My Toddler’s Food Issues

Yup, this is me every.single.time I try and feed my daughter. Feeding your toddler is not always the easiest thing for a parent. What they like one week will certainly change the next. As a baby, my daughter would eat just about everything including all her veggies but when it came to feeding her the third stage foods – well, that’s where we ran into trouble. No matter what I tried to feed Buggy she refused to eat third stage.

Introducing her to table food was a bit challenging as well. Many of the things I gave her would make her gag and she would refuse to try them again. I soon realized that what she didn’t like was the texture of the food. Stage 1 and stage 2 baby food was smooth and she loved that so eating those foods wasn’t an issue.  

Buggy is now just over two and these days it’s a battle to get her to eat anything. Apparently my kid is taking after her father and has a sweet tooth. I honestly don’t see how this is possible as my kid doesn’t get any candy, juice or a lot of sugary treats but somehow she knows what they all are and wants them and can I just tell you that I blame Mr. Mami. When he’s home she sees him eating crap and wants it which makes my job harder. Like her daddy, ice cream is a must have for her and she will ask for it for breakfast sometimes and my answer is always NO!

I admit I’m a picky eater but I try and feed Buggy everything whether I like it or not but she won’t even try it. I give her veggies and she puts it to the side on her tray or just throws it over board for the dogs. She loves chicken nuggets but refuses to eat any meat at all. She went through a hot dog stage and now refuses to eat it. The last two days I tried feeding her ham, mashed potatoes and corn for dinner and refuses it all, I then tried spaghetti – what kid doesn’t like chef boy r d  but nope, mac n cheese-nope, noodle soup –nope so I finally made her pancakes and she ate that. These are all things that she eats but it depends on the day. She eats mashed potatoes at friendly’s but not at home. It is absolutely maddening! There have been times when I will put her to bed with out any dinner because I just can’t continue to feed into her “dinner merry-go-round” game or is that a done deal and I’m totally screwed? We are still nursing just a few times now so she will get that before bed. I know it takes at least 10 or so times of introducing new foods before they actually try it but I’ve tried all of that. I just wish she would try it. She just immediately makes a face and shakes her head no or just pushes it away. Thank goodness the dogs are great eaters or I would be wasting so much food.

My pediatrician isn’t concerned about her eating issues since she’s at a great weight and you can see from the pics I’ve posted of her that she’s not starving at all. He even suggested giving her the juice with the veggies but she refuses that too-won’t even try the juice. But she will try and drink my coffee every second she can –go figure!  I’ve really come to terms that she is pretty much a grazer. She loves fruit – most of it, raw carrots but doesn’t really bite into them yet, fiber one bars, yogurt, cheese and absolutely loves peanut butter-right out of the jar, bread-white and whole wheat. I would say that she eats well maybe one day out of the week and the rest she just picks. It’s just difficult having to make multiple meals because your little one refuses to eat what you make. Thank goodness I’ve stocked up on pancake mix. I ate pancakes,eggs, bananas and peanut butter for breakfast during my whole pregnancy maybe that is why those are her favorite – well except for the eggs, she stopped eating those too. Buggy one day you will read this and say oh my poor Mami and laugh- ha, ha – Mami’s not laughing so much now baby but I still love you no matter how crazy you make me!

Did you/did you have food issues with your little ones? Feel free to leave some tips in the comment section.

Photo credit: google

Irene