OT help with child eating

It's ok Polly I really do like to hear everyone's say when I ask a question here, good or bad. It really isn't about the power struggle. I can tell when she's doing that and I just don't let her make it that. I was talking about the times she thinks she's not going to like it cuz it's different or she doesn't remember having it before. I'll take a lit bit of everyone's advice. It's not about a battle I want to make sure she grows up a healthy person. I guess it's the old adage that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. So I'll do the best to be a good leader and pray that God takes care of the rest.

I have encountered the chew> Thanks, Taria, You've jerked me back into perspective. I should have been

Okay. Just one more and then I have to go toast and chop pecans. Do some fun food things with your precious little girl. Think of some way to make peanut butter soupy - adding a little honey or milk? Put it in a baggie. Cut off a corner. Let her squeeze decorations onto apple or banana slices. Good stuff! A similar trick should work with carrots. Off hand I can't think of one but I'll bet you can. She could roll pieces of lettuce around something nutritious (cheese?) and make edible cigars. Don't mention that lettuce is: green and a vegetable. Another fun we did with little ones was painless enough. For the 'blah' items, I let them choose the color. A drop of food coloring can make oatmeal red or lima beans blue. Preparing and sharing can be happy. DH never quite got over the meal time surprises when we had pre-schoolers participating in preparation. I think it was the green grits that got him. Polly

Reading your post reminded me of how I got Ryan to eat cottage cheese.... I sprinkled those bright little non-pariels on it -- the multi colored ones. Then later that night -- he's sprinkle them on his ice cream. Doing little things to "trick" a little one into eating healthy food... is a requirement in a parent's arsenal. Oh the joys of parenting!

I went thru this with my son...up untill 2nd grade, he would only want a PB & J sandwich, carrot sticks, juice box and fruit roll-ups in his lunch box for school or the summer sitter's house. Never a change. so...i gave it to him for every lunch. He finally grew out of it... But supper time..he had to at least TRY everything that was on the table. even if it was one bite. if he didnt like it, he could have seconds of something else. Good thing too, cuz the Marines don't cater to anyone!!

I also had a girlfriend whose DD would only eat foods that were White. yep, really! she went thru that for a long time with her. Plain white bread with the crusts cut off, califlower, white cheese, plain pasta, white asparagus, and milk. That was it. And especially nothing Brown. she hated chocolate and couldnt even toast the bread. just aweful. i felt so bad for my friend. But her DD grew up to be healthy and now eats just about anything.

The idea about the market is a good one. Let her go along with you and see if she picks anything out. Have her help with the preparation. she may be more apt to eat then.

amy in CNY

Amy, your reply just made me think... when shopping make it a game that has little if anything to do with eating. I Spy with my little eye something round and green. in frozen food section might be peas, in produce might be a granny smith apple.

i'm sure there are many other games to be made while grocery shopping, all while not discussing the actual eating of food. that said, how about we buy only things that meet the I Spy questions. of course as mama makes up the questions and knows the right answers guess who gets what they want. that said, some kids are damn clever and will come up with an answer that meets the criteria of the I Spy question that isnt what mama was thinking about. oh well. as long as its good food, who cares. then there are counting games too. colour games. sets of things games. what goes with what games. no end to the fun ya could have grocery shopping. well was for us. kept the kids quiet and thinking long enough to get the job done and get home. just my thot after reading Amys reply. j.

"amy in CNY" wrote... I went thru this with my son...up untill 2nd grade, he would only want a PB & J sandwich, carrot sticks, juice box and fruit roll-ups in his lunch box for school or the summer sitter's house. Never a change. so...i gave it to him for every lunch. He finally grew out of it... But supper time..he had to at least TRY everything that was on the table. even if it was one bite. if he didnt like it, he could have seconds of something else. Good thing too, cuz the Marines don't cater to anyone!!

I also had a girlfriend whose DD would only eat foods that were White. yep, really! she went thru that for a long time with her. Plain white bread with the crusts cut off, califlower, white cheese, plain pasta, white asparagus, and milk. That was it. And especially nothing Brown. she hated chocolate and couldnt even toast the bread. just aweful. i felt so bad for my friend. But her DD grew up to be healthy and now eats just about anything.

The idea about the market is a good one. Let her go along with you and see if she picks anything out. Have her help with the preparation. she may be more apt to eat then.

amy in CNY

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and all that with no manual to refer to. tis a wonder sometimes how we manage to deliver contributing members of society. j.

"Kate G." wrote... Reading your post reminded me of how I got Ryan to eat cottage cheese.... I sprinkled those bright little non-pariels on it -- the multi colored ones. Then later that night -- he's sprinkle them on his ice cream. Doing little things to "trick" a little one into eating healthy food... is a requirement in a parent's arsenal. Oh the joys of parenting!

I can remember sitting at the table for what seemed like hours when I was 4 or 5 because I HAD to clean my plate before I could leave the table. I've always eaten too much and have been overweight all my life. I've always wondered if my Mom forcing me to eat more than I wanted was the reason.

Donna in SW Idaho

If she is generally healthy, don't worry about it. So she misses dinner 5 nights out of 7, big deal. Keep giving the 8pm snack of sliced apples or whatever. If she doesn't eat that, don't worry about it. She won't starve.

Assuming she is generally healthy and is neurotypical.

My 5-year-old is autistic, has mental retardation, and verbal apraxia. With him, we have an entire food program. My 3-year-old is neurotypical and may or may not eat. He's healthy as a horse and I refuse to fight unnecessary battles. As long as he gets good nutrition throughout the *week*, I don't care about any one day.

-- Anita --

It took me about 50 years to get that mindset out of DH's mind. He thought he HAD to clean his plate. His mama said so. No little children in Ballawongahallaballa are going to be better off if DH cleans his plate. Sometimes he looks at me in dismay when a waiter brings him something that only a starving buffalo would tackle. Waaaay many times I've reminded him that his mama was wrong, he doesn't have to clean his plate and Nobody will be better off if he does. Yes, Donna. Our mamas were wrong about a lot of things. Your face won't freeze like that if you cross your eyes and stick out your tongue. Running with scissors is bad. They were right some times. Polly

That always reminds me of Alan Sherman's song "Hail to Thee, Fat Person". Video at Lyrics at

Julia > It took me about 50 years to get that mindset out of DH's mind. He thought

It's very hard to leave food on your plate when you had to eat everything on there as a child. I don't feel quite so guilty now.

Dee in Oz

"Polly Esther" < wrote > It took me about 50 years to get that mindset out of DH's mind. He thought

Mom guilt is a frightening thing. It took me a while to learn to ignore the little voice in the back of my head that would yell "If you are going to waste food why should I feed you at all!"

I tell you true that is one of the things that makes me try very hard to only use my mom powers for good!

NightMist

On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:51:02 -0600, Joanna wrote (in article ):

I've been reading these post. Not having kids I don't have any real advice. DSis and I were both picky eaters. The worst thing was being forced to sit at the table and eat whatever it was we didn't like. Please don't do that to her.

One thing occurs to me. The worst time for me was breakfast. I was truly just not hungry and ready to eat in the morning. To this day, I absolutely cannot eat ceral after a childhood of being forced to eat a bowl each morning. Now I still don't eat breakfast. Could it be that dinner is too early or late for her?

Nope, if it's something she thinks she likes she'll gobble it down and be bugging you for something else in 15 min. I'm like that in the morning, still don't do breakfast usually eat around 2pm. That started for me though during too many pregnancies. I just eat when I'm hungry. We have changed to the five bite rule and no problems since. I won't be forcing her to sit there. Thanx anyways Joanna

I'm glad you found something that is working!

marcella

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:53:27 -0600, Joanna wrote (in article ):

I'm glad to hear that things are working better for you.

Maureen