Smoothies only

[Raw Angel Mom]

Hello, my daughter is now two years old, still not talking but just a couple words now and then.

She still refuse to chew food and just want raw smoothies that i make and my milk that i pump daily.

I would like her to chew food and to start be interested to eat like us.

I think this from one fear, i made something spicy and she grabbed it to taste without for me to have time to stop her. She may think that my food isn't good, etc...BUT this incident happened last summer

Anyway, she doesn't want to chew a piece of banana (her smoothies are made with this) or anything else.

Any advice to help me to introduce her to chew food now and eat.

Thank you!

[rawmonkey]

I understand about children equating one bad experience with something and resisting to try again :( . Just at thought, what if you froze one of her smoothies in a pop cycle mold and let her suck on it, then progress her to a chunk of frozen banana, then to banana ice cream and finally to a room temp banana? My thought was that baby stepping things might allay some of her fears :) .

Be assured that she will eat solids in time and that rushing her into it may make things worse. I would continue to offer her solid foods whenever she is watching you eat. You are doing a wonderful job with the breast milk and smoothies :D . Your little girl is blessed to have such a concerned mommy :) .

Take care,

Christina

[Raw Angel Mom]

Thank you Christina, i am going to try that and let you know how thing goes.

[OneBite@aTime]

Maybe you could take her to the store to pick out "big girl" dinnerware-her own plate/cup/spoon and fork? You could offer her a few pieces on her plate along with the usual each meal-no pressure.....if she does not eat it when it's time to clear the table....I'd eat them myself with a "mmmmm mmmmmm that _______is so good" That way-it's there when she's ready, she's seen it often and there is still no pressure.

[momma-rawma]

Unrelated to food--but my daughter had severely burned her toes at my moms house when she accidently switched on the hot water as we exited the tub. She was 18 months old at the time....and a few things happened. She got more clingy to me (not a big deal at all...but she basically went back to what she was a few months prior), had a fear of any water that was above slightly warm....and had been taking infant water safety lessons and essentially wouldn't kick after the burn (we were out for 2 weeks). From my knowledge from the research behind those lessons, babies learn by touch from birth--and as they grow older....by age 5, they can learn by voice.

So--for example...

in the swim lessons--you can't tell a baby to float. They won't do it--but instead, touch is used to teach them how to float, so that when they feel water of that magnitude, their auto-response is to float (or find the float).

Now how in the world does this relate to your daughter?

Well--when my daughter burned her toes--she kept her toes still and screamed. Her toes learned that when water...any water...hot or cold...didn't matter...she was to keep them still. Hence she couldn't learn how to kick--b/c her toes remembered that burn and that when her toes touched water..to remain absolutely still. It took her another year and a half to learn how to kick. (the next summer--she did one flutter kick after 4 weeks of lessons....the following summer she finally kicked for real...at almost age 4! She was growing mature enough to follow voice commands).


Your daughter had a scary experience with something that burned her mouth (just in taste...I imagine no injury occurred)---and she was chewing at the time. Since she was sooo young, she probably basically learned by touch that chewing burns. Inadvertently, but that may have been what happened. And she is only 2 and you can't reason that the same thing won't happen again--she learned the touch...and it may be a couple of years before she grows out of that touch-learning as what happened to my daughter.

With time--that will heal so to speak. She's still young--and she's 2 and you can't reason with her that it won't burn the next time.

I agree with basically just continue to demonstrate...and eventually, she will test the waters again with chewing and realize that it doesn't burn.

But your post reminded me of my daughters non-food experience...that created an unusual response for her.

Just keep presenting and one day she will pick it up.

The great thing about babes....

1) they won't starve themselves..if they are hungry...they will eventually consume nourishment.

2) the smoothies are GREAT!!! I'd keep making them. My sisters daughter eats horribly (they cater to the few things she will eat which includes...hot dogs! :mad: ) and they were stressing themselves that she wasn't eating enough. They saw a nutritionist who stated my first statement...but then "prescribed" one of those nasty drinks they sell to get all the "vitamins". Well--you are millions of times better with a smoothy! And if your child is drinking those...just keep making them.

3) She will be just fine. :) Demonstrate--but don't make it an issue. The more of an issue that is made with trying to get her to do something she isn't ready to do (chew food)...the more a battle of wills it will become.

4) Relax ;)