Fox in Sox
09-11-2010, 13:36
OK, my Supergirl is driving me CRAZY at the moment with eating issues (or non-eating issues, I should say).
When she started solids, she was a champion eater, would eat anything, but became quite fussy when she was around 12 months old. There were still several things that she would eat though, and I could give her a reasonably varied, and reasonably nutritious diet, although not great.
She was quite sick through September and October, with two x two-week-long hospital stays with bronchiolitis, and since she's been out of hospital (four weeks now), she is REALLY, REALLY fussy. She will always eat Weet-bix for breakfast, sometimes followed by toast. But at the moment, that's the only decent meal I can get into her. When she refuses lunch (after I've offered things I know she likes, or always used to like), I generally give her a tin of custard, and lately, this has happened at both lunch and dinner time. Now I know that's not a great habit, but it was one formed when we were in hospital, and just wanting her to eat something. Custard was a good alternative, as it is fairly runny, and we were also having issues keeping her fluids up.
Now the obvious answer is this: she's still sick, right? But (and this is the really frustrating part) when she is at Child Care (three days a week), she eats really well. And eats stuff which she'd never eat for me at home, even before this latest episode.
So the problem I have now is this. When she refuses to eat, do I give her the custard, because surely it's better that she eat something? Or do I not offer it, in the hopes that she's just in the bad habit of refusing her main course knowing she'll get dessert, and if I don't offer the custard, she'll learn that she needs to eat the main course.
Any suggestions? Because this is making me :banghead: I find it really stressful when she won't eat, particularly as I'm trying to get her better after a long illness, and I know she needs decent food to help her recover.
When she started solids, she was a champion eater, would eat anything, but became quite fussy when she was around 12 months old. There were still several things that she would eat though, and I could give her a reasonably varied, and reasonably nutritious diet, although not great.
She was quite sick through September and October, with two x two-week-long hospital stays with bronchiolitis, and since she's been out of hospital (four weeks now), she is REALLY, REALLY fussy. She will always eat Weet-bix for breakfast, sometimes followed by toast. But at the moment, that's the only decent meal I can get into her. When she refuses lunch (after I've offered things I know she likes, or always used to like), I generally give her a tin of custard, and lately, this has happened at both lunch and dinner time. Now I know that's not a great habit, but it was one formed when we were in hospital, and just wanting her to eat something. Custard was a good alternative, as it is fairly runny, and we were also having issues keeping her fluids up.
Now the obvious answer is this: she's still sick, right? But (and this is the really frustrating part) when she is at Child Care (three days a week), she eats really well. And eats stuff which she'd never eat for me at home, even before this latest episode.
So the problem I have now is this. When she refuses to eat, do I give her the custard, because surely it's better that she eat something? Or do I not offer it, in the hopes that she's just in the bad habit of refusing her main course knowing she'll get dessert, and if I don't offer the custard, she'll learn that she needs to eat the main course.
Any suggestions? Because this is making me :banghead: I find it really stressful when she won't eat, particularly as I'm trying to get her better after a long illness, and I know she needs decent food to help her recover.