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View Full Version : Is this the beginning of toddler mealtime pickiness?



C99
03-08-2004, 03:43 PM
Nathaniel got the stomach bug that's been going around and was sick with it (throwing up and diarrhea) for the better part of 3 days. He seems to be on the mend now, but he's reticent to eat solid foods -- or I should say, some solid foods. He used to eat just about anything we gave him. I can understand that he may not feel like eating full-force yet, but he's started spitting things out, which he never did before. Yesterday, he had tortilla chip after tortilla chip, but spit out each and every one after a time -- and then would get mad because I wouldn't let him have any more. This morning, he wouldn't eat more than a spoonful of our daily oatmeal, but readily devoured the coffee cake I had gotten for myself mid-morning in a cafe. Is this because he still doesn't feel well, or is it the beginnings of a stage?

raynjen
03-08-2004, 06:43 PM
We went/are still going thru this with my daughter after a recent bout of fever, coughing, vomiting, etc. After she was truly better (i.e. could eat stuff that SHE wanted to eat) I realized that she was manipulating us. Of course, when they are sick, you coddle them, ply them with special treats to get them to eat (in her case jello and goldfish crackers), let their sleep schedule go out the window, and plain spoil them! This is good and right and the way it should be, but when the illness wears off you we found that we had to reinstitute all the good habits that we has so carelessly discarded. This reindoctrination is accompanied by mad howling, foot-stamping, and screaming fits (on both of your parts) but stand firm and you CAN return to the (somewhat) accomodating toddler you had before.

Take care, I'm glad Nathaniel is feeling better!

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 1/3)

christic
03-09-2004, 02:52 PM
Alice just turned 2 and I'm afraid both of the behaviors you're describing are pretty common around here, and I don't really consider her to be a picky eater at all. I'm not sure what the charm is of taking things out of her mouth when she clearly wants more, but I've been trying to let her serve herself some things to see if that cuts it down at all. So I'll let her grab as many crackers as she wants and then put the box away. Her hands are small :) so it's not ever that many, and having that tiny bit of control seems to help her keep her food in her mouth. And it really has become impossible to eat anything in front of her that she's not allowed to have also--and at her age that seems pretty reasonable to me. I've spent too much time at dinner lately explaining that what's on mommy and daddy's plate is the same as what's on her plate, so we're trying out letting her serve herself some dishes there too, usually the vegetables. Kind of messy but again the control seems to help somewhat.

It's hard to say what Nathaniel's up to because of being sick (I've also seen huge variations in Alice's eating habits after a stomach bug) but in our experience these types of things became much more common in the second year.

Chris