GainesvilleMoms.com

I found this article interesting.

I saw this article too, and unfortunately I'm guilty of many of these mistakes. I always send my boys out of the kitchen when I've got the burners going on the stove. I just couldn't stand it if they burned themselves if I looked away for a second.

Okay, this article made me feel good. I do alot of the things in here they say to do. I always include my kids..all three of them in cooking dinner. My three year old grabs her 'chair' that she uses to stand at our counter the minute she hears we are going to cook. I have alway been very careful with the stove...and she has a 'safe spot' we taught her stand on whenever the oven door is opened up. I do include a bit of everything cooked on her plate but do not make her take a bite of anything she doesn't want to. I have fruit in our fruit bowl all the time too.

However...I do keep the 'good' snacks out of reach and I do cave in and make her a grilled cheese or something she likes if she just can't stand what we made....but she is only 32 pounds at 3 years old and she really can't shed any pounds without being rail thin....

I can't imagine trying to keep our 3 year old out of the kitchen when I am cooking. She has long been a fan of the "Cake" channel (Food Network) and I think she thinks Paula Deen is family. I let her come in and stand on a chair to watch and she is allowed to help with some things but she doesn't have to be told twice to move away from the oven when it gets opened - she actually will stop me until she is completely out of the room!

I had hoped getting her more involved would encourage her to try more foods, but she is SUCH a non-eater! If I could figure out how to live on 3 nuggets and a piece of fruit and have that energy level - I would write the next best selling diet book! She will put on her apron and help me thru every step but will not eat it. She did surprise me today by asking for Crab Cakes (really!) so I put the ingredients on the list for this week.

I am afraid she will become sick if she doesn't eat more, but she gets a daily vitamin and drinks a variety of juice/milk/water and is full of energy so I try not to worry. She is almost 3 and a half and weighs 27 pounds but her Dr says she's fine, quit bugging her to eat! On a happy note, tonight even though she asked for McDonald's for dinner, she decided scrambled eggs and sliced bananas was fine. Ate it all, too!

quote:

Originally posted by michelle v:

I am afraid she will become sick if she doesn't eat more, but she gets a daily vitamin and drinks a variety of juice/milk/water and is full of energy so I try not to worry. She is almost 3 and a half and weighs 27 pounds but her Dr says she's fine, quit bugging her to eat! On a happy note, tonight even though she asked for McDonald's for dinner, she decided scrambled eggs and sliced bananas was fine. Ate it all, too!

Hi Michelle V

How tall is your three year old?? Mine is 3 too, born on Jan 29th 05, she is 32.1 pounds and 39 and 3/4 inches tall. She is at 90% on the height chart but only 15% for her weight. I saw your daughter was 27 pounds and just wondered how tall she was because I too fight the "please eat battle" and mine too would happily survive on fruit, veggies and chicken nuggets(but only about 3 on a good day)!

My daughter is a pretty good eater. I definitely can't complain. But every once in a while she simply just doesn't want to eat. So I'd say I'm guily of the mistake of pressuring her to eat or I'll bargain with her. Like I'll tell her if she takes a bite then she can have something else she wants - a sip of juice or something.

I've really been trying not to do that and just to let it go if she doesn't want to eat. I know she will eat eventually, but I don't have to worry about her being too thin. I'm sure if she was in the lower precentage for weight I'd be worried too.

klmorg/Karen - our daughter is 36 and 1/4 inches tall (just had her stand against a wal and measured) and she is in almost the same percentile as yours. I actually quit following those charts as they added to my concerns. I was SO mad with her first pediatrician because from her 9 mo to her 15 mo checkups she did not gain one pound and he had me weigh her 5 times in one visit! He "instructed" me to begin a food journal for her at her 12 mo visit and had the other Drs and a couple of nurses/PAs come in to weigh her and ask me about how I was feeding her, how often, how much - I swear I thought DCF would be waiting for me in the parking lot! He looked at me, and I am overweight and have been for years, and in his mind he decided I was depriving her due to my "unhealthy eating habits". Mind you when I was young, I was a teeny thing. My Dad's family had a metabolism to die for but I got my Mom's genes and theirs is not so good. Just made me so angry and made me doubt myself as a parent. Notice i said her "first" pediatrician as we have changed to a new one and he is fine with her.

I hear you about the nuggets - if I could get that energy from so little food I would be thrilled!!

quote:

Originally posted by michelle v:
klmorg/Karen - our daughter is 36 and 1/4 inches tall (just had her stand against a wal and measured) and she is in almost the same percentile as yours. I actually quit following those charts as they added to my concerns. I was SO mad with her first pediatrician because from her 9 mo to her 15 mo checkups she did not gain one pound and he had me weigh her 5 times in one visit! He "instructed" me to begin a food journal for her at her 12 mo visit and had the other Drs and a couple of nurses/PAs come in to weigh her and ask me about how I was feeding her, how often, how much - I swear I thought DCF would be waiting for me in the parking lot! He looked at me, and I am overweight and have been for years, and in his mind he decided I was depriving her due to my "unhealthy eating habits". Mind you when I was young, I was a teeny thing. My Dad's family had a metabolism to die for but I got my Mom's genes and theirs is not so good. Just made me so angry and made me doubt myself as a parent. Notice i said her "first" pediatrician as we have changed to a new one and he is fine with her.

I hear you about the nuggets - if I could get that energy from so little food I would be thrilled!!

Thats too funny...I too could stand to lose some weight and always think people are thinking 'give the kid some food', lol! Luckily my pediatrician knows my family well enough not to worry about me not feeding her well. My daughter also did not gain weight from about 15 months old to just until about 4 months ago she went from 28 pounds to 32..but she grew taller and seems to be holding steady now at 32 pounds.