blankhomeaboutparkerfurbabiesclean eatingblank

Friday, April 25, 2014

The Toddler War on Food

As a fairly new mom I’ve heard of the different obstacles parents face in raising little human beings. From transitioning a baby to a crib, breaking from the paci, potty-training, and the list goes on and on.

The one obstacle I had never heard of before is the battle over food. I was quite surprised, after 18 months of smooth sailing with Parker Bear, to be squarely on the battleground of a full on food war with our little boy.
 
The last six months have been quite a journey through the world of toddler eating for all of us! Today we are no where near where we want to be but there is light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve learned so much and have found acceptance in the most unlikely of places.

It all started this past fall. Parker suddenly began refusing food that he had enjoyed just a day or two before. This came as a shock to me because had been Parker eating like a champ! In the summer he was nursing four times a day and eating anything we placed in front of him. Dinners were wonderful because Parker would have his own smaller plate of whatever we were eating. As we moved into fall, Parker weaned easily from nursing shortly after he turned eighteen months.
 
His sudden pickiness was so surprising! I quickly learned through several sources that children often go through a “picky phase” around 18-months. We chalked it up to that and just let Parker eat whatever he wanted which was about three foods. The same three foods at every meal. After all, I didn’t want him to go hungry.

Over the course of a few months, Parker went from not eating much to eating next to nothing. He would not even try a food he was not familiar with. This was so unlike the boy from a few months prior! I began to get concerned about the nutrients he was missing as well as frustrated in not being able to properly feed my child. What was wrong with me?

I knew where I wanted us to be as far as toddler eating is concerned: I didn't want a picky child; I didn't want to cook two meals, one for him and one for us; and I wanted meal times to be a happy time for our family. I was also concerned that I might find out years from now that I created a picky eater by catering to this phase. 
I appreciated the support and advice I got from friends. Many people suggested specific toddler recipes. I wasn’t interested in going that route for two reasons: one, I wasn’t going to make two meals for our family, and two, since Parker would not try anything new that would be a waste of time and money for us.

On more than one occasion a meal would end with me or Parker or both of us in tears. We were having such a difficult time! After watching him eat nothing but “puffs” meal after meal, we headed to the pediatrician. Parker’s doctor was not too concerned. He scheduled an appointmet for us to see a peditracic nutritionist  and ordered a blood test just to make sure Parker was not anemic.
 
Around this same time I talked to Parker’s therapists and checked out what was available online. Through these different sources I learned so much:

*I should not get in the habit of making a separate meal for Parker
*Children are not going to starve themselves, no matter how little food they appear to eat
*Mealtimes should be fun not frustrating for the family
*And most importantly, to remove (negative) emotion

While I was completely on board with these guidelines, I needed to know how I was supposed to get Parker to eat. Here is what I learned about that part:

*At each meal offer one food that the child likes – this is a win for everyone
*Continue to offer foods even after refusal for several days – it can take up to ten “no’s” before getting one “yes”
*If a food is refused, wrap it up and serve it again at the next meal time
*When possible give the child choices about what they are going to eat next

Something else that works with Parker is to keep a food available at mealtime even if he says he doesn’t want it. Sometimes he doesn’t want a certain food right then but a few minutes later he does.
 
So where are we now? I am following all of these guidelines.  Parker still gets “puffs” but only every few days, only at one meal, and only one serving as according to the package directions. Sometimes his meals are very small if he doesn’t want what I’m serving. And that’s fine with both Parker and me. Since I’ve removed negative emotion, I just talk to Parker or let him play with a toy in his highchair while Honey and I finish dinner. That way dinner is still fun and we are all together. And that’s the ultimate goal.

I hope that someday soon Parker will eat a small plate of what we are eating. I hope he one day will try macaroni and cheese, strawberries and blueberries, and homemade chicken fingers. Until then we will keep doing the best we can with what we have. 


I hope this will help any other mommies going through a similar food battle. And this mommy is open to advice and ideas from those who have been there before as we continue through this phase.

Signature

Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Day Big Brother Parker Discovered Baby Grant

Yesterday Baby Grant turned one month old! Even though he has already been a part of our family for thirty days, he (and I) have only been home from the hospital for 10-days. Big Brother Parker has been such a trooper during this transition and through all of the irregularity lately. For the most part it has seemed like Parker has hardly even noticed that Grant is even here…

Until yesterday. When Parker "discovered" Baby Grant and then played a little game with him! It was adorable and I took maybe a million pictures of them together. Fortunately I'm only sharing a few hundred here!

My mom, Twinkle, was burping Baby Grant and Parker came over to check out what was going on. He "helped" burp Grant:

Then we asked if he wanted to kiss his little brother:

Well that started a game Parker made up where he pretended to kiss Baby Grant, then walked to the end of the couch, then came back to pretend to kiss him again. Laughing the whole way of course! He did it over and over again. He LOVED it!
Most of my pictures look like these because Parker was in constant motion!
But I somehow managed to get a few of him playing:
Once we took Baby Grant's bib off, Parker found the moon and stars on Grant's outfit. (Parker is very into suns, moons, and stars right now.)
We also took a few minutes to identify Grant's body parts that Parker knows like "hair":
And shortly after that Parker got SO excited he could hardly contain himself! It was quite funny. I was so proud of him though because he was still so gentle with Baby Grant:
 
Parker Bear even showed his little brother how to make funny faces:
My heart was so full watching them "play" and interact together! I never ever want to forget these precious moments as Parker learns about becoming a big brother!
Oh and did he ever actually kiss him? Well, almost. This is as close as he got!
Such a sweet big brother! I am so proud of our Parker Bear!

And because I never want to forget this day, the day that Parker "discovered" his little brother, I'm including a 30-second video of these two playing this "game"...

Signature

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Our Happy Easter

What a wonderful Easter we had! It was Parker's second Easter and Baby Grant's first. Of course Grant slept through most of it but Parker had a great time!

We kicked off the holiday with a visit to the Easter Bunny. Parker, who loves bunnies already, had absolutely no fear of the big bunny. He waved to the Easter Bunny and couldn't wait to get a closer look. When I placed him in the bunny's lap Parker just smiled so big and couldn't have been happier! (If only he was that excited about Santa Claus!!
Our fun neighbors hosted a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt for the kiddos on our street. There were seven children but only two under two. The "big kids" were so sweet about hunting eggs further back in the field and letting the babies get the eggs that were right up front. Parker loved spotting eggs and putting them in his basket! We had such a fun time!
When we got home Parker Bear checked out his loot!
The night before Easter we dyed our Easter eggs. We let Parker help us and he was pretty into it. He really liked "stirring" the eggs in the dye.
On Easter morning we finished up breakfast and then showed Parker that the Easter bunny had come and left surprises for he and Baby Grant in their Easter baskets! He loved going through his basket, stopping to play or read each gift. After he had seen everything in his basket, he helped Baby Grant open his basket too!
The rest of the day was spent playing with the new toys, eating some good Easter food, and of course playing outside enjoying this wonderful spring weather that has finally found Kansas. It was a great Easter!
I hope you had a wonderful Easter holiday as well!

Signature






Monday, April 21, 2014

Happy Birthday Twinkle

One of the best parts about having my mom here to help me transition from one-to-two-with-the-second-one-being-a-preemie is that she was here over her BIRTHDAY!! It was so fun to be able to celebrate her birthday in person.
We have a history of being together over our birthday's not because we plan it but because it just seems to work out that way for us time and time again. Which makes for some fun memories!
To celebrate "Twinkle", Parker Bear took her to his play group in the morning, and we celebrated with a good dinner and cake and ice cream and presents that evening!

First up… the cake! We made our favorite preservative-free "clean" chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!
Parker was ready to dig in!
We ate that with some good chocolate ice cream. Parker loved every spoonful!
And then we opened presents. Parker was a great help!
He even showed Twinkle how to wear her new beach hat:
It was a great day and so much fun celebrating the woman who has given selflessly of herself to help our family through this transition in our lives.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TWINKLE!

Signature


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...