The nasties in food

To give our little man a treat on the weekend for being good while I studied, we gave him an ice cream from Maccas. The worst mistake we could have made. About an hour later he was off the walls and we wondered why. Well when we looked at the ingredients list it was packed with nasties not good for children.

We have cut most preservatives out of our little man's diet, you would think an ice cream would not set off hyperactivity... well we were mistaken. I will be making sure he doesn't have that again... I think we may get our ice creams else where.

what to put in the lunch box??? Help needed

I'm throwing the door wide open...
I need help with what to put in the lunch box
HELP!!!!!!!!

What to do when you don't agree with advice of "professionals"

This story is from a mum I worked with a few years ago I'm going to write this as a scenario that puts you in the shoes of the mum:

This is about an infant child who hasn't eaten in 3 days, they are taking fluids but not eating. But today he hasn't drunk much at all. You ring a "professional" nursing hotline which shall remain nameless for the purposes of this blog we will call them the parents hotline. So you've rung the nursing hotline to ask what to do for a feverish child who just wont eat? Now for the big question... do you  take him to the hospital...

So now you ring the hotline for some advice as to whether or not you should go to hospital. Trusting the hotline to give you the right advice....

The advice she was given was give him red cordial it will perk him up... ok this is where I blow up while she is talking... W.WWWWHAT!!!! This would have to be the most preposterous advice I have ever heard... give a sick infant red cordial are you insane? I mean you could give him hydrolite or something else but red cordial... that's just absurd. (Mind you this mum told me he had been on hydrolite and the nurse knew this).  Ok time to get a real professionals advice.

Right so this isn't helping... time to call in a locum (good call mum). Thank goodness for bulk billing locums in Australia... it's a godsend. so now you tell  the locum what you  had been told... the locum himself goes ballistic he asks. Hesitantly you give them the number of the nursing hotline and blew up at them... this was after the locum had rung an ambulance... your little boy has some thing major wrong with him... he is running a fever and needed urgent attention.

The hospital also asks you for the number of the nursing hotline and blasts them too. This hotline had trained nurses who should know better...

Moral of this story: If in doubt please follow your gut, and get a second opinion. It saved this little boys life.

Battle of the Lunch box part2

With school starting back tomorrow the gloves are out for our battle.

The foods of choice for tomorrow are:

A sandwich with meat (much preferred to spreads)
A piece of carrot cake.
An apple and / or a banana
A fruit bar
A fruitbox
and a bottle of water.

Lets see if it gets eaten... stay tuned stay tuned to see if we are on a winner.

What do you do when you go out?

We were out to dinner one night when the little man decided to dig his heals in about what he was having for dinner even though he had decided what to eat himself (what was on mummy and daddy's plate looked nicer), so what do you do?

You have a two year old who is about to have a major meltdown in the middle of the restaurant. The next step we make is critical... do we give in? No, because next time he will think he can get away with it... so how do you stop the tantrum and get him to eat with out screaming the place down?

We learned this one the hard way...

On this occasion we gave no alternatives. We took him out of the restaurant to have the tantrum in the car park near our car, this showed him that if he kept it up we would go home no ice cream or treats after the meal. We got down onto his level and said calmly "you chose what is on your plate, you like what you have got. You need to eat it, if you are not going to do the right thing we will go home, but we will be bringing your dinner with us".

We returned to the restaurant, dinner was eaten with the bottom lip firmly out. There was minimal fuss had.

At that point we were left wishing he was still bottle eating... No cold dinner for us... the joys of being a parent. You begin to get used to eating your dinner cold.

TV Shows that help with the fussy eater

I know that this an easy topic but I have found that there can be a use for super heros and TV characters in helping to get your child to eat healthy.

My new favourite TV show... Lazy Town... It is completely cheesy and egotistical (the writer of the story is also the lead character). The super hero of the  show, Sportacus, is an athlete who can be defeated if he eats sugar. While the villain, Robbie Rotten, is known for being lazy and eating bad foods. The wiggles promote healthy eating through songs such as "fruit salad, yummy, yummy". Shows like Master Chef and Junior Master Chef are brilliant in inspiring children to eat and cook all types of foods.

These kind of programs, emphasise healthy eating and exercise, thankfully it gives way to conversations with your child about leading a healthy lifestyle. I find my self constantly asking both my own little man and the children at work if they are Robby rotten or Sportacus. It makes it easy for us as parents to use our  child's favourite characters to encourage their children to eat healthy foods.

Battle of the Lunch box... Part 1

So we never had the toddler struggle over food... because he had no choice.

Now because we aren't there during the day at school we have had the big problem of how do we get him to eat what is in the lunch box at school?

The little man knows we cant make him eat what is in the school lunch box. He knows the teacher wont make him eat it... so now he is like "beauty I'm going to throw it in the bin so mum and dad don't know I'm not eating it." I think this is because at first we would make him eat it when he got home before having anything else, now we are in a battle of the wills.

We went through the whole phase of changing the foods daily to get him to eat what is in the lunch box. But when that wasn't being eaten what do we do? We tried the whole bribing thing... if you eat your lunch for a whole week then you can have a treat, a chocolate, a lunch order on Monday or choose something special to put in your lunch box. This all worked for a couple of weeks... then it was back to the struggle.

This new battle is definitely bringing out the grey hairs... that's if I don't rip my hair out first.

I think this might be my karma for throwing my sandwiches which I hated on the railway tracks on the way to school.

The resolution in part two when we find the answer... please let part two be soon PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you do with a case of the I wants?

We all know that the lollies at the front counter are a parents worst night mare... so what do you do?

We currently have a no front counter food policy, we also have a healthy treat policy. When our little man wants a treat it's great to go into Woolworths at Arkabar, Westlakes, Mt Barker and a selection of others have fruit pig, you feed him 50 cents and your child can choose a piece of fruit to eat.

We give the little man 50cents and he walks back into Woolies after we have finished our shopping and gets a piece of fruit while we wait at the front (fruit pig is located at the front of the fruit section) so you can watch as your little one gains a tiny bit of independence (we started this when he was 4). If your local Woolies doesn't have a fruit pig write to head office, they will put one in. We got fruit pig back at Arkabar Woolies by writing them a note.

When we aren't at Woolies we give him a choice of fruit or something he can help us make... stops pester power in its tracks. We have had some interesting things come home.

What age can children eat spice?

 * Image from http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/dietandhealth/healthnews/791258/spice-whirl

I will never forget this story:

One of the girls from TAFE told me this one which happened to her on placement. Something I promised myself I would never do.

We were all on babies placement birth-2yrs.

"A little boy aged 10 months had a specific diet. This was because his parents had culturally specific beliefs. The family would provide food to the centre, believing it would be easier for the cooks in the centre. The team leader had left specific instructions to only feed him the food in the container that his parents had provided. A relief worker who was in the babies room opened up his lunch which was heavily laden with spice. She threw it in the bin and went to the kitchen and got him a beef sandwich (which culturally he could not eat).

She then proceeded to feed him the sandwich, just as the team leader entered the room. She grabbed the sandwich out of the relief workers hand and asked what the hell was going on. The relief worker said he couldn't eat the food the parents had packed, it's far to spicy for a child his age.

The team leader flew off her handle at the worker, who burst into tears. The team leader asked what gave her the right to make a decision based on her own beliefs about what a child can and cant eat.

This baby had been eating this kind of food since he began eating solids at 6mths old. He would gulp down the food.

The baby became violently ill because he had never had beef due to the family's cultural beliefs. The team leader had to ring the parents and explain what had happened. Needless to say that relief worker never set foot in the centre again.".

It is my opinion that it's a Western Society belief that infants food needs to be bland. My own belief is to introduce foods as the child is ready. Our little man eats mustard by the spoon full and was eating curries and hot Indian foods at 2, when we would visit a lady who lived downstairs from us whom everybody in our apartment block had affectionately called "Auntie" she would give us all kinds of Indian delicacies to try. In turn we would bring "Aussie" foods to share, to return the plates she would send home with us.

What do you do when they refuse all together?

I know I'm going to stir the pot a bit with this post, but we got to the end of our tether one night.

This was one night when the little man was 3. We had offered dinner at 5pm and it wasn't being eaten. It was his favourite meal so we knew he was just being stubborn. He had just gotten into his head that he wanted dessert straight away.

We gave him a bath and re offered it. It got to 7pm and it still wasn't eaten, we had re-heated it and offered again. So we became stubborn back. Dinner went into the fridge nothing else was offered except for a drink of water. He went to bed with out eating despite him telling us he was hungry... we told him "if your hungry you will eat what you were given'... he still refused his dinner. At breakfast the next morning out came dinner (we gave him left overs not the re-heated stuff) and offered it again. Needless to say it was eaten and more was asked for because he was so hungry. We knew if we offered something else we would be giving into the tantrum.

Did we do the right thing?  we still feel bad about it. Granted he hasn't pulled that one again so I don't know the jury is still out.

How to get a child to try new foods

Today I was reminded of a journey I went through with a child in the early years of my career, because I'm bound by confidentiality I am unable to reveal the child's name so some of the details of this story will be changed some what to protect the identity of this child.

Liam aged 4, I was told when I began work at my new centre, has not ever eaten anything that the cook has made since he has been at the centre. Liam apparently had found every excuse under the sun not to eat what has been cooked, here I am new to the centre and I'm faced with the battle... how do I get Liam to at least try the food?

At this point I wasn't a parent, I hadn't received advice from anybody about what to do with fussy eaters. So now as a new worker at a new centre, I need to devise a strategy that will get Liam to eat with mum's help... hmmm what to do.

I had to break down the problem at hand, when I did this I came up with the idea, the first thing we need to do is get him to taste the food, he doesn't have to swallow it just taste it and give it a rating. So with his mum we came up with a rating system that was developmentally appropriate for a 4 year old. So we began our rating system which was:

2 thumbs down for I'll never taste it again I need a drink to get the taste out of my mouth
1 thumb down for I don't like it, can I have a drink please.
1 thumbs up for It's alright but not my favourite.
2 thumbs up for this is delicious I'm going to eat more.

So how to remember what Liam liked eating? We got the cook to give us a copy of the menu, we then drew at the end of the meal Liam's rating of the meal, if it got two thumbs down then he could eat plain rice or pasta on that day. Once he had had a lick of the meal to check he still didn't like it he could eat the plain stuff. I came up with this idea after doing a lot of research into fussy eaters I found an article that said "children need to taste foods numerous times before they acquire the taste of it" for this reason we would make Liam taste it again just to check. I have come to the realisation that some times children have had limited exposure to a particular type of food and will say that it is yuck because they are not used to the taste.

Some examples of tastes which normally need to be tried several times to 'learn to like' are beer, coffee, (not that you would be giving these to a four year old) goats cheese, caviar and olives. There has been quite a lot of debate on how this change in taste experience is accomplished, as many people, report that without effort or intent they have learned to appreciate these flavours simply by repeated exposure. So this is why we continued to re-offer Liam the same foods even after he had given it a 2 thumbs down rating. Some of the 2 thumbs down foods upon a second taste would become a 1 thumbs down, and slowly get to a 1 thumbs up.

Slowly over the course of six months Liam began taking bites of one thumbs up foods and eating bowls of two thumbs up foods. Liam's mum thought I was a miracle worker. It was all a part of my job. He was normally overwhelmed by the prospect of eating a whole bowl of food he had never seen before at child care, once I told him he doesn't have to eat a bowl full of food he just has to lick it, it became less scary.

My advice:
Sometimes a whole bowl of a new food can be scary, try small portions of new foods if it's a hit you can give more if not your not wasting food. But don't be afraid to re-offer in a few days or weeks because young children's tastes change.

How to know if the sandwich you have made has been eaten?

Age old question: I've made my child's lunch but how do I know that they have eaten it?

Today my husband came up with and idea... lets put two toppings in the one sandwich to see if he knows what is inside the sandwich when he gets home.

So the test was that there was honey on the outside (a topping that rarely gets eaten) and then on the inside was Nutella (we knew he wasn't going to eat it, and there are no kids with nut allergies in his class so what was it going to hurt this once). Needless to say he thought it was Vegemite... sneaky little thing opened up his sandwich to see what was inside so when he was asked he would know.

So Mummy asks the question "What did Daddy put on your sandwich this morning"
The answer "Honey and Vegemite."
Daddy's response "Ha ha. Nope it wasn't Vegemite."
It was at this moment we knew the sandwich had gone straight in the bin... 
Time for confession... Now this has occurred now there is no after school treat... but the rest of us are eating yummy treats... meanwhile he is eating a freshly made sandwich with those two toppings... oh what mean parents we are. Lets see who wins round two of the battle.

Thank goodness we put in other snacks to make sure he isn't going hungry.

Baffling Huey

   

 
* Image from http://sharetv.org

This story is a testiment to my little man's incredible palate:

At age two our little man watched Huey's Cooking Adventures just before the 10 afternoon news every afternoon with my husband. He had become obsessed. So we jumped at the chance to take him to a book signing. Of course this couldn't be easy... no way. It was the same night as my work Christmas dinner on the 5th of December 2009 at Dymocks in the city. So we had to race to the city after work (from the Adelaide Hills) to our home on the edge of the city, get the little man ready and get him to the book signing before it ended and then get back up to my Christmas dinner all with in the space of 2 & 1/2 hours not to mention get ourselves ready for the dinner.

Any way to the point of this post. Huey had brought to this signing a salad that was from his new book. We watched as adults attempted the salad most with tears streaming down their faces because the chilli's in it were too hot for them.

So the little man asks, "can I try some salad please?" Huey says to us, "it's really spicy he might not like it". We said it's all right he might just need a drink after knowing our little man and his palate for hot foods. (we used to live in a flat near an Indian family who offered very spicy food... but that is a blog for later). So the little man takes a bowl and fork and decides to serve himself up some.

So the moment of truth arrives... will he be able to tolerate the spice?  The little man took a bite and said "mmm yummy" he kept eating. His eyes started watering but he ate the whole bowl and then asked "can I have some more please". A very shocked Huey said "Wow! I have never seen a child eat something so hot" he then offered the little man his own bottle of water and signed a napkin which now takes pride of place next to our little man's bed.

A little bit about me

Well since I decided to start a blog about my exploits of getting a "fussy eater" to eat properly. I should put in a bit of information about my self and why I started this blog:

I'm a step mum of a gorgeous 6year old boy who I love as  if he is my own... wait he is my own. I've raised him since he was 15mths old. He was once a "fussy eater" or so that's what we were told... yeah right this child eats us out of house and home. My hubby is actually the one who said I should start a blog so here I am...

I'm a Early Childhood Educator. I have been one since 2002, before that I was a baby sitter for 5 years. So in 15 years of looking after children I've changed more bums, fed more kids and given more advice to parents than I care to remember. I've also seen more children go off to school and kindergarten than some people have had hot dinners.

I hold a diploma in Children's Services, along with my many roles within childcare centres, and OSHC services, I have been acting director at a childcare centre. I'm currently studying my Bachelor of Early Childhood Education while working full time. I'm still learning, we all are constantly.I am just hoping that my battles may help another parent with their "fussy eater'

How do you get your child to eat so well?

 

Quiet often I get asked how on earth do you get your child to eat so well?
The answer is quiet simply: "if he doesn't eat it there are no alternatives".
 
YOU WHAT! That's right we give no alternatives... and this is why:

When my little man was quiet small he became fussy. We took him to our doctor who is a bit of an old fuddy duddy so to speak. But he gave us one of the most useful pieces of advice I could ever have been given which I now am going to empart on you:

"A child will eat what he sees adults eating, he will drink what he sees adults drink. He is watching you for your attitudes on food. If you wouldn't eat the food don't serve it up to him. Fussy eaters are made by the actions of their parents. If parents offer an alternative that is more pleasant than what the child is eating of course they are going to take the better of the two it's a no brainier. Don't give alternatives only foods you want him to have, leave foods you want him to eat at his level and  you will return to half eaten food if he is hungry enough".

It took a while for us to digest this information. Once we had digested it we realised the doctor was right. We discussed at great length what our parents would do if we didn't eat. Both came to the conclusion that if we didn't eat what we were given we would go hungry.

So we embarked on a journey together. I will go through our journey with a list of anecdotes about where we have been. We are fighting a new battle... how do you make sure he eats what is in his lunch box... Stay tuned.