Gavin’s eating habits has been under constant scrutiny since he started solids at 6 months.  After the recent uproar over his poor appetite, I have started monitoring his food intake on a daily basis and I feel quite satisfied that the volume he consumes is adequate for his daily requirements. 

Additionally, Sears in “The Successful Child” cautions that we should not be too particular about how much a child consumes at one meal.  What is more important is for a child to graze throughout the day.  Eating lots of healthy snacks in addition to the three main meals will help ensure your child consumes enough food.  It is also important to remember that the size of a child’s stomach is roughly about the size of his fist so the next time you start fretting over the fact that he hasn’t eaten everything on his plate, just take stock of how much you’re offering him versus the size of his fist.

Although I have stopped fretting about the volume that Gavin consumes, what does bother me is Gavin’s rather selective food preferences. In particular, I’m concerned that his current food choices aren’t very healthy or nutritious.  I’ve decided to take some proactive measures to correct this aside from the standard “keep offering his a wide variety of choices to choose from”. 

The temporary measure is to offer him more fortified foods.  For instance, rather than giving him the biscuit that has no nutritional value other than empty calories, I opt to give him one that has been fortified with vitamins and minerals.  Although biscuits are far too high in sugar, it is difficult to stop offering it to him especially since it is one of the few snacks he will eat.  So I figure that, at the end of the day, if he’s going to eat a biscuit, then at least let it be one with vitamins and minerals added to it.

Another measure I can take is to start baking my own cookies for him to eat.  That way I can control how much sugar goes into it.  I can also add healthier ingredients, like oats, and use wholemeal flour instead of white flour. 

The long term plan is based on these points:

Fact: they say that breastmilk reflects the flavours of whatever foods you consume.  Based on a statement my BFF’s son made about the flavour of her breastmilk, I guess this is true.

Recommendation: they say that to help your child accept a wide variety of foods, it is important to eat a wide variety of foods so that your child can become familiar with the flavours in your breastmilk, hence be more willing to accept the food.

Observation: I’ve noticed that when I first introduced durians to Gavin, he refused to taste it at all.  Durian being such a strong flavoured food, I’m sure Gavin could hardly have missed the flavour in my breastmilk whenever I eat it.  Subsequently, when I presented durian to him again, he seemed more willing to eat it.  Now, he actively points to it and indicates that he wants to eat it.

Hypothesis: if I want Gavin to accept a new flavour, I’ve got to eat more of it so he can get used to its flavour through my breastmilk.

The Plan: to start incorporating more of the foods I want Gavin to accept (especially the foods recommended as highly nutritious for children, such as avocados) into my own diet and see if his intake of those foods improves over the next few weeks.

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