Mother/Fathers with Kids (Struggling)

[freckles]

a few you probably remember I made a thread a long time ago (2 years?) how much I hate to eat? well, I now eat breakfast a lot better. and don't eat dinner like king very much any more either. you are suppose to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like queen and dinner like a princess. I also still don't like eat leftovers. I just pass them on to my son, he can have them all. or do eat junkies either.

anyway, I often eat not more than 1 meal (with snacks after) or two meals a day and struggle to KEEP up with my son's eating schedule... god forbids I let him eat less than 3 meals a day (he needs to be more meaty!) so going to grocery has been a ON-GOING thing for me every other few days since he started solid and finger food. hate it. but for the sake of my son's life. I used to go food shopping once or twice a month all my life and that's it lol. so, it's really hard to keep up with this. sometimes I just have no idea what to feed (buy) him other than all fruits, all veggies, bland food (rice, oatmeal, bread, eggs, tofu, lentils, etc.) and chicken ...

so I was wondering how you, who handle this just well, manage this? what do you feed your toddlers? for breakfast, lunch and dinner? do you feed your child as early as s/he wakes up, right before or after nap? (sometimes nap can get in way of feeding schedule too). :roll:

he just turned one year old. he can chew pretty well, chicken the hardest (no molars yet, still 6 only front teeth), picks up food with his hands, no utensils yet. god knows this has been a biggest struggle for me. yes, bigger than my son's tantrums for sure lol. seriously. so thanks for any help/ideas!

 

[Frisky Feline]

AH, this is a question for parents. ahh I do love food but struggle not to eat too much! To be honest, I do not cook everyday but did cook, but i am not telling you how often. HA.

I tried to remember what I did with my kiddos, being a 1 year old is so cute. anyway, I usually grab the dough from the store, and put little sauce and little cheese. I baked it in the oven. WHen it is done and let it cool first, then just looking for the soft one and cut it for kid and the leftover hard pieces were for me. it would become puffed and soft that kid can chew with 2 teeth but keep eyes on kid to see if kid can or can't, like you get to know kid's tendency of chewing and swallowing. Either I cooked meatball or buy the wegman's meatball that my kids love wegman's meatball even more than I cooked. Just chopping them into the cubes and let kid to pick it up at any time either lunch time or dinner time. You can search for the small pastes that you think he can eat. mix with little tomotae sauce or any kind of sauces to add , you guys like.
My kids love bagels but sad and bad news for me!! they still love to eat out of the inside bagels that i had to remove and left the outside of the bagels. I must have spoil my kids too much because they are not toddlers anymore. lol. Just throw bagels into the oven and be heated until the outside of the bagels covered become firm but inside would be soft. either plain, or add little butter. My boy liked it plain.
It might helps you if you want to write on the calendar or notebook paper and list out to see what did he eat. I still had the notebook paper. it helped a lot for me because I can't remember everything.

did i miss anything, check with me!!!

 

[Frisky Feline]

Oh, I forget about chopping banana or grapes or any kind of fruits, just small amount of it to fill up kids full. some parents prefer food first then the sweet last. But for me, i put there both at the same time.

what kind of drink does he love? i suppose he has no problem drinking. what is your main concern about what to feed food or his behavior being at the table? boy i missed having 1 year old babies. lol

 

[freckles]

lol. honestly I have no patience for cooking - I lived alone for a long time and lots of food go wasted, hard to cook if it's just for yourself - but now have one son; two mouths, him and me, I've been learning to cook a lot so our food won't go wasted. :P

puffy dough & meatballs, new idea! yup he loves bagels, bananas and grapes. he LOVES avocado (just like momma), carrots and sweet potatoes especially. he eats avocados EVERYDAY for lunch -- champ, good fat for your brain.

I forgot to say in OP, I feed my son organic food at 90% of time. yes, right, he has no problem with drinking, he'd drink H20 all day in between raw milks.

did you feed your kids any other meat than just chicken and ground beef?

ooh yees, should record/plan every meal on notebook, good idea! just thought of tuna too.. yuck.

 

[Frisky Feline]

my girl is a huge picky eater. My boy is SO easy and eat anything. He will tell me if he dislikes it or not.

As a one year old, I tend to look for soft meat like shredder pork or corned beef, but as a one year usually meatbal or chicken. I realize that you are into organic food then count me out of it. lol i do feed hotdog to my boy.

my girl only eats chicken or meatball.

pasta of course.

breakfast, french toast, pancakes, waffles. my both kids arent crazy about eggs.

 

[freckles]

picky eater is very hard I know. I'm just lucky he'd eat nearly anything! only food he dislike very much is prune and spinach lol. normal. I read an article about one little boy who REFUSED to eat anything, only candies (? I forgot or something junky), his mother would feed him that because he wouldn't eat anything! not even hot doggies, pizza, etc. for almost a year. finally he ate better when mother invited over boys his age and now this boy wants to finish his whole plate before others. he was only 4 or so. very interesting article... interaction does tricks.

anyway, hotdogs, oh they have organic hotdogs! veggy hotdogs too. he swallows them right down, not chew them LOL. :roll: noticed food he loves, he swallow in CHUNKS gee.

curious, if you can remember... when your kids were little, wake up, you feed breakfast right away, right? then lunch right before nap or after? 3, 4 or 5 meals for your kids? my son eats 4 BIG meals.. or 5 small-medium meals. ..I don't know how he does that.

 

[sallylou]

A toddler can eat almost anything except popcorn, unsliced grapes, and unsliced hot dogs. Cut grapes and hot dogs lengthwise to eliminate choking hazard. No hard candy either.

 

[Adamsmomma]

Lets see- Adam eats usually when he gets to school in the AM because he sleeps until I wake him up, dress him and we leave so early... then has lunch about an hour/half an hour before nap. And dinner I try to do by 6pm each night or he gets cranky!! Sometimes he'll have a snack before bed- all depends on the day.

What does he eat (he's 2.5 now) he loves steak, hot dogs, chicken-- He LOVES fruit-- pineapple, mango, cantaloupe, lemons, watermelon. And he likes green beans, carrots, broccoli, onions and peppers and corn on the cob!
And he really enjoys Mexican food. Cereal is good at Clydes age-- Cheerios, etc, will help w/fine motor development as well! Rice cakes, pasta stuff like that too.

He's got some food allergies so he doesn't get tomato, apple, strawberries, cucumbers (pickles either ) grapes/raisins and some more. But doesn't realize he's not getting it!!

Like sallylou said he should be able to eat pretty much anything you're eating if it's cut up properly...

Now about the trips to the store-- I go usually once, maybe twice a week and make a list- and I don't always eat when Adam does (I might sit w/him but I dont always eat w/him)

It's a struggle sometimes to get all his meals in he used to be SO picky but that's not as bad now-- they put him on Pedisure for a while to help w/weight gain b/c he was so tiny I've told you he's only 23.5 lbs now!! But eats like a HORSE!!!

 

[deafgal001]

son is older and I still hate cooking him something 3x a day. Sometimes I wish I live in a little village where there cooked food everywhere and if you are hungry, you buy a little something for yourself or your son. No meal at all.

 

[freckles]

LOL... last night I dreamt I was GUILTY giving my son blueberry waffles... trying pleading NOT guilty to the cops who were standing in my kitchen, keep telling them that I DO have plain waffles too and that we were only trying a new flavor... they almost took him away but seeing two boxes of PLAIN waffles in freezer and only one of blueberry waffles .. whew. it was all real lol. :Ohno: I guess I need to stop worrying too much what to feed him.

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yeah I know toddlers can eat almost anything but hearing what combinations of food you make for your toddlers is fun too - maybe something I didn't think of. I get tired of feeding him same food. even though he eats pretty much variety each day. fortunately he has no food allergies...as of yet. the only food he gets bottom rash, from pineapples. he can't have too much, if a little mixed with yogurt or cottage cheese, fine.

of course I cut in lengthwise he can chomp down but he rathers swallowing! :roll: sallylou, I don't feed him junkies AT ALL. not much of juice either. it's hard to find juices without sugar. so with natural sugar, I pour 1/4 in cup, then water the rest. watermelon is other thing you should be really careful with feeding babies/toddlers - I read somewhere that melons can contain samollena from the outer surface; cutting to inside from outside.

adamsmomma, Clyde's only 21.5 now, won't be 2 in more than half year so probably will be like Adam!

everyone.

 

[freckles]

oh and what snack do you give him before bedtime, curious.

Sometimes he'll have a snack before bed- all depends on the day.

 

[Adamsmomma]

LOL... last night I dreamt I was GUILTY giving my son blueberry waffles... trying pleading NOT guilty to the cops who were standing in my kitchen, keep telling them that I DO have plain waffles too and that we were only trying a new flavor... they almost took him away but seeing two boxes of PLAIN waffles in freezer and only one of blueberry waffles .. whew. it was all real lol. :Ohno: I guess I need to stop worrying too much what to feed him.

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yeah I know toddlers can eat almost anything but hearing what combinations of food you make for your toddlers is fun too - maybe something I didn't think of. I get tired of feeding him same food. even though he eats pretty much variety each day. fortunately he has no food allergies...as of yet. the only food he gets bottom rash, from pineapples. he can't have too much, if a little mixed with yogurt or cottage cheese, fine.

of course I cut in lengthwise he can chomp down but he rathers swallowing! :roll: sallylou, I don't feed him junkies AT ALL. not much of juice either. it's hard to find juices without sugar. so with natural sugar, I pour 1/4 in cup, then water the rest. watermelon is other thing you should be really careful with feeding babies/toddlers - I read somewhere that melons can contain samollena from the outer surface; cutting to inside from outside.

adamsmomma, Clyde's only 21.5 now, won't be 2 in more than half year so probably will be like Adam!

everyone.

Oh honey you ARE stressing too much... at 1 21.5 lbs is PERFECT!!!! Experts say they should be 3 times their birthweight @ a year... A"s barely that now... *sigh* he's just going to be skinny.

His bedtime snack of choice now is dry cereal... we get a ton of it on WIC his favorites are Kix or Rice Chex... and of course there's Cheerios! They're all low sugar and high fiber. So they're not junkie (we can't get sugary cereal w/wic)

 

[Frisky Feline]

glad someone is able to answer you since i forget what todders are like. lol. all i know is not to give hard food or big chuck or popcorn or peanuts. Im pretty sure you already know .. just think of food that are soft then cut them into lots of pieces.

 

[freckles]

Oh honey you ARE stressing too much... at 1 21.5 lbs is PERFECT!!!! Experts say they should be 3 times their birthweight @ a year... A"s barely that now... *sigh* he's just going to be skinny.

His bedtime snack of choice now is dry cereal... we get a ton of it on WIC his favorites are Kix or Rice Chex... and of course there's Cheerios! They're all low sugar and high fiber. So they're not junkie (we can't get sugary cereal w/wic)

well, didn't I toldja this has been a STRUGGLE!! lol. *deep breath, meditating....* I think I'm actually more stressed because of other people ESPECIALLY MY relatives have been nagging me about how more I should feed him. GRR. they don't live with us so they have no idea I have a horse here! yeah...sadly, I absorb that easily..

Chex & Life are his favorite! he's not crazy about Cheerios. good....me either. lol. yeah, WIC, I stole a WIC booklet from a friend - has great lists of food!

 

[freckles]

glad someone is able to answer you since i forget what todders are like. lol. all i know is not to give hard food or big chuck or popcorn or peanuts. Im pretty sure you already know .. just think of food that are soft then cut them into lots of pieces.

right. he still can't even chew apples yet. just pureed, applesauces. my grandmother got me great baby cooker last christmas that purees and warms up almost anything! awesome little green machine.

you helped a lot too, many thanks, frisky.

 

[Adamsmomma]

well, didn't I toldja this has been a STRUGGLE!! lol. *deep breath, meditating....* I think I'm actually more stressed because of other people ESPECIALLY MY relatives have been nagging me about how more I should feed him. GRR. they don't live with us so they have no idea I have a horse here! yeah...sadly, I absorb that easily..

Chex & Life are his favorite! he's not crazy about Cheerios. good....me either. lol. yeah, WIC, I stole a WIC booklet from a friend - has great lists of food!

Yeah I used to stress too... especially when A didn't gain weight for 3-4 months I compared him to all of his peers and would get so down because he was so tiny... but I learned to rely on my instincts and not worry about what everyone else says... he's growing and making progress just on his own curve...

 

[freckles]

I'm getting there... my father who saw him last weekend said "he looks really good, healthy and his skin-color... he's beautiful." don't you know how great that feels!?! finally about time someone trusts my instinct. :P I just get tired of explaining almost everyone that he's FINE, even his pedi and specialists said he's FINE, just skinny and very tall. at first yeah I was worried--he's my first child, wanted to make sure I didn't missed anything and that he has/gets everything he needs!

 

[Adamsmomma]

I'm getting there... my father who saw him last weekend said "he looks really good, healthy and his skin-color... he's beautiful." don't you know how great that feels!?! finally about time someone trusts my instinct. :P I just get tired of explaining almost everyone that he's FINE, even his pedi and specialists said he's FINE, just skinny and very tall. at first yeah I was worried--he's my first child, wanted to make sure I didn't missed anything and that he has/gets everything he needs!

Sounds to me like you're doing a great job!

 

[KristinaB]

When my daughter was little, she had to have teeth pulled due to a serious infection. That posed problems with her eating and she was not allowed to have dairy products. Her favorite snack even now at age 16 is peanut butter with banana. When she lost the 4 front teeth, we pureed the banana and stirred it into the peanut butter and added a little butter to thin it our some more. She then was able to dip veggies in or have it on a cracker. Now, she will have a whole wheat wrap, spread with peanut butter and honey, then sliced bananas and raisins.

She still to this day hates a lot of foods and we have issues. She is also supposed to limit her dairy.

 

[KristinaB]

I'm getting there... my father who saw him last weekend said "he looks really good, healthy and his skin-color... he's beautiful." don't you know how great that feels!?! finally about time someone trusts my instinct. :P I just get tired of explaining almost everyone that he's FINE, even his pedi and specialists said he's FINE, just skinny and very tall. at first yeah I was worried--he's my first child, wanted to make sure I didn't missed anything and that he has/gets everything he needs!

You are doing a fantastic job. Don't stress. My daughter was always in the 95th percentile and then considered to be overweight. She had a head start in life size wise and has just kept on from there. She is now 16, 6'5" and a cool 137 pounds. Wears a junior's 11 in clothes, but prefers baggier clothes. Can never find a bathing suit she likes, (no 2 piece ones ever and the one piece ones are always to short in the body).