Hi All
My daughter is 19 months old and an absolute pain when it comes to eating/feeding. She's not mastered the art of eating with a spoon and spends most of her time playing with food (mixing up the food in the bowl constantly, or moving food from one bowl to another, dropping on the floor etc.), very little food actually goes into her mouth and then to her tummy. She also seems to have a very small appetite and consequently says no to food during meal times very very regularly. There's also the habit of holding food in her mouth and refusing to chew/swallow. I absolutely detest meal times with her as it's a constant battle...and it drives me absolutely bonkers.
We are of Indian-origin, so a lot of the meals are based on Indian-food such as lentils, grains, veg and includes spices (not excessively). I am vegetarian and whilst my husband eats meat, we rarely cook meat at home. I incorporate meat into her diet specially (as I wasn't keen on her being vegetarian) but this meat is typically on weekends when I can cook something for her - mainly chicken or fish. She loves smoked salmon, so during the week - she has that as a part of lunch or dinner (once a week). During the week, as we are both working, there is no opportunity to sit down and eat together, so this is usually only on weekends.
Mealtimes are restricted to a maximum of 30 minutes.
Breakfast at 8:30am
She has chia seeds soaked in milk (2 teaspoons of chia seeds - soaked in about 20 mls of milk) along with 1 teaspoon of flax seed and 1 teaspoon of hemp seed. Plus a teaspoon of blitzed dates & goji berries (daily). The main breakfast can be cereals, readybrek, savoury pancakes, savoury vegetable semolina etc. She rarely eats the full portion of breakfast - takes a lot of coaxing and maybe she'll finish about half the portion.
Mid-morning snack around 10:30am
Usually thats either biscuit or crackers + a fruit (usually a clementine)
Lunch at 12:30pm or 1pm (depending on activities on the day)
Usually comprises of lentil soup (lentils vary daily), veges (vary daily) along with grains such as rice/millet/buckwheat/pearl barley/couscous/quinoa. Twice a week, we include a portion of fish usually salmon or chicken. We add a teaspoon of flax/hemp seeds to either the lentil soup or grains. Same as breakfast...she tends to eat about half of the full-meal.
Mid-afternoon snack around 3:30pm
Either a yoghurt pot or a smoothie.
Dinner at 6pm
Can be anything - noodles/pasta/flatbread/cooked grains etc. along with veges and a soup. We add a teaspoon of flax/hemp seeds to either the soup or grains. Same as breakfast & lunch...she tends to eat about half of the full-meal.
At 7pm she has about 150mls of milk by bottle. She also has a teaspoon of gelatin & turmeric mixed together with about 10mls milk.
Bath starts at 7:30pm and she's in bed at 8pm. She wakes up at 6:30 - 6:45am and has 1 nap daily of about 1.5 hours.
She hasn't mastered the art of drinking from an open cup..so still drinking water from a closed cup. With meals, she eats all the dry stuff like veges, cooked pieces of fish or chicken or smoked salmon by hands. But eating with a spoon for the meals - i.e. the lentil soup, grains - it all lands up on the floor unless we feed her (and she is reciprocative). How do I get her to eat her meal with a spoon without just playing with it? Between meals, we only offer her water or occasionally water with a few drops of orange juice/cranberry juice.
She's otherwise a happy, active child, she has activities to go to every day including toddlersense, tumbletots, ballet, messy play, local church playgroup etc. At present she weighs 12 kgs (26 lbs).
Please can I get some advice on how to get her to eat better, I really need something as this whole eating drama is making me soooo frustrated and upset. I also don't want that frustration to make my daughter feel like she has a bad relationship with food. I want her to enjoy food and eat happily.
Thank-you
BT