Picky Eater/bad Habits/a Child Friendly Environment for a Bday Party

My grandson, now 3, was drinking too much milk too. Then his mom discovered that it was also making him constipated, so now his milk intake is restricted and he gets water and some juice too. Yes, he objected, but you have to be firm. You will have to gradually reduce it somehow, and substitute some variety of foods. He may object, but he will not starve.
As for birthday parties, at two years of age, you can still keep it small with one or two friends. They are really too young to know the difference. The rule of one friend per year is pretty good. Three yrs. old, three friends. Keeps it sane for you, too.
Grandma H.

Hi E M,

When I wanted my son to stop drinking from the bottle I just stopped giving it to him. At first it was really hard. He would use the sippy cup for juice but not for milk. So the first few nights he just threw it on the floor but after the second night he started to use it regularly for milk too. It will be tough but just say that's all we have and don't cave in to his tantrums b/c he knows you will feel bad and give it to him. And with being a picky eater, don't feel too bad some kids are just picky. As long as he is eating table foods that is good just keep giving the food to him. Sometimes my son instantly spits something out or won't try it but if I leave it in front of him usually 10 min later he tries it. Just keep giving him different foods.

This is all just my opinion, so please don't take offense. But , why are you still giving your son baby food if he likes regular food? Table food is so much better for him, and cheaper too. You're the parent and if you don't teach your son proper eating habits now, you're going to have problems for the rest of his childhood. At least until he's a teeager and eats everything in sight :) I feel like teaching my son to eat a properly balanced diet is one of the most important things I can do for him. I want him to be a healthy child, and a healthy adult, that all starts with eating right. It sounds like your son is a big boy, which isn't a bad thing at all, but if you don't teach him to eat right he could be an unhealthy big boy later. My husband and I both have the fat genes, so I know my son could always lean that way. It's one of the reasons I feel so strongly about good eating. My husband has terrible eating habits, that I'm trying to correct, but he's set in his ways. I don't want my son to grow up like that. Again this is all my opinion, but I just think proper eating is essential. It isn't too late to teach your son.
As for the sippy cup, have you tried the ones with straws? That's all my son would ever use. He's always hated the sippy cups.
About the milk...what's wrong with drinking milk? I wish my son would, but he hates the stuff. So I have to figure out other ways for him to get his calcium. My son loves his juice, but he knows he only gets his one cup in hte mornings, and that's half water. The rest of the day he only gets water. Maybe you could set times for the milk and bottle. Gradually wean him off of it. You could start with morning, nap time and bed time. Weaning is hard, good luck!
You really should put your foot down with the soda though. That stuff is just poison. Do you remember the science experiments in school? An iron nail will rust in a glass of coke in just a few weeks. Mechanics pour coke on engines to eat away stubborn buildup, and paramedics pour coke on pavement to clean up blood stains. All this stuff is true not myth. Now can you imagine what the stuff does to your insides? ALL my friends and relatives know that I will do VERY bad things to them if they ever give my child so much as a sip of soda. I know I'm a little extreme in my views, but I think the decision to destroy his body is something my son should make an educated decision about when he's older. Same as smoking. I know I'm over the top, but if I don't act this way I know someone will sneak him bad things.
About the b-day party..... I'm in the same boat. My sons b-day is July and I'm already trying to figure something out. Sugar Sand park in Boca has an awesome playground, good for kids of all ages. It even has a carousel. The only thing is you have to be a resident of Boca to rent a pavillion. It's a great park though. The playground has some water stuff to play with too. It's on Military Trail just south of Palmetto, you should check it out.
Good luck with everything!

Hi - Suggestion regarding picky eater, especially regarding the amount of milk. Try diluting it. Start gradual - maybe only an ounce of water - and every couple of days, add a little more water. He'll get used to it. What percent milk do you use? Try going to a lower fat level as an alternative to the diluting. If he drinks whole milk, go to 2 or even 1%. He does need some of the fat in it but not necessarily whole milk.

As to the food issue, maybe he doesn't like the texture of the food in the jars. Give it to him fresh or partially cooked. Besides, the jar food is more expensive as it's a convenience food, so going to fresh is going to save you some money. Nothing wrong with his taste buds. They all go through it. Mine got hung up on hot dogs and mac 'n' cheese for what seemed like eternity!!

You need to put your foot down on grandma and grandpa giving your baby soda!! It is SOOOOOOO bad for them! Pure sugar. Even worse if they give him diet soda. Most diet sodas contain Asparatame, which has two pages worth of side effects! They include weight gain, depression, hyperactivity, mood swings, and on and on and on. The soda, though will rot his teeth before he has any. He's your child and if they won't abide by your rules, then they should not be watching him for you. Yep - give them the ultimatum.

Do you read to him? Babies LOVE to be read to and you will be amazed at what he picks up on! We used to even go through mail order catalogs, calendars, etc., and identify the items to my son. He's 13 now and is above average in his learning skills. If you have the means, get a library card and make it a weekly event for him. He'll grow up appreciating it.

Dear E M,
I truly hope that you do not take offense to my response. With 3 children of my own, I hope that my insight (along with other moms) can help you out. My 3rd child is 19 months and has been off of the bottle since he was 11 months. I introduced sippy cups as a treat and slowly began using them more and more until I stopped using bottles all together. At 22 months, your little baby boy should not be drinking from a bottle. Also, are you giving your boy whole milk? My baby has been on whole milk since his first birthday and my ped says he only needs to be on whole milk until his second birthday. The extra fat in whole milk is for brain development. After age 2, it is only providing fat...and you said your baby is pudgy around the midesection. Personally, I drink 1 % and I provide 1% to the rest of my family. My baby is the only one drinking whole milk...and once he turns 2, he will also be drinking 1% like us. My ped said it's OK. I don't stop my baby from drinking milk. He won't drink water as often as I'd like and I refuse to give him sugary juice so I dilute his juice with water but if he wants milk, I give my baby milk. Milk is not a bad beverage choice. I certainly wish I can get my 8 and 5 1/2 year old to drink more milk.

Why are you still feeding your son baby food out of a jar? He is turning his face from it because he doesn't like it. I'm curious about this because at 22 months, he should have most, if not all of his important teeth for chewing. He should be eating what you eat at every meal...just cut up in smaller pieces. Ditch the baby food...and like you said, he likes table food so give him table food.
Bananas are good. Give him bananas...but DO try to introduce other fruits. Buy stuff you enjoy eating so it won't go to waste if he doens't like it...but let him taste everything you eat. Make fruit smoothies with cut up fresh fruit, yogurt, and fruit juice or soy milk. You can find lots of smoothie recipes online...and they are good and healthy for anyone.

Lastly, I would put a stop to the grandparents giving your son soda. This is YOUR child and they are giving him nothing more than flavored sugar water. This will contribute to weight gain and if you're not actively brushing his teeth, it will promote tooth decay. Just within the past year and a half have I allowed my daughters to occasionally have a very small cup of soda. I don't buy the stuff for our home but when we are at a chuch function, I will sometimes let them have soda. Mostly they drink water.

Good luck...

I would stick to table food & forget the babyfood...
as for the milk, I would only give a bottle before sleeping & that's it. I would always have a sippy of water (personally, I don't give juice)out & about & available for him to reach throughout the day. try a straw cup or a regular plastic cup, since you say he likes to drink from a cup- water won't ruin too much.
for the milk, maybe try a Nuby brand soft silicone spout cup. it's pretty much like a bottle. maybe offer that before nap & a 'real' bottle before bed. that's all the milk I would give. if at other times he cries for his bottle, explain "milk is for night-night. milk is for night-night. It's time for water."
it's hard but just keep doing it. eventually you can work on getting rid of the bottle all together, but for now I'd just work on limiting the bottle/Nuby to 2 times a day.
As for the soda(!) I would be so ANGRY with whomever was giving a child this!! that's just ME. I would try to explain that there is no NEED for soda- it's full of sugar (& if it's diet soda, it's full of chemicals! Actually, 'regular' soda is FULL of chemicals, too!)and has no nutritional value. I hope they listen to you!

For the fruit, just keep offering it. try papaya, kiwi, pear, apple, melon, everything. one day he'll surprise you & eat it!

I don't know what to say about the party. maybe a park & get a bounce house? sometimes the bounce house people have extra people you can hire to clean up. then you can order pizza or trays of Italian food (pretty cheap) and get drinks (juice boxes, soda for the ADULTS, waters)& snacks etc...

HTH

I would think an almost 2 yr old is too old for baby food. That is just my opinion!!!! I would just stick with the table food. My daughter loves fruit, carrots, cucumbers, mac and cheese, hot dogs, peanut butter/cheese/turkey sandwichces, mini waffles and pancakes (frozen-eggo), chicken, and pizza. That is all I can think of right now.

Picky eater? Thats called being spoiled. How do you stop a baby from something he likes so much? Dont continue to give him more. Soda? Does mum have any understanding of the damage it is doing to your children. Your pediatrician is kindly telling you your child is getting fat. Its up to us as parents and grandparents to be more aware of how much extra food and treats our children dont need. As for your birthday venue, please don't forget he is 2 years old, I'm sure he doesnt even remember the clubhouse from last year.

Children need love, clear guidlines and structure, not unlimited food and monetary things.
You've got 16 more years of doing this, if you dont get a handle on it now your son will be ruling you.

Have you thought about TradeWinds Park in Pompano?

When they were two-ish, it was a great place for birthday parties for our boys (assuming that the weather was good). You do have to reserve the gazebos, but if you get there early enough, it's usually pretty easy to snag a picnic table or two by the playground next to the pony rides (a hit from about 10 months until they're old enough to ride a real horse). If you go the 2nd weekend of the mont (March 15-16 or April 19-20) the TradeWinds Atlantic Railroad guys will be giving rides on the little trains around the lake too (also a *huge* hit with the 2 year-old set).

If you're daring, you can take them to Butterfly World while you're there too! (18-36 months is not a really butterfly friendly age... for the butterflies.)

-Scott (Hubby to S.)

... you can always pack up the party and take it to Chuck E.'s if the weather doesn't cooperate! :)

sweety i am mom of 5 kids the reason he isnt eating is because he keeps drinking.. toss the bottles out let him scream and buy ear plugs. he is almost 2 and dosent need a bottle anymore anyways. it will be harder on you then on him.Maybe get him something else as a lovie first though. i made a game out of it the same way i did with the diapers. with my youngest who is now 5 she wouldnt potty train or give up her bottle for anything !! So i stole an idea from super nanny and put her diapers in a bag and told her the diaper fairy was going to take them to a mommy with a new baby who needed her diapers.I then hung them out in a tree ( she helped ). then after she went to sleep i took the diapers down and put a few sets of panties in her bag to find the next morning.. worked like a charm.. maybe you can do the same thing with the bottles too .. worth a try anyways. as for the picky eating he isnt starving right, ya said he is chunky. instead of making him meals ive him healthy snacks instead.get rid of the junk foods or whatever he is craving. remember YOUR in charge not him.instead of a sippy cup what if you got him a sippy cup with an atatched straw in it ? we had oone for emma and the straw folded down and fit in the diaper bag and didnt spill TG .
as for the birthday party can you afford to rent a bounce house ? another thought is a tumble bus but it depends on what area you are in if they have one in your area or not. he is still small for a big party i never did parties for my kids ( other then close family) till they are about 5 . you didnt say what state you are in so i cant help you much with the party ideas , except for what we have done here.if he likes the park why not do a party there. We did it before and they had alot of fun kids ranged in age from 3-13. i made ahead little cakes ( heart shape 0 and baked them up i bought small tubes of decorator icing and they could decorate the cakes as they wanted and took them home after wards. it was a hit with everyone.
if you need more ideas let me know..

E M,

Hi, I am also a stay at home mom. I went through a rough spot with my soon to be 3 year old giving up the bottle. I finally just took them away. Of course I just sat a sippy cup of water out for him and he will drink it if he gets thirsty enough, trust me! As for the food, I am with the other mom that says to stick with table food. Get the baby food out of the house, if he knows that it is in the house then he is going to want it. The same with the bottles if he knows that they are gone he won't be asking for them any longer. I also found sippy cups that my son actually liked drinking from. As for the grandparents you have to tell them what you want, after all you are the parent and you are the one that needs to set the rules for what he is to be eating and drinking.

As for the birthday thing, try Boomers or maybe Kabooms.

Good luck.

S.
SAHM of 3 boys 13, 5 and 2(almost 3)

Hi E M
I had the same problem with my daughter - only wanting the bottle and not being interested in eating. Personally, I believe she was just full from drinking milk all day, which is why she didn't eat. You say the bottles need to go. Trust me, it is not easy, but with some kids YOU are the one who needs to make that decision. My daughter was almost FOUR years old and still with her bottle because I was waiting for her to be done with it. One day during a temper-tantrum, she threw the bottle at my husband's feet and refused to pick it up! That was the end of her bottles. We threw them away so they were out of sight. She cried for her bottle for about 3 days, but soon accepted that she was not getting it back. I bought her a gift for being a "big girl" and simply told her it's part of growing up... bottles are for babies. Good luck and BE STRONG.
M. H

Unique Kids Parties on Lake Worth Rd, Lake Worth is great for kids parties and not that expensive.

You have mentioned that you are offering your son baby foods and prepared foods. It may be as simple as offering him what you are eating. By this age they are ready for "real food". They get tired of baby food. Just make sure you cut everything up in small pieces and he'll be fine. As for the milk I'm sure that you feel that in some way he needs it to compensate for not eating. The problem is that he is filling up on the milk and satisfying himself to a degree so he doesn't need the food. I know its hard because you don't want to feel like you are starving your baby. He will be fine. He is old enough to have acquired likes and dislikes by now. I am the mother of a 23 month old who started eating our food at the age of 9 months when she absolutely refused baby food. She still says yuck about some of the food. It's a lot of trial and error, but your baby won't starve. Best wishes.

Well, I'll tell you the truth, have you tasted these Gerber foods? They taste horrible!!!! That's why your baby prefers home food, I'll do the same if I was him. Anyway, home food can be healthlier that Gerber's. Don't be afraid if he doesn't want to eat that much, that's normal for some ages.
About milk, well is good for him, sometimes you can put an egg and a little bit of sugar to that milk.
Maybe you can add water to some of his bottles to make him drink more water. And if he does not drink juices, some fruits will make the same job.

my child is 23 months and she recently just gave up the bottle. She would drink juice or water from the sippy cup, but not milk. We assumed that she associated milk with the bottle and we let her have it in the am and pm. I started buying 2% milk and she didn't want any milk for about a week or so, and my sitter said maybe try giving her milk with chocolate or strawberry (pink) milk in the sippy cup. we did and it worked. no more bottles and now she's addicted to strawberry, sugarless, milk. She's petite and so she needs her milk and i wasn't going to harm her by taking away her bottle. my friends child is almost 5 and drinks milk only from a bottle at night. everything else is from a regular cup. let it be said she never used sippy cups on her kids. she went from bottles straight to cups.
as far as the food is concerned, she went from jar food to table food but still can eat jar food mostly chicen noodle when she's sick. however she is picky now and all she ever wants is rice, or macaroni or mac n cheese, not much of a meat eater, which of course worries me because she's small, but everyone tells me she'll be ok because she'll eat when she wants to eat. Children won't starve. so just keep that in mind. that's probably the only thing they have control over and they will use it.
for the party... the park or the beach. play some games, like soccer or dodgeball or volleyball or catch, have bubbles, or relay races, a bounce house....for food you can always get little ceasar's pizza ($5) and juice or water. get all paper or plastic utensils and cups, etc that way at the end of the day all you have to do is wrap everything up in the plastic or paper table cover and throw it in the garbage bin.

Your son sounds like my daughter! (She's 27 months) It is not that unusual for a child to become a very picky eater between 1 and 2 yrs. Our daughter has never been a good eater and it just got worse after about 18 months old. Thankfully, our pediatrician told us to be prepared for it and not to be too concerned, so we stopped worrying! Like your son, all she drinks is milk and barely drinks water or juice. A food she likes today she'll say she doesn't like if we offer it to her again the next day. She won't even try a food before declaring she doesn't like it, so I understand how frustrating it can be. Still, try not to worry, especially since his weight is fine. I don't have any advice about getting rid of the bottle - none of my children ever took one so I never had to cross that bridge. I'm sure you'll get lots of advice on that point from the other responding moms (Isn't Mamasource the best!)

As for the birthday party...do you have a My Gym down your way? If so, you may want to look into it. The one up here (we're in St. Lucie Cnty) is fantastic and has a wonderful birthday party program. I'd highly recommend it.

Good luck with everything; I'm sure it'll all work out fine.

A.

Of course every baby is different, but my youngest would not touch any solid food until one day when we tried yogurt, and then he plopped his face into it! If your son develops a taste for yogurt you may be able to get him to eat fruit that way. Another alternative for milk is fruit smoothies. He may want to try drinking from a regular cup through a fancy straw.

You absolutely cannot allow sodas. They are so bad for his teeth, and do nothing for him nutritionally. Tell his grandparents that the pediatrician will not allow it.

I have a less expensive idea for a party. Hold it in a park area with picnic tables and pavilion. Hire a neighborhood teen or two to be a party helper, and pay her $10 an hour to help with the cleanup. Food can be simple--plates of tiny sandwiches and mini banana splits with yogurt and granola topping. Bring a paper tablecloth and boxes of crayons for fun. Or, have you looked into one of the water parks with a baby pool?