Friday 13 February 2015

Foodgate

When Betsy was very small, I was so excited about weaning. I spent an obscene amount of time looking up recipes, the best spoons/bowls/cups to use, snack ideas, when to start, what to expect.... The list was endless. I'm a shit cook, but that didn't matter because as soon as Betsy was ready for weaning I would turn into a domestic goddess over night, ingest 1000 cookery books and spend my days lovingly preparing a variety of healthy and nutritious meals for my dear daughter. I would most definitely not be using any form of jars or pouches of baby food. There would be no sugar or salt added to anything. Nothing processed or full of bad things. I was ready to wean.



This was the case for all of 5 minutes.
Although we didn't get off to an overly bad start, the older Betsy gets the worse things become. I spent many hours slaving away over the cooker preparing things for her for it to be rejected, over and over again. I was as imaginative as I could possibly be with food, different colours and textures, tastes and smells, cutting sandwiches filled with all kinds of delights into different shapes for her. But no matter what I did, 9/10 times it ended up on the floor, without even being so much as licked.

And slowly, I started losing the enthusiasm I had started to have for cooking. I started reaching for the jars and pouches, as I knew these were what Betsy would eat (although she now won't even eat these). I allowed the biscuits and crisps and naughty things to start slowly creeping in. I started giving her pretty much anything she would eat, even if I knew she probably shouldn't be having it. I did this out of sheer desperation to get her to eat something.




I searched for answers, rang the health visitor countless times, became best friends with Google. Anything to explain why my daughter was so damn reluctant to eat! Was it my cooking? Was she having too much milk? Am I giving her too much choice? Am I not giving her enough choice?

This is pretty much where we are now. She is 14 months, and I am shocked at how differently things have turned out. A few weeks ago I was talking to my mum in law about Betsy's eating, and we were joking about how we couldn't believe the stuff I let her have. I felt like I had let her and myself down. Now, don't get images in your head of me feeding her nothing but Quavers and chocolate buttons, as this is not the case. Though she does eat a lot of Quavers. She doesn't eat awful awful things, its just the amounts she eats of the things I want her to be eating are so minimal, that I feel like I need to top it up with things id rather her not eat too much of.

So please divulge your advice and comments on how I can possibly get my 1 year old to eat. Because I genuinely cannot remember the last time she ate a proper dinner. 

Or just tell me to stop being so bloody stupid and realise this is what kids do!
Either will be helpful.


 


6 comments:

  1. Can so relate to this! I have found that they become so fussy around this age. When they're big enough that you can give them options and they can say yes or no, it really helps. Lots of fruit works with my kids as its sweeter than veg - maybe worth a try #mummymonday www.AAUBlog.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amelia got really fussy between 11-13 months. I think for her it was just an age thing pushing some boundaries. Fortunately she eats very well now. On days she doesn't when she refuses her main dinner I won't give her a substitute I just move on to the next bit i.e. fruit/yoghurt. I try to only keep the crisps and snacky things at a snack time and not during a meal time. Fingers crossed its just a phase but keep persevering and keep offering meals. Hoping it turns round for you! Thanks for linking up #MummyMonday x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lord have mercy can I relate! My 2 year old is the most horribly picky eater alive. I have tried everything. He will not eat veggies right now to save his life! I have tried a million different ways. And still nothing. I have been told by countless moms that they go through these stages. Thats what Im hoping for anyway, that this is just a stage! Good Luck!
    ~Jennifer @ www.jaysgordon.com
    Visiting from #mummymonday :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. This might sound a bit crazy, but try getting her to cook her own food. I didn't have the same problems as you, but both my children have had phases where they won't touch what I give them. I found that if I got them into the kitchen exploring food, having fun with it, they were far more likely to try the end result. I did basic recipes like pizzas, savoury tarts, salads, pasta bake etc. from when they were 13 months old. I just used to lay all the ingredients out and let them do what they wanted, including trying everything as they cooked. I am now so passionate about the benefits of cooking with very young children that I wrote a cookbook (the Tickle Fingers Cookbook) and set up a community on www.cookwithtoddlers.com to share age-appropriate recipes. The cookbook has a whole section on recipes that you can do with a very young toddler. Just a thought as it worked for me. I really hope things get better for you. Over from #MummyMonday

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lamb doesn't eat and has never eaten. He lives off crisps and cereal. Luckily he likes fruit so will eat apples, satsumas and grapes. But honestly, most days he's literally eats cereal bars. He's been like it since he was 10 months old. He's now almost 2. I have spoken to the health visitor numerous times and they keep telling me to put food in from of him and take it away after 20 mins, don't give him the things he likes etc. We tried. It doesn't work. I've lost all hope that he will ever eat anything. If you figure this out give me a shout! Good luck xx #mummymonday

    ReplyDelete
  6. Although I wrote a very tongue in cheek response about this on my blog, I feel for you. From day one our primary task is feeding so it made me so anxious when it was tough. What works for me - repetition and sweet potato. Wishing you the best of luck x

    ReplyDelete