Long long ago, in a galaxy far away (or so it seems) I was witness to a piece of advice from a child nutritionist who spoke at one of the meetings held at the community health centre when Jude was 3 months old. At the time the advice was premature as Jude was not eating solids at that stage, but I stored the information away and I have always adhered to it since food was introduced.
Very young children have very little control over anything in their lives, and so from an early age they will cling to any tiny thing they can control. Eating being the simplest and first thing they learn they have a say in.
Many many parents struggle with feeding their babies and toddlers. The struggle to feed them can go on for years with children refusing to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. A woman I know still feeds her 2 year old predominantly formula in a bottle because that's the only thing of any nutritional value he will eat... at home. Apparently he eats voraciously at child care.
The advice given by the nutritionist was to remain in charge of what you offer your child and when, but let them choose how much they eat of what you offer. Don't make it a struggle and don't offer them something else. If they choose not to eat a meal, offer them a healthy snack a couple of hours later and proceed with the day's meal plan.
The only way this works, of course, is if you begin the adventure of food with these "rules" in place from the start. I'm very glad I heard this advice when Jude was 3 months old, I was able to work it into our daily lives and while Jude has often eaten very little of what I've served him, I certainly don't struggle all day fighting over food and trying to get him to eat anything I offer. Tonight, for example, he had 3 bites of dinner and is now practicing swimming in the bath with his daddy. He will go to bed, sleep happily, and wake up in the morning ready for breakfast.
Thursday 20 January 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Yes I did the same thing with Maya and she is a great eater. Everyone is always commenting on how well she eats.
Sometimes she'll only have a couple of bites and if she doesn't want any more I leave it. But other times she'll finish all her dinner, ask for seconds and fit in some fruit for dessert.
I agree it's important not to push them to eat and let them decide how much they want to eat. I have days where I am hungry and days where I am not. It's the same for them.
But it has been a struggle with my mother in law who insists that Maya should eat every last bite. Whenever she visits she has always tried to take the spoon off Maya and feed her. I tell my mother in law that Maya can feed herself but she doesn't listen. And it results in Maya shutting down and refusing to eat anything. And then my mother in law complains about how little Maya eats. Once when she actually did let Maya feed herself Maya ate all her dinner except for about one or two bites. And my mother in law still said that Maya didn't eat enough because she didn't finish her meal.
Then there's my nieces who do not eat at all and it's a source of stress for my sister in law. But my nieces fill up on lollies, cakes and chocolates in between meals so why would they want to eat at meal time?
I think that's an unfortunate old way of looking at feeding children, trying to force them to eat everything.
It's far nicer not to stress about it.
Post a Comment