the yo-yo diet of a toddler

Its amazing the amount of food that can be consumed by a toddler...especially my one! Since she turned one it seems that her diet has taken a weird turn. At first she decided to only feed herself and had a diet that consisted of only protein (and I mean anything from beef steak to fish fingers!), bread and fruit. Everything else ended on the floor with a face of disgust saying 'how dare you try to feed me THAT" and that was especially true to any form of vegetable. My little girl that would spend ages chewing on Chinese broccoli and carrot, all of a sudden decided that vegetables were not her friend! and of course I started to worry and think of ways that I could put veggies into her diet. I made heaps and heaps of meatballs stuffed with grated veggies and even put in some rice so her carbs were not just based on bread. She did love them and could eat 5 meat balls in a sitting, enough to satisfy an adult.

And then came days when EVERYTHING ended on the floor and I had to be satisfied that she ate some fruit and crackers and had her milk. I have no idea what was going on in her little head and the more I read about diet and toddlers, the more I worried that she was not getting the nutrients that she needs.

But then came this week were she decided that she is VERY hungry and the amount that my toddler has consumed in the last 2 days is astounding. I mean she is eating HUGE meals, all healthy and fully balanced but enough that if I started to eat that amount I would be the size of a house! She once again doesn't mind if I spoon feed her, she once again is loving all her vegetables and apart from having a full breakfast, lunch and dinner, she is also eating morning tea, afternoon tea and snacking on fruit all day long! Its astounding!

So the moral of this story is that I have decided to stop worrying! I mean I don't think she will starve herself and I have come to the realisation that she is slowly becoming her own person with her own individual personality and tastes and she knows what she likes and how much of it. Plus that with all the growth that she is experiencing and she is so unpredictable with her appetite that I will just GO WITH IT. If she's extra hungry I have a freezer of extra frozen meals that I can quickly defrost (heaps of meat balls too) and if she's not, well it can end on the floor and eventually in the bin (or the birds if its bread!).

I have come to the realisation that my darling is as stubborn as me and her dad, and it shows in her appetite. I wouldn't have it any other way though.

xx