Dinner Time Conquered!
Well, my imaginary friends, you all helped me a ton. More than the suggestions you gave me on how to get Bean to eat dinner, you just made me take two deep breathes and settle down a bit. That’s what I love about blogging. When you’re in your house, living your day to day, getting all upset over little things it’s easy to lose perspective. But then you hear about how other families are dealing with the same situations as you and it instantly makes you feel normal again.
So, here’s what happened.
I spent all weekend reading through the comments you all left and then I decided it was time to make a few minor changes in our dinner routine. So, I headed to – where else? – Target. And I bought Bean a booster seat so that he could sit at the dinner table with us like a big guy.
Then, while I was browsing through the baby section, I ran across these sippy cups. They were for big boys (plastic tops, not rubber ones) and they had Buzz and “Woo Woo” from Toy Story on them, who are Bean’s favorite things on earth right now. He went crazy for them and so I thought, “What the heck?” and tossed them into the buggy. Good thing, too, because they definitely helped Bean get excited about dinner. When I pulled them out at dinner time and he started begging for them, I explained that he had to get in his big boy chair in order to have his big boy cup. He jumped right in his seat and bellied up to the bar!
Next, I picked up a pack of disposable place mats because I’m having a real dilemma with my dining room table. Our house only has the one common dining area, so we have our formal dining room table in there. Which means Bean will now be eating at my very expensive, beautiful formal dining room table with his grubby, banana covered, applesauce soaked, pea squished hands all over the place. In an effort to try and come to terms with this, I invested $6 in disposable place mats and it worked pretty good!
But the big winner at our family dinner was an unexpected, last minute purchase that I threw into my grocery cart at the last minute. When I was looking through the baby food aisle for things to make mealtime a success, I stumbled on these little pouches of organic baby food made by Plum Organics. Now, Bean never ate baby food. He never liked it so we went straight from the bottle to homemade, chunky, pureed solid food. He was weird like that. But these little pouches looked fun and I thought they might get Bean’s attention at the table. Plus, they are packed full of fruits and veggies. I got him the peas, pears, and spinach and the apples and carrots pouches just to see if he’d eat them.
He loved them! I tried the peas, pears, and spinach one first and it was a huge hit! I fixed him his regular dinner and then squirted a little bit of the baby food on his plate. He instantly liked that it squirted out and so he scooped it up in one giant spoonful and gobbled it down, asking for more. So, I squirted a little more this time and he scarfed that down, too, asking for more. The next time, I decided to use this baby food stuff to my advantage and I squirted it over his other veggies and meat on his dinner plate. Bean ended up eating everything on his plate because it was all covered in that green baby food. It was awesome!
It was messy, but who cares? He was eating!
On Saturday when I was out shopping with my girlfriends, I threw the carrot and apple food pouch into the diaper bag on a whim. Turned out to be a good idea because Bean ate that whole pouch at lunch that day. And the pouch was so convenient to carry with me while I was out. I’m definitely going to pick up more of those little gems to have on hand. I won’t rely on them exclusively for dinners, but as a supplement on nights when he won’t eat anything else, they might be a nice thing to have around.
I can’t guarantee that this means our mealtime problems have all been fixed or that Bean has now become a champion eater. But I do know that two nights in a row now we have had successful family dinners that Bean has eaten. And I also know that one those nights (or days…or weeks…or months…) when Bean won’t eat a good dinner that that’s okay. As so many of you said to me, he’ll eat when he’s hungry.
Thanks for all the advice, guys! You managed to once again talk me down from the mom ledge!
22 Comments
TMae
We’ve been having weight and eating challenges with our 16 month old, and yesterday at the grocery store he INSISTED that we get some applesauce in a squeeze pouch (he’d previously had exactly 1 at home and didn’t really like it). He ate THREE of them before we were even out of the store. Just twisted the cap off and sucked them right out. Seriously? How did it take me this long to try food in a squeeze pouch?
Lori @ I Can Grow People
We scored a bunch of those Plum pouches on super sale at Babies R Us just before we did the big move from Tallahassee to Pittsburgh. They were SUPER handy to have in the car in the three day journey north.
Unfortunately, now Mr. P won’t touch the stuff–but it was great for the car trip!
Glad Bean is now back to eating!
Jessica
We adore the squeeze pouches of baby food. I call them smoothies and we have them as a treat or as a handy snack while out doing errands. My son just sucks the food out and I help squeeze out the last little bit. They are pricey but well worth it.
Angela
Yay!
I’d also be more excited about dinners if I could drink from a Buzz and Woody cup, too.
Rebecca
WHOOOHOOOO!!!!! Good Job Mom!!! (that’s what I was thinking the whole time I was reading this post) Taking deep breaths and thinking on your feet….seems to be 90% of what motherhood is all about….or at least that’s what it’s like in my house!
Lindsey
So glad things are improving!! I love those disposable placemats – we use them when we go out to eat. You should get a big, cheap table cloth for dinner time – one that is kinda vinyl-ish so you can wipe it clean most nights. Just an idea – would be cheaper in the long run and cover more area 🙂
Chanon
Check this out for a placemat that’s not disposable: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2908461 We use this constantly – both at home and when we go out to dinner! It rolls up nicely for travel. 🙂
Angie
Yay bean!!!. I love that he is a couple of months older than my boy…so I use your posts as a way to get ready for things to come 🙂 lol.
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Holli
My daughter loooooves the fruit/veggie pouches. She sucks an entire pouch down in record time. She also has the coolster sippies and they’re so easy to clean..definitely the best sippy! Yay for Bean and his mealtime completion!!
Casper
So glad you found something that seems to be working. I wouldn’t worry too much about your table luckily those expensive ones can stand up to big holiday messes so I am sure it can handle a little applesauce.
Amy
Hey, fantastic! 🙂 I’ve been meaning to go out and get a booster seat for the dining room chair, thanks for the reminder.
sherene
There you go Bean, my son is a picky eater and that makes me feel like a bad mom sometimes, but I’ll try what you did, hope it will work.:))
Nate's Mom @ nateisgreat
Since Nate won’t eat vegetables, Nate’s therapist suggested sneaking those pureed veggies (like the Plum pouches) into pancakes. Just a little at a time but, by the end, the majority of the batter should be veggies and the minority should be flour. It’s on the list to try…..
Sara @ embrylovescookies
Booster seat! Why didn’t I think of that? Probably because my giant toddler was too big for his high chair at 9 months old and has been sitting at the table ever since. So glad that Bean is embracing dinnertime again!
Gela
Great to Hear! Another trick, if you don’t have those pouches with you is Ketchup or BBQ sauce (or dip dip as our son calls it). Dip dip changed his picky eating habits 🙂
MistyK
We bouugh the same booster Saturday fopr our 7 1/2 month old before I even read this! weve decided to forgo the high chair all together. I also had a friend get the same for her 13month old and loves it. Isnt it a great set up?
Tressa
I’m happy to read you found something to work for Beanie to eat again. I LOVE the last two picutres of him eating. Looks like he is concentrating so hard on getting a spoonful! Adorable!!!
Mindee@ourfrontdoor
My teenager has recently become a picky eater. I’m sorely tempted to cover her dinner in green baby food goo.
JenDaniels
Katie, check out these awesome place mats as well…http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Infant-Tiny-Diner-Green/dp/B002USCIRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1295890432&sr=8-1
They are AWESOME and reusable. You can throw them in the dishwasher and they have a great little thing to hang over and catch all the food:) We have 4!
Maryellen
That brand of squeezy-baby food (Plum Organics) has special spoons that twist onto the top of the pouch. We found them at BuyBuyBaby, but I’m sure other places will have them as well. The spoon is real handy when we are at the park – I just take a little baggy with us to bring the dirty spoon back.
Ann G-B
Those booster seats are great – particularly to travel with! Definitely helped out guy to move to the big table, but every time I clean up the goo I feel like I am removing a layer of finish. I will have to check out those place mats!