She just seems solidly interested in water and a tiny bit of juice but can't be too much or she also gets upset. Which awesome! She likes water. Buuuut only water lately, she won't take her coconut milk that she has seemed to enjoy thoroughly, she is now starting to drink less and less and now none. I put some in a sippy, she picked it up, took a split second sip. Yelled and threw it off to the side and fussed about it.
She really needs it for vitamin and fat purposes of course being a toddler. But nope, sudden tantrums about it. Rather frustrating. She has finally been gaining weight now too and now she is knocking things out of her diet that where helping with this.
Also can't handle dairy milk or soy that is why we are doing coconut.
I read this and laugh. I think to myself, "Oh, was I not supposed to let my daughter drink water?" My two year old only drinks water, and a lot of it. I never considered it a problem.
really?
so let her drink water. everything doesn't have to be a battle, S..
she can get her healthy fats in her food.
you've got to stop obsessing over every little thing.
khairete
S.
I think there are a zillion ways to get healthy fats into a child.
Let her drink water. There's so little nutrition in juice, who cares if she doesn't drink it? Give her the fruit that the juice would come from - orange or clementine sections, apples, etc. I think you just overdid it on the coconut milk - you were all fired up about how to introduce something that was a potential allergen (based on prior post), you gave her so much, now she's sick of it.
Don't let her throw cups and fuss and have a tantrum - pick it up and tell her that's it. Walk away. No whining, no dramatics. Please try to stop being so upset about her calorie intake that you set her up for horrendous habits around food. It's a huge control issue for toddlers and elementary school kids, and it plays out in eating disorders. Don't go that route.
She'll blossom if you offer alternatives. Have you seen the photo of the kid eating 12 different foods served in an ice cube tray? They're all separate, easily identified, different in color in texture, and so on - and not too much of any one food group.
There are plenty of ways to give a toddler a variety of foods without turning it into a "feature of the week" contest. I work with kids all the time who have nutrient needs beyond the pale, because they aren't absorbing or willing to try things. I think you'd be surprised at what kids can handle if the source if purer than what you find in the ordinary grocery store.
Mostly I think you have to take your own emotions out of it - she's picking up on your anxiety, your insistence that she eat the magic food of the week, your nervousness. Believe me, I understand where you are coming from. I had a small, underweight, under-height, picky eater to raise too. Knowing what i know now, I would do it very differently.
Can you let her go with water and give her other heathy high (good) fat things like avacados, pastas with olive oil, etc?
Let it go. Try not to push anything. Try to just go with the flow. Offer her foods that you know she likes and you know her system can handle and just let her eat what she eats.
It's ok if she only drinks water.
There are many, many ways she can get what she needs - fruits & veggies have most of what she needs. As others have mentioned, Avacadoes are very fattening (in a healthy way for littles ones). Does she like eggs? Oatmeal? Cereal? Oatmeal doesn't require milk. My kids ate dry cereal for a couple of years because I wasn't ready for them to try eating a bowl of cereal with milk. Too much potential for messes.
Please try to relax. She needs a relaxed, happy mommy. It's hard, but do it for her.
Two questions for you :)
1) have you seen a dietician? if your daughter has trouble putting weight on and you are worried about nutrients and intolerances, they could sort this out for you. I have a relative who works on a pediatrics team doing just this. I feel you are a bit stressed about this, and it's a constant source of concern - you could just leave it up to an expert. This is what they do.
2) My dietician relative told me to try lactose free milk. It's just dairy milk without lactose. Worked for my lactose intolerant kids. No issues. Just a thought, even though I hate suggesting yet another food for you to try.
Water is great - not sure why are concerned about that other than it doesn't have fat in it. Juices aren't particularly healthy (I always watered ours down to almost water any way) and just offered now and then.
Good luck :)
Two out of three of my kids dont drink milk. The one loves smoothies, the other not so much. The one that drinks milk loves it and I can't get her to drink water.
Don't worry about it.
How about guacamole? My kids all love it, and it's super good for you.
Coconut milk is not milk, who told you to use it as a substitute? There is almost no nutritional value and has tons of sugar. It isn't bad for you beyond the sugar but you may as well stick with water.
Are you sure they didn't say almond milk?
The only "milk" babies need is breast milk, or formula. They don't need dairy or soy or coconut or anything else.
Where are you getting your nutritional advice/information? I hope your child sees a doctor on a regular basis.
I LOVE the idea that your child likes water.. so does mine, ALWAYS has and at 13, still drinks LOTS of it.. we never drank processed juice or much milk.. instead it's been water... if you are concerned, see if you can sneak in a little coconut water mixed in the water, the coconut water has nutrients and is less fatty tasting than the coconut milk..
It's a myth that we need to load up on juices... I would concentrate more on electrolytes which you can get from the CW...
My daughter only liked water...and she still does at age 5. Actually, we just figured out she is lactose intolerant, so that one reason she has never been into milk all these years! She's very healthy, tall and full of energy. She is a great eater and is not picky. Don't worry! Just make sure your toddler gets plenty of fat and protein in her foods. It will be just fine.
My advice to you, from someone who has been through all stages of early childhood with two kids is to just take a huge step back and try to relax.
Stop measuring, analyzing, fretting, comparing, worrying, supposing, and controlling and just be with her. Really enjoy her and who she is right now.
The things you are asking about and focusing on won't mean a thing in a few years or even a few months. She will grow into whoever God or Mother Nature intended for her to be and you get to come along for the ride.
In time these questions will seem very trivial, I promise. You will have a million more questions, often much more difficult ones to TRY to answer. There will be many that you never find a satisfactory answer to and learning to let those things go is a huge part of parenting. Just try to live in the moment with your little girl.
Drinking water is fine. Give her full fat cheese or yogurts during the day.
If you want to get the coconut water into her, maybe freezing it and giving it as a Popsicle would work better. Or mixing it with puréed fruit, and making it into a smoothie or put in the freezer and let it harden up a little bit if she won't drink a smoothie and call it ice cream.
Good luck!
Are you only using sippy cups? Any chance that the cups themselves are unpleasant to her? Even if she liked them previously, she could suddenly decide (because toddlers are just like this) that they feel weird and so she chucks them. If it's a cup with a chewed-up spout she's used for a while, she might dislike the rough spout now. Try a cup with a fixed straw built into it; the novelty of that might get her to drink more. Or try a very small regular cup that can't shatter. She might be a bit young for that and yes, she will make a mess (so you need to be OK with that and not fuss at her) but again, the novelty might help enough to get her interested in the contents.
She may also be "off" the texture of everything but water. Texture is very important to little kids and they can reject some foods or drinks because they "feel funny" -- think of how many kids hate OJ with any pulp at all, or how some kids hate milk because to them it feels thick and goopy. I know kids who would never touch smoothies because of the texture. This is stuff that a pediatric nutrition specialist can work through with you.
Most kids fail to drink enough water so be glad that if she only wants to drink one thing, it's water.
I checked and I see that coconut milk does have calcium. You mention fat and vitamins but be sure that if she is off coconut milk she has other sources of calcium because it's so vital as she grows. You can get it from some veggies but the amounts you have to eat to get enough are pretty large, which is why dairy milk, almond milk and coconut milk deliver a lot more punch in terms of calcium. Again, talk to the doctor and maybe a nutritionist.
Drop the coconut milk and give her regular whole milk, not 2% or skim, but regular milk.
