Food battles!

Ahh!! The food battle!! I picked it and I lost it BAD!! From not eating a morsel till the idiot box was turned on and no-one else but Mary Poppins sung to him "A spoonful of sugar lets the medicine go down" (he even chose the right song for mealtimes, huh?!) to even screaming on top of his lungs and actually throwing a fit and the plate off the table (!!!) if I tried to put as much as one bite in his mouth.
Well I have written about it ample number of times, but this is not another sob story because finally something seems to be working. At a friend's suggestion, I have started saving his food for later. If he says he's had enough, say at lunch, I tell him its okay if he wants to get up but then "No dudu (milk), no cracker cheese, no kaju mimish (cashews and raisins)" till he finishes this meal when he gets up from his nap.
It took him a couple of days to realise what was going on. He's in a habit of devouring a glass of milk as soon as he gets up from a nap and given the crabby mood that he is in at that time, I think twice before picking up a battle at that time. The first day when I told him that he had to finish his saved lunch first, it was met by a full blown tantrum, screaming, lying on the floor, crying, running like a zombie. I distracted him by showing him his recent pictures as the computer was on and reminded him what I had told him in the afternoon. Some more crying and blowing fists in the air followed. I went to the kitchen and busied myself. After 5 minutes of thoughtfully contemplating his odds and mine, he silently sat down to eat. After a bite or so, he meekly said "Mummy, help karaoon", finished the food and then drank his milk.
Ever since, I remind him when he tries to get up in the middle of a meal. If he can take some more, he usually asks me to help him finish it right then. If he is genuinely full, he then eats it whenever he feels hungry (he starts by asking for cracker cheese or goldfish, though and has to be reminded that the meal is not finished yet) But he normally does finish it with some fuss within reasonable limits. A couple of times, his dinner time gets pushed to later than usual because he has finished his lunch in the evening. But still this is working better than anything else has in the past.

Share

A few illnesses and then ...

Vansh came down with a bout of illnesses the past week. First it was the stomach flu accompanied by fever and then a short (thankfully) stint with a cough and a cold. While reading about the stomach flu on babycenter.com, I realised that the American Academy of Pediatrics has done away with the BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Apples and Toast) diet for kids who catch the flu because because "it lacks protein and other vital nutrients. Studies show that reintroducing a standard diet soon after acute symptoms ease can actually shorten a child's bout of gastroenteritis by half a day because it restores nutrients to the system that are necessary to fight infection. On the other hand, if the bug kills your child's appetite and she misses a few days of good nutrition, don't worry. As long as she's hydrated, she'll be fine." So basically it was lots of water and lots of rest which helped Vansh recover. Milk and chapati were making him throw up immediately. And he totally lost his appetite which resulted in once again switching on the idiot box in an attempt to feed him something.

Salt and pepper paranthi with soup, Maggi noodles with vegetables for lunch and a mommy made vegetable pizza (with whole grain bread serving as the pizza base) for dinner on Sunday helped refresh his sluggish taste buds. Ginger juice mixed with honey and given a quick boil, as always, did the trick for the cough and cold. Vaporiser switched on at night with a quick rub with Vicks on the chest took care of the slight congestion. Bundling up for a short trip to the park lifted the crabby spirits.

Pampered with all the attention and having the control a 2 year old so craves for (read switching on a favorite movie when he wanted us to); this week is being spent on getting him back to his usual routine without the TV. Never before have I found the idiot box so idiotic. One day of over exposure (and that too just about 2 hours) totally knocks off Vansh's attention span and willingness to play independently. Every 10 minutes or so he'll come and ask me to switch on the TV for him. The outings are also limited now owing to pretty cold and mucky weather outside. So we are trying to do lots of activities together to keep us happy and playful. There are no short cuts I have learnt when you want our strong headed little guy to behave right. He needs quality one-on-one time and loads of it to keep him from wandering into rough terrain!! His latest favorite - making every possible thing in sight - rattles, washcloths, soft toys, cars, pass the basketball hoop test :)

Share

Tough tough tough!!

Vansh is being an extremely tough eater these days. He's way too picky - on one particular day he eats only the cucumbers from his lunch not even touching the roti and the sabzi, on another he would eat plain roti giving the rest of the meal a royal ignore. He refuses to be fed too by me or anyone for that matter most of the times now. And lunch is the toughest meal; as a result he takes a pretty short nap and wants to have milk at all odd times. Add to that the terrible two's he's going through. Its exhausting to have a cranky hungry toddler at hand who's learning to exercise his independence.
I try several things; the one that works not very well but somewhat better than others is to give him his food about 10 minutes before everyone else so that he doesn't get too much attention on the table (read 4 people asking him to eat something) and praise him when he takes a bite himself - this still doesn't ensure that he tries everything on the plate. Another strategy is to keep him busy with my cellphone or one of his favorite movies - I know not exactly the right one but don't know what to do if he refuses to eat anything and I know that he is going to become very cranky soon after as a result.
Suggestions are most welcome, desparately needed in fact from friends reading this post!!

Share

Self feeding..

..is one of the things I want Vansh to accomplish before #2 comes along. Though kids his age are capable and do a reasonably good job at it, I am the one responsible for not giving Vansh enough opportunity to do the same. Its so much more convenient to feed him myself, one because I know exactly how much he ate(or rather make sure that he ate every bit of what I put in his mouth) and two because its faster. But after having spoken to a couple of friends and the SHIELD nurses who visited us two weeks back, I have realised that he is quite capable and in fact its going to come in quite handy when I'll have my hands full with the newborn at home. I started it with his breakfast today because thats the only meal we don't really eat together (I usually eat a banana and a cup of milk). Its tough to control my motherly instincts when I am eating with Vansh to not put a spoonful on his mouth when I see that he is not doing it himself or taking too long :)






Pretty pleased with himself :)

Share