How do you get your kid to eat?

Re: How do you get your kid to eat?

• DavezWife member

  June 2011

  worry not what they eat in a day, worry what they eat in a week.

  Or a month. lol.

  And limit the snacking. I was giving her lots of snacks at that age, someone told ME to cut it out, and then voila! I had a gal who ate a decent meal.

  I also give Ava what I NEED her to eat 1st. when that's gone, she gets the other misc stuff. And I'll often stop pestering her and just let her eat it later. But she eats THAT meal, not a new fresh one ;-)

  They really do wax and wane on what they eat. This past 3 weeks I've heard "mommmmmmm, I'm hungry" 10000 times. Never heard that before. She's actually put ON a pound or two, which is great for my lil' tall string bean.

  ps - there's a study out there somewhere that basically says kids generally know what they need to eat. And if left to their own "devices" they generally get in all the cals they need. I scoffed, but I do give it some validitity.

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• Mrs.Reem

  June 2011

  Babies are able to regulate their own calories. I agree with that. If she's not hungry do not force it. That'll just create a child who over eats or doesn't know when to stop when they're full. Just make sure you're giving healthy choices and if you're worried, talk to your pedi about vitamins. A serving for a baby is 1/4 cup and that's really not much food, so I'll bet she's meeting her needs pretty well in reality. It just doesn't seem like much. And honestly, my kids still eat every 2 hours. They always have. Three meals and snacks in between. They rarely go 2-3 hours without food.
  

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• futureMrs.Eanes

  June 2011

  My pedi gave me great advice.  Reagan is a terrible eater and he said DO NOT MAKE IT A BATTLE. 
  They will eat when they are hungry.  Period.  If you make it a battle at a young age, food issues later on will surely arrive.  Not to mention, you can't make someone eat.  Once they are older, my pedi says around age 5 or 6, then you can institute a rule where they have to at least try one bite of everything on their plate.  Until then, they will eat when they are hungry.  I know it is hard, but she will not starve. 

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• howleyshell member

  June 2011

  DavezWife:

  worry not what they eat in a day, worry what they eat in a week.

  Or a month. lol.

  And limit the snacking. I was giving her lots of snacks at that age, someone told ME to cut it out, and then voila! I had a gal who ate a decent meal.

  ps - there's a study out there somewhere that basically says kids generally know what they need to eat. And if left to their own "devices" they generally get in all the cals they need. I scoffed, but I do give it some validitity.

  Ditto this and other PP's.

  Avoid "grazing" so she can develop a pattern of actually feeling hungry and you might see her sitting and eating more of a meal.

  And - this IS a battle they can win.  Don't go there.

  It's really hard to go from the mind set of "feeding them" to "offering them food".

  The best advice I ever got from a pedi was at Dylan's 1st yr appointment when the helped me understand that I needed to change the way I thought about feeding him and trust that he's not going to starve himself - it's human instinct to preserve life.  You're so ingrained to make sure they get enough ounces from infancy that it's hard to switch gears and think less about forcing enough into them and more about making what you offer count.

  Even once she is eating more "meals" you'll still find that there will be weeks where she eats barely enough to keep a bird alive and other weeks where she'll floor you (Dylan used to eat as much at my 16 yr old for dinner and then ask for 2nds for a while).  Growth spurts are amazing things!

  The thing we try to do is make sure that the calories they're getting count.  No snacking on junk food and then avoiding a healthy meal.  If their meal eating is low snacks become things like raw carrots, almonds, fruit or yogurt so we're keeping up vitamin and nutrient consumption.   I think the trap many fall into is snacking them on carbs (and unhealthy ones at that) which fill them up and then they're lacking in veggies and protein.  

  We are also known to use bribery to encourage eating some things.  We have fruit for "dessert" every night about 30 minutes after dinner.  If they don't make a "happy plate" at dinner... no "fruit time".  They'll do pretty much anything for fruit so it's worked well for us and when they decline we're confident that they're truly full or hate something I've served with a passion.

   Hang in there Mamma!

  It's not as bad as you probably feel like it is. 

  Our IF journey: 1 m/c, 1 IVF with only 3 eggs retrieved yielding Dylan and a lost twin, 1 shocker unmedicated BFP resulting in Jace, 3 more unmedicated pregnancies ending in more losses.
  Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
  

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• ladychicago member

  June 2011

  I ditto everyone else's advice thus far....and need to remind myself of it often. But I would also really try to set specific meal and snack times. For your sanity as well as for her. That way she can come to rely on a routine with food and not wonder if/when she will get to eat. But eating every 2-3 hours is pretty normal. I travel with lots of snacks!

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