Kid’s Diet… One Fussy Little Eater.

I have one little bandar raya at home (who gulps up everything given to him, touchwood, hope he remains a bandar raya) and a little miss fussypot (she used to be a bandaraya too, but since she turns two, she became a difficult eater)

Baby
Breakfast
Usually will nurse him a little while when he got up. Follow by solid. His breakfast solid are as follow, tried to alternate it so he won’t be bored
Heinz Muesli & Apple, Nestle Cereal – Brown Rice with Camomile, or Nestle Cereal with Orange, Heinz or Gerber Bottled Pureed Baby Food (cut down alot, coz baby doesn’t like anymore), Stewed apple & pear mixes with plain cereal, Petit Miam Yogurt (Only available in Ampang Hock Chun, Cold Storage, Subang Carrefour, Jusco in MidValley or 1U). When he has this, usually will be accompanied by white bread or biscuits.
Drinks: Plain water
Mid morning, will nurse him again. Else maid will give him 4Oz of milk. (Enfagrow)

Since he’s almost 1 1/2 years, want to try for some changes. Must do some research first.

Lunch
Porriadge. Cooked with pre-cooked stock – ikan billis; chicken; mutton; beef stock. All unsalted. Cooked alot, freezed it in individual pack, take out 1 pack each night for the next day. If stock finished and lazy, then just use plain water for porriadge. ( I learned this from JS’s babysitter). Usually chopped a few types of green veges or roots to cook the porriadge with one type of meat, either minced chicken, fish, pork or beef. Since the first visit to TCM, she advise to advoid chicken first, so stop chicken now. Only cook once a day for two meals. How I cook? Dump everything into the double boiler (炖盅) and double boil. No need to take care of fire, not scare of overcook, not worry of burn. (Last time my mum use to cook porriadge in a small claypot over the charcoal, it gives a very good aroma, but now lazy, just use double boiler)
Again, WH needs to have bread. He’s a roti boy.
Drinks : Plain water

Mid afternoon: Nurse him to sleep. When he’s up for his nap, he would have biscuit as snacks. Cheese stick sometimes. Now he has fallen for the packet UHT milk.

Dinner
Exactly the same as lunch. Boring… because mummy’s lazy.

Baby will sit on the high chair to be fed. But sometimes he does request us to carry him around, or have him running around when feeding him. Now he has this habit of requesting me to on the TV during meal time. And also recently, he’s also showing interest to join us at the family table. He will nibble at whatever food serves on the table while having his main meal. I’m surprise he can actually takes in spicy food well. He just got this spirit to try any food we are having. Hope he keeps it up. Baby is still taking his porriadge that is blended into puree. (Using Braun handheld blender) Had tried to feed him coarser food, but he gags and it takes more than an hour to finish a bowl or less. Maybe should try again on his 18th months mark.

Supper
Nurse him to sleep. If he request, will give me another 4Oz of formula. He can’t takes in more than 4Oz a time and don’t take more than 8Oz a day. Sometimes even no formula.

My little boss been fed during dinner time. Look at the way he sits, he’s actually watching tv.

My Girl
Don’t know where to start. She’s just fussy. She was eating quite well, exactly like the brother. But when she turned two, MIL was brainwashing her that porriage is not good for her. Without a slow transition of weaning her from porriage to rice, she has somehow failed to enjoy her food. Maybe she’s just a small eater. Maybe she has kamzik (worm in tummy), she has this habit of keeping food in her mouth, and it takes hour sometimes two to feed her that quarter bowl. Really testing my patient. Many times end up vomitted. How not to get “mang chang”. She just doesn’t take in much, homecooked or restaurant. She’s a milk bucket. She can takes in 7 -8 bottles of 6Oz milk in a day. Her favourites now are unheahtly snacks. French Fries, Jelly beans, chips, chicken rice, noodles/pasta (plain, kosong), roti canai which I try to minimize. Even with her favourite foods she doesn’t take much. She loves fish though, steam or fried. But even with feeding her alot of fish, will not be sufficient for a balance diet.

Breakfast

1 bottle of 6Oz milk. No breakfast. Doesn’t know how much she snacks in school. Offer bread, can’t finish a slice, offer scramble egg, cannnot finish 1 egg, offer poached egg, cannot finish. Breakfast cereal (koko crunch or the plain cornflakes) just take a few spoonful. Buy her pao, cannot finish, just eat the skin. In between breakfast and lunch, she will request another bottle of milk (depends on her mood). Whatever given to her, she will just nibble a bit.

Lunch

After 1 year failed to feed her rice (because she refuses to eat veges, she will eat plain rice) now is back to square one. She’s having what baby has for lunch for weekdays. Weekend she’s on meal break, she can has whatever we are having and I no longer fuss over whether she’s taking enough. We brought her to restaurant, get kids meal, she can’t finish a burger, cant even finish 1 piece of nugget, maybe takes only 2 mouth of pancake. Porriadge but not blended. Sometimes will add in some marmite or ikan billis powder (fried/roast the ikan billis then blend to very fined powder). At least with this, she’s taking substancial amount of food. I have tried making the meal for presentable. (Follow Annable Kramer’s or Mirriam Stoppard recipe book) JS’s is excited to help and have fun, get involves, but at the end , she will just nibble a bit, and the rest goes down into mine or baby’s tummy.(Trying very hard not to eat all the leftover food from the kids, don’t want to put on weight). I’ve tried Twinsmom (this one another must read blog) cream cheese fish puff, everyone loves it, except JS.

After lunch, will be a bottle or two of milk. When JS was very young, she doesnt like milk. I struggle to feed her (was using Nestle NAN and not adventurous to try other formula until we switched to Enfagrow when she turned 1 and then she started to love milk more than food)

Mid afternoon snack would be biscuit, yogurt, cheesestick. Then milk again. (maybe she drinks too much milk, that’s why she got no appetite to eat, try to cut down, but in the end gave up because she just cried and cried and cried)

Dinner

Same at lunch, but she’s welcome to nibble on whatever serves on the dining table. Then another bottle of milk again. Before she sleep another bottle of two of milk.

There was and still a lot of struggle, yelling, threatening, bribery during meal time. I have to resort to TV, computer or her runnning around the house to distract her in order to feed her. There are good times when she’s in the mood and would join us at the table, but I can say that’s rare! As for feeding herself, only occationally.

When I’m in the mood, then I do pasta for the kids instead of porriage. Just very simple one (share the recipe next time)

Since they have been coughing a while, so I have temporary stop fruits or juices for them. They usually would have banana, papaya, orange, pear, apple, kiwi, avocado,grapes, prunes, raisins sometimes strawberries. I supplement them with Cod Liver Oil. (Tried those multivitamin with lysine, but the lysine doesn’t really help to boost JS’s appetite)

Other drinks that I offer them. Chrysthnum tea, Barley drink (they love it), 七星茶, 夏枯草 (these two are chinese herbal drinks), 罗汗果 (Lou Hon Guo)

JS was 18th months in this picture. Enjoying her meal.

Today’s porriadge – minced beef with chopped carrot, spinach and leek. Above is pureed version for baby and below is the non pureed one for JS. I must admit, it doesn’t look appetising and apealing at all. But what to do, how to make your fussy eater eats vege other than this way?