[name_m]Just[/name_m] looking for some advice and any handy tips! My 15m old [name_f]Mary[/name_f] is an independent little lady. She absolutely insists on feeding herself with lots of screaming if anyone tries to help her… She is quite thin and tiny which worries me a little. It’s not that she won’t eat (she’s actually more open to different types of food than my other kids have been), it’s just that she isn’t very efficient at getting food actually into her mouth, most of it goes in her hair, clothes, the floor (you get the picture). No-one has been able to give me any other advice other than I’ve been told by various medical professionals that she needs to eat more… (to which we say great, hadn’t figured that out for myself!!) As I said before attempts to actually help her she gets herself into a state and actually eats less - she’ll let us pass her pieces of fruit etc. but that’s about it. With 3 other kids to chase around I just haven’t got time to spend hours handing her bits of food. I’ve had to limit the amount of time that she has the spoon because, although she’s pretty good at it, that results in even less going in. I don’t want to impinge on her learning process either. Argh! Has anyone got any ideas? All gratefully received.
Bananas and avocado, and I second coconut oil as it’s so healthy, not just fat for the sake of fat. Yogurt, bread with cream cheese and hummus, hard boiled eggs. Anything she can eat with her fingers really, she just needs to practice getting it into her mouth.
Thankyou all, Not tried avocado or houmous!! [name_m]Will[/name_m] go get some - thanks for those! Yoghurt really does go everywhere she grabs it, squeezes and eats what comes through her fingers… Coconut oil is an interesting one, I could add that to a fair few things - can you get it in a supermarket (UK)?
tarynkay, yes there is mild concern from the doctors; she is putting on weight but extremely slowly… Not that they are very forthcoming with any idea what we do about it - they just told me to feed her myself - sometimes feel like they think i’m just trying to be difficult about feeding her but it just doesn’t work.
You can definitely get coconut oil from Whole Foods, I guess you can get it from the normal shops as well as health shops. We use [name_u]Maison[/name_u] Orphée, and if I can’t get that one I get Biona. Houmous is genius, my nephews who’s been picky eaters love it, can’t get enough!
I also have a tiny child who seems to subsist on air - he actually eats very well in terms of variety, just doesn’t eat much. You’ve gotten some great suggestions here, my only other one would be smoothies with peanut butter in them (we add coconut oil to these, too). It sounds super weird, but here’s what we do and the kids love it:
1 banana
frozen mixed berries (maybe about 1/2 - 3/4 cup? I don’t measure)
handful of spinach
few big spoonfuls of plain full fat yogurt
big spoonful of nut butter for added protein
liquid - we do hazelnut milk but you could use cow’s milk, coconut milk, soy, juice, whatever
we also throw in some coconut oil or flax seed oil or chia seeds depending on what we have around
Put it in a sippy cup with straw and it’s a no mess thing they can eat on the go if needed.
To avoid the mess, what about those pouches of yogurt or yogurt/grain mixed with puree that they can hold themselves and squeeze? Independent, non-messy feeding? Or she might just squeeze it all out on her head, lol, I don’t know as we didn’t use these until my kids were much older.
My now 18-month-old is also very independent. She likes to feed herself, but sometimes she gets frustrated because she wants to eat a lot fast, but she’s not very efficient at feeding herself yet. I bought her these: http://www.amazon.com/Booginhead-SqueezEms-Reusable-Food-Pouches/dp/B009WSPLO6
They’re reusable pouches that you can put baby food purees or smoothies in and they can sort of drink it out of there. There are other brands, but these are nice because the top flips open so you can just spoon the food into it. Some reusable pouches require an extra accessory to be able to fill them.
I don’t let her eat everything out of pouches or anything, but it’s great for smoothies with fruit, spinach, and yogurt because it’s hard to blend them completely smooth and even tiny chunks would get stuck in a straw, but not in these.
I have a 14mos old. He loves these little organic cereal bars (we’re in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] and they are PC brand… which you don’t have) wondering if something similar would work for yours? They are very easy for him to eat on his own… He also loves home made muffins which you can load up with lots of good stuff (I do pureed banana and squash with greek yogurt) and not much sugar. You can use the little muffin tins so that they are easier for the little ones to hold. Good luck! My guy is also skinny, but he eats like a tank… just very much on the go-go-go! lol
Butter, cheese and peanut butter mixed into firm mashed potato worked well for us. Having said that [name_f]Agnes[/name_f] eats like a horse and is in the 5th percentile so we stopped trying to pack in extra calories to feed her up on the principal that energetic toddlers don’t starve themselves if plenty of healthy food is offered - she’s just skinny.
I also have a [name_f]Mary[/name_f] and she’s only a little bit older at just about 18 months.
We did baby led weaning with her so she’s been feeding herself since six months. It’s messy and she definitely spends a lot of time eating but we haven’t had any problems with her not gaining enough weight (although part of that is I think she has my husband’s slow metabolism). She loves hummus and will eat it with a spoon. She does very well with eating cheese, squeeze pouches (she sucks these down so quickly so they’re a rare treat) and sliced up grapes. When she was smaller she practically lived on avocado but it was very messy!
Oh man! I have been looking for something like that everywhere. My daughter loves eating from those squooshy packets but I hate buying them cause they are expensive and super wasteful. I need to get some of these little reusable guys. Perfect.
Sorry for the delay in this reply. Thankyou all for your suggestions - Avocado and houmous have gone down a treat - they are a component part of pretty much every meal now! We tried the pouches but they didn’t seem to help much - She did enjoy squeezing the food around in them but not much eating actually happened! She has got a lot better at getting food into her mouth now, although the kitchen is still a picture at the end of mealtimes! luciad: your comment about your mother made me laugh - mine’s the same…
[name_m]Hi[/name_m], I just wondered, is your name really [name_f]Lily[/name_f] [name_m]Potter[/name_m], and you have a son named [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_m]Potter[/name_m]? Like [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m]'s parents!!!??!! COOLest names ever.