Monday, January 4, 2010

Would you like a menu?


I discovered tonight, to my great shame and embarrassment (which I of course had to share) that the kid who had been whining and crying and finally screaming for the past hour (and waking up every half hour for 2 hours before that) was NOT doing that because she was a) teething, b) in need of a good burp, 3) in pain, 4) needed a diaper change, or 5) simply trying my patience. She, actually, was hungry, a fact obscured by her refusal to eat apples with oats, lukewarm acceptance of cottage cheese and a look of disgust and contempt she gave me every time I offered to nurse her. Turned out the kid wanted real food. She wanted chicken and wouldn't settle for anything else.



Her whining turned into giggles as soon as she saw me taking a chicken leg out of the fridge. Now that she had filled her little tummy with the food of her choice and once clean kitchen floor is covered with pieces of half-chewed chicken that were previously smeared all over her face in a fit of gastronomical euphoria, my little carnivore easily dosed off without rocking, holding, nursing or a pacifier. And I am still up, feeling like a horrible mother who deprived her child of nutrition.

One would think that after experimenting on the first two, things of this sort wouldn't happen with #3. Alas, that's not true, or I am somewhat motherly challenged. To my defense I have to say that a) I feel terrible, b) bothered by her lack of interest in solid food, I have searched Internet for a good portion of the day trying to figure out how much a 10 month old should eat, c) unfortunately (or fortunately) she is the only child of this age I encountered, mine or otherwise, who would rather go hungry than eat something she doesn't WANT (but likes at other times, just not today).

Fortunately (or unfortunately) she's #3 and guilt won't keep me up much longer.

8 comments:

  1. Regarding experimenting on first 2, Nochum and Shlomik are almost complete opposites when it comes to food. Nochum pretty much eats whatever you put in his mouth. Both like green beans and baked turkey legs though.

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  2. MIM, 1) have you tried feeding chicken soup to an infant? That's probably the most mess-producing food out there! Though also very fun and good for videos - makes memorable experiences, LOL. 2) I wasn't going to cook one at 12 a.m.

    Moshe, they are all different when it comes to food. What's worse, even the same kid is different at different times of his/her life.

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  3. Feeding chicken soup to infant? Very easy! Put it in a bottle!

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  4. that's chicken broth. she wanted actual chicken, that wouldn't go through the nipple of the bottle.

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  5. So you take a piece of chicken, mash it with your fingers and stuff it in her mouth.

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  6. oh really? Where were you all this time (heavy dose of sarcasm). How do you think I fed chicken to a 9-month old with only 2.75 teeth?

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  7. That's how I fed Nochum when he had 2 teeth.

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