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When do you put your foot down over what your child eats?

June 17, 2009 00:56 by author

Is your child a picky eater? Does their diet consist of only three foods that they will eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner - 365 days a year? If so, when do you put your foot down over what your child eats?

It can become a real battle of wills between parent and child, especially over eating a variety of good nutritional foods.

Our pediatrician assures us that kids get what they need when they need it. However, as a mom you still worry. You think how are they getting what they need when all they will eat is cheerios, cheese and bread.

So when do you put you foot down and how hard do you put it down... over food? Share it with us by leaving a comment or better yet - join and leave a vlog response.

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Comments

Jerri
June 18. 2009 15:33

I put my foot down on foods for at least one good meal a day. I feel like I accomplished something at that.

Melanie
June 19. 2009 14:33

I don't have children but I can imagine what it's like with children. My little niece Mackenzie is a picky eater and she's only 1. I babysat her the other night and wasn't sure if it was ok to feed her the Kraft Dinner that I was eating because she kept sticking her hands in it to try and get some. Finaly, I don't know if it's ok to actually send a 1 year old to bed with a baby bottle? She immediatly fell asleep, but I shouldn't get her into the habbit right?

Donna Chaffins
June 19. 2009 16:06

@Melanie - no it isn't a good think to let a child go to bed/sleep with a bottle. For one thing... it can develop a habit where a child will only go to sleep if they have a bottle. Also it isn't good on babies or toddler's teeth to go to sleep with a bottle.

There are probably other reasons you shouldn't let a child go to sleep with a bottle. If anyone has a reason please chime in and share it.

Melanie
June 21. 2009 23:40

Thank you for the quick answer to that question! I watch my niece all the time and I wasn't sure if it was ok or not thank you soo much!! I'm already benefiting from this site more than you could ever know!! Thank you

Donna Chaffins
June 22. 2009 00:24

@Melanie - My pleasure! I'm glad I could help. That is what we are about here. Learning from... and helping each other.

Amy Vernon
June 22. 2009 13:35

Sorry to be late to the party on this.

Donna was absolutely right about the bottles, the reasons she gave were the same ones our pediatrician told us.

In regards to the Kraft dinner, if it's an every once in a while thing, it's fine. Best to ask her mom beforehand, just saying you want to make sure mom's fine with things like that, you didn't want to feed her that food before checking to make sure. Some moms are more relaxed about it than others.

I, myself, tend to fall into the line of thought that there is no food that they can't eat, so long as, for example, McDonald's hamburgers aren't a regular thing. We let them eat fast-food burgers maybe once a week. We even, every once in a while, get the fries. People get into trouble when they let the child drive the entire menu. My kids would eat cheeseburgers & M&Ms for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let them.

Cindy Campbell
August 16. 2009 21:58

ok, my kids eat a lot of foods because they had to comply to the 3 bite rule. When they were really little we instituted the 3 bite rule- you must eat 3 bites of everything on your plate. They try new things and don't give up if they don't like it for the first 4 weeks of trying it every 3 days or so. I have made a pact with my hubby to only cook one meal at dinner. I have never- except when they were eating baby food- made separate foods except when I am opening cans of soup for dinner. So, I also once the kids have a range of foods they will eat, make sure they have one item they like at dinner. Example: My oldest dislikes potatoes, youngest dislikes pasta and mildly tolerates rice. I will make a meat they both like, steak, broccoli for the youngest, and rice for the oldest. Complete dinner and they will always eat what is on the plate. They may have seconds of whatever they wish. If they are really not hungry they go right to bed unless they are really not feeling well. (We eat dinner late it is not as bad as it sounds.) I know it sounds strict, but it has worked.

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