They've stopped being good eaters.
The main culprit is Connor but Kendra has her moments too.
So today, being their 11-month birthday, I've booked an appointment with Sister Carla and I am armed with all my questions.
It'll also be nice to get them weighed.
At the birthday party on Saturday when I held one of the babies, it occurred to me that he could very possibly be heavier than Kendra (he is 5 1/2 months and she's 11!).
It's not an issue to me anymore simply because she is so active - crawling, pulling up, cruising along furniture, etc.
she loves the vacuum cleaner
But I am keen to see what she weighs as she eats more than her brother does these days.
Okay, back to the eating.
They both LOVE cereals. We give them oats and Maltabella (Purity) mostly and only baby cereal when they have a really, really bad food day.
(I'm very strict with food and I don't cave easily)
They eat fruits and even eat it like we do (chunk of apple and orange).
And yoghurt - well, they are clearly my kids because they LOVE plain Greek yoghurt. LOVE IT.
Kendra
Has become very interested in what's IN the food, so if any food falls from the spoon, she uses those tiny baby fingers (and they're minute!) to pick up the lentils, carrots, etc. one by one.
No problem but...... she's so focussed that she won't eat while she's otherwise engaged.
So eating takes forever and some days she just feels like she has "had it" and won't even open her mouth.
She's not the main problem.
Connor on the other hand has good days very rarely but mostly his new thing is he doesn't like food.
He will have toast with anything, fruit, yoghurt and cereal. So he is getting something in him.
But I have this crazy notion that his diet needs to be balanced and nutritious.
And he won't eat my beloved Annabel Karmel meals.
I think it's because he wants to feed himself and doesn't want baby mush. Even though it's technically not baby mush.
I've even started cooking things like butternut and lentil risotto so that no pureeing is necessary. He does eat this type of meal better and of course, anything with a cheese sauce.
V made them a fish in a cheesy white sauce a few weeks ago which Connor loved so that's the new thing - fish twice a week for him.
Actually now that I'm typing this out it really doesn't seem that bad.
Although... I can't see how we're ever going to get them off bottles (Heather, you're a rock star!) if they don't start eating properly.
Maybe I just lack patience?
Honestly these kids are so cute and lovable that those 20 minutes 3 times a day try my patience to no end.
(I've taught Kendra to kiss (I know, I know, most mothers teach their kids useful things like animals, colours and whatnot - I teach my kids how to kiss!) and it is the cutest, wettest thing ever. Connor also kisses but we're working on not biting while we kiss :))
I have a confession - I purposely give V the more difficult things to feed them (the proper, nutritious meals) because she's much better at getting them to eat. On the weekends I'm a slacker mother - I only try one proper meal and if they don't want it, I've decided life is too short to fight with babies so then it's cereal, toast, fruit, yoghurt - easy stuff.
I have another confession. Six weeks ago I had to start buying Purity prunes because my poor boy battles with constipation.
What are your food concerns or confessions?
Do you think I'm worried about nothing? Or is this cause for concern?
my "sulky teenager"
Swimming is serious business
Swimming is serious business
Marcia, I can bore you forever about eating and weight etc. One thing I have learned, the more you stress, the worse it gets. If you really feel he is not eating well enough, give him some pediasure once a day as an extra.
ReplyDeleteHang in there! "The boys" only like to feed themselves mostly, so I try to have things around that they can: cut up banana, cheerios (big in this house!), small macaroni with tomato and meat sauce (that they can pick up so like penne shape cut in half and not the small orzo kind), cooked brocolli and carrots. I just cut up cooked food into cube size pieces for them to pick up and put in their mouth. And when you feel comfortable starting sippy cups, don't go cold turkey. We started just at lunch time, because they would eat so well and then a month later, with an afternoon snack instead of a bottle, and last their first thing in the morning bottle. We waited until they learned to drink a significant amount of formula from the cup before we moved on. That's why we started with lunchtime cups. They are much more flexible at that time of the day.
ReplyDeleteI have a picky eater. Most doctors will tell you not to look at what you child is eating in one day, but rather look at it over a course of a few days and see if they are getting balanced nutrition that way.
ReplyDeleteWhat I personally do (of course my picky eater is a bit older...) is offer nutrious food and do not keep junk in the house. When he is hungery, he has no choice but to eat something healthy. A child will not starve themselves, so what I think is don't stress about him not eating well. Offer the food, if he refuses, well.. he will eat when hungery.
Our girls started to struggle maintaining interest in food at around a year old. It wasn't instantaneous, but once I started letting them feed themselves, they finally started eating really well again. In hindsight, I wonder if it was an "independence" thing (or maybe I'm reading too much into it).
ReplyDeleteAt 17 months, I feed our girls roughly the same schedule as with baby food, only now with "big people food" that they feed themselves...scrambled egg + cereal + diced fruit for breakfast; two veggies + diced fruit for lunch; meat + veggie + diced fruit for supper. After lunch, I often give them some cheese (for protein), and after supper, I often give them some whole wheat bread. Of this, they feed themselves everything but the oatmeal / cream of wheat in the mornings. This has meant a big change in some of the things they eat. They used to love yogurt, for example, but now they rarely eat it because they don't like me feeding them.
I do try to think about food not being a power thing. I can imagine it could easily come to that. If one of the girls won't eat something, I try a few times, and then she has to wait until her sister is ready to move to the next "course". It's very hard and frustrating sometimes, but I think it's what's right for me (right now).
I agree with Heather on the sippy cup transition. We did it very gradually, as I wanted to make sure they were still getting enough milk / liquid.
I hope some of this is helpful. And by the way, your children have the most amazing eyes (and eyelashes!)! :)
I think kissing is a very necessary skill...go Mom! The eating sounds pretty good...I bet on one good meal per day...if that happens, I'm happy. Hailey also dissects her food. It drives me nuts. Matt just shoves it in with reckless abandon.
ReplyDeleteI would highly recommend the Ellyn Satter books, Feeding with Love and How to Get Your Kid to Eat Anything. AWESOME books and you will need that advice for the long haul if you are already stressing over food at this age. Toddlers are programmed to fear new foods to stop themselves from eating things that might kill them. People perceive it as picky, when in reality, they need to see foods 15 times to recognize it as safe and try it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway the book has some great strategies for getting through the transition to table food with the least amount of stress. You can't make a kid poop or eat!
C's off Annabel's delicious recipes? Crikey.
ReplyDeleteIn saying that I still contend that C and D were twins in a past life :p
Like K, D now insists on putting her hand in the bowl to touch the food. Once she's done that, she's better, but not always that cooperative.
Like C, cheese sauce with anything tends to go down, as does toast. She likes yoghurt too. Have you tried the kids on custard with fruit? But the feeding business isn't as easy as it was. I'm pretty sure it's that whole testing one's independence thing.
And don't feel bad about giving V the tricky stuff - that's what B's tasked with in our house too! :) :)
Love that K's up and about - she'll be walking maybe before her 1st birthday? At what? 10 'real' months? Crikey - dynamite on legs!! :)
First of all...THOSE EYES...they are just fabulous! K & C are both just adorable. Second, my girls absolutely went through the stage of only eating what they could pick up themselves. They are just beginning to eat well from a spoon again. (And they stopped all "baby food" or purees around 10 months--completely stopped.)
ReplyDeleteLastly, I'm so glad the dedication went well. On to the birthday party!