Friday, October 30, 2009

Nanny Dee! Chef Eureka! Mommy Chef! Calling all Mommies! I've got an eating challenge on my hands and it's called a Toddler!


I can't believe it! I won another award! Yippee! I received the Lemonade Stand award from Kathy at Strawberry Seeds! Thank you, Kathy! This award is for people who show attitude and gratitude in their blogs and I wish I could give it right back to Kathy. She shows amazing attitude and gratitude on her blog, despite a life full of curve balls. I am inspired by her and what she has to say. Please check her out and learn about her life of gratitude in the face of great adversity.

And now I have three awards to give out. I haven't had a chance to decide with this one, so I will wait and give them all out at the same time.

Until then, I said in my last post that I needed all you mommies and dads out there to help me. I'm not afraid to ask for it, so please help, help me Rhonda! Or Chef Eureka! Or Mommy Chef! Or Nanny Dee! Or anybody who has ever successfully fed their toddler.

My son is eating challenged. He is 14 months old and still won't eat much besides baby food. From a jar.

He has always had trouble in the pie hole department. Between the ages of 6- 10 months, anytime we introduced a food with a new texture to him, he choked and threw it up. I can't even count anymore how many times I cleaned up projectile vomit in those months. He threw up Rice mum-mums, puffs, stage 3 baby foods, anything with texture. Finally, we stopped trying to give him anything beyond stage 1 and 2 jarred baby food. Around 10 or 11 months, we were able to move on to stage 3 baby foods, puffs, and yogurt melts.

At 10 months, he stopped throwing things up and started spitting them out instead. At 14 months, we are still in this "spitting out" phase and I am at my wit's end trying to get him to eat anything besides smooshy, mushy, tasteless baby food. From a jar. And I have run out of ideas.

So, my cry to you is this: what did you feed your toddlers?

The problem with me is I am not much of a cook and I have strange eating patterns and eat differently than most. I eat breakfast and dinner, but lunch is just a continual grazing throughout the day. And we never eat fast food and rarely eat in restaurants. Plus, I can't eat gluten. So, I eat non-toddler type foods, like raw carrots and hummus. I don't eat sandwiches. I didn't have bread or eggs in the house until a friend suggested that I try giving him pieces of a grilled cheese sandwich or scrambled eggs. I never thought of a grilled cheese sandwich or scrambled eggs. That is how far gone I am.

So, any suggestions would be appreciated, no matter how simple they are because honestly, I probably haven't thought of them. But first, let me tell you what he will and won't eat to save you some time.

He WILL eat: crackers, cookies (duh), yogurt (his fave food), applesauce, grilled cheese sandwiches, toast, bananas, oatmeal, Veggie Booty rice puffs, mashed potatoes with gravy, American cheese, and that damned baby food. From a jar. He will even eat the veggie baby foods, as long as they are bland baby food. From a jar.

Things I have tried that he has SPIT out onto the floor like he was just forced to eat DOG TURDS: mac and cheese (he won't eat any pasta, actually), peanut butter, pb and honey sandwiches, beenie weenies, any steamed veggie (including carrots), mandarin oranges, scrambled eggs, lasagna, ravioli, ground turkey, ground beef, peas, baked beans, rice, kiwi, blackberries, peaches, and I'm sure there is more than I'm not remembering.

So, I will not be insulted if you suggest even the most basic item. Like I said, I didn't even think of grilled cheese sandwiches and scrambled eggs until a friend suggested them.

Thanks guys! I'm hoping to never, ever have to buy baby food for this little toddler AGAIN!!

11 comments:

  1. as a child I ate nothing. Because of this I am 5'2 with no bone mass. I wish my mom would have fed me through an IV

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  2. Do you eat only hummus and raw carrotts because you like it that way or because you're afraid of eating other stuff with your celiac? One of my girlfriends has it (along with her six year old)and she has a lot of neat recipes if you're interested...I'm sure I could hook you up.

    Will he eat the different stuff (like peas, carrots, grean beans, etc) if he feeds himself? What if you give him a spoon and let him dig in and make a mess...maybe he'd hit his mouth at least a little.

    Is he still taking a bottle or does he use a sippy cup?

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  3. hmmmm, maybe try white rice mixed with butter, cut up meatballs, or hot dogs (tofu dogs etc), I sprinkle parmesean cheese on all kinds of cooked veggies, cut up french toast or waffles (frozen kind), cut up string cheese, raisins, cut up cereal/fruit bars, smoothies....I actually have a giveaway ending tomorrow, for Kid's Amazing Grass, you add it to smoothies, I call it a milkshake and my kids suck it down.

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  4. First and foremost, he is a toddler and this is probably just a stage. I apparently only ate vienna sausages for about 3 months when I was a kid!

    Jar Food, though annoying, does give him nutrients. That is the only way my babe eats veggies. Does he eat the jar food with a spoon by himself?
    Do you feed him the other stuff or does he try on his own?

    I know with my little guy, we just started giving him stuff and had him do it on his own, he didn't want to be fed anymore.

    Grilled cheese is awesome cuz you can use all sorts of different breads and cheese. I put jar vegggies in the grilled cheese so he gets the nutrients.

    Try putting other things in the foods he likes. If he likes oatmeal, put some raisins in there (that's what we do!). If he likes toast, spread some jar of fruit on there. Instead of mashed potatoes, try mashed cauliflower. Cheese tortillas? Avocadoes?

    It's tough, but really try as much variety as you can, a few new things every week and then repeat and give him what he likes.! Sometimes it's a mood for my little guy and one day he loves waffles, the other day he hates them and throws them at my head.

    It sounds like he does eat some good stuff. His tastes will change multiple times. My guy is 22 months old and is a roller coaster of food emotion.
    Okay, i've rambled enough. Hope this helps!

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  5. oh no. sounds like it's getting worse. so sorry hun!

    my son was a picky eater, too. we just gave him what we KNEW he'd eat and left it at that. the doc never said anything about it like it being bad or anything.

    i wouldn't stress too much. it's ok! everything will turn out. looks like your other bloggies have some fabulous ideas!!

    keep us posted :)

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  6. The easiest thing I found to do was to let my my toddlers eat what they wanted. I had one child who ate the exact same thing, and nothing else, for 3 months. Finally he got tired of it and went on to other foods. As long as he was eating I was happy. He's 48 now and looks to cook gourmet food in his spare time. His wife does not even go into the kitchen.

    I thought it was strange when he went through that stage but it worked out.

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  7. Oh we have all been there. I often felt like there was more food on the floor then in the tummy. Best bet for me at that age was healthy little hoices they could pick up with their fingers! (pastas, cooked carrots, peas etc) Best of luck!

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  8. I didn't read through all of the comments, so forgive me if I am repeating anything. My last child (who is now 17months and STILL nursing-bedtime only now, but I can't seem to wean him...that's another story) Anyways, my last child went through a stage where he would only eat hot dogs (which I cut up in teeny tiny pieces) or pb sandwiches. He hated baby food and hated to be fed by a spoon. He refused to eat unless he was feeding himself. Very independent little guy he is! He now eats everything in sight! What you were telling me about the projective vomiting and gas problems made me wonder if he had acid reflux???

    Anyways, here are a few things you could try...
    Although, I'm not sure how many teeth your little one has, so that will all depend on that too...
    hot dogs, cottage cheese, soggy cereal or dry cereal, chicken, sweet potatoes in a can rather than the baby food jars, toast, cooked apples with a little cinnamon if he likes that. I could think up a bunch more and will if you need them. Just send me a message...
    Good luck! Oh, and in case you didn't see yet YOU are the WINNER on my BLOG!!!! :)

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  9. It sounds like things with blander tastes are more appealing to him. I can't say that I can add anything to the comments above. There are some pretty terrific suggestions.

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  10. He sounds like me! Yes, I eat like a toddler. It's really ridiculous and quite troublesome when I go to a fancy dinner party. Let me qualify the "fancy dinner party" thing. When I go over to a friends house and have dinner while keeping all our children under control.

    Now I'm polite of course so I stuff the food in my mouth as fast as I can and swallow down with a glass of water. All the while saying,.."yummy, you really outdid yourself."

    For the first year of babygirl's life I made all her food. I was still in the phase "Mommy is just like June Clever." Just grabbed a blender and whatever produce was fresh at the market. Whipped it up and gave it to her. You'd be suprise at what you can concock and what they will eat from a jar. I bought a bunch of cheap small canning jars. The jar baby food was way too expensive to keep up with and quite honestly, I couldn't depend on myself to make it to the grocery store with a baby. I use to mix broccoli with applesauce. Yes, sounds disgusting but the applesauce masked the broccoli.

    Totally agree with the other comment about letting Max try and feed himself. It's amazing how much better food taste when you hand them their own spoon. HUGE MESS,..yes. But it does give you 5 minutes of free time!

    Good luck!

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  11. Ah! Babies and Food can be quite a challenge. Unfortunately, I eat any old crap I can get my hands on. But I do take a few hours a week and make my own 'baby food' and freeze for a couple of weeks. My daughter is 15 months but I try not to give her 'adult' food because it has so many preservatives and sodium.

    First, I used to steam veggies and put them in a blender. Then I started to add less water when I blended them. Now I mush what I can with a fork.

    Hope this helps!

    http://www.thewannabewahm.com

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