What kind of issues? Well, food issues, nap issues, playing, and then more food issues.
So today I asked some parents (on my online boards) what I can do with Owen and his eating. Meaning, we keep trying real food but he just isn’t loving it—but he should be getting off jarred food and eating more and more “real” food. So they gave me some ideas, which I had already mostly tried. But the big idea was
Babies/small children are MUCH better than adults at recognizing their own bodies’ signals for “hungry” or “need nourishment”. Some of the best advice I ever got about kids and eating was from my MiL. If a child gets hungry, s/he will eat. Period.
So anyway, just to share my response (so you know what we’re dealing with!):
We have tried frozen corn, peas, green beans, and carrots and he doesn’t really like them. Meaning he won’t eat them plain (heated) but he would eat a few of them when used in fried rice.
I have tried doing sweet potatoes a variety of ways—the consistency of jarred food (which he ate for awhile, but no longer likes), baked chunks, steamed chunks, a steamed mash, with cinnamon, etc., and he didn’t like any of them.
We’ve tried sliced cheese, chunk cheese, grated cheese, and melted cheese – none of which he’s thrilled with.
I tried cooking peas and beans (from dried) and those were a BIG no.
I have tried minced, chopped, and pieces of chicken (all a big no), roast beef and burgers (he likes it! he likes it!), and grilled pork (okay for a bit, but not terribly interested).
I have tried grinding/mashing various meals into a slurry and just chopping them up—no dice.
He does love pears and does okay with bananas—but doesn’t like watermelon, fresh strawberries, or apples (although he likes dried).
He does love yogurt, but he can’t live on yogurt, right?
So we ARE trying…it is just extremely frustrating because there’s really not much he likes so far.
All that said, I tried at lunch. (I really did.) I cut up half a banana, gave him about four rigatoni noodles with meat and sauce, and a tiny handful of puffs and dried fruit…with a sippy cup milk chaser. He ate about half the banana, half the noodles, and his pile of puffs/fruit. Which is about 1/4 of what he normally eats. I then tried to feed him the pieces and didn’t get much more down. And he was giving me his cranky “I’m hungry” cry. So I buckled and gave him a yogurt and that was it (still way less than he normally eats). About an hour later, he was giving me the hungry whine again, so I gave him a cracker—he didn’t want it. I tried puffs—no dice. I tried milk—nope. We cuddled on the couch and he got tired…so then he took some milk and…
On another note, it drives me insane how he is so tired and practically falling asleep on my lap so I put him in his crib and he cries and whines and screeches and cries and whines and screeches because he doesn’t want to be in there—but I leave him anyway, hoping he will just fall asleep…but this afternoon it’s been 30 minutes and it’s still going on. Ugh. I hate letting him win (LOL) but I can’t leave him in there forever.
They then agreed that he was being a stinker, and to just keep trying new foods. So, to continue the story…just to show you can never expect what will happen.
We ordered Thai for dinner, which was too spicy for him, even as Mild. But we did share tiny pieces—my chicken, egg, and carrot (from Basil Fried Rice) which he did eat (chicken, yay! except it took a few tries) and chicken and potato from Tom’s Massaman Curry. So we’re excited. He’s also eating some Graduates apple pieces (which he never ate before!) and puffs. And drinking milk. But even though he was eating, he wasn’t really eating that much.
But I wasn’t going to give him any jarred foods…but I was going to give him a yogurt. But before I did that we had some fun (which, of course, completely made up for him being a stinker earlier today at nap time):
And then, after playing, without warning, he barfed his entire dinner. So, was it from the raucous laughing? Or too many new things for dinner? Or something else entirely?
Sigh.
But wasn’t he cute in that video? 😀