<p>Please stop labeling her “good” or “bad” as in good eater and bad sleeper. Accept her as she is, in all her glory.</p>
<p>I suppose you’re right Batllo, though if you had said that to me back when I was insanely sleep deprived and so was she, I may have argued. 
It’s true that it wasn’t her issue so much as a matter of trial and error. However, it’s also true that any family member’s habits can make life much harder for the rest of the family, and it sounds a bit like you’re suggesting that we just let her go on doing unhealthy things instead of trying to find a way of improving things. It’s not like it’s a subjective value judgment to say that things were worse when she didn’t sleep well, and now they’re better – or even to suggest that she had not yet gotten the hang of how to sleep in a healthy way (ie bad sleeper) and then eventually got the hang of it (ie becoming a good sleeper). But you are absolutely right that we should not place value judgments on what sort of person/child she is based on these things – especially when it’s so dependent on our own parenting skills. </p>
<p>I think there’s also a large difference between complaining about a child’s habit that makes family life difficult and not accepting a child. If she turns out to be gay or transgendered or something else, I’ll still be fine with all of those things. But it’s hard to accomplish day-to-day living tasks when one’s child won’t sleep or eat.</p>
<p>You are gaining more and more confidence in your parenting. Lucky baby. Best wishes.</p>
<p>PhysicsMom, we all love giving advice to you too! I suspect that when my own children have babies, my advice might not be so welcome . . . . The nice thing about giving you advice is that there are no “issues” that are associated with it.</p>
<p>Congratulations on figuring her out PhysicsMom. I could use some help figuring out my own today and most days!</p>
<p>Enjoy your success! Take it inside of you and really feel it build your inner confidence up strong. You have found a method to resolving situations that may come up. You may need to tweak it in the future, but you have experienced the problem, along with the frustration, the information gathering, the trial and error, and finally, the success! You, are a bright, capable mother who is much more capable and confident than just weeks ago. Take it with you to the future. Enjoy that sweet baby of yours :D</p>
<p>Come back again when she’s a teen-ager if you need to. They’re a whole 'nuther ballgame :)</p>
<p>Congratulations PhysicsMom and hooray for CC parents!</p>
<p>Sounds like you are well on your way.</p>
<p>Also, regarding your partner, I respectfully disagree with Annuduhmom. He sounds like a terrified, young father which, in my book, is a very positive thing. He obviously takes his responsibility very seriously. His biggest problem may be that his daughter will run circles around him in no time. Fortunately, he sounds “trainable” (I’m only half kidding.) After all, he has been able to restrain his instincts and go along with your “food offering” plan. Worrying is one of the hardest things to restrain in oneself, especially where your child is concerned, so it bodes well that he was able to do that.</p>
<p>PhysicsMom - why are you giving your daughter Pediasure? Is this on the advice of your pediatrician? Does she have a health or growing problem?</p>
<p>It has more calories than regular milk. We just give er one in the morning. She doesn’t have growing problems, but she was too hungry to calm down and eat without giving her some pediasure in the morning. Because her pediatrician is not particularly helpful, this is not on her advice. Are there dangers of pediasure that I wasn’t aware of? </p>
<p>Also, though she grows like a weed, she’s always been 90% height, 10% weight.</p>
<p>The concern is she is getting filled up with Pediasure and not grazing on solid foods. The goal was to wean her off baby foods and towards a wider variety of foods and textures of foods.</p>
<p>She’s not getting filled up with pediasure. She’s filling up just enough to not be a screaming, starving mess. I’m pretty sure the pediasure has allowed her to stay calm enough to do all the grazing she has done rather than an impediment to that.</p>
<p>When my dog was a puppy, we concentrated on giving her nutrition rather than calories, it’s better for their bones and overall health and she is still doing pretty well at 15 & 1/2. unless your daughter is actually underweight,I think it would be better to give food rather than a formula.</p>
<p>My daughter as I mentioned was not on the chart for weight for years,but her dr never suggested that we add supplements like pediasure.</p>
<p>SOunds kinda yucky to me
I also think that by acclimating her to expecting sweet things at a time when her taste buds are developing, could be a problem later.</p>
<p>Water, Sugar (Sucrose), Corn Maltodextrin, Milk Protein Concentrate, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Soy Oil, Whey Protein Concentrate, Medium-Chain Triglycerides. Less than 0.5% of the Following: Soy Protein Isolate, Short-Chain Fructooligosaccharides, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Cellulose Gel, Magnesium Phosphate, Potassium Citrate, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Phosphate, Salt (Sodium Chloride), Cellulose Gum, Choline Chloride, Soy Lecithin, Monoglycerides, C. Cohnii Oil, Ascorbic Acid, m-Inositol, Potassium Hydroxide, Carrageenan, Taurine, Ferrous Sulfate, dl-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, L-Carnitine, Zinc Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Niacinamide, Manganese Sulfate, Thiamine Chloride Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Cupric Sulfate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid, Chromium Chloride, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenate, Sodium Molybdate, Phylloquinone, Cyanocobalamin, and Vitamin D3.</p>
<p>I think that the pediasure is genuinely working for us right now. We tried just letting her get hungry and eat, but that did not work. It worked so badly, in fact, that she was even refusing her baby food, as I believe I mentioned in the first post. It really IS a calorie issue for us. Starting off the day with something healthy but low calorie <em>does not work</em> because she then gets hungry gain quickly and then refuses to eat for the rest of the day. Giving her a high calorie but healthy breakfast food is certainly the ideal that we want to move towards, but since she was refusing all food before, that wasn’t really an option.</p>
<p>PhysicsMom - IMO you should stop the pediacare. It was not intended for this purpose.
Battlo is correct - she is filling up on pediacare and hence won’t eat much solid food.</p>
<p>She WILL eat. She won’t starve herself. You also need to be honest with your pediatrician and tell him/her that she is getting pediacare and how much.
You can’t complain about your Ped not being helpful if you are not honest. Honestly.</p>
<p>I think the pediacare is for YOU. If you think she “needs” it - then cut the amount in half everyother day until you don’t give it to her anymore. see how that goes.</p>
<p>Remember - toddlers might want to eat often but then don’t need to eat ALOT. they have tiny stomachs. IF she is active (she is), and has good output (peeing and pooping) then she is getting food. Be careful not to create a problem where there isn’t one.</p>
<p>At 17 months what is her weight?</p>
<p>20 or 21 pounds. When I made this thread, she’d eaten a total of three bottles of whole milk in three days. Nothing else. I was completely honest with her pediatrician up until she gave me horrible advice that backfired in our faces. That horrible advice was, “If she’s hungry enough, she’ll eat.”</p>
<p>No. If she’s hungry enough, she’ll fall to the floor screaming and smack any food she sees while screaming even more.</p>
<p>Her “horrible” advice is true. She will eventually eat but you didn’t have the confidence to believe it. She is not starving or emaciated. She may have fallen to the floor screaming but I bet after a little bit she would have eaten.
Did you just start the pediacare or having you been giving it to her for quite a while?</p>
<p>Sounds like she is eating now. You have probably been told that nutritionally she doesn’t <em>need</em> a bottle. A healthy, thriving 18 month old can get all her milk from a cup.<br>
As was said before - don’t make food an issue. when she stops eating, end the meal and remove her from her high chair. Offer her a snack in two hours. Small frequent meals. Don’t get caught up in the amount of food she eats at one time. It is perfectly normal for toddlers to be not hungry at one meal and ravenous at another meal.</p>
<p>I understand all of that, but I’m not sure how to express to you that she did not eat after “a little bit”. She is apparently capable of spending several hours screaming before she loses her voice and then just quietly cries. I’m not sure if you think she’d cry and then I’d just pick her up and give her pediasure, but that’s not what happened. We only started giving her pediasure (one bottle in the morning) three days ago. It was suggested by my partner’s 35yo sister, so it’s not just some lazy kid thing I thought up.</p>
<p>I also find it strange that everyone was saying to fire my pediatrician and trust myself until I mentioned the pediasure. Last, but not least, I wasn’t aware that the nutritional value of milk changes when one removes it from a bottle and puts it in a cup.</p>
<p>I’ve been where you are, though the toddler in question is 23 now. See if you can find this book:
Are You Hungry?: A Completely New Approach to Raising Children Free of Food and Weight Problems by Jane R. Hirschmann and Lela Zaphiropoulos</p>
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<p>Thanks for the clarification on the Pediasure. It sort of sounded like she got it every morning for a while. She still doesn’t need it.
As far as milk from a bottle - a toddler can down 8 oz of milk in no time flat from a bottle. Then she isn’t hungry to eat. If a toddler is eating a variety of table food then she can drink 4 oz of milk three times a day and get her calcium needs met. If she likes her bottle then maybe a few ounces before a nap or bed one time a day and she can wean from there.</p>
<p>there are some really good websites out there for moms like you that talk about toddler nutrition and toddler eating habits. Here is one: [KidsHealth.org</a> : Parents Home Page](<a href=“Parents (for Parents) - Nemours KidsHealth”>Parents (for Parents) - Nemours KidsHealth) but there are others. You can learn about the variations of “normal” as well as food and recipe ideas.</p>
<p>BTW - I am not a Grandmother yet but I have three girls older than you and I would be giving them the same advise that I am giving you.</p>