Karenna used to be a vacuum, clearing everything off the tray of her highchair, contentedly stuffing her chubby cheeks with whatever food she could get her meat-hooks on. Then she turned two and her appetite has almost disappeared. Perhaps she is too busy throwing tantrums and being hurled into time-outs to make the time for three square meals, but my doughy, hungry baby has been replaced by a lean, wiry kid who isn’t all that interested in food.
Here’s a typical day:
Breakfast: lick the peanut butter off one-half of the toast. Discard toast.
Snack: a fruit leather or two.
Lunch: a bite of a sandwich, a few sips of milk.
Snack: a granola bar or something.
Dinner: one-third of a bite of whatever random casserole I’ve pieced together. Lots of ketchup.
Yeah, not too promising. (And please don’t say, “If you didn’t give her snacks, then she’d eat her dinner!” Her snacks are not overly huge and are not spoiling her appetite. Also, there are some battles I am just not going to pick. If a fruit leather is going to keep the peace at 3 pm, I’m all for it.)
I am not worried, though. She will have these randomly ravenous days where she’ll eat a pound of strawberries, two helpings of dinner and a large rodent she’s caught in the orchard (kidding on that last one). It’s not that she’s picky (she actually really enjoys a wide variety of vegetables and meat and everything in between), rather she’s simply not that interested in eating. I’ve taken her to a coffee shop and bought her a cookie that’s as big as her face, and she’s picked at a corner of it then left it alone. How is that my kid?!
Did your kids go through phases when they lost interest in food? Did you panic and try to force-feed them protein shakes while they slept, or did you just ride it out?
I let it be because the doctor said he was fine. It’s my ex that has issues and forces him to eat. I say try a little something different each week/biweekly and go from there. He is nine now and I have him eating Calamari and he asks for everytime we go to dinner.
Julie – that is such a good point about not wanting to eat!… I have to remember that. I’m blessed with a great eater…I really do count myself as so fortunate because of it – I find when his apetite ceases…he’s getting sick.
Uch – I hate it when they don’t eat. I tend to ride it out now though (second child and all…) but I figure as long as they eat mostly good things, and they don’t wake up at night, then that’s all I can do. That, and I give them each a multi-vitamin in the morning. They grow despite us, right? (Still, I do hate it when they don’t. Uch.)
Yep, both my kids did that when they hit 2. Our GP also said they slow down in growth, so they don’t need quite as much food. She won’t starve herself, and as long as you provide healthy options, it’s all good.
Both my kids eat pretty well now and eat even more when they’re going thru growth spurts.
my dr. always told me that kids do the most growing from birth to 2 then it slows way down and habbits change. growth spirts come and go and so do appitites. i think you’re doing just fine 🙂
Bethany still does that – often! Audrey is still a hoover, eating all of my hummus unless I hide with it (not kidding). What we found that works with Bethany and Audrey, but mostly Bethany is I do “picking plates” I cut up all her favourites, ham, veggies, cheese and some kind of starch, usually my homemade buns, and a big ol’ dish of dip sauce (ketchup or ranch, her choice). I have divided plates or use muffin tins because they are fun, and she just has to clear two out. If she doesn’t clear the other ones that’s ok, but at least two have to be gone. She has so much fun finding what’s at the bottom (the plates have characters and we make a game out of finding them), she usually eats them all!
That works most days, other days I can sit on her and she won’t eat. She’ll even say “No Thanks” to chocolate. It’s like she should be committed or something, chocolate = YES!
Our pediatrician always says, kids won’t starve themselves. So what if they eat one thing, or pick at things – it won’t last. And unless she (our kids) were losing dramatic amounts of weight or not acting normal then nothing to worry about. So we don’t, glad to hear you don’t either!
Simon’s appetite has also decreased since turning 2. He drinks a lot but, hardly eats. I’ve discovered that there are Flintstone vitamins for kids who don’t eat much or kids who never eat meat (my strange son). At least I know he’s getting his nutrients… they make me feel better.
Yeah, we have those times, too. The kid’s small, but she does eat, and keeps growing a bit at a time, so we try to get what we can into her.
i wasn’t hungry for dinner last night so i didn’t eat. i really had to learn that sometimes the little people have those days, too.
also, i read somewhere that you have to look at what they eat in a week, not daily. if they’re hydrated, then they’re good. just look at it as less dishes to do!
Karenna sounds very much like Liliana at that age. She wasn’t picky either, just didn’t want to eat. She grew out of it and now eats nearly three bowls of cereal at breakfast.
Kids are weird.
Annalie is 7 (today!) and she still goes through phases where she eats next to nothing. They’re rarer than they were when she was a toddler, but they still happen. And then she’ll randomly have a day where she eats two man-size helpings of everything at every meal, plus a bag of popcorn and two glasses of milk and three apples and crackers and cheese. I think it’s just the way kids roll. 🙂