Overcoming Toddlers Failure to Thrive Part 4

          Today is a new day! So my kiddos have just come back from a week at the grandparents. The little break was quite nice I do have to say, but I missed them terribly. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy my time without them (if you can overlook the many tests I’ve had done at the Dr.’s office while they were gone) but truly I did miss them. I was able to clean my van for the first time in several months, do some touch ups with paint throughout the house, organize, and clean the things I don’t have time for or am unable to do while I’m watching kiddos. This time alone has also let me do some serious thinking. We were finally able to lock down a date to see an Occupational Therapist to help our little monkey and I was able to get a list of things down that needed to change in our household. Many of them are to help our baby girl overcome her eating issues and get our family on an actual schedule.

            One thing the book I read (you may remember: “Helping Your Child with Extreme Picky Eating” by Katja Rowell, MD and Jenny McGlothlin, MS, SL) is that every child needs a strict routine. So, a routine I have created. I have also made some new house rules for how we are going to help turn our daughters eating around. I know these rules probably wont apply to other households and may not make sense to you (unless you read the book!) But here goes:

1. No pressure- Not even positive pressure. No “Please eat” or “good girl you ate…” or “if you eat this I’ll give you this”, no “just try it you’ll like it”
2.  Monkey sits at the table with us at eye level (not in a high chair away from us)
3. No putting food on her plate without her permission. She gets to say what and how much goes on her plate from what is on the table
4. Food will be served “family style” in the center of the table
5.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be eaten together as a family. If we expect her to eat then we need to lead by example and eat as well.  This helps take the pressure of her being expected to eat and yet we aren’t, off of her.
6.  Routine! Routine! Routine! We are to follow a strict routine for mealtime, snack time, nap time and bed time.
7. There will be no “grazing”. Food is to be given at meal times and snack times only. This will help her obtain an appetite and help her body recognize routine (when she’s hungry)
8.  Playtime or cleanup right before lunch or diner- sing cleanup song- this helps her body recognize when its time to eat
9.  Brush teeth 2x’s a day- roof of mouth and tongue- to wake up the senses
10. More sensory toy time play
11. No sneaking foods into meals for nutrients- child will learn to distrust you if she figures it out
12. Pediasure or supplements will be offered at meal time only as not to spoil appetite during meals
13. Have her help make meals
14. Make more meals using children cookbooks
15. Take kiddos to farms to have them pick their own food and learn where it comes from

As you can see from my long list, we have a lot to work on. This doesn’t include the page long list I made for our daily routine! My hope is that in a short time after implementing these rules, we will notice changes in Monkeys eating habits. This will of course be changed or improved upon if her

therapist doesn’t agree with these rules (all rules on my list are taken from reading the above mentioned book). Let me know what you think of our new rules and what rules you have implemented in your home. Have they helped you and do you see any improvement? As always I would love your feedback!