I love author Ellyn Satter, who has written many helpful books about feeding and children. She is (I believe?) a Registered Dietitian and Social Worker, and focuses on how much emotions come in to play with food and how the process of feeding their kids can really drive parents crazy.
I read CHILD OF MINE and HOW TO GET YOUR KID TO EAT: BUT NOT TOO MUCH when I was struggling to figure out how to be calm, cool and collected with Amelia around food. Satter's main thesis is that your job as a parent is to provide healthy, tasty food; set structured mealtimes and snacks; and leave your kid alone to figure things out. Your child's job is to decide what to eat (within the choices you have offered) and how much, if at all.
Dinner is Amelia's least-favorite meal these days. She's tired, crabby, and usually not hungry because she has a mid-afternoon snack. But at our appointment, our allergist Dr. Sicherer told us Amelia doesn't need her EO28 Splash drink anymore (it's a hypoallergenic drink for kids with food allergies who can't have milk/soy/etc.). He said Amelia has enough other food in her diet to have a balanced diet and can have calcium-fortified juices/rice drinks to cover any calcium issues. So today I tried offering a much smaller snack, and no rich, filling EO28 Splash. She came to the dinner table hungry, and ate all her turkey and raisins. She was still hungry after finishing those and after kind of sulking and complaining about her whole wheat bread and biscuit, wound up eating the biscuit (or at least some of it). Her dad and I stayed calm, and didn't jump up to get her something else to eat. Satter suggests that if a kid is hungry, they will eat and not to "short order cook" for them or you're in for a major battle every night.
Anyway, it may not sound like much, but seeing Amelia have at least some of her bread and biscuit was pretty satisfying, as was sending the message to her that we had faith she'd figure out how to feed herself without us hovering. I'm feeling really pleased, so thanks, Ms. Satter! Check her site out here: https://ellynsatter.com.
I read CHILD OF MINE and HOW TO GET YOUR KID TO EAT: BUT NOT TOO MUCH when I was struggling to figure out how to be calm, cool and collected with Amelia around food. Satter's main thesis is that your job as a parent is to provide healthy, tasty food; set structured mealtimes and snacks; and leave your kid alone to figure things out. Your child's job is to decide what to eat (within the choices you have offered) and how much, if at all.
Dinner is Amelia's least-favorite meal these days. She's tired, crabby, and usually not hungry because she has a mid-afternoon snack. But at our appointment, our allergist Dr. Sicherer told us Amelia doesn't need her EO28 Splash drink anymore (it's a hypoallergenic drink for kids with food allergies who can't have milk/soy/etc.). He said Amelia has enough other food in her diet to have a balanced diet and can have calcium-fortified juices/rice drinks to cover any calcium issues. So today I tried offering a much smaller snack, and no rich, filling EO28 Splash. She came to the dinner table hungry, and ate all her turkey and raisins. She was still hungry after finishing those and after kind of sulking and complaining about her whole wheat bread and biscuit, wound up eating the biscuit (or at least some of it). Her dad and I stayed calm, and didn't jump up to get her something else to eat. Satter suggests that if a kid is hungry, they will eat and not to "short order cook" for them or you're in for a major battle every night.
Anyway, it may not sound like much, but seeing Amelia have at least some of her bread and biscuit was pretty satisfying, as was sending the message to her that we had faith she'd figure out how to feed herself without us hovering. I'm feeling really pleased, so thanks, Ms. Satter! Check her site out here: https://ellynsatter.com.
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