"My Child Won't Eat" exerpt

tokenhoser

My Child Won't Eat

It's a good read if you feel like your child subsists on some milk, air, and a couple cheerios.

boogerbearoriginal

Interesting excerpt. I've always tried to follow the mantra that the child is in control of what/how much they eat, the parents control what is offered.

It's hard sometimes because weight/growth seems to be a big "competition" in the mommy world. Everyone seems to want their kid to be in the 90th+ percentiles, except, that can't happen. 

tokenhoser

My son is somewhere around the 10th percentile and I'm actually pretty happy with that. He's easier to carry.

I found the bit about food not really driving growth unless a child is malnourished really interesting. Really, food can make my child fatter, but it won't make him grow taller faster. And I don't think most kids need to be fatter.

boogerbearoriginal

LOL - yea sometimes I long for a smaller kid.

On the flip side, my LO is heavier, and sometimes it worries me because his height is just average, so weight/height ratio is like 98th percentile. But he self-feeds and definitely lets us know when he's done/not interested (either feeds the dogs directly or just throws it on the floor) so I just let him do his thing and hopefully his growth going forward will be more in the height area.  We are strict with food - no sugar, no processed foods, etc. and he loves meat and veggies and fruit, and still nursing, so I know he's eating healthy.  It's just funny because I feel like we have the opposite problem - my kid won't STOP eating lol. 

One thing I found especially interesting in the excerpt, and I wonder how much he goes into it in the book, is our bizarre relationship with food. The whole idea that more = better. 

missisue

Token, you may have just saved my marriage, LOL. I've been obsessed with how much (or rather, how little) my LO eats and it's driving my husband nuts. This little excerpt just put my worries to rest.