Am I starving my toddler?

[anniefrangipani]

17mo DD, still breastfeeding, sleeps 7-7 with one or two wake ups. Naps 11-1pm, feeds to sleep, eats three meals a day plus one snack.

We started weaning at 6mo and did BLW exclusively. She has always shared our meals, will quite happily eat steak or pasta or gooseberries or whatever we're having. We've always tried not to make too much of a fuss of her eating, and just let food be it's own reward.

Occasionally she'll turn her nose up and refuse to eat anything at all. We don't make a fuss about that either.

She still happily shares our meals - tea last night was homemade burgers, brioche buns, mature cheddar, corn on the cob, sugar snap peas. She had about a quarter of a burger, a piece of bun, a few bits of cheese, half a corn cob, about five or six sugar snaps. She had a few bites of everything, but didn't finish any of it or I would have given her more.

Tonight's dinner is steak and cauliflower cheese. She'll have a couple of strips of steak, a couple of florets of cauliflower, a tablespoon of peas, a few carrot circles. She's unlikely to eat it all, though if she does there'll be more.

Breakfast rhis morning was porridge with dried cranberries and dried blueberries. She ate five teaspoons, which I would consider a lot for her. Plus she stole two raspberries from DP (offered her more, plus some ham, but she wasn't interested).

Am I starving her? I've never given her a whole packet of crisps. Or a whole ice cream. Or a whole slice of cake or a whole sandwich. It, frankly, wouldn't occur to me to. But every time I log on to Facebook, people with kids the same age are holding ice creams, and my mother has been complaining that I'm starving her since DD was 10w old (I have been ignoring her, obviously, but maybe she's not entirely wrong?)

AIBU by not offering enough food?

I have a 17m old. Breast fed morning and night. I don’t feed during the day now and she seems to eat well -BLW very similar to what you describe. I usually top of each meal with some full fat natural yoghurt which she now spoon feeds herself, and a hand full of berries. I might also give her a wee pile of grated cheese while I’m setting the table. Weight on centile. I think she’s doing great...she’s my 3rd, this has worked well for us.

If OP's dc was actually STARVING (like millions of children across the world actually are) then we are lucky enough to have SS, who would be involved. SO this is, one hell of a stealth boast.

Ah the passive aggressive saintly mother post. How I miss them

handpicked boastnuggets and freeze dried bragberries wins the thread for me!

Complete stealth boast post but nonetheless, if you are still giving her bits off your plates like a small baby then you really should start giving her her own small portion of food on her own plate. If your burgers are homemade, there's no reason you can't make a mini one for her.

I would reduce the amount of BFs she has as it doesn’t sound like she is having proper meals. By that age I would expect her to be having some meals some of the time, she is filling up on Breast milk not food.

The Royal College of Pediatrics and Health has very helpfully provided online a growth chart for your child. You can look at it to determine whether your child is growing properly or not.

Or you could give a bunch of randoms no idea of you child's height and weight and ask them if your child is properly nourished.

My 3 year old has never eaten a whole week icecream to herself (other than a mini milk) and only ever has half a packet of crisps too so don't worry about that. Some children just have smaller appetites

My 18 month old eats more.

He'll have say, one slice of peanut butter on toast, a banana and a weetabix for breakfast. Or he'll have one of those 2 minute porridge sachets, with some peanut butter mixed in.

A sandwich or wrap (one slice of bread, different fillings from tuna to chicken to cheese) with a piece of fruit, a cheese stick, a yoghurt, etc. for lunch.

For dinner, he'll have whatever we are having but for example, it may be chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce with rice and portion wise, it'll be half a chicken breast and three tablespoons of rice with about two tablespoons of the creamy sauce. A handful of carrots or peas. Occasionally he'll have a piece of fruit or yoghurt afterwards.

He eats everything. Never usually leaves any food. He doesn't drink much milk annoyingly. He mostly has water so I try to make sure he gets lots of dairy at meal times to make up for the lack of milk. And yes, he'll happily eat burgers, steak, beef, duck, mature cheddar etc. There's nothing we haven't given him that he doesn't like.

Mine was BLW on chicken nuggets, Greggs vegan sausage rolls ( omnivore diet obvs), Marlboro lights and red bull
Happy bubz happy mum
Ur bubz ur roolz
So long as they r happy xx lol

@hobnobsaremyfave I'm horrified there is no sunny delight in there! For the vitamin C innit?

Mine was BLW on chicken nuggets, Greggs vegan sausage rolls ( omnivore diet obvs), Marlboro lights and red bull
Happy bubz happy mum
Ur bubz ur roolz
So long as they r happy xx lol

I loved the ‘sleeps 7-7 with one or two wake ups’.

That’s not sleeping through!

I reckon she’s hungry and needs substantial food. 17 months really should be eating properly and not waking up like that.

YABU

No pombears for your precious one, only handpicked boastnuggets and freeze dried bragberries

Pissed myself

Maybe if you cut her carrots into squares she would eat more

Absoluteunit you can fuck right off
My bubz would never touch anything as.....common as sunnyD
Gets all her vitamin c sucking on my Rizla papers

Im too old for BLW, in my day it was all about the blended mush but dont worry that she's not onto ice cream and crisps yet OP, by the time she is a teenager she will be living off em.

No pombears for your precious one, only handpicked boastnuggets and freeze dried bragberries

See I feel SO proud That my words made a few of you laugh I am 39+2 currently and there is very little making me happy right now

Made me laugh out loud, I was lying with toddler who woke up
And is refusing to go back to sleep 😂

It sounds like she's eating fine - give her a whole bag of Quavers or Chocolate animals - if she eats them, she's hungry.

Aren't we much the same? Some days hungrier than others, eat more healthy, eat more crap, drink more, drink less? No?

Ignore MIL or DM - nod your head, brush off comment and go about your day!
If she's hungry she will let you know.

Im too old for BLW, in my day it was all about the blended mush but dont worry that she's not onto ice cream and crisps yet OP, by the time she is a teenager she will be living off em.

@Serin and illegal drugs....

Stop the milk except for bed. Milk is a meal in itself. I never understood why some people gave their kids milk with their dinner. It’s so filling and they need more nutritious food than they do milk at this age.

I feel like I spend half my life telling DP to sit down a bit longer and ksr her finish eating

Does he not let her finish eating?

My 20 month old won’t eat at all if we give him larger portions of anything. If I gave him meals of the size I’ve seen other toddlers having it would just be pushed aside. He will only eat things in small amounts - a bit of carrot, a bit of broccoli, a bit of chicken - then he’s done. I do worry that he’s not eating enough but he has as much as he wants. He’s not going to let himself starve.