My 3 1/2 year old daughter has always been a light eater, she's picky and requires a long time to eat her food. Recently everytime we sit down to eat, she will nibble for a few minutes and then complain that she is hot. Does anyone have any similar experiences or advice. Thanks.
My oldest who is now almost 6 started the same thing at roughly the same age except it was that his throat hurt. It's a phase. An extremely rough very annoying phase.
Good luck to you!
2 options tell her NO. and serve what you planned if she eats it fine, otherwise she can go hungry. but make sure its something you know she likes. shes just going thru a picky food stage and will have to snap out of it eventually when she gets hungry enough.
the other option is to buy the frozen fried chicken and give it to her whenever she wants it for as long as she wants it. eventually she will get tired of it.
i have a 2 and 3yr old going thru a picky food stage. been going thru it over a year now. its so annoying. ive tried everything. nothing much seems to work til they decide they are done. no use battling thru it. just find something that will appease her, but at the same time continue to offer other things and even strongly push her to at least have a couple bites of everything else.
S.:
I'm sorry to hear you have a picky eater. I don't have that problem at all. There are times when my boys will turn their noses up to the food and say "I'm not going to eat that" I tell them "fine - go to bed" they pick up their fork and start eatting.
If she says she's "hot" have you checked her temperature? Does she appear to be sweating or having any allergic reactions (hives, red spots, etc.) to the food presented to her? If not - she's showing you who's in control - her.
I do NOT and will NOT EVER fix a special meal for a child because they do not like what everyone else is having. Like my pediatrician told me, they will eat when they are hungry.
She's old enough to eat what you prepare for everyone else. She's not an infant. Set a time limit on how long she can eat - when the time is up - she's excused from the table and has to get ready for bed. If she's hungry - she'll have to learn to eat faster. I know this sounds cruel and hard, however, you are letting her control your life - with everything else a mother has to do, the last thing you need to do is watch your almost 4 year-old eat, wait to clean up the table, get the coffee ready for the next day, lunches ready for the next day, the baby fed, the dog walked, laundry done or anything else you have on your plate - do you see what I am getting at? Your time and hers can and will be better spent if you set limits and keep to them. As it stands, she's in control and she knows it.
My girlfriend has a 10 year old daughter who pulled this - she ONLY ate certain foods - well, my girlfriend caved and for the longest time fixed two separate meals so that her daughter would eat. Well, we would invite them over and I wouldn't fix anything special for her - neither would other friends who invited them over and guess what? She ATE! Needless to say - Rhonda was SHOCKED and stopped caudling (spelling) her daughter.
When I was a kid - I played the "I have to go to the bathroom" thing to avoid doing my chores after dinner - thinking my mom or siblings would get tired of waiting and do it for me. At first they did - then they didn't I missed out on some play time (I lived in Hawaii) and beach time because my chores weren't done.
I hope you are able to take back control - set time limits and stick to them. If she's not having an allergice reaction - she's controling the situation. You are going to be tired and have a long list of things to do if you let it go on.
Best of luck.
Cheryl
Yes, my son does this. I don't think its food or allergy related. I think its more that we interrupted his tv show and he know that if he doesn't feel well, we'll let him go back and lie down (i.e. turn the tv back on).
The trick I use with my son is that I get the thermometer out and stick it under his arm. 'if the thermometer says that you're hot then you can go lay down for 5 minutes then you have to come back'.
Good luck.
M.
I am laughing, not at you, but just thinking about how my daughter did the same thing when she was two years old. She would cry, have a fit, then say she was hot. Don't know why she chose to say she was hot. Now at age 4, thank goodness, she is better with her eating. Still very picky, but no longer screams that she's hot. Now when she doesn't want to eat she says her tummy hurts. It's just a phase, and it'll get easier.
