Picky Eater

The last few weeks Ivan has become quite a picky eater. I did read a few weeks ago on Baby Center that 15 month-olds get so busy with running around that they forget to eat. And, also that they like to control food intake because it's one thing they can control in this ever growing and confusing world (or maybe that's an excuse for picky, fussy 3 year-olds.)

In any case, it's gotten a bit exasparating, because I'm not sure what to feed him. (and now that I'm home with him this week, I get to see fussy, picky eating throughout the whole day. )

He must eat something because he does poop, often up to 3 times a day. And I imagine, it's not just from milk.

Since Monday his diet has consisted of avocados, yo-yo yogurt (those yogurts are more addictive than Cheerios. At least they taste good), pears, cheerios (although those get thrown on the floor more than get eaten), and babanas. And that's it.

He doesn't want his cereal. He doesn't want apple sauce mixed with cereal. He refused to try a peach or a strawberry (and I've seen him eat strawberries in the past). He's refused plain yogurt with strawberries. He apparently detests quiona. He didn't want any quiona with sauteed peppers, nor with meat (which he eat the week before.) He didn't want any mashed potatoes with meat. I couldn't even approach his mouth with it. He didn't even want any cheese.

This morning, I made quiche because he ate quiche a few weeks ago when I first and last made it. And he loved it. Back then a few weeks ago. Granted, the quiche I made then was with spinach. The one this morning was with broccoli -- it was all the suitable vegetable I had. And besides it's a good way to sneak broccoli into our diet.

So with this quiche I made a tactical mistake. Instead of giving him a spoonful of quiche (ie egg and cheese), I picked a morsel with broccoli in it. I had one opportunity and blew it. I easily managed to put that spoonful in his mouth. "Score," I thought, when he just spit it back out.

This spitting out technique is just sneaky enough to make parents think they've won, they've managed to put something into the baby's mouth. Success. And then the baby just spits it out. It's not really a spit. It's more of a drop. It's just opening his mouth wide, letting the food drop on the floor.

When I blew it with quiche. For the rest of the day, I couldn't get it anywhere near his mouth.

Then in utter desperation, I stumbled on crackers. Surprisingly enough he liked them. I think it's the biting the cracker that he likes.

I also realized today that the cheese I was trying to give him (Dubliner cheese) must have been too spicey. Instead I gave him the "diet cheeese," the low fat mozzarella sticks that I eat when I'm trying to loose weight and that I give Mariposa when we play "the cheese game." And he ate it! I'm sure because this cheese can't be any more bland and tasteless than it is.

And the funny thing is, he really knows what he wants and doesn't want. I guess want he likes and will eat, and what he won't. He tells you "ne." And it's the most disarming "ne" ever. He says it so politely, with a big smile.

You can't help but to melt yet you're so frustrated with him because he won't eat anything beyond avocados, yo-yos, pears and milk.

Is it milk? Are we giving him too much milk? If I tally all milk drinking during the day and night, he drinks between 20-30 ounces. That sounds right to me. I'm already up in arms and feel like an awful mom because I still let him drink milk from his bottle and go to bed with it (we brusha, brusha teeth before milk, most of the days, or during a milk break before he goes to bed). Should I give him less milk in hope he will eat more? Even the thought of that sounds so cruel. Deprive him of milk, and listen to all the horrific crying that would ensue. How motherly would that be.

So I'm just hoping that all these lack of eating this week is just another teething bout. There has been a bit of drool (he's not a drooler), and on a rare occasion when I can look into his wide open mouth, it seems that the toothless gums are getting a bit jagged as if teeth will erupt soon through them.