When Grace first came home she had some very obvious food issues. If someone in the house was eating she would scream unless she was eating what they were, and she would eat and eat and eat. We have gotten those under control, but now I'm concerned because she has gone the other way.
Background issues, we have the four skinniest boys ever!! They eat to live and that is it. They have yet to be big eaters. They are picky, but eat the minimum for the meal, and go without until the next meal if they must. So the problem may be that I have no clue how kids really eat.
Grace today, she is getting picky, and she's a toddler and so I'm not worried about that. I am concerned that if someone else finishes eating and is excused, she just gets down, and sometimes she has eaten a bite or two. We put her back and try to get her to eat, but she shovels food in and has such a mouthful she gags. She is a s l o w eater, so having the boys stay until she is done is not that realistic, it can be 30 plus minutes while she picks at food. We have found her hording food in her mouth, she stuffs a bunch in and doesn't chew and it's been in there 10 minutes.
I've looked for info on post PI food issues and haven't found any, does anyone have any suggestions? I don't think she has any really serious issues, but because she is a girl, and they tend towards this problem, I want to nip any issues she may have from her early life in the bud.
So help a Momma out if you can and pass on any and all tips or book titles, I'm looking to educate myself.
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4 comments:
Lyra was a crazy eater for a while. We just stuck with our guns - the same ones that kept our own 4 very skinny boys alive and made her either eat her meals or no snacks. She doesn't even get seconds of something until she has finished what is on her plate. She has adapted to this system just fine and has gained 3 pounds and grown 6 inches this year. And she is a good eater now.
Is Grace growing? Does she look too skinny? If she looks good and is growing fine, I wouldn't worry about it. Toddlers are weird eaters.
Our newly adopted two year old boy does exactly the same things. He is very picky, hordes food in his mouth, refuses to swallow and often just refuses to eat even foods we know are his favorite. It is pretty clearly a control issue for him. We are finding that the less attention we give it the more he begins to just eat -- slowly -- but at least he is eating. Our thought is that with 16 kids and 3 caregivers any one on one attention was good even if it was negative. Meal time was the perfect opportunity. Some days our tricks work and some days they don't. If you find any good books let me know. Our PI books really don't address this.
Our two year old adopted daughter has the earlier issue. She eats everything and forgets to chew. She will keep stuffing food in her mouth until she gags. We have to watch her and limit her intake and timing of bites or she throws up. It's an odd combination of traits to watch sitting side by side.
Good luck and let me know.
I don't have any advice, but I just wanted to say that if your gut tells you this may be a PI issue, then it probably is. On the other hand, it could just be the typical toddler pickiness. Hang in there! I'm sure someone in bloggerland will have some great advice.
This is a very interesting topic. I always thought my youngest was a werid eater and I don't remember going through this with my oldest. I have 2 bio boys 4.5 years and 2.5years. Both are incrediably picky, hardly eat anything but usually I can get my oldest to take some bites. My 2.5 year old will flat out refuse if he doesn't like anything and will even sit through the meal not eating and wait until the next meal even if that's breakfast. And when he does eat we have to remind him to chew what's in his mouth before he crams more in. And he has an interesting way of eating. Have you ever seen someone try and eat a piece of pizza from the middle of the slice? Sometimes there are certain foods that accumulates in his cheeks...usually skins of something like the skin of grapes, potatoes, apples. You would think at some point he would just swallow them but no he continues to eat like the grapes and then continues to accumulate the skins in the sides of his cheeks. We eventually have to fish them all out so he doesn't choke or they will be there until he eats again. And when you take them out it's a big wad of skins. We too notice if we don't make a big deal about his eating if he is hungry he will eat something. I also try to put something on his plate I know that he will eat, a favorite fruit or veggie, yogurt, bread and butter, something. Also he is the slowest eater. If he is enjoying his meal you can not rush him and it's not uncommon for him to spend almost an hour at lunch time just eating pb & j, applesauce and a cup of milk. He eats, he talks, he has a merry old time. Of course he is slow in everything he does..it's very hard to get him going in the morning. He takes his time waking up, using the potty, eating breakfast, so unlike my older child who is just fast and ready to go. My hubby and I always talk about how interesting an eater he is and he's not even adopted so we don't have anything to fall back on to explain it.
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