Ladies, I’m so confused. Ada Verastic is 15 months old, and I cannot figure out what to feed her. If I give her any more eggs and milk, she might start laying eggs and lactating. She’s at a very weird age where although she loves her milk (regular whole milk), her belly won’t be full for long. At the same time, she does not eat much else (quantity-wise).
I remember when my cousin, Toby was a baby and my aunt used to buy so many different things for him to try, and he’d like it one week and hate it the next. In Ada Verastic’s case, she’s also teething, and I’ve heard (and experienced) that teething sometimes makes these little people lose their appetite.
Ada Verastic eats a variety of things. In fact, technically, she will eat anything you give her. The problem is that she won’t eat it every time, and when she does eat it, she might not eat a lot. She loves pounded yam and soup and has not shown a preference of one soup over the other, but we don’t eat pounded yam every day or even every week, and when we do, she does not necessarily want it on that day anyway. She likes rice and she likes vegetables, but again, not every time. Also, she has figured out the difference between rice and meat and would often refuse the rice and eat the meat. But the eats meat FOREVER. One hour later, she’s still chewing on a tiny piece of meat.
What she has shown the most consistency with is her hard boiled eggs and milk. I boil an egg and cut it in little pieces and she loves eating that and washing it down with cold milk. Sometimes she finishes it, and sometimes she doesn’t Although, there are days she will refuse it and kick and scream and throw her food down. If you force her too much, she’ll take it and go somewhere and spit it out. These little people!
She also likes cereal, but again, it depends on the day and her mood on that day. Same goes for oatmeal. Sometimes, I worry that she’s not eating enough, although she’s not losing weight and the doctor hasn’t complained. I also don’t want to overfeed her because I understand that sometimes, you just don’t feel like eating. I just don’t know what else to feed her. Oh, and she likes drinking her water – specifically from her Bubba water bottle. She does not seem to be greatly interested in baby juice, which is fine by me.
The other day, I bought the 20-piece nugget from McDonald’s. No, I did not buy all 20 pieces for her. I bought them for all of us – whoever was interested. I ate two out of the 20, while Ada Verastic ate 1.5 after what seemed like forever. It was her first time eating anything from McDonald’s, and she seemed indifferent. The first time we gave her chicken from Popeyes, she seemed to love it. This past weekend, we gave her some again, and she was less than enthusiastic.
What I don’t want to do: I don’t want to feed her a lot of processed food, and I don’t want her to get used to drinking juice because her mother already has a sweet tooth, and I don’t want her to get used to fast food either (really, most times, our fast food here is Chinese food). Oh, speaking of Chinese food, she loves it. She always eats it when we have it, but I’m talking solely about the fried rice from a particular restaurant; I don’t know how she’ll fare with any other Chinese food, and no one here is even interested in trying.
Bottom line: I feel like I’m not doing enough, but I don’t know what else to do. Should I just keep feeding her hard boiled eggs and milk and hoping she doesn’t start laying eggs and lactating? Am I being a mommy and overreacting?
P.S. Ada Verastic’s mom also loves drinking cold milk, so it’s true that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Mashed potato and beans is another good option for toddlers.
She doesn’t seem to love mashed potatoes. She eats it, but never a lot. I’ll try beans though.
I’m not a mom lol, but from my cousins: amala and ewedu was always a winner.
Apparently, all babies love swallow. Interesting.
Okra with fish, mashed potatoes, oatmeal porridge, boiled plaintain, yogurt, pancakes and biscuits. That’s what we have in rotation for my 16 month old.
I haven’t cooked okra in so long, which is weird cause I really like it. She likes fish, not necessarily what you put it in, but the fish by itself. I try to stay away from biscuits, bread, and pancakes, but shoot, I’ll try. If she’ll eat it, then that’s more important. Knowing her, she’ll have a little and get tired.
UGH!!..ok I am not alone, feeling like my toddler is not eating well enough!..he is not loosing weight, infact the ped thinks his growth is too rapid and need me to keep a diary of is food, because he is in the 99th percentile for height and weight, which has been that way from birth…I told her im NOT doing the diary sha especially since im not home with im all day!…But I worry sometimes if he is getting the right balance and I have no idea what to feed him most times.
He eats whatever we eat, which is great!..but he refuses to eat sometimes. he loves his milk and water, cant eat eggs anymore, because he is now severely allergic to eggs and nuts! :(. . don’t like veggies, but I force those on him, hates mashed potatoes and oat meal, just now starting to eat plantains.. LOVES moimoi, rice, eba and of course MEAT! but I cant feed him those everyday and im not sure what little humans his age enjoy, so I can add those to his diet too.
Girrrrllllll, I feel you all the way! I don’t remember Ada Verastic’s percentile in growth, but I know that height-wise, she’s apparently tall for her age. I didn’t even notice until she was standing next to a baby her age and she was way taller. I’m sorry about the allergies. That sucks. And just like you, I can’t really feed her swallow everyday. Who has that kind of time? Lol. I need to make some moi moi; I don’t remember if she likes it. We’ll learn as we go along, and soon, we’ll be experts — or as close as possible to being experts.
From my experience every child is different. Some eat just about anything and everything while others are overtly picky eaters. Continue to offer variety of foods. Some days she will eat more than enough and other days she will eat less. Just because she like one type of food one day doesn’ t mean everytime you offer it to her she will eat it. I have learned to be patient and not too hard on myself. Ive been told by othet experienced mothers that sometimes it is a phase. I give my first two older children gummy vites and my first child is super picky so we supplement her sometimes not eating with pediasure which she loves!! Like i said variety is key and dont have expectations with her likes and dislikes.
Thank you, Kachi! I’m glad that she is “open” to everything, but I just wish she’d eat more of it. But thank you anyway. I’ll try not to think about it too much, especially since the doctor said she’s fine.
Lol. I have a 21month old who eats like ada.
Today he’s interested tomorrow he isn’t.
He does boiled eggs. And loves his milk and beverage.
I just roll with it. On his eating days we eat. On no food days we do milk and egg and pancakes. Pancakes are always loved. As long as she’s not losing weight and takes nutritional foods. She’s ok
Lion no dey born goat. if e born goat e go chop am! Her Mum loves milk and her Dad loves eggs! Lol! Don’t fuss, introduce her to different foods and over time she will show her preference. You are already on the right track with trying to avoid fast foods. The last thing you want is a fussy eater and if you are anxious about her eating she will pick up on that and get anxiety aroud meal times. Trust your instincts – you are her Mum. x
Vera,
Check out micha’s meals. A kiddie book full of awesome recipes. A Nigerian lady wrote it and the feedback has been awesome. Her name’s amaka Benson. Makybenson on instagram – loads of inspo!
I had the same issues, and bought maky benson’s book (micah’s meals). It’s pricey, but worth it. I’m yet to actually make a meal from it (so so busy), but it’s full of great recipes for kids
@
Love reading your blog,
Toddlers always tend to have a particular preference for foods, my 19 month toddler will eat sweet potatoes, pancakes, loves her rice cereal/Cheerios and plantain. She drinks lots of milk, she loves to eat from my food if l buy chipotle, when it comes to veggies, loves sweet corn and carrots.
You have to introduce the foods little by little like a favorite cereal with her milk, pancakes or waffle breakfast and you lucky she eats egg. My toddler hates egg right now.lol
Also, make yummy sounds with her food when feeding her…might just solve the worry!
You can try ‘Tom Brown’ there are recipes for it online. Hope that helps.
Vera, I don’t have pikin oh but I recently read about a book written by makybenson and it apparently contains healthy recipes for toddlers including swallow.
I second amala and ewedu
Don’t worry yourself too much though. As long as she’s healthy and does No 2 well.
Dear Vera, you are overthinking this matter. Your baby eats pretty much everything. You are soooo lucky. I’m still trying to convince my 10 year old that okra is edible and moi-moi is not pudding gone bad. Feed her whatever you cook. Remember her tummy is the size of her fist, so she can only eat so much. You will love her more for eating whatever you put in front of her when those confusingly identical twin boys arrive and you find that you don’t need to cook different meals for every member of your household(this is my current palaver, husband and 3 kids eat different foods at every meal). Please don’t be like me, don’t become a live-in caterer. Encourage her to eat what you eat