Right now, Oliver will constantly eat one of two things for dinner - orzo with spaghetti sauce, and a lentil dish that I make (with carrots & potaotes). Everything else is hit or miss, and its exhausting. He's clearly hungry (made apparent by the amount of times he is speaking & signing "eat"), but he still refuses to eat most of what we put in front of him. Things he eat one day, he spits out the next day. Even breakfast, the one sure meal we used to be able to get some kind of starch/carbohydrate in him has become trying... no more bread with spreadable cheese or jelly, oatmeal, or even waffles - just cereal with milk, and of course fruit. For lunch he is living on peanut butter rice crackers. I was really looking forward to him being able to eat what we were eating for dinner, and instead, I find myself continuing to make meals for him. I broke down and bought some over-priced, over-processed packaged toddler meals, but he (thankfully) wasn't eating those either -- so, its not my cooking! I know this is textbook toddler behavoir, but it's stressful nonetheless.
Had to share this photo - Adam said he looks like a deranged clown!
3 comments:
this too shall pass. Maya used to drive me bat crazy with this.
just keep keepin on. he wont starve himself - eventually he'll give in and eat whats been given him.
boys not liking meat is actually really common. try puree-ing the meat and see if it helps, you can also hide it in (cook it into) other food.
also try plain firm tofu. it has no taste and Maya ate tons of it!
Same thing that Jen said - try pureeing meat and adding it with things he likes...My sister gave me this manual food grinder: http://www.amazon.com/KidCo-F700-Food-Mill/dp/B000067Q6J
it was a life saver!! We would grind up what we were eating and then mix it with pureed things he likes (carrots, squash, etc) and basically cover up the taste of the meat. It was also helpful because we could do this if we were out eating..
Also, add some calories where you can (butter or olive oil)..just to ease your mind...
Mia also loves tater tots and chicken nuggets with "dip" ketchup..not super-healthy, but she ate...
Good luck!!
Oliver won't eat chicken nuggets - what kind of a kid doesn't eat that?
Thanks for the tips -- will try to hide the meat in food again. We had a bad experience with ground turkey early on (absolutely disguisting after being in the food processor) & I never gave it a second try. We have been adding butter and olive oil where we can. A litle salt on the veggies has helped give it some flavor too.
I was reading in a Family Nutritional book (from the library!) about how rich in protein amaranth, millet, & quinoa are -- I have all 3 on hand, so I will go back to incorporating them in dishes as well....
This is just a phase, this is just a phase!
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