Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Baby Steps

Rant alert!!!

Baby steps can be huge in a little one. I'm not talking about literal walking steps, but steps in progress and development.

Take Little C, she will be 2 in just over a week, and with her delays, she is no where near where I expected she would be right now. Each time she does something new, it is huge for us. When she began to show interest in self feeding my heart burst with joy! I hate to admit it, but at this point, this would be bigger for me than if she started walking....

With 5 kids, a husband, home schooling, and housework, it is hard to sit and spoon feed my 2 year old. So you can imagine why this is so huge for me. The road to self feeding with Little C was harder than I ever could have imagined. She goes on food strikes and refuses to eat things a certain way, or anything but her favourites. What is a mother to do?

With my boys, I was (and still am) a tough love mom when it comes to meals. I don't run a restaurant.  I will not be the mother making 4 different meals to accommodate different tastes. I'm not mean about it. Little S HATES potatoes. I only give him a small portion, but he has to eat that small portion before he can have something else. I make salads with our meals. At first, each of the boys insisted they did not like salad. I always have an other vegetable on the table, so I made a rule: no seconds until you have some salad. You don't want salad? No problem. Be happy with the portion you have.

Little C is throwing all my rules out the window! It can be so frustrating buying a snack for Little C and having her shake her little head at me when I offer it. This girlie wants to live off  yoghurt, oatmeal and potatoes! Ok, I think my rant is over ;)



12 comments:

  1. I have picky eaters too. I like your method of getting your boys to eat. My son would rather go hungry then sit at the dinner table and eat.

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    1. My boys were all good eaters over all. This is uncharted territory for me!

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  2. Thanks for this awesome post! I am on my second set of children. I have 3 adult and a 9 year old and a 3 year old. I am having a dinner time struggle similar to what you have posted however I have not used the same practice in making them eat a small protion of the things they say they don't like. I will be taking your practice. Wish me luck :-)

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  3. Well congrats on getting her interested in self feeding--I'm tired just reading your post--you do so much in a day! wow!! Hope it all keeps going in the positive direction!

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  4. I have had such a hard time over my fussy eater!
    Now I am totally jealous. After 4 years I still have to spoon feed my picky eater or no food will get into that body!
    Kudos!

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    1. Thank you! I hope that picky eater of yours gets hungry soon!

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  5. This is a great idea, having them eat a small portion. I'll keep this in mind when I have my own children. =)

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  6. It's amazing how kids can live off nothing!

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    1. I know! I was so concerned when we did our first yoghurt only time. It is really amazing

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  7. My 7 year old was diagnosed with autism and she was delayed in her development. For us every little step was reason to celebrate, things other parents don't give a second thought to where huge for us. On the other hand my 5 year old had trouble eating and we discovered that he had sensory issues when it came to food textures. Might be something to look into. With OT therapy specifically focusing on feeding we have gotten great results in increasing the variety of foods he is willing to eat and try but it has been slow. He only ate crunchy food and would not touch fruits, vegetables, pasta, cheese, etc. Now he eats some of these things.

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