Dear Mommas, My LO eats about 6 small meals a day, and usually the same things. His favorite food is fruit!!!! He is willing to often taste new things but goes back or asks for the old. For instance, he used to eat cooked peas, garbanzo beans, avocado, corn, meatballs, but now won't touch them, just play....Should I be concerned? Do you have any ideas to expand his repetoire. Is my timing OK? As an aside, he still bfeeds 3-4 times in a 24 hour day. Here is the feeding schedule that has developed:
6:30 -- bfeed
730 -- bfast: cheerios in a bit of milk, melon or banana, a bite of iron/vitamin -fortifiedpancake or toast.
9:00 -- snack: 1/4 fresh baked whole wheat roll with daddy in stroller, some pancake, dried apricot or banana
11:00 -- brunch: hard boiled egg white, yogurt or some hot cereal, strawberries or kiwi, cucumber, sometimes pasta or leftover toast/pancake
12:15 -- bfeed/nap
15:00 -- lunch: cucumber, mozarella cheese balls, tuna, apple, yogurt, sometimes a bit of pasta
17:00 -- snack : leftovers from above in the park if hungry or rice crackers or whole wheat organic pretzels
18:30 -- chicken, pasta, yogurt, strawberries and/or grapes small cookie or carrot cake
1930 -- bfeed/sleep
Wow. I'm impressed. My son is 2 & will only eat 3 things. Enjoy it! You're one of the lucky ones. :)
Hi diet sounds varied. I wouldn't call him a picky eater. You are doing great.
I think your little one is doing great -that is a lot of variety for 16 months! My guy is 5 and still doesn't eat a much broader of a range than that, he is heavily into fruits and veggies but will not touch tuna or any other meat, at all, so I worry about his protein. It sounds like you're doing great with healthy foods...I know it's hard (from experience) but try not to worry-if they are growing, and eating real food (not processed junk), I think it's fine -I would mention to your doctor but they will proabbly tell you to keep offering new things along with favorites.
Keep serving the meals that you want to, and are healthy for him. Kids go through periods where they eat little or eat a lot. As long as weight gain is on track, they are fine. If you give in and only give him the same foods over and over, you may end up with a very picky eater. If you continue to present him with good things, eventually he will eat them. I'm speaking from experience. All of my kids have gone through phases where they barely ate, and still do. I continued serving what I wanted to serve. They either ate or not. They have all remained healthy and eat a wide range of foods. Our only rule was that regardless of what was on the plate, they had to eat one bit of each thing. Beyond that, it's up to them whether they eat. They do have a say in what I add to my menu, but I don't let them control it. My kids are ages 3-10.
My son is only 22 months and this seems nicely varied to me. Is there something that you want him to eat that he won't? My son used to gobble up veggies, and now, he barely touches them at home. Some days he loves certain things, some days nothing. Daycare tells me all this stuff he eats, but he won't do it at home. His favorites switch daily. I take it in stride, and as long as he is eating, and growing, I'm happy.
I'm actually thinking how I can incorporate some of this in my son's diet now! :) Great job!
For starters, I think you should be applauded for not only having down a schedule but it looks like your feeding your son very well. The hardest thing always seems to be to get in more veggies! You said he used to eat peas - have you ever tried to give him frozen peas? I know, sounds weird, and I thought it was weird when my sister told me her kids ate them, but I tried when my kids were around 7-9 months old and they love them and often even snack on them. We (my kids and I) also love the Amy's (frozen) Spinach Pockets - full of healthy spinach and feta.
Another suggestion would be one from Dr. Sears - use a muffin tin or something similar to put several (healthy) "snacks" and let him graze - sometimes just changing up how you serve something works and is worth a try.
I wrote a couple of articles about healthy eating for kids - if you're interested in reading them, here are the links:
http://hubpages.com/hub/healthy-diets-healthy-eating-for-...
http://hubpages.com/hub/dr-sears-healthy-eating
Hope this helps - best of luck - you're doing a great job!
I think your son is doing great eating all those different foods. I wouldn't worry one bit. My son barley ate anything until he was 3 years old. He always drank lots of milk but hardly ate any solid food. My doctor said that as long as they are not sick all the time or have other health issues, I shouldn't worry about it. I really don't think you have anything to worry about unless maybe if your son is sick a lot or seems to have some health issues.
Sounds like you are doing great Mom!
Some where around this time I noticed my daughter and her little belly did better with 3 meals and 2 snacks. the snacks were more grazing than a sit down and eat. Also she was more receptive when she woke from her nap to different foods and her dinner wound up being the smallest and least interested so i moved the important foods up in the day.
hiding veggies/meatballs always helps too. some cheese and veggies in an egg white in the morning might work. this way you can make sure they are eating the "rainbow". Roasting (peppers, root veggies, carrots) also gives a very mellow flavor to foods which might be more appealing to a toddler.
Things sound like they are going well and keep trying the foods (especially if you are sharing what you eat - Mommy's food is usually way more interesting) and one day they'll be back in favor. it just a phase and nothing to worry about!
It sounds like your baby is eating fabulously!! Kudos to the parents! It also sounds like he's 'grazing' rather than eating huge meals, which they say is really good.
When he's ready, I would recommend adding Juice Plus gummies to his diet, which is basically concentrated food--17 fruits, vegetables, & grains. It is a great little 'insurance policy' that they get everything they need. It is backed by medical research and supported by thousands of medical professionals. If you have any questions, feel free to call me at ###-###-####. I also have a website, www.lisamurphyjuiceplus.com. My kids are doing amazing on Juice Plus:)
Good luck!
L. Murphy
