Ever since Little Lady was born it’s been a challenge to feed her. Whether from breast, bottle, spoon or fork, this has been our major struggle. She is many wonderful things, but “good eater” is not one of them. Because she’s inherited my lovely chubby cheeks, people think she’s just fine, but I completely disagree.
On the week that she turned 1, Little Lady realized that she was in control. Gone were the days of mommy shoving a bottle into her mouth to try and get to that magic 16 ounce minimum of formula. Gone were the days of tricking her into opening her mouth for an extra spoonful of oatmeal. She could shake her head ‘no’ and purse her lips shut. She decided that she didn’t want to drink anything for a week and there was nothing I could do to change her mind.
Since that week, it has been an on again off again struggle to get her to eat/drink what I’ve read to be the recommended amount of calories per day for a one year old. In case you’re wondering, that number is 900. I’m pretty sure Little Lady maxes out at 500. But maybe I’m underestimating. You be the judge. Take a look at what she typically eats for breakfast, morning snack, and lunch.
She pretty much just ate blueberries for the first 6 hours of her day. Sigh…
Now here’s lunch:
Now, I’ve read a few things stating that forcing a child to finish their food causes eating issues down the line. So what’s a mama to do? No, seriously…I have no idea. I’m pretty much letting her dictate when she’s done eating, but that is not coinciding with the whole recommended calories thing. Should I trust that she knows when she’s full? Or should I try to coax her into taking one more bite? For now, I’m just going to buy some more blueberries.
A Neon Princess 
How is R’s weight? Is she gaining? We had to buy a scale and do weight check-ins every few days before K’s first birthday. This went on for months. K has never been a great eater. Also, she refuses milk to this day. This caused her weight to plateau and, some months, she even lost weight. Her ped was very concerned and had us giving her foods that were high in fat/calories. (Putting butter on everything, making/drinking full fat smoothies, etc.)
Now she’s almost two, and it is still a struggle. She eats a wider variety of foods, but some days, she still eats very little. I try not to force feed, because K is stubborn. If she senses I’m forcing food on her, she is less likely to eat it. Also, I noticed that she gets very sick of the same foods every day, and she will go back to old foods that she previously didn’t like. So I have to remember to cycle back to foods she once refused and try them again. I also have to come up with fresh ideas for snacks and meals to keep it interesting. This has been tough for me, because I am SO not creative when it comes to food. But we do what we gotta do, right?
Have you tried smoothies for R?
Oh my goodness! That sounds so hard. R’s weight hasn’t been an issue for the doc, just for me. At some point she moved from the 60th percentile for weight to the 30th and the doctor didn’t care. I then started putting butter on everything! I’ll find out if it worked next week at her check up. She definitely goes through phases of having/lacking an appetite. I swear I am always pinning “finger foods for toddler” recipes on pinterest. We tried smoothies but she’s only interested in store bought which aren’t always the healthiest. Why is being a mom so stressful!?!