Imetettävän vauvan pulloruokinta

Picky eating kids can drive a sane mommy crazy. though it pains me to admit: after having three children, I’ve learned that I can not really control what a child will and won’t eat. but I do have influence over the options that are available, and so I focus on that. At the end of this post, I will share my battle-tested methods for taking care of picky eating children.

Tausta:

Before I try to boss you around, I want to share my picky eating credentials. Kid 1 was a pretty good eater and we were very neurotic, dedicated first-time parents (not that there’s anything wrong with that), hell-bent on getting him to eat every bite blob of food on his spoon. He ate a very healthy balance of fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins. as of age ten, he won’t eat cooked fruit (apple pie – WTW?!) or plain cheese pizza, preferring vegetables on his pizza to the point of pouting at parties where only cheese is available. He’s a little bit picky but mostly a excellent eater of lots of foods. and yes, we are those food a**holes who serve kale salads to our kids on the regular. kid 1 eats them with relish and wants to make sure we are appropriately massaging each leaf. (Not actual relish made of pickles.)

Kid 2 was also a pretty good eater from the start. rather than force the “clean your plate” mentality of our own childhoods, we had progressed as parents to encourage a “Try-It Bite” for every new food, and then left it up to him as to whether he would eat more. He was a frequent eater of frozen waffles and plain yogurt but also ingested a healthy combination of other foods. If anything, he opened up our eyes about a broader range of possibilities for nutritious foods. He prefers plain pizza to veggie, but he always eats the broccoli we offer on the side.

Kid 3 has been a picky eater from the womb. He was a voracious nurser that required formula supplementation nearly immediately. I must have known that we couldn’t rest on our good experience. He developed a penchant for dairy and carbs (plain cheese quesadillas and cheese pizza are his best foods) such that I couldn’t even get him to eat fruit without disguising it as a cracker (thanks to Trader Joe’s freeze dried strawberries, he now eats the real thing). The “Try-It Bite” has devolved into the “No-Thank-You Lick”. It took us 3-5 times of using ice cream before he would even put it to his lips. I’ve caught myself doing a delighted dance when he ate his first dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget, because he had never agreed to try chicken before!

Because our picky kid was our third kid, I had no choice but to accept this as a thing about HIM rather than a thing about ME. I am positive if my first child had been the one to turn up his nose at a grape or carrot, I would have blamed myself.

Having experienced two kids who will eat anything and one who will not, I have some mantras and reminders I give myself and my spouse to help us stay sane.

Tips for parents of selective eaters:

Remove all pressure around eating. I practice acting like I don’t care if the meal or dish is finished because I know my child will not go hungry. (See banana idea below.) say — and believe — “You don’t have to eat it.” You wouldn’t force me to eat a cilantro leaf, so don’t force your toddler.

Offer one safe food with every new food. We make sure that there’s a familiar dish on the table. Our dinner times typically include a seemingly random banana or waffle option for this reason. The kid might not try the new thing, but he won’t starve.

Only allow food at specified meal and snack times. Truth be told, I’m delighted enough if my kids fill up on healthy snacks. An apple ideal before dinner? Mene eteenpäin. but hell to the No, you may not eat a snack after the dinner if you just ignored it. The kitchen is closed and you will make it until morning.No candy and treats for children who don’t eat their real food. Oikeasti. I am hardcore this way.

Encourage good manners. With some meals — like the white bean chili I plan to serve tonight — I know that only my spouse and I will actually eat it willingly. It is my job to prepare healthy meals (every flipping day) and it is their job to be polite about it. They can sit without making faces and say “No thank you”, or “Just a little please.”

Be curious, not furious. If they do taste an icky food, I encourage my sons to become little scientists and check out further. I want them to think about why they didn’t like it — would cheese sauce make it better or worse? Is there a cilantro problem here? would you eat red sauce on the side next time? — and not be jerks.

Find creative ways to serve fruits and vegetables: Pinterest can be your pal and enemy when serving sandwiches that look like spiders or hummus-guacamole crocodiles but a little inventiveness can go a long way. two of my kids love roasted broccoli; Whitney served frozen peaches instead of popsicles with terrific success; little crispypakastekuivatut herneet keskustelevat loistavista cracker-rakastavan kasvihuivan taaperoini kanssa; Jotkut lapset rakastavat vain upotusta, joten anna heille porkkanat hummuksella; Vihreä smoothie voi olla hulk -ravistelu; Laita meloni tai juusto hammastikkuon; Yritä siirtää banaaneja jälkiruokaksi Yonanas -hedelmäkonella. Tässä on paljon enemmän ideoita nirsolle taaperoille. Voisin jatkaa, mutta en lupaa minkään näiden tuotantoprojektien menestystä, koska mikä minulle toimii, voi toimia sinulle.

Kokeile erilaisia ​​lämpötiloja. Yhdessä kokeilun kanssa muodon näkökulmasta (kärki 6), sain tietää, että jokainen lapsi ei halua kuumaa tai kylmää ruokaa. Minulla on yksi lapsi, joka syö jäädytettyjä herneitä jäädytettynä ja toinen, joka suosii heitä keitetyinä. helppo nakki. Whitney oli järkyttynyt oppiakseen, että hänen kiddos piti Tortellini Coldista (yay, jotain uutta lounaslaatikossa). Vauvani ajattelee, että kylmät smoothit ovat liian kylmiä, joten rajoitan jäähdytettyjä esineitä ja käytän huoneenlämpöistä banaania, kun jaan hänen kanssaan.

Ajattele iso kuva päivällä, viikolla ja elämän vaiheessa. Ravitsemuksellisesti tasapainoisia ruokia ei tarvitse käyttää jokaisessa ateriassa. Tasapainottaako se pidemmällä kuljetuksella? Onko lääkärisi huolissaan? Minun ei ole, joten valitsemme sen vain.

Ota heidät mukaan. Lapsesi saattaa olla paljon enemmän valmis kokeilemaan uutta ruokaa, jota hän kasvaa puutarhassa, valitsee supermarketista tai auttaa valmistautumaan. Tai ei. Lapseni lauloi kirjaimellisesti uusien ruokien kokeilemisesta valittaessa kirsikkatomaatit takapihaltamme eikä sitten maista sitä. Siirtyminen eteenpäin.

Tee luettelo siitä, mitä lapsi syö. Sen sijaan, että keskitytään negatiiviseen, luetele kyllä ​​ruoat. Olen aina järkyttynyt, kun vanhemmat kutsuvat lapsiaan nirsoksi ja räpistävät sitten luettelon ruokia, jotka menevät ongelmiin. Tänä aamuna kuulin “Kyllä, hän syö riisiä, papuja, marjoja, nuudeleita, päärynöitä, mutta ei lihaa.” Olin erittäin tyytyväinen siihen, että heillä on papu syöjä.

Kerro lapsille, että makuherat muuttuvat ajan myötä. Hän ei ehkä pidä sienipizzasta tänään, mutta kun hän on vanhempi – Hooray – hän tulee. Ja sano se hymyillen. Tykkään roikkua tämän mahdollisuuden, kuten toinen merkki olla iso lapsi, joten se on jotain, johon minun pikku voi pyrkiä. Kuka tietää, toimiiko se. Kysy minulta kymmenessä vuodessa!

Bottom line:
Kuten Ellyn Satter sanoo, vanhemmat hallitsevat tarjoilua ja lapsen hallintaa, jos hän syö sitä. The moral of the story for our family is to continue to offer healthy foods that the kids like mixed in with new foods that I like. I also have a back-up food that they can politely prepare for themselves (hummus and pita with fruit).

ps never depend on a person telling you how to fix picky eating if they do not have one. If a two-year old is harvesting vegetables from her garden and eating them, she is NOT picky and her parents shouldn’t be bossing me around!