Tuesday, June 30, 2009

When Your Kid Won't Eat

It breaks your heart. You feel helpless. You feel frustrated. You feel guilty. Where did I go wrong? What happened? You loved feeding time & now you don't? You just rack your brain tryin to blame it on something! Because everything needs an explanation & a valid one, you just need a reason.

As a new mom I prayed that this wouldn't happen. I prayed that I would do all the right things so that my kids would enjoy a well balanced diet without any complaints but instead asking for more. After all this effort my daughter has decided she doesn't want food. Not all food, mind you. Some foods are okay but other foods she is just NOT going to have it. That's it. No more questions please.

My parents raised a "clean plate club" kid with me. To this day I have food issues. I eat when I'm not hungry & I'm not satisfied unless my plate is so clean it needs no washing, and I eat food so it doesn't go to waste, ha! I've tried hard to break these terrible food habits. And yet still, thirty some odd years later I struggle. So I promised myself that I wouldn't do this to my own kids but I secretly hoped & prayed that this wouldn't even be an issue in my house. I guess it fell on deaf ears.

My sweet peanut Valentina (the smaller of the two) has had a rough week food-wise. Food she once loved is now gross. So gross it makes her gag! Gag, as in ready to vomit. I'm frustrated to no end because I'm afraid she's going to starve to death. I realize she actually CAN survive on cheerio puffs, yogurt, & milk, oh and maybe a grape or two. Still in my mind I feel as though I'm failing as a parent. This can't possibly be enough to sustain this toddler, can it? After researching & reading every parent book I can find & of course interviewing other veteran moms, I think I've come to a reasonable place with this dilemma. Children will eat when they're hungry. And I'm supposed to keep saying this until I start to believe it.

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In the mean time I'm praying my other child does not follow her sister. God, please spare me this one thing. I'm beggin here! I know I was a terrible terrible eater as a child which is why I was punished by sitting at the table into the wee hours of the night until I finished my dinner and many times dinner for breakfast the next day but I swear, I knew not what I was doing to my mother!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I am biting my tongue to keep silent, but I am applauding your diligent efforts, as only a mother of two picky children can ever understand.