Hand Feeding?

[MG&Lsmom]

I know some people don't do solids until a child can eat finger foods too. I was baffled by this child I've had since the beginning of Dec who barely eats while here. Mom said he's a very picky eater, only eats junk food, Dr said it was fine as long as he ate something (read donuts, goldfish, cheese, gallons of milk). I don't serve junk. Whole wheat pancakes with hidden veggies is about as junky as it gets. :: I was just so fed up with wasting food that I insisted he eat last week. I held a piece of pear, something DCM said he ate, at his lips until he licked it. Then he took a tiny bite. Finally he ate the whole piece. And was shouting at me for more. BREAKTHROUGH! After a conversation with DCM, they hand feed him at every meal. He's 2.5 and does not know how to use a spoon or fork or feed himself really. So for the last 3 days I've been hand feeding him and he's eating everything. Even foods he's never tried before. But how do I get him to eat on his own? He's so stubborn he absolutely refuses to feed himself. He'd rather starve. For 6 months he held out.

[blueclouds29]

2.5!! WOW!! My dd just turned 2 and she's been eating with a fork and spoon for the longest time! There's no way i could ever hand feed, specially my own child. Very time consuming!!

[nannyde]

I would hand feed him for now. During the transition of getting him onto healthy food it would be worth the effort to just focus on the food getting from the bowl to his belly.

I would keep his bowl/plate on the table and give him his own spoon while you are hand feeding. I would also make puddings and sauces and buy some ice cream for him for the end of the meal. He can have them if he feeds them to himself.... can't have them if he doesn't.

I would also have my hand over his hand when he was feeding himself the ice cream or pudding. I would have him hold the spoon overhanded (shovel position) with one hand and hold the bowl by bracing it. I would have his hand at the twelve position that was holding the bowl so half the bowl was either in his hand or resting alongside his inner arm. That way he's got half the bowl touching his arm. I would also have him lean into the bowl and eat over it.

I would stand BEHIND him when he was doing this. Start with treats at the end of the meal and then work your way backwards to the top of the meal. Give him desert.... then give him fruit and then desert.... then give him noodles/rice/grain then fruit then desert.... then give him veg then noodles then fruit then desert. Once he has done the desert then give him the bowl with just a dollup of the fruit and say "okay eat this bite then you have your pudding". Then start adding more fruit each day till he feeds himself a whole serving.

Then add a dollup of the noodles and say "okay eat this bite of noodles and then you can have your fruit and desert".

Do that with every food group until he gets to the meat at the top of the meal. Somewhere in the path he will take over.

[ChaserT27]

I have a two year old that Mom either feeds baby food (yes baby food) or will cook her 5 meals until the child decides what she wants. :0(
So as you can guess, she refuses to eat here! I refuse to serve baby food to a 2 year old and I am so not going to cook several meals until one please her. At this point the child is starving when she leaves me. She was part time since she began a year and a half ago. She is now full time as of last week so I am hoping she will get the point and start eating. She can however eat with utensils but I myself taught her that before she was one.
Is this little one full time with you? 6 months sheesh kids can be stubborn can't they? My goodness!!!

[MG&Lsmom]

Thanks Nan.

[nannyde]

Thanks Nan.

You are welcome. I've done this trick many times and it works most of the time.

[MG&Lsmom]

Question Nan about your method. Do you just serve what you're serving everybody? Or do you work on specific foods first? I only have this one DCB at the moment for lunches along with 2 of my own. I'm on the food program and I've been serving their required variety of food and trying not to have too many repeats. I know it can take a while, like up to 15 exposures, to get a child to eat a new food. Should I go slowly with the new foods. He's had them on his plate for the last 6 months and ignores them. He took to the ham we had yesterday quickly, so I served ham again today thinking he'd eat it again and I could get a veggie into him as a new food. No dice. In fact he turned his nose up at the ham for about 15 mins before he would eat it today. My program liason is coming next week and I planned on talking to her about what I can do menuwise so I don't get denied for a meal but I'm adding new foods in a manner he'll actually eat.

[nannyde]

Question Nan about your method. Do you just serve what you're serving everybody? Or do you work on specific foods first? I only have this one DCB at the moment for lunches along with 2 of my own. I'm on the food program and I've been serving their required variety of food and trying not to have too many repeats. I know it can take a while, like up to 15 exposures, to get a child to eat a new food. Should I go slowly with the new foods. He's had them on his plate for the last 6 months and ignores them. He took to the ham we had yesterday quickly, so I served ham again today thinking he'd eat it again and I could get a veggie into him as a new food. No dice. In fact he turned his nose up at the ham for about 15 mins before he would eat it today. My program liason is coming next week and I planned on talking to her about what I can do menuwise so I don't get denied for a meal but I'm adding new foods in a manner he'll actually eat.

To satisfy the food program you can plate him a whole meal and put it in front of him. Then do the system I wrote about above.

[QualiTcare]

wow that's crazy. i imagine this child will look like what a 1 year old child looks like when they're learning to eat - except a ridiculous version bc they're almost 3!! i mean the only way he can learn is to practice. you know when a baby is learning to eat you give them a spoon for stir fry or whatever, but they end up shoveling it in with their hands if all else fails. even if they make a mess and use their hands you still give them the food (i.e. the classic spaghetti baby photos).

[nannyde]

wow that's crazy. i imagine this child will look like what a 1 year old child looks like when they're learning to eat - except a ridiculous version bc they're almost 3!! i mean the only way he can learn is to practice. you know when a baby is learning to eat you give them a spoon for stir fry or whatever, but they end up shoveling it in with their hands if all else fails. even if they make a mess and use their hands you still give them the food (i.e. the classic spaghetti baby photos).

You don't need a spoon to eat goldfish crackers and donuts.

He needs to EAT. He needs regular healthy food. I wouldn't care at all about hand feeding him for weeks if that's what it took to get him to get healthy food in his belly.

Human babies will recognize healthy food if they are given it and their bodies are growing OFF of it. He needs time to get his body to need it to want it.