Eat!!!

There was an article posted yesterday about a study showing that babies who are spoon fed are more likely to end up overweight than babies that are allowed to feed themselves – the practice of baby led weaning. This is one the the reasons we were drawn to baby led weaning, that baby is able to regulate their own appetite and recognize when they’re full themselves, as opposed to the parents deciding when they’ve had enough.
We stand by our decision to follow this way of introducing solids to Molly and will do it with #2 as well, but I have to confess that at the moment it’s driving me a little crazy.

Our darling daughter, for whatever reason, be it teething, the numerous illnesses she’s had over the past couple of months, or just a plain old toddler phase, has been eating rather sparsely for the last little while. Everything I read tells me this is a phase, that toddlers will often do this as their growth rate sloes down or they’re uncomfortable because of teething and the practical side of me who believes in baby led weaning knows that she’s following her own appetite. But the mama in me, that instinct to protect and nourish my children, is screaming for her to just eat one more bite!! I’m finding it incredibly hard to trust that if she’s hungry she’ll eat. What if something is wrong? (Side note: We have her 18 month check up in a few weeks so if there hasn’t been any change by then I’ll discuss things with our doctor)

She’s also being incredibly particular about what she’ll eat, though that bothers me less than not eating. Still, it’s frustrating to offer her option after option and have her reject everything only to have her chow down on a whole pack of blueberries and nothing else. At least it’s food I guess. And I believe strongly that the foods you crave indicate nutrients you need; her body is probably craving nutrient rich foods given how many colds and ear infections she’s had this winter.

Sigh. All I can really do is wait it out and continue to offer her a variety of foods. I can’t force her to eat. I won’t. I also won’t deny her from playing unless she eats everything on her plate. That’s not the kind of attitude and relationship we want her to develop with food. Eating isn’t a chore. I just have to tuck the screaming “for the love of God EAT!!!!” me away and pay attention to what she’s telling me by not eating a lot: she’s full, her teeth/gums hurt, she’s not feeling well, she’s just not hungry etc.

Ah parenting. There’s never a moment where you’re not worrying about something, eh?