OK, normally, my kids are pretty good eaters, but lately, they are not eating. It is a struggle to get much into them, and they tend to hold out for junk if they know there's a possibility of it (like if we're at grandma's, etc.), and my 32-month-old would prefer to nurse rather than eat, and will hold off eating until he falls asleep at night and then keep me up all night wanting to nurse. I have a hard time letting him nurse for very long so that he will sleep longer because he has a horrible latch (hangs on with his top teeth), so, obviously, I want him to eat something, and am on the verge of giving him any junk he wants just so he'll sleep at night.

They love broccoli and carrots and apples and bananas, but just aren't eating much at all lately. I guess I just need some ideas to get me going again. What do you feed your kids for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks?

Thanks!

Breakfasts: organic cereal bars, organic cold cereal, cinnamon toast (on homemade whole wheat bread), french toast (again, homemade whole wheat bread), scrambled eggs, homemade muffins (using half whole wheat), fruit.

Lunches: cheese sandwiches, cold or grilled (all sandwiches made on homemade whole wheat bread), tuna sandwiches (rarely...to avoid mercury poisoning), peanut butter sandwiches, whole wheat pita bread, sliced cheese, olives, yogurt, organic mac 'n cheese, leftover pizza, quesadillas, edamame.

Dinners: miso soup, spaghetti, soba noodles, stir fry and rice, pizza, tacos, plain rice, fish, mashed potatoes, broccoli, corn, green beans, carrots, homemade oven fries, salad, fresh bread, muffins, potato saute, baked potatoes, veggie dogs.

Snacks: edamame, yogurt, bananas, apples, other fruit, pretzels, whole wheat pitas, rice cakes, muffins, bread, cheese.

That's all I can think of for now.

Peace,

Kimberly

We are following a traditional diet based on the work of Weston A. Price. See www.westonaprice.org. We have all done very well on this diet, and my energy is always increasing (I used to have bad fatigue constantly). We have done this diet for several years now and the kids really enjoy it. Here are some things my daughters love to eat: kefir and berries, yogurt and berries, smoothies with whole, raw eggs and kefir/yogurt with berries and honey, also veggies with homemade dip (I can give recipe if interested), dried, organic, pastured beef (like jerky), "crispy nuts" based on recipe in the _Nourishing Traditions_ cookbook, mashed potatoes (homemade) with lots of organic, pastured butter, steak, salad with special dressing, steamed veggies with lots of butter or coconut oil, chicken soup made with homemade bone broth (high in calcium and other minerals), avocadoes.

Well, I'm sure that I'm forgetting lots of stuff, but that is the basic gist of it. ;) Hope this helps!

Breakfast begals and cream cheese
cereal and fresh apple slices
rice cereal with rasins
oatmeal with real maple syrup
protien shake (bananas, vanilla soy milk, Super green soy protien powder, flax oil, calicum tablets (opened), nutirtional yeast, and some other fruit (I have blueberries, strawberries, black berries and rasberries for flavor changers that we picked last summer.)
bananas and plain yougart with honey
granola in fruit yougart

Lunch

noodles and cheese
celery and peanut butter
PB&j's
Ramen Noodles and seseme oil with Gomasio and frozen veggies
Carpet Picnic *this always comes with a fort made of blankets on the living room rug... very important: crackers and cheese, apples and peanut butter
begal pizza (cheese and tomato sauce on begals)
edmame and home made rosemery fries


Just some ideas. :) Anything like the carpet picnic you do is bound to help with what you kids eat. Cyan gets that way, not eating I mean, and this is what I do to pull her out of it. If she helps me make something sometimes that helps, but usually if it is (what I call) grazing food, she will eat it... because it is easy to eat and she can do it all herself. Nothing complicated is ever put in to our carpet picnics. :)

Love Val

I am in the same boat -- they are on a not eating jag.

I just made the 16 month old sliced pears, shredded cheese and a buttered roll for lunch (Earth Balance actually, not butter). Most of it is on my floor. I have been on booby call all morning.

The 5 year old had applesauce and natural peanut butter on non-hydrogenated crackers. He actually ate it all.

Essentially they had junk food lunch made with real food. I give up.

Kids go through stages just like we do. Mine do a lot. I just go with it. If they don't want to eat, no biggy. They might tomorrow. My youngest will eat great for a couple days then not eat much at all for a few. Then eat more than me and DH combined for a week.

Also, I think getting into late winter and (at least here) not having been out much because of gloom doesn't help. Fresh Air helps.

My 2 yr old eats at least 1 yoghurt a day (right now I have Brown Cow yoghurt - whole milk) - if I can pack the calories in, I do.
He'll eat that whenever I let him. Breakfast is also cereal plain, whole wheat toast with a little jelly and watered-down juice.

My 5 yr old eats only plain cereal and a glass of milk for breakfast.
my 8 yr old eats a big bowl of oatmeal every school day and the weekends he can have cereal and milk.

My 5 is very picky and sometimes won't eat at all. Right now he eats a guaranteed lunch if it's peanut butter and (ouch) fluff on whole wheat bread. My 2 eats pb&j on whole wheat and my 8 eats whatever we put in his lunch (pb &j, tuna, turkey).

Snacks are often fruit - right now we are on a date kick - and they all inhale my grapfruit if they find it! They love fruits. I also give rice cakes, and a snack called Bambas (a puffed corn thing flavored like peanut butter). They love crackers with pb and they eat cheese. They also beg and beg for cookies. Oh, also granola bars.

Dinner is my weak spot. I'm looking to improve my meals and variety. We make a spaghetti sauce with tons of veggies and about 1/2 lb of meat which we put over noodles. Lasagna, no meat, with tons of veggies also and cheese. Homemade pizza on homemade dough (part whole wheat) with veggies. My prob. is that I love tomato based meals (see above). Sometimes tomato soup...with sandwiches. Chicken pot pie (tons of veggies), baked chicken, rarely actual beef (usually that's a few times a year). The chicken pot pie I makee sometimes without the dough and then we put it on noodles or brown rice. At least once a week, chicken soup with veggies. I started making my own pancakes and waffles - so they are whole wheat blend. And whatever I make I add wheat germ - untoasted. They do love the very unhealthy maccaroni and cheese - my 2 inhales it. I'm looking into making a healthier version - is that possible? - from scratch.
My dh is on a low carb diet - so most of what we make, he won't eat anyway.
Ok, now I'm starving - got to go eat!

I'm in a little bit of the opposite boat. My 2 yo, nurses alot so I forget to feed him, there is always cut fruit on the table in the morning and he can talk a little so I figure he can ask if he's hungry......wrong, about 1 he starts getting crazy and I think! oh maybe he's hungry. Don't worry mamas he is not thin, and has lots of energy.
Foods my kids are eating :
fresh home made-still warm bread
pita bread, or wraps covered in pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese-baked in the oven til cheese melts
raw veggies and dip
sliced fruit
avacado
applesauce,
yoghurt
cheese with or without crackers
wraps with: cheese, rice, avacado, cucumbers, red peppers, salso, mayo, lettuce etc
oatmeal muffins, bananna bread, homemade oatmeal cookies
My oldest would eat potatoes, and peirogies everyday
oldest dd and I are vegetarians, 6yo dd getting there, dh and ds total meat eaters.
HTH
anni

My kids eat what feels like nothing. It's so hard getting food into them.

I'm with emilytoys, "junk" food made of real food is all that works. My (almost) 3 year old asks for a "snack tray" for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Basically he eats:

almond butter on whole wheat crackers

grapes

Boca "chicken" nuggets (usually dipped in honey)

Annie's mac and cheese or plain pasta with nothing on it

cheerios

ummm (there must be more) ummm

oh, chicken soup (from whole foods, not a lot of sodium, good healthy chicken -- costs a bundle but he actually eats it)

peanut butter on whole wheat bread

fresh nuts

apples (occasionally)

yogurt

raisins

whole wheat waffles frozen and put in the toaster

cookies! (I add wheat germ and hope that helps)

Seriously, I don't think he eats anything else. It's starting to scare me. He used to eat a lot more things like vegetables and everything.

I'm still going with my approach where I put different types of food on his plate and I don't comment at all on what he eats or doesn't. The only rule is he can't actually take any of the food off the plate and throw it on the floor! :) So day after day I put carrots and broccoli and cheese and turkey meatballs and all sorts of food on his snack tray and day after day he ignores them. Then I try to feed them to the baby and he ignores them too, eats some cheerios and has a big old nursie.

I'm not going to have food battles with these kids (though internally, I'm really starting to panick!)

Astoria

drop the raisins and nuggets, add bananas, chicken breast and cheese and that's my five year old.

The baby eats mainly cereal, fruit, yogurt and ME, but at 16 mos and 25 lbs. I am not worried about him.

Almost all meals some in "snack tray" form.

My three-year-old has gone through many stages lately. With the growth spurt she is in now, ALL I ever here is "I want something to eat."

She loves cucumbers, bananas (won't touch smoothies unless it is really thick and I call it ice cream ;) ), snakimals and soy chocolate pudding, sesame sticks, almond butter, broccoli & tofu, oranges, soy dogs, cereals, oatmeal and many other things!! I try things like almond butter on apples, sesame sticks dipped in almond butter (she loves to dip.) I also let her eat the breakfast she has been wanting everyday lately, two bananas. She won't touch salad unless I am enjoying mine (then she wants like one bite). She is really into mangos right now and will eat any berry (even frozen).

Hope there is a new food idea in there somewhere. I am Vegan so fruits and veggies are our main foods.


Jennifer