16mths schedule

[annie]

i wonder how many mummies here give a full breakfast to their toddlers? i used to give my girl 3 full meals plus snacking on cheese, snacks, cornflakes, juice etc throughout the day but recently ive been giving her only 2 main meals as her schedule changed.. she used to nap around noon so i give her lunch only after she wakes up thus there are many hrs in between breakfast n lunch but recently she has been napping around 230pm so i pushed her lunch earlier at around 1130-12pm..(so she wont be too grouchy for lunch when its near to her nap time). n she wakes up around 8-9am and i was worried that she wont be hungry enough for her lunch if i give her a full breakfast thus i only let her snack on my breakfast and give her some cornflakes to snack on.. besides her 2 main meals, i give her cheese, cow milk, cornflakes, bb biskiuts, outside food if i go out(a bit here n there of wat i eat). i wonder if she is eating enough for the day? sometimes i see her playing and i keep wondering if i should stuff food to her since we are both 'free' hehe. i keep feeling she is not eating much though i keep stuffing food to her.. anyone care to enlighten me

 

[camom]

I don't know if mine is considered a full breakfast by your definition.

My 18 mth old son wakes up early in the morning, probably got to do with him sleeping early at night too. He'll latch on for a milk feed, then when I leave the house, he's usually eating his 1 kiddie bowl of cereal with sliced fruit (strawberries for the moment!) or a slice of bread. At 8+am when hubs n elder gal are eating their brekkie, he will snack from their dishes. Hubs usually take oatmeal with milk, my elder kid eats bread with spread or cereals with a glass of milk or milo. When he goes over to my mom's place at 9am, he shares my mom's breakfast of milo & biscuits or bread.

 

[annie]

wah.. he seems eating alot for breakfast! what time is his lunch? will he be hungry by then?

 

[camom]

Roughly abt 12.30pm nowadays. Yes, hungry by lunch cos he's perpetually in motion. I did find that his appetite is much better than before, think it's got to do with his activity level.

Mine can play till he forgets to eat sometimes but the moment he realises there's food in our hands, he'll coming running.

 

[camom]

Deleted - extra post

 

[annie]

ooh.. so good.. he seems to love eating! mine.. hai..feeding her has mostly been a nightmare. she does eat well sometimes but very seldom..always need to chase, cheat, force!

 

[diymummy]

ooh.. so good.. he seems to love eating! mine.. hai..feeding her has mostly been a nightmare. she does eat well sometimes but very seldom..always need to chase, cheat, force!

Same as mine....

 

[camom]

There was a period of time when he grazed instead of eat. Yes, very worrying cos that was so unlike him. He is good with eating but other areas, sigh... very challenging.

 

[annie]

how long was tat period? n u just let him be when he only took a few mouth for lunch n dinner?

 

[camom]

Over a month or so. The max he took was 1/2 bowl for each meal. What I did was spilt his meals into smaller ones but at more frequent intervals. Also didn't give snacks then.

 

[annie]

ooh.. my girl's pd told me the same thing.. tat time she dosent want to eat.. only a few mouth a time then dun wan liao.. sometimes dun even open her mouth at all! then i give her snacks lo cos i scared she hungry and also she lsot a lot of weight so i worry.. then i just give her anything which she likes lo.. but then pd says dun give her snacks n give her meals more frequent instead.. so i did tat and slowly she started eating more in each meals.. now most of the time she clears her bowl though i have to feed for HRS n also have to cheat her, play dvd for her etc.. if not she wont even open her mouth.. keep pushing my hands away.. she will eat happily only if she likes the food but her preference keep changing.. hai~ difficult bb..lol. other than eating she is an easy bb though :001_302:

i dun give her snacks at hm. only give her outside now. when she start to fuss in her pram then i bribe her with snacks to keep her seated lol. hmm.. but she has a bowl of cornflakes which i let her snack throughout the day... its her breakfast actually but since she dosent eat much (only few pcs at a time), i let her snack throughout the day lo.. uusally she can clear the bowl by the end of the day.. hee. just flakes. no milk inside of cos. hee

 

[camom]

kekeke, reminds me of the way my aunt used to feed my cousin using variations of "aeroplane coming, aeroplane coming, quickly open mouth cos aeroplane flying in".

I work FT so my mom was the one suffering throughout the day with his idiosyncrasies. I only experienced this on weekends. After my son regained his appetite, he seemed to eat more than before the episode happened. So long as snacks don't affect his appetite for his main meals, I will give him except for approx 1 hr before meal times. Strictly no snacking.

When outside, I also use snacks to bribe him whenever he wants to latch on. I am still trying hard not to bf him when we are out during the day, I give him fresh milk instead.

 

[annie]

haha it sounds so much like my fren! She ask me to try tat.. i tried.. no use..

my girl stop asking for milk outside when she was around 11mths i think.. but she will fuss if pram is not moving so when i eat my meals or when the pram is not moving i will have to give her snacks to keep her quiet lol.

 

[camom]

For me, I am quite strict abt mealtimes. No TV, no books, etc when eating, concentrate on the food and get it over and done with, and they can do what they want afterwards.

 

[annie]

yea tats wat i did all along before she started to be picky. i would put her to her chair, turn off tv (was on before mealtimes) and feed her.. she was a good eater then. eating very fast and eating alot. BUT after she became picky, table manners n all becomes impossible. she dosent eat at all if i dun distract her. she sees spoon coming she pushes off my hands, shake her head, scream.. then once i switch on dvd or wat, she will eat THOUGH super slowly.. she will only open her mouth a bit by a bit taking few grains by few grains n takes 2.5hrs to clear her bowl...but at least i got the whole bowl of food into her tummy.. if no distractions i get NOTHING inside her...

when u have a co operative bb, u can impose on all sorts of manners, rules etc but when u do not have one, i guess u can do nothing. all u hope is they eat n i believe all mummies will do ANYTHING to get their little precious to eat i guess..

 

[camom]

Haahaa, my elder one wasn't always a good eater.

From young, she is also the sort to pick thru her food slowly and the same mouthful can remain for ages in her mouth. I realised she was taking snacks and we cut that out 1st. Next came expanding the menu so she doesn't always take the same food. Then finally, we treated fruits as after meal desserts for motivation cos she loves oranges & pears.

When she was older, I set an alarm clock for her. 30 min is all I gave her to eat, if she doesn't clear her plate before the alarm clock rings, then I will clear all the food from the table. No snacks in between meals, only plain water to drink. Too bad if she is hungry. After 1-2 days of this, she woke up to the idea that she needed to eat fast.

Even today, she still exhibits the habit of picking thru her food. My hubby's way to get thru is to tell her that if she eats xxx, it will make her pretty, xxx will make her eyes bigger and brighter, etc. My way is thru omission. Like she doesn't like mushrooms, I will omit the word "mushrooms" when I refer to the food. Like when I cooked portobello mushrooms, I will tell her it's portobello. If she asks further, then I'll tell her it's vegetarian food. Helps when the food doesn't look like mushrooms anymore. :001_302:

I personally think the tv watching during meals is a vicious cycle.

 

[annie]

vicious?

my girl dosent like fruits too.. i give her jellies after meal as a form of motivation but it dosent help. also, if she is hungry she will ask for breast... so the 30mins trick will not work for me. i think she will be very happy just to take breastmilk...