You gotta feed the kid!

If you are a parent, you understand. From the day your child is born, you are completely consumed by their dietary intake (and output, but more on that later.) Your whole day is spent looking at the clock in order to calculate how long it's been since baby ate last, how long until he will want/need to eat again.  You endlessly worry that he's getting enough to eat, too much to eat, the wrong thing to eat.  Should you breast feed, formula feed? Avent, Tommy Tippee, Born-Free, no bottle? Infamil, Similac, soy, organic??? These decisions will bring enough panic inducing anxiety to bring any super mom to tears... and the nut house.  Dad will stress too, but mom is much more likely to lose sleep over the fact that baby only ate 21 ounces today and the book says he should be eating 22.

Our first week home. I had to nurse him like a football because of my incision. It required 14 pillows and a pit crew to get us both comfortable.  It took about 20 minutes to get set up. Then he would nurse for 5 minutes and fall asleep. Rinse and repeat...

Around 4-6 months baby is generally starting solid foods. (not all babies are ready at this point but most are) This is great fun for a variety of reasons. I loved making my own baby food and he seemed to enjoy pretty much everything I made. I fell in love with wholesomebabyfood.com and spent the next few months happily steaming, baking and pureeing away.

Fast forward to 15 months old.  My child won't eat anything. Unless it's mine. (see previous post :) I've spend countless hours and dollars trying every possible recipe and trick I can find.  I scour the Internet. I bake. I steam. I grill. I even fry. Nothing works. Yesterday I made sweet potato fries. They were delicious! I coated raw, organic sweet potatoes with evoo and some rosemary. Baked until they were crispy on the outside. Yum, right? Patrick threw them directly on the floor...

He doesn't like veggies, or meat, or tofu, or fish, or beans or rice. He likes cheese....and fruit. That's about it. It wouldn't be a big deal but ever since he became mobile (around 6 months) he has dropped in weight percentile, confirming my fears that I am, in fact, a completely incompetent parent and the hospital made a huge mistake in sending Patrick home with me :) Maybe I'm overstating a little, but that's exactly how it feels when your child doesn't eat.  It's personal. It feels like they may die of malnutrition at any moment if he doesn't eat a particular meal. I wonder when/if you ever stop worrying about your child's diet...