Us3

Us3

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Meal Time

GRRRRRRR...Meal time is my LEAST favorite time of the day. Oh my gosh, it is soooo frustrating! I have become a short order cook and guess what? I DO NOT COOK! So, this is getting old- QUICK!

AJ used to eat pretty much anything. He wasn't that picky. I know that as kids get older, they get pickier and I expected that. But THIS is getting really tiring. For breakfast, I make him a waffle. Then when he doesn't eat that, I try cereal, then I try toast, then I try fruit. I go for fruit last because he will typically eat that..and ONLY that. Keep in mind that all these other things I try, he has liked at one point. It's not like I'm making him try these new crazy things!

For lunch, it's the same ole thing. We try peanut butter sandwiches, then cheese, then cheese bread, then chicken, then mac n cheese and then we end up with fruit and a few crackers. Grrrr!!!

Dinner...well, you get the point. I try and try and try and he eats nothing! My only saving grace is that he drinks a ton of milk- perhaps too much milk and thats why he's not eating anything else???

Not only do I feel like I am the most wasteful person on the planet, but I also feel like I spend half my day just trying to shove food down AJ's throat! In my mind, I know that he will eat if he's hungry, but can't he just eat like a normal person? 3 times a day or so???

Here's a list of what is in my refrigerator right now that I will probably have to throw away because he won't eat it:

carrots
sweet potatoes
corn (ok, he eats this)
chicken pieces
1/2 eaten yogurt
1/2 eaten applesauce
raspberries
blueberries
grapes
1/2 eaten pieces of cheese


Ok, so I know that the above ingredients do not show that I cook, but you get the idea right?!

2 comments:

Jenni said...

I sooo feel your pain on this one right now. preston has been an extremely picky eater lately too and your blog basically sums it up perfectly! I make food, he doesn't eat it, so I make something else...that gets wasted.

I hear about moms who feed their kids crap because it's "all they'll eat" and I refuse to do that! I'm not going to feed my kid junk food just because that is what he'll eat. I figure he will eventually get hungry enough that he will eat what we give him.

The other frustrating thing is, if we are eating food in front of it him, he wants to eat whatever we are eating. And from our plates. If I put the exact same food in a seperate bowl for him, he won't eat it. It's like he's got to see it coming off of my plate and into his mouth to be sure it's the same stuff. LOL

Donna said...

Most kids go through this stage a couple of times from about 12-36 months of age. For one thing, AJ has discovered that he has "choices" and has figured out that he can use his ability to say "no" or turn his head away to get what he eventually wants. He's not a bad child...just learning what works and what doesn't. If you set out his breakfast and he won't eat, I'd suggest taking the food away after a reasonable amount of time...10-15 minutes maybe...less if he tosses it off the high chair tray! Limit his between meal snacks and milk drinking. Milk will fill his tummy and he won't be as hungry at meal time. If you do this for every meal, it won't be long before he WILL eat whatever you put on his plate. It's not easy...we want to feed our babies as if they were preparing to make the trek to Kilamanjaro but part of learning is learning that, for now, you are the one making the decisions on what he eats and when. He won't starve! You won't be hurting him. And it will save all the effort of being a short-order cook and the wasted food each meal. Jason wasn't much of a picky eater; he'd eat whatever I gave him. Michele was an independent child from birth but soon learned that if she didn't want to eat at meal time, she wasn't getting anything else til the next meal time rolled around. I think we had to "be tough" for a couple of days and then she was most willing to eat whatever was put in front of her. Good luck!