year New You
I'll be 100% honest: I don't
have the time, energy or desire to make homemade organic chicken nuggets
and puree veggies into pizza sauce. We serve Mac what we eat, and when
he doesn't eat it, we give him other food.
There are some foods we do
*not* have in the house, like hot dogs, but that's as much because *I*
don't like them as it is because of nitrates, sodium and choking. When I
have donuts or cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday, Mac gets to
have bites (the tiniest bites I can manage, only because I'm greedy) if
he's around while I eat. He decided a few months ago he hated the veggie
pouches; so much for that.
I hope he's less picky over time, but I'm
not going to lose sleep over it. I already get up at 5 am - even on
Saturday - and I am exhausted by 9 pm. Judge away.
In an effort to make my accidental double post actually productive instead of just talking about w2n's crotch, I actually had luck today making mini pizzas with biscuits (i just flattened the canned kind), I put some broccoli alfredo on there, spinach, some diced onions and cheese, he ate 2 in one sitting. I also noticed that he loves the novelty of dipping his food in some sort of sauce, marinara, honey mustard and ranch are favorites of his (you can hide more veggies in the marinara too!)
So what would you judgy hors do if you had a underweight toddler who was also a picky eater? Withholding food isn't a viable option when your 23 month old is the size of an average 10 month old.
I will say that my kid is finally starting to become less picky the closer we get to age 2, but three months ago, if all she would eat was pizza, then by god, she got pizza.
Re: A 2 Years Olds Diet
This is us, too, pretty much. If he won't eat the meal, I'll give him some multigrain bread or cottage cheese/yogurt, or cut up grapes/strawberries, but I saw my sister quickly get into the habit of making 2-3 meals a night for her picky kids and my other friend whose now 2-year-old only ate nuggets, tater tots, fries, and maybe a little fruit every day and decided I didn't want to go that path. So while he may not end up with the most well-balanced meals every night I didn't want to get into a habit of giving in and giving him nuggets or hot dogs every night. But I can definitely still see the other side where parents worried about their LO's weight are just happy to see them eat anything. I'm guilty of pouring ranch dressing over his food just to get him to eat more bites. At least it's fat free ranch, right?
My kids don't eat veggies either. We include them in cooking, we have a garden that they are active in helping with, but they still have no interest in eating the stuff. The only veggies Annie will eat are corn on the cob and if you give her a big carrot, she'll gnaw on that thing for the novelty of it but then spit it out rather than swallow it. Still, I think she gets some nutrients from it.
I make cheese pizza with wheat crust and it is delicious. I like it better than take-out pizza. In the sauce I'll add some pureed carrots or green beans. Same with spaghetti sauce. One of my kids' favorite meals is Lentil Loaf (meat loaf but with lentils instead of meat- we're not big meat-eaters) and it calls for tomato sauce. I'll throw in some pureed veggies there too. I tried putting veggies in smoothies but they could tell and wouldn't drink them.
Healthy weight doesn not equal a healthy body. Non pregnant, I'm 5'4 and 130. DH is 5'6 and 140. We eat mostly crap b/c of the way we were raised. We don't like veggies, he won't eat fruit and drinks mostly soda. Before DD we'd eat pizza or fast food 2-3 times a week. We look healthy by weight standards, but I guarantee our innards tell a different story. I don't want that for my child. Weight has nothing to do with it.
I understand there is a difference, but you are still probably better off than a morbidly obese person.
Yes we all want our children to eat healthy and grow up with a perfect body image and no health concerns. But some of the people are coming off as very sanctimonious in this post. It is personally not how I choose to feed my toddler, but I understand that it is not as easy as people make it out to seem. I also love how apparently the only things we can judge on thebump is what you feed your kid and RFing.
Damn straight.
Can't you send in your own food for your kid to eat at daycare (at least for lunch)? I don't understand this whole "well my kid goes to daycare so automatically eats crap" camp. My oldest has gone to a center for 4 years now and I've sent her lunch every single day (and now send my 1.5 yo one too as he's in the young toddler room). We have the option to purchase a "hot lunch" for her once a week (choice of subway, mcdonalds or pizza) but never in a million years would I because she gets enough of that crap on the weekends and I treat weekday lunches as a prime opportunity to provide her with what I want her to eat. She eats the center morning and PM snack and as it's not what I prefer her to eat and I probably could dictate that she get a home-provided snack as well, I don't fight that battle. I DO fight the lunch battle and provide her a very healthy, well rounded home packed lunch every single day (that I have confirmed with director and teachers she eats most of every day for the past several years).
That be crazy.
I mean, I can see why they might do it, but that would probably be a deal-breaker for me. If they're feeding my kids junk on a daily basis, I'd want to be able to send an alternative.
Sorry I'm late to respond--I was at the park with my kids all morning.
To answer the question, because of my crappy diet I had severe anemia. I had ulcers at 16 and had (and still have) an awful immune system.
My niece went through a "picky" stage at 2. At 6 she's still in that "picky stage" and wants nothing to do with vegetables and everything to do with hot dogs and mac and cheese. I think it's better to develop good eating habits as toddlers vs trying to change your 5 year old's opinion about food.
Yeah, that's what sucks. I used to work in an elementary school with no kitchen so all the kids had to bring their lunches and I was like "wow, that sucks, if I lived here I'd have to make my kids' lunch EVERY DAY?" but now I'm hoping my kids won't want the school lunches very often. Unless they significantly improve them in the next 5-6 years!
Wow, learn something new every day...The fact that you can't bring your own food DOES suck and makes me angry and frustrated for you due to your limited options. There's so much focus on childhood nutrition etc etc and it should start this early, not elementary school. What are the reasons that they give for not allowing you to bring your own lunch? Refrigeration?
Sookie - is there any way you can get a grassroots effort together and get some of the other parents onboard to help revamp the menu if they won't drop the center-served menu only issue? There is so much peer-pressure involved in what the kids eat for lunch too...I've found that I'll send things that my kid might of not necessarily liked for dinner but will eat the whole bowl of it for lunch because everyone else is eating and her teacher wants her to eat kind of thing. I've been astonished at the types of things that I'll send her to eat that she wouldn't touch for dinner but will eat at daycare. Then I can at least at night when all she'll eat is a cheesestick or yogurt say, well thank god she ate good for lunch!
You do what you need to do and try your best to ignore everyone in posts like this. :-)
We went through something similar with DS, and now DD (but in a different way). We were lucky in that DS at least loved to drink smoothies, so we could bulk those up as much as possible. DD pretty much refuses to eat anything that will make her gain weight. She will eat veggies and fruit, but not if there is anything added to them. She will eat one or two bites of meat if we're lucky, but doesn't eat bread products or most dairy products, LOL. She's a picky eater in the opposite direction.
One time, we decided to do the hard line thing with DS, to see if he really would eat when he was hungry like people said. Yeah, it was a major fail. He didn't eat for two days and woke up vomiting from low blood sugar on the third day.
To give you some hope, he DID start eating better sometime between 2 and 2.5. By 3, he was ALMOST normal. At 4, he'll even occasionally eat lettuce!
I'll be 100% honest: I don't have the time, energy or desire to make homemade organic chicken nuggets and puree veggies into pizza sauce. We serve Mac what we eat, and when he doesn't eat it, we give him other food.
There are some foods we do *not* have in the house, like hot dogs, but that's as much because *I* don't like them as it is because of nitrates, sodium and choking. When I have donuts or cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday, Mac gets to have bites (the tiniest bites I can manage, only because I'm greedy) if he's around while I eat. He decided a few months ago he hated the veggie pouches; so much for that.
I hope he's less picky over time, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I already get up at 5 am - even on Saturday - and I am exhausted by 9 pm. Judge away.
Did a doctor actually diagnose that your diet was the cause for anemia, ulcers, and a shittty immune system? All of those conditions can be related to any number of things, such as stress.
Amen to this.