Buckling Down on Nutrition

Sydney has always eaten like a bird.  Throughout the day she will have a little of this and a little of that but rarely eats an official meal per se.  It has always been a bit of a source of angst for me, but in the end I realized that what she was eating was relatively good for her, that she was growing and healthy and that I was just going to have to let it go.

A couple of weeks ago I had an appointment with the public health nutritionist in our neighborhood to see if she could give me some ideas on incorporating some more variety into Syd's diet.  We had a great chat and I came away feeling inspired to try some new things and with some good ideas and strategies to try to get her to eat more.

One thing that she recommended is that I give Sydney a calcium supplement as she doesn't drink milk at all.  So started the search for a supplement that was suitable for a 21 month old!  It in fact does not exist, so I had to settle on this liquid multivitamin from Floradix with both calcium and Vitamin D added to it.  Sydney isn't too fond of the taste so I've been trying all sorts of different ways to get it down her throat...we'll see if I have any success with that!

I also got rid of Sydney's snack cupboard.  I had the clever idea when Sydney started eating solids of having a cupboard low enough for her to reach filled with healthy snacks so that she could help herself whenever she was hungry.  It worked out great actually, as she would often rummage through the cupboard to find a cracker or cookie or dried fruit to eat.  I have the feeling that all of the snacking was what was making her not want to eat a decent meal come lunch or dinner time so I took all her snacks and moved them to the highest cupboard I could find and am trying to be more structured about the times that we eat both snacks and meals.

I did find one new snack for her at the Organic Farmer's Market on 49th and Oak this week, these apple chips are simply dehydrated gala apple rings and are crunchy like a cracker so she loves them.  I'm keeping my eye out for some other healthier alternatives to what she's been snacking on too, will let you know if I find anything great. 

I also dug out two fantastic cookbooks by Annabel Karmel that I had: "Superfoods for Babies and Children" and "Baby's First Meals" and thumbed through them to get some inspiration.  I think I'll try a few recipes out of them next week for something different.

All of this is trial and error, the past few days seem to have gone okay, but I haven't noticed any huge change in her appetite or how much she's consuming.  I do feel somewhat better about what she is putting into her little body though and will keep trying my darndest to see if she'll try some new things...fingers crossed!