Toddlers with Bad Eating Habits Advice Needed
*I posted on 12-24 mo and they said that the ladies over here can offer some good advice.
My DD never wants to eat. It is a constant battle whenever we sit down to eat. She just throws a fit. I have gotten to the point that I sneak up on her with food (if she is playing I will try to give her something to eat while she is distracted) it still doesn't seem to work. My pedi. told me to give her pediasure 3 times a day, but I am still worried that she is not getting the nutrition that she really needs. She only weighs about 23 pounds and has not gained anything since her first birthday (she has grown in height though). I am just so frustrated and it seems that there is not any type of food out there that she likes. I have tried it all. I really need advice on what to do to get her to eat. Most say it is just a phase, but it has been 3 months of food battles and worrying.
Re: Toddlers with Bad Eating Habits Advice Needed
DS is a very, very, very picky eater, so I know where you are coming from. He also dropped rom the 80% to the 60% from 12-15 months which had me really worried. I tried everything. In the end the best thing that worked for me was to relax. Seriously. It was SO hard, but I just calmed down about it - he was definitely sensing my stress and I realized that all the things I was doing (like feeding him bites of things while he was playing, etc) was not leading to healthy eating habits and wasn't working anyway. So I just kind of let it go.
I had him sit at the table, I offered him his meals (always with something that he at least usually liked - like bread - on the plate) and whatever he did, he did. Our only "rule" is that he stay at the table and have good manners (no feet on the table, no throwing food, etc.) If he eats, great, if not, I am calm about in and say "that is fine, you don't need to eat, you just need to sit at the table with us". He also can't have seconds of anything unless he tries everything on his plate (we had to really progress to this rule, though , now that his eating is better)
It worked. I didn't think it would but when I kind of gave up and stopped caring and realized that it is true that they will not starve, he started eating. He is still not a great eater (veggies are a serious issue, we were overjoyed when he tred pizza, etc) he at least EATS and it is basically semi-balanced.
So, I say try to relax. Easier said than done, I know (trust me - I do know how stressful iti is) Give her a vitamin (we do the lil' critters gummy vitamins and he LOVES them) have her sit at the table for meals and realize that your job is not to get her to eat. Your job is to provode her with balanced meals. Her job is to eat - she will get there.