Firstly, my niece who had just turned 2 literally won’t eat a thing except for bread, crisps and chocolate. I saw her eating junk when I was pregnant and tried to get the message across early that once my daughter was born I didn’t want her eating junk food. My family are the type of family who stuff the children’s faces with junk and think it’s “cruel” to not give them these treats. I also see them everyday being a sahm so there’s no real avoiding it.
It started with them giving her bits of chocolate etc when I weren’t in the room, or when I weren’t looking and of course I felt too bad to just take it off her once she was eating it. It then got worse and worse and they’re constantly giving her junk. My grandma even feeds her gummy sweets! It’s not just after she’s ate either... I’ll be cooking her dinner then when I bring it in she’s got a full bar of chocolate in her hand. Of course she isn’t going to eat when she’s eating sweets while her dinner is being prepared.
She may have a few spoon fulls of home cooked food but it’s rare and she stops after a couple mouthfuls. She’s then straight to the kitchen asking for sweets.
It’s rare that I’m without her but on the odd occasion when I’m extra tired or have something to do they’ll babysit her for a couple hours. I set up a little packed lunch for her with the things I want her to eat while I’m away... every time I come back and it hasn’t even been touched and she’s just sitting with chocolate all over her clothes.
We’ve gotten into arguments about it with me trying to put my foot down and saying NO junk whatsoever and they couldn’t care less which is pretty irritating since she’s MY daughter. I literally feel I have no control over what she eats and it’s at the point now where I have to give her crisps/chocolate etc just so she eats SOMETHING.
My family just don’t respect the fact she’s not theirs to do what they want with. I spent months working on her sitting well in the car seat and pram, only for them to take her out the second she moans. Now she thinks crying, kicking and screaming will get her out and get her own way. Again, I have no control.
She also doesn’t sleep well and her dad and I are exhausted. She goes to bed late overtired, wakes through the night and gets up at 5am still tired ... she’s irritable until she has her first nap and I believe it’s from her diet.
I really don’t know what to do because I feel the advice will be “put your foot down and tell them no” but I really have tried to be firm and they couldn’t care less. They’ll give her things while I’m sitting saying “no” ... I’ve threatened to limit the amount of time she spends there and even done it a few times. Didn’t work and they were the exact same upon the first visit back there. I also need advice on how to reintroduce good foods to her because atm she’s not interested at all.