calcium update and food presentation

I recently was at two events where kids were able to chose foods from a buffet. One was at a friend's afternoon party, another was at a WIC tasting cafe. (Woman, Infants, Children supplemental food program food tasting event.) At my friend's house, there was a bowl of berries, and also fruit kebabs with almost exactly the same fruit. The kids grabbed the kebabs and pretty much ignored the berries. I was helping M with her plate and she said, "No thank you" to a spoon full of berries, but ate about 4 berry kebabs. Similarly with the WIC cafe, the kids gravitated immediately to the fruit kebabs and helped themselves. Many, after checking for permission, came back for seconds and thirds. No one was cajoling or threatening the kids, they gravitated to the fruit and loved it. (I was a little nervous with toddlers walking around with pointy sticks, but all was well!)

On another "presentation" note, I have been sharing my odyssey of my daughter drinking far less milk, and recently also not choosing other calcium-rich foods. I decided to try some go-gurts (she liked them for awhile, then seemed to not eat them as much so I hadn't bought them for some time...) to add to our snack repertoire and she seems to really enjoy them. She hasn't been eating much of the yogurt in a cup, but maybe just the new presentation was a kick-start. Who knows! I presented it as part of snack, in a neutral and pleasant way.

She had two for snack yesterday with strawberries, and two with morning snack with a baggie of Kix-which she didn't eat. I will continue to rotate it through her meals and snacks (dessert one night, or dessert with lunch maybe) as well as cheese, regular yogurt and offering milk. I'll keep you posted...

I also had to remind myself as I was thinking of other foods to offer, that I was limiting her choices based on old exposures. I caught myself saying, "she doesn't like rice pudding" when in reality she had only maybe seen it 4 or 5 times, and the last time was months ago. (One family I worked with, the mom said, "My boys don't like shrimp" and the dad said, "we haven't had shrimp in this house for 5 years," and two of her children were under age 5...) So I bought some rice pudding (which I enjoy :) and offered it. She tried it the other night for dessert and said, "no thanks, I don't like it." Fair enough!

The trap parents can get into is worrying about a certain nutrient or food group. I think I recently blogged about a mom who was worried about her toddler's protein intake and knew he would reliably eat chicken nuggets, so she was serving them most nights. This is how you can start to cone down the foods your child will accept. Feeding from a place of active worry almost as a rule doesn't help, but makes matters worse.

Same for me. I need to now resist the temptation to serve go-gurt three times a day and lose out on variety! Remember what Ellyn says, the child's attitude about eating is more important than what they eat on any given day (or week sometimes!)

Think of a list of foods your child "doesn't like" or "won't eat" or "won't accept." Honestly think back to when the last time was that you offered that food, and try to honestly guess how many total, NEUTRAL exposures your child has had. Maybe it's time to give some of those foods a second (or third, or thirtieth...) chance!