munchkin meals: 14 months
Man, has it been awhile since I’ve done one of these! So much has changed since I last updated you guys on this back in, what, June?! Crazy!
Our little munchkin’s meals started out pretty rough. MacKenna really had no interest in solid foods whatsoever until around 8 months. That’s TWO WHOLE MONTHS of struggling to get her to eat something 3 times a day. It was not fun. But, thankfully, we have moved past all of that and have a pretty decent eater on our hands. Compared to other kids her age (14 months), it looks like she hardly eats a thing. But, you have to keep in mind, we have a runt. MacKenna only weighs 17 pounds, so what little she does eat seems to be enough for her little body. She’s growing and healthy (for the most part), just petite.
We have almost completely weaned MacKenna off the bottle in the past 2 weeks. We had no issues transitioning her to whole moo milk, but taking the bottle away proved difficult. While most people told us it is harder on us than on her, I disagree. I’ve been ready to get rid of the dang bottle for awhile, but she begs for it. “Ba ba, ba ba” – gets me every time. So, I finally said enough and just stopped giving it to her. She still gets an 8-ounce bottle of milk before bed (which we hope to transition her to a sippy cup soon), but that’s the only bottle she gets now.
As for her meals, Kenna eats 3 meals a day and 2 snacks (in place of her bottles she would get during the day).
Breakfast usually consists of 1/2 a pumpkin waffle and 1/2 a banana with some milk in the sippy cup, and maybe some yogurt if she’s still hungry.
Lunches and dinners have been a bit more difficult. MacKenna is pretty picky. She would eat cheese (“sheeeeeeese”) and crackers for every meal of every day if I let her. It is a struggle to get her to eat fruits and vegetables. She does fine if we give her what we eat for dinner, but lunch is a different story. I’ve taken Ashley’s advice and am trying out the Dr. Sears Nibble Tray. So far, it’s helping me introduce more variety in her diet, which seems to have helped a little. I notice her reaching for more fruits (after her cheese is gone), but she still is pretty picky about what she does eat.
However, she absolutely LOVES pizza night! Luckily, we make veggie pizza once a week and she can’t get enough of it. (We’re starting to sacrifice our portions to feed her. It’s almost time to start making bigger pizzas!) So, I’ve figured out that in order to get her to regularly eat vegetables, I need to start sneaking them in. Pizza is one way we do it, but I also am starting to make these banana muffins for her to eat as well. They taste just like banana bread, but have squash and carrots hidden in them. She can’t get enough of them!
So, even after starting off slow with solids, we’re still trying to find a happy balance of eating. I so wish this were easier. I wish she was content with whatever I put on her plate. I plan on continuing to introduce new (and old) foods and hopefully, one day, she’ll choose fruits and veggies over crackers and cheese.
Is your child a picky eater? How do you get your toddler to eat fruits and vegetables?