The Crazy Things I Do To Get You To Eat

Dear Hurricane Hamza,
- I wish you would eat

You haven’t been yourself for a few days. I can’t tell if you sick or teething, but getting you to eat a meal is such a challenge. You seem happy to snack on cereal bars and chips (who doesn’t) but a home cooked meal, filled with nutrition, you spit out at me or refuse to open your mouth for.

Today after trying mountains of different meals, you went to the cupboard and grabbed yourself a dry block of Weetbix! To my horror and shock, you ate it making all the sound affects you usually do when eating something yummy.  I’ve resorted to trying to count nutrients in the bits and bobs of strange things you eat and decided that you needed some protein with your carbs. 

Out came the Peanut Butter and I could breathe a very small sigh of relief that you had a semi complete (although no quote conventional) dinner.  

 We are at a challenging stage, you and I. the reason for your seemingly loss of appetite could be due to so many things. You could just be sick or teething- bit this feels like the excuse used all too often by parents and extended family when they done know the answer to a child’s change in behaviour. Your growth rate could be slowing down and so you no longer need to eat like horse you used to eat like-OR-and this is the one I’m leaning towards, you could be using food as a manipulating tool, by which to drive me crazy with.

 I have a feeling -that being the bright spark that you are, you have figured out how stressed it makes dad and I when you go days without eating and enjoy the fuss and attention of us making a million different meals and jumping through hoops to get you to open your mouth.

No matter what the books say about not stressing or making a fuss when your child doesn’t eat, as a parent it’s impossible to put on that poker face.

I only want the best for you- I want you to be able to grow, learn and sleep comfortably and I know you need food to do all these things. Come o my boy open wide!