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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
MNmama7112
member
Help! Home vs. Day Care
MNmama7112
member
My son just turned 1 on 7/6. His eating habits at home and day care are totally different. We switched to sippy cups and whole milk just before he turned one and the transition went really well at first (he hasn't had a bottle in over a month). The problem is, at day care he'll drink milk (and quite a bit of it) at meals and snacks, but when he's home though (evenings and all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday), he barely will drink any milk. In fact, he usually has a sip or two (seems eager when I hand it to him), but then gets mad and throws it or pushes it off his tray. At first I thought maybe the milk at day care was sitting out for a bit (enough to get the chill off) and wasn't as cold as the milk at home, but I asked them and they said it's straight from the fridge. My typical response when he throws his cup is to say "No" firmly and put it back on his tray. If he does it again, I put it aside off his tray and then usually try to give it back to him after a few minutes have passed. Because he's drinking enough milk at day care during the day, I'm not as stressed making sure he's getting enough. But when he's home with me all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I worry he's not drinking enough milk. I'm probably over-thinking it, but I don't understand why he is such a different kid at mealtimes at day care than he is at mealtimes at home. I'm sure it's something I'm doing (or not doing), but I just can't figure out how to make it better. Any ideas? By the way, we typically give him bite-sized foods at the same time as he gets his milk (same as they do at day care) and he usually eats that pretty well. After he's eaten a little, he will start pushing the rest of the food off of his tray, so I usually just end mealtime at that point.
Sorry this was so long!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Help! Home vs. Day Care
My son is a great eater at home, but he'll completely ignore the same foods he loves at home while he's at daycare. Conversely, at daycare he pulls out his cot, lies down and sleeps at naptime. At home he's just as happy to take a nap, but likes to be held/sung to.
Personally, I would try not to stress too much about how much milk he's drinking at home. Sounds like he drinks plenty during the week, and I'm betting he has other dairy in his diet on those Fri/Sat/Sun days, right?
When he throws his cup, I would take it away. Sometimes I think the throwing is a result of frustration which results because he's told you he doesn't want it. So if he doesn't want to drink his milk - eh, whatever. Maybe he'll have some at the next meal.
I wouldn't stress too much about it. My son is a great eater at daycare but just a so-so eater at home. He'll try anything daycare gives him because he sees all the other kids eating it, but if I try to give him something new, it gets thrown straight to the floor. It bugs me, but I try not to get too worked up about it because all and all I know he's eating well.
As for milk, I don't always think we get in as much milk as daycare does (for the same reason I listed above), but I just know he's still getting in the range of what he needs (i.e., M-F, he probaby gets 15 oz/day, but on the weekends, we're sometimes closer to 12 oz). One thought on the milk - are you giving him milk at the same time that daycare does? At daycare, DS gets one of his cups of milk as a snack in the afternoon so I try to stick to the same routine if we can over the weekends.