Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Thoughts on nursing

Nursing is awesome. They are 17 months old now and have never had a bottle, which is something that I was really scared that I would have to do. Apparently I even obsessed about it while I was pregnant...which I have no memory of. Anyway, the problem is that they don't eat food. And while I am steadily losing weight, which I am not complaining about at all, they seem to be stuck.

How do you get your babies to eat food, when they won't eat? I offer every single thing that I eat. I offer baby food, I offer hand held food, spoons and forks to eat with, hands to eat with, yogurt, veggies, cookies, pasta, protien...I am at a loss. So this blog posting is more asking a question...how do you get a baby to eat when they "don't wanna"?

4 comments:

  1. I've not had one go as late as 17 months, but what I did was exactly what you are doing.

    I'd offer the foods that I was eating.

    I had two of my kids go to about 14 months without eating much food other than the occasional bite of whatever I ate.

    My youngest has been eating since about 10 months and rapidly went toward real portions and meals.

    Do they have a place they sit when they eat? Do you have any small chairs and tables they might be able to use?

    When my kids first began eating foods they were usually sitting in a high chair and had a tray. I'd place foods on the tray that they could pick up and feed themselves. We never used baby food and I didn't start to introduce solids by feeding them. It was them feeding themselves.

    Eventually we got to the point where I'd offer foods that were messier and I'd help them if they asked for help, but usually we let them go solo.

    Do they watch their siblings eat?

    I'm really kind of flummoxed on this one and you're an experienced mama so I doubt that I'd have any insight or offer suggestions you haven't tried.

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  2. sorry to say but I have heard of some children that didn't eat until 2-ish... turned out that seems to associated with some food allergies or intolerances... hopefully not the case for your littles, but who knows? good news is that they are of course completely well-nourished with just nursing... i think they will eat when they are ready, but i'm sure thats not exactly what you wanted to hear! just keep offering!

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  3. Unfortunately, you can't make them eat! Thats really hard though -- issues around food and eating can be stressful.

    I like the philosophy from Child of Mine where the author talks about a division of labor with regard to food. You, the parent, are responsible for providing the what, where, and when with regards to food, the baby/kids get to decide IF they eat, and how much. (That said, I do have issues with some other parts of the book, esp her negative views on extended nursing!!!)

    Are they nursing a ton to make up for it? If so would you consider cutting out or putting off some nursing sessions so they get more hungry? Its such a hard balancing act sometimes. Hang in there. I don't know any adults (or even preschoolers) that don't eat food, so it WILL happen, sooner or later, right?

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  4. You don't! They'll eat when they want to eat. I don't think it is always an issue of food sensitivities but why bother eating since nursing can fill them up (for a little while anyway) and is so much more fun. One of my 2.5 year olds can goes days without any solid food (except m&ms for using the potty!) and is just fine. Then when I break out something delish like sweet potato fries or ginger tofu she is all over it and eats like an 13 year old boy. And it doesn't get better when they get older! My 9 year old would rather go hungry than eat something as fowl as pasta or plain chicken. But he doesn't fill up on nursing! :)

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