In my previous article “Feeding your infant and toddler”, I mentioned my daughter and her being fussy a eater.
She was a bit difficult compared to my son. I could not see what was wrong, she would have a couple of spoons of food and that would be it; nothing more. When we were vacationing in Mexico, I noticed she had more appetite and enjoyed sitting and eating with us. I had this opportunity to observe the difference in her behavior from back home. She had less bottle-feeding sessions, and she at our table with out a separate high chair tray. I think best of all, she was feeding herself.
When we came back from vacation, I tried to make the situation as it was in Mexico. No more highchair tray, and most of the times I let her feed herself. The fussiness is better now but not over. She still does not want to try new foods, but I guess that’s just her personality.
A major thing I discovered recently is that she now gets hungry at a different time than our family mealtime. I have noticed that at breakfast she plays with her cereal, eats a little, throws a little and then at around 10:30 – 11 am she get her snack and between 12 and 1pm her lunch.
I guess here is the problem, she is not that hungry at lunch time, she eats a couple of spoon full and she’s done, but at around 2pm she goes for the snack cabinet (of course it’s a wall cabinet so she can’t reach it) and cries for a snack. The other day I gave her leftover lunch at that time and she ate it all.
I now understand her new behavior, because she is now more mobile, tries to express herself more and asks for things.
- Here are some checkpoints that helped me to overcome my daughters eating problem:
- check if she had too many bottles through out the day
- check if she had a bottle or a snack shortly before meal time
- check for behavioural reactions, if she likes to feed herself or sit in her favourite chair, etc.
- pay attention to her likes and dislikes;
- pay attention to see when exactly she gets hungry
- Make the meal time a fun family time
I am still working at this and changing my approach daily to make her a better eater. I hope my personal experiences make you feel better about your situation. I know I always feel better when I know I’m not alone with my problem and that there are other mom’s dealing with the same problems and that they are doing fine.
Until next time,
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
