When my son was 18 months old, I was the mom that probably every other mom hated. I will admit it: My son would literally eat anything. All vegetables. All fruit. Lean protein, including any kind of fish. He still took veggie/fruit pouches on occasion because they were wonderfully convenient when out and about, but didn’t insist on them either. He weaned from a bottle without any issues and took milk from a cup. I was so proud of him and the variety of foods that we gave him and what a good eater he was. I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about when people talked about how hard it was to get their child to eat certain things.
Well, about two years ago, all that changed…
My daughter was a preemie. She was born eight weeks early and was in the NICU for six weeks. She had a terrible time learning to eat. She couldn’t nurse because her suck was so weak she would exhaust herself before getting enough calories. She didn’t love the bottle either. Then came time for baby food. Some things went ok but by the time table food rolled around she pretty much hated everything. She turned two this week and not much has changed. Let me just say this: It is exhausting!!!!! We have done feeding therapy, swallow studies, milk scans, we see a GI specialist, and while she is overall healthy, getting her to eat is a struggle on a daily basis.
Over the last couple of years I have had many conversations with other moms that have feeding issues with their children. It can be so stressful trying to make sure that your baby is getting enough calories to grow and develop, and then add on the pressures from society to make sure that everything your child puts in their mouth is organic, non-GMO, 100% whole grain, fed on BPA free plates, and you can start to feel like you are fighting an uphill battle that you literally are never going to win.
When there are only a handful (if your lucky) of foods that your child will eat, mealtimes can be sort of a nightmare.
It seems so simple from the outside looking in; just expose them to more foods and if they are hungry, they will eat it. Well, let me just say this, it is NOT that easy. With my son, who was a plump, healthy baby and was clearly getting his fair share of calories in a day, I would offer him an array of foods at every meal and if he didn’t eat it, I didn’t stress. Clearly he wasn’t hungry and would make up for it at the next meal. With my daughter, things just weren’t that simple. I can try as hard as I can to get her to eat things from all the food groups, but at the end of the day all she will eat is mac and cheese. Then mac and cheese it is because girlfriend NEEDS to eat something. And I feel like I have failed. Every day I try to get her to eat the things that I know her little growing body needs, and every day she shows me that I cannot MAKE her do ANYTHING (and this is true in very aspect of her life, but that is for another day!).
I have learned to get creative.
We do purees and really try to capitalize on the few fruits that she actually will eat, but for the most part I feel like I spend my days spinning my wheels on what in the world I am going to get her to eat at her next meal.
I say all this because I know that I’m not alone. I know because like I said, I talk to moms all the time that deal with the same thing. They come to me with tears in their eyes and a little crack in the voice asking what to do. And this is what I say back: Do the best that you can. Don’t beat yourself up. Your child will be ok if she lives on mac and cheese and PBJ. And at the end of they day, give yourself and your child a break. Eat a bowl of ice cream. After all, that is a well-rounded meal in and of itself, full of calcium and protein and of course sugar and fat, but we all NEED those things too.
.){kind=link}