I was really looking forward to having the entire week off from work due to spring break (I work at a school in the office) and being with my little girl. BUT I forgot how "bad" I am at feeding her! whenever my mil watches her, she always says "oh she ate so much today". well either she’s got the magic touch or she’s force feeding her b/c I can’t get my own daughter to eat and it makes me want to cry.
Here’s a typical food-wise day for her w/me al day:
—this morning—sat her at the table with me in a regular chair, (shes able to sit like a big person), with some strawberries n’ cream cream of wheat. I have cream of wheat too and eat in front of her. She refused, ran away, i told her sternly to come back or i’m throwing it away, she laughs, i then physically get her and sit her on my lap, get her to take one bite then she runs away again. So, then i figure maybe shes not in the mood for hot cereal, so i get her rice crispies instead. She had maybe 5 spoonfuls (of a big spoon) and that was it.
—Snack: some strawberries and grapes in a bowl, usually this is a hit even w/me but today she had 2 bites and threw the rest on the carpet.
—Lunch; I made bowtie pasta w/pasta sauce and some broccoli and cheese sauce mixed in. to me it was pretty good, she took maybe 6 spoonfuls and that was it. I then offered her a yogurt, the strawberry flavor that she usually likes, and she ran off. Also, between the 6 spoonfuls it was a battle: she would take 1 bite, then run off. i firmly told her to come back, shed laugh, I’d go and fetch her. I then finally sucked up and turned on abby cadabby on youtube for her (that usually gets ehr distracted enough to open ehr mouth and eat0. With that only the 2 last bites.
2nd snack: milk w/some dry cheerios and grapes, had all the milk, only like 5 cheerios and 2 grapes. These are her fave sometimes.
tonight i plan on making lasagana, the frozen kind. the kind my mom makes she will tear up even when i feed it to her, hopefully it will be the same for this.
I am really feeling discouraged that i have so much trouble convincing her to eat, that i put in all this effort making things for her that i think are healthy and also tasty only to throw most of it away. I am so desperate and i don’t know what to do. I am frustrated and puzzled as to why my mil, my mom, even her dad, and even the DAYCARE PROVIDER, a near stranger, can get her to sit and eat and i can’t. My mom says she’s playing a game w/me. is she do you think? I wish this game would stop. if only she knew how sad it made Mommy feel lol.
also she doesn’t run out of energy, she can go all day on just a few bites and a few sips of any liquid, it bugs me lol how she manages to do this and not need food that much.
I took her to the dr’s today for a cough that’s ongoing, and brought this up too. They said it was a separate issue and required a separate appt so next tues I can say all this to the pedi. She said it did sound like a cause for concern—getting her to just sit and eat—b/c it’s been ongoing. She’s 20 months btw.
also, when she was younger i introduced solids to her in a highchair, so it’s not like she started out just being able to get up while eating. I had her in her highchair til about 15 mons old then i decided to take the daycare provider’s advice and let her eat liek a ‘big person" sitting ina regular chair. but now i think i should bring the highchair back and so does the pediatrician i saw today. but I stopped bc it did seem too confinign and she was always doing potentially dangerous things in it like try to climb out even when strapped in etc.
Why is she like this w/ mainly just me?
Any other moms dealing/dealt with similar behavior eating-wise?
k; i DO give her a variety. What i gave her today was not the same as what i offered yesterday, or the day before. BUT i do try and give her things she will predictably eat, like cheerio’s.
how is what i’m doing ‘utterly crazy’? it’s only utterly crazy bc of the way SHE acts. but you’re right: i need to not coax her or praise her, and treat eating as more a casual thing.
Also, I don’t only spoon-feed her, I offer her plenty of finger foods (grapes, fries, pasta, dry cereals, blocks of cheese, cut up steamed veggies0 but even then she runs away or throw it on the floor. so sometimes spoon-feeding her is the only way i can get her to take bites.
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