The new "meal time".

Meal time is so stressful. Every since he learned that he doesn't have to eat something if he doesn't want to, feeding him has been a bit of a challenge. It seems like food just isn't his thing. We have tried everything to get him to eat, but the only thing that seemed to work was to place a "puff"on the spoon with the "real" food we wanted him to eat. He sure does like those puffs and at the time I didn't care. At least my kid , who is always on the low side of the growth chart, was eating. But, he wasn't pooping either. Every time he would poop it would be hard or he would strain and strain and cry without success. I didn't know what was causing it. Was it the cow's milk we switched to? Was it lack of water in-take? Was it an allergy to a food? Was it a more serious GI issue (which of course I convinced myself)? So after a night of crying and an enema later I decide off to the Dr.'s we go!



I told the Dr. that I thought it was not right do have to give your child prune juice, Miralax, and enemas this much and most of the time those didn't even work (we will get to that later). She said "Laura, quit crying and pull yourself together". Ok she didn't say that, but I did cry and that is probably what she was thinking. While she was talking I kept feeding puffs to B to keep him quiet so I could listen to her. In a nutshell this is what we are now doing.

1.) New motto= Parents Provide, Children Decide. Meaning- I provide the food (place it on his tray and walk away) he decides if he wants to eat it, if not next meal/snack is in a few hours. Sounds like tough love huh? It is. But, if my girlfriend or sister was having the same issues that is the same thing I would tell them. So why wasn't I practicing what I preach?

2.) He needs to feed himself. He is 1 and this is good practice for him. Who cares if he is dirty or the floor gets dirty (gulp) I don't. Plus, now he feels like he has a little more control over his life and he likes that.

3.) I can actually get stuff done around the house. I can't make him eat anyway so why hover over him and get frustrated. I get a lot of stuff done now and its nice.

4.) No more puffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So how is it working? Well, the first meal time with this strategy was hard. He threw just about everything on the floor and ate very little. It is now progressively getting better and better. He has normal bowel movements everyday and I am not as stressed out over meal time. The question is how will his weight gain be?


Here a sneak peak at my big boy eating!