Another Eating Thread

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  • mduck
    Daycare.com Member
    • Dec 2014
    • 82

    Another Eating Thread

    Ok, I have a 16 mo dcg. She used to eat really, really good. Now she has all the sudden become very picky. Not sure if that is even the word. I'm left a little baffled about her behavior. Anyhow, her mom always packs one baby cereal bar, a yogurt cup and two jars of baby food and some other things. She eats solids, and I try to still incorporate the jar food here and there because she is sending it, so I'm assuming that she's still giving some to her here and there and wants to still do that. So anyhow, she is beginning to spit her food out. Even stuff she likes and then cries when I try to give it to her. If I set it in front of her, she just looks at it and cries. IF however, it is buttered toast, her cereal bar, or yogurt cup, it is devoured immediately.

    I made a plate of eggs, buttered toast and sliced grapes for breakfast. No matter how hard I tried, she refused to eat the eggs. I KNEW if I could just get her to "taste" it, she would eat it. Same with the grapes. She would spit it out and cry the moment I put it to her lips/tried to sneak it in. I KNOW she had to have tasted them when I did this, but she would still spit it out. Its like her brain is saying, "You tasted it and even though it tastes good, DONT EAT IT".

    So then my next try was to take the buttered toast (I held it back until I could get her to eat some of her eggs and grapes - which didn't work), and put some egg in it and pinch it to make mini egg bites. She ate this. So I did it over and over until Viola! she was grabbing handfuls of the eggs without the bread "camouflage" and shoveling it in. Same with the grapes. She knows what grapes are, she's ate them before and loved them. At this meal she refuses to eat them and then suddenly crams them in her mouth. I am baffled! Why, even after tasting it, did she spit it out at first, and then all the sudden devour it? :confused:

    The next meal, she did this with her fruit jar. Refuse, refuse, refuse and cry. So I stuck my finger in it and pretended to eat it myself. Still no go. So I stuck her finger in it and after several attempts of this, she finally put her finger in her mouth. Guess what? Devoured in 30 secs. :confused:

    Why is she doing this? It's like she thinks I am trying to sabotage her food, and then after she tastes it, spits it out, tastes it, spits it out, and so on - finally she thinks, "Ok, I guess she's not trying to trick me with nasty food", and then eats it.

    I guess in a nutshell: I can understand why she would spit something out and make a "nasty food" face if she didn't like it all together, BUT why would she do this, and then after 20/30 minutes of this, all the sudden, LOVE it and devour it?

    What is going on?
  • Indoorvoice
    Daycare.com Member
    • Apr 2014
    • 1109

    #2
    I wouldn't worry about it so much! Around this age, toddlers are starting to change their tastes and also they gravitate towards carbs and sweet foods more because they need the energy. You really have to trust them that when it comes to food, they know much better than us what they need and how much of it. Your job is to offer her well balanced meals at regular times, and her job is to decide what she will eat of that meal if anything and how much. If she doesn't eat anything, then she must not be hungry. I think you must be a great provider to care so much about her food intake, but you're making it harder on yourself than it needs to be. Just trust her to eat what she needs. She'll be fine.

    Comment

    • Josiegirl
      Daycare.com Member
      • Jun 2013
      • 10834

      #3
      I agree with PP. She's just testing things as they're introduced to her, they're something different than what she's used to. Does she feed herself finger foods at all? Does she seem to want what's on your plate or the other kids? It's strange how some kids will eat or not. After months of eating slop it might be a hard transition for them to accept new things. Just keep putting a variety of finger foods on her tray and letting her test for herself.
      I have a 2 yo who won't even eat apples but she'll lick the mud off her hands. They're all so different.
      Maybe if you served it in a muffin tin, give her a few bites of each food in each cup? Might be just enough to intrigue her?

      Comment

      • laundrymom
        Advanced Daycare.com Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 4177

        #4
        I would put the food on her plate and let her decide what to eat. When she's done, let her down from the table. It wouldn't be an issue for us. But here, at 12 mo, I don't feed them and once they walk steadily they go to the table for meals. I only hichair infants.

        Comment

        • KiddieCahoots
          FCC Educator
          • Mar 2014
          • 1349

          #5
          I wonder if she is behaving this way to test her amount of control over eating, or not.
          I'd give her the plate of food too, and not get too involved with giving her attention if she decides not to eat. If she's hungry, she will eat. If she doesn't, and after allowing her time to eat, gets down without eating, then she will learn that she has to wait until snack to eat again. With consistency she'll get the idea.

          Comment

          • Unregistered

            #6
            I stopped caring about this. If they eat they eat if they don't they dont. If they are hungry they will eat. Either way you get it reimbursed or write it off on your taxes. I have thing with wasting food. I was raised by my grandparents who lived through the great depression. I just had to get over it with daycare kids.

            Comment

            • AmyKidsCo
              Daycare.com Member
              • Mar 2013
              • 3786

              #7
              I'd ask Mom how much baby food she still gets - if she's still mostly on baby food at home it could be a texture thing, or laziness because it's easier to be fed than to feed yourself.

              Generally children's appetite goes down after 1 year because they're not growing so quickly, and they often get pickier. Keep in mind that it's your job to offer healthy foods but it's the child's job to decide what and how much to eat. By trying to control what she eats you're setting yourself up for a major power struggle that you can never win, and could plant the seeds for a future eating disorder. It's better to back off - if she gets hungry enough she'll eat.

              Comment

              • LindseyA
                Daycare.com Member
                • Mar 2015
                • 201

                #8
                I agree with those who would just put the plate in front of her and take it away when shes done. No forcing to try anything. Before I had a daycare, and I was a sahm with my first child, I remember vividly one time my dd wasn't eating her favorite foods, so I kept insisting her to eat. (She was just about a year old). Well, she ate... But unfortunately she ended up vomiting and that night had a fever! She was sick, didn't feel well, and tried to let me know she didn't want to eat. I felt like the worst parent ever, and have never forced food on any child since! You never know! Especially at that age where they can't articulate what they need.

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