Eating problems - Eating Problems Discussion Forum - Parents of Preschoolers Message Boards

Hi there,
i' ve 2&1/2 yr old boy and problem with him is ..he doesn' t wanna try anything new.he is just restricted to rice& daal for lunch and roti & sabzi for dinner.
for breakfast he wants some milk based things like dalia ,soozi kheer.he doesn' t want to eat any fruit.he used to have banana then left it and came on to apple but now he left them both.so no fruit at all.he can stay hungry the whole day but won' t eat anything different.if u force him he' ll cry so much i can' t tell u. he can cry for 2 hrs continuously. 2 & 1/2 hr is his record.
i' ll really appreciate ur help in this matter.i really don' t know how to deal with him.
radha replied. Your problem seems to be a carbon copy of mine. My girl is also 2 1/2 years.My little girl doesnot eat any thing but cereals and idli for breakfast and rice and subji for lunch and roti for dinner and at time fruits in the evening. Since she doesnt eat fatty foods her weight isnt increasing . She may skip any of these at times. I have tried to make her eat in front of Television,play games with her.. all works only for a while. None of these last long. Dont know what to do. Meal times seems to be always so unpleasant.. Neha replied. hey Saheli & Suneetha,
TNX for ur suggestions.i' ve tried everything. he eats all his 3 meals in front of TV.as i told earlier that he eats roti sabzi, rice n daal but nothing beyond it.not interested in any new thing.u can not distract him n put anything in his mouth.he is very cautious abt that.
i want to give him variety but he doesn' t take it.
As far as crying is concerned he just started this bad abt 2 weeks ago.crying, hitting himself or TV ,fridge.I' m staying home.so there is no question of feeling lonely.he goes to Montessori school for 4 hrs in the morning. u just can' t force him.
Neha Saheli replied. I have some thoughts about this. Thoughts about the food - later.

I am interested in knowing what' s the matter with the child that he cries so much and for so long! You havent explained this issue in detail. What do you think is the problem? Is he pampered? Is he Lonely (mom dad at office and kid with maid)? Is he not getting enough attention? Try and find out what' s making him stubborn and work on it with love and patience. This has got something to do with the eating problem.

Focus on minimal problems (1 or 2 issues) about the kid at a time. This will not only help the issue to resolve, but will also give u confidenct and opportunity to track the progress.

And for his meals, try and make a weekly schedule for him, literally using pen and paper. Focus on variety and nutrition when you create this chart.

Now, change the way he is fed. Who feeds him? Whats the pattern of feeding? Let' s assume you/maid/grandma feed him and you guys go after him feeding him spoon by spoon. If this is the style, try and change it to something very different and new .. and interesting for him. For example, get some good CDs and/or toys and really color ful books like popup books. These will be used ONLY at meal times. Use these to keep him busy and steady as he eats. And at this time, try feeding him something new and different. (Suggesting to use CDs/TV temporarily. concentrate on getting him on a proper nutrition track as of now. Once he is settled with proper meals/day, then work on getting his TV/CD habit to required limit).

Try out different varity of food and analyse his taste, what he likes. Sweet/salty ..whatever.

visit sites and find out food for kids and try it out.

Buy vibrant bright, different shapes ... plates/bowls/cups/bugs/spoons .. say different for a week and keep changing each when u think he has lost interest in one (make sure u buy good quality plastic only).

Make the servings presentable (presentable for him - not for u - sprinkling chopped coriander may not b presentable for kids!). I hv some ideas but cant write them all here. Why not find out from sites? They have pics too.
Try and couple the meals with an additional item .. say sweet/salty something like that. At times, say if he likes potato chips, you can tell him .. i am feeding u few chips with Oatmeal bec i know u like it. Now .. mumma ne aapki baat mani, ab aap bhi mumma ki baat mano. (dont make that a habit for him though, m just giving idas how to engage him in eating new stuff).

If you have a backyard/balcony, arrange for a chair/hanging chair/swing where the kid can sit, watch and be fed. Idea is to engage him and get him used to different foods. Once thats settled, train him on proper eating habits.

Before all this, hope you have checked with his doc that he has no health issues bec of which he is avoiding food.

Let me know if this helps an keep us posted!

Saheli

2007-10-24

Name: radha
Subject:

Eating Problems

Your problem seems to be a carbon copy of mine. My girl is also 2 1/2 years.My little girl doesnot eat any thing but cereals and idli for breakfast and rice and subji for lunch and roti for dinner and at time fruits in the evening. Since she doesnt eat fatty foods her weight isnt increasing . She may skip any of these at times. I have tried to make her eat in front of Television,play games with her.. all works only for a while. None of these last long. Dont know what to do. Meal times seems to be always so unpleasant..

2007-10-03

Name: Neha
Subject:

eating problems

hey Saheli & Suneetha,
TNX for ur suggestions.i' ve tried everything. he eats all his 3 meals in front of TV.as i told earlier that he eats roti sabzi, rice n daal but nothing beyond it.not interested in any new thing.u can not distract him n put anything in his mouth.he is very cautious abt that.
i want to give him variety but he doesn' t take it.
As far as crying is concerned he just started this bad abt 2 weeks ago.crying, hitting himself or TV ,fridge.I' m staying home.so there is no question of feeling lonely.he goes to Montessori school for 4 hrs in the morning. u just can' t force him.
Neha

2007-10-12

Name: Nandy
Subject:

eating problems

Hi Neha,
I´ m curious about this crying habit. Did he start montessori school 2 weeks age also? . At this age especially if he has been home with you, school can be scary. He might be afraid that you leave him alone & may not come to get him, even though you do. If this sounds familiar, give him time as it takes each child different amount of time to accept this big change in their young life. Also you could try to have daily conversation with him about what he did in school, is he happy or sad?. You will be surprised, kids can tell you a lot even at this age.

Eating and sleeping are generally the first areas kids start acting up in, when they are disturbed by something else.
hope this helps

2007-10-01

Name: Saheli
Subject:

re:

I have some thoughts about this. Thoughts about the food - later.

I am interested in knowing what' s the matter with the child that he cries so much and for so long! You havent explained this issue in detail. What do you think is the problem? Is he pampered? Is he Lonely (mom dad at office and kid with maid)? Is he not getting enough attention? Try and find out what' s making him stubborn and work on it with love and patience. This has got something to do with the eating problem.

Focus on minimal problems (1 or 2 issues) about the kid at a time. This will not only help the issue to resolve, but will also give u confidenct and opportunity to track the progress.

And for his meals, try and make a weekly schedule for him, literally using pen and paper. Focus on variety and nutrition when you create this chart.

Now, change the way he is fed. Who feeds him? Whats the pattern of feeding? Let' s assume you/maid/grandma feed him and you guys go after him feeding him spoon by spoon. If this is the style, try and change it to something very different and new .. and interesting for him. For example, get some good CDs and/or toys and really color ful books like popup books. These will be used ONLY at meal times. Use these to keep him busy and steady as he eats. And at this time, try feeding him something new and different. (Suggesting to use CDs/TV temporarily. concentrate on getting him on a proper nutrition track as of now. Once he is settled with proper meals/day, then work on getting his TV/CD habit to required limit).

Try out different varity of food and analyse his taste, what he likes. Sweet/salty ..whatever.

visit sites and find out food for kids and try it out.

Buy vibrant bright, different shapes ... plates/bowls/cups/bugs/spoons .. say different for a week and keep changing each when u think he has lost interest in one (make sure u buy good quality plastic only).

Make the servings presentable (presentable for him - not for u - sprinkling chopped coriander may not b presentable for kids!). I hv some ideas but cant write them all here. Why not find out from sites? They have pics too.
Try and couple the meals with an additional item .. say sweet/salty something like that. At times, say if he likes potato chips, you can tell him .. i am feeding u few chips with Oatmeal bec i know u like it. Now .. mumma ne aapki baat mani, ab aap bhi mumma ki baat mano. (dont make that a habit for him though, m just giving idas how to engage him in eating new stuff).

If you have a backyard/balcony, arrange for a chair/hanging chair/swing where the kid can sit, watch and be fed. Idea is to engage him and get him used to different foods. Once thats settled, train him on proper eating habits.

Before all this, hope you have checked with his doc that he has no health issues bec of which he is avoiding food.

Let me know if this helps an keep us posted!

Saheli

2007-10-02

Name: suneetha
Subject:

Eating problems

Hi Neha,

I have four years son. I dont think kids like to eat same kind of food everyday. For me every day is new experience with him.
Every day i will tell him new story most of the animal stories like kingkong etc, otherwise i will ask him to get his story book and i will read it once and asks him to read (means he just tells the story by looking at pic).
I always try to give him new variety.
1) Breakfast :

ceral

2) Drink :

Milk with some strawberry powder / banana flavor or milk shake with some fruit in it

3) Lunch and Dinner

I will try all these items one a day
a) Dal with curry or rice
b) Fry vegetables with boiled egg
c) Kuskus with some carrot
d) Pasta
e) Roti or Paratta with omlette
f) Fried rice
g) grilled chicken with rice or roti
h) meat balls with rice or roti
i) Fish fingers

4) Snacks/dessert:
a) custard with some fruit
b) semiya
c) upma (cracked wheat or suji )

Me being a working mom, i always try to give him breakfast ,evening snack and dinner from the above list. saturdays and sundays i will make sure that he eats proper food.

I always have eating problems with my son. dont pamper him too much, you need to be strict then only they will eat.
My son is now 4 he understands numbers and alphabets, i will tell him if you eat this now ´ you will be the winner of the day´ or i will give him 10 marks.
try to understand your child first. even it took quite a long time for me.

hope this helps you.

Thanks,
Suneetha

Parents of Preschoolers Discussion Forum