Pages

October 28, 2008

Down the hatch.

You know your kid has got you all figured out when you say, "Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" and, without a moment's hesitation, the kid answers, "Hard."

They say that the ketogenic diet is more likely to be successful when the parents are creative. I thought that they meant that the parents had to be creative when coming up with meals that fit within the prescribed fat:protein:carbohydrate ratio. I now realise that they meant creativity when it comes to getting your child to eat anything at all. As part of the ketogenic diet, Jade has to eat what she's given. Because the diet has an appetite-suppressing effect, that can be difficult.

This evening, in an attempt to get her to eat her Jello and whipped cream (with anti-convulsant medications sprinkled on top), I resorted to many, many old tricks.

Airplane flying into the hanger? Check.
Bird flying into the nest? Check.
Puppy flying into the dog house? Check.
Bear flying into the den? Check.
Kitty flying into the litter box? Check.
Bunny flying into the warren? Check.
Fish flying into the underwater cave? Check.
And the list goes on.

After a while, Jade started spinning around in her chair - so I started spinning her right back. Again. And again. And again. It's too difficult to feed the back of her head.

When I could get her to open her mouth, she wouldn't open it large enough to take what would be called a "bite", so I talked about how wide a whale opens its mouth and tried to get her to copy that. It was unsuccessful at first, but it worked later.

I pretended that the spoon was getting heavy and encouraged her to eat the food off so it would get lighter. I think she ate a bite out of pity, not because my arms were getting tired, but because she knew I was getting desperate to find a way to get her to eat the rest of the food.

When we finally got near that bottom of the dish, I asked her to clean off the spoon. That worked, eventually.

It probably took half-an-hour, but she finally ate it all.

Since she hadn't had anything to drink all day, I spent most of the day trying to get some water into her. As long as I tried, she wouldn't take a drop. Her Auntie Nem had a different - and much more successful - strategy.

Pulling two mug-shaped shot glasses out of the cupboards, Nem filled each shot glass with a bit of water and proceeded to introduce my daughter to the wild world of drinking games.

While I cannot deny the success of the venture, I am a little concerned about my two-year-old knowing how to play drinking games.

But, at this point, we'll do whatever it takes to get that food and water down the hatch. She figures out our ploys rather quickly. Since we're only two days into the diet, suggestions are welcome.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you tried Dennis Fentie flying into a rage?

Anonymous said...

Different kinds of fun straws/cups for water? In desperation, small bribes for food?

Anonymous said...

i've seen dolls that she can feed and give a bottle to and they even pee and poop - might be worth the investment? and yes, i like the previous idea with straws. you could also do that with cutlery and bowls/plates and maybe even bibs? let her choose which one she will use, so she feels that she's CHOOSING to eat and you're not making her! worth a try!

although jade is older than maggie, we actually still spoonfeed a lot of pureed food to maggie (that she won't eat otherwise, like green beans). and we KNOW it's bad (people tell me i'm ruining her for LIFE), but basically she sits there and 'reads' book after book after book while we spoonfeed her. when she starts to refuse, we switch books and she's distracted again and it works every time... so yeah, this extremely BAD habit we have maggie in might work really well for you if jade loves books as much as maggie does! :) if not books, then something else? it's all about the distraction so that she doesn't even notice you're feeding her!

best of luck to you all! i'm thinking of you every day! and thank you so much for taking the time to give us updates! :)

Captain Momma said...

Oh heavens. I normally post under Fawn's blog. I can't believe the week you have had, I am sorry to hear it. I will be praying for the darn stones to pass and you all to get home to be able to have the baby there!
You're doing an awesome job with Jade and I am so glad to hear she is doing much better on the diet.

Kelli

Anonymous said...

You could try these strategies. They sometimes work with our toddler:
a. delay the usual feeding time
b. eat in an unusual place
c. dress up the table with a candle or centerpiece (make it an event)
d. eat in front of the TV (sigh. yes I know, it's very wrong.)
e. have a guest over for dinner (intimidation sometimes works)
f. eat it yourself without offering any. She might wander over to steal some?

Good luck with that!

Meandering Michael said...

Some fantastic suggestions and some that we can actually use (sorry, Mark, I don't want my daughter eating Dennie Fentie)! Keep 'em coming!

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike, Kat here....what a crazy week. I'm sorry to hear about Fawn, and glad to hear the diet is helping.

For water:
*why not freeze it in popsicle form..maybe with some of that jello flavouring. Might be a more fun way to have water.
* Dolly tea party
* A fancy cup with two straws and you can "race" drinking it, but in reality you don't drink it she does
*Straw or glass that changes colour as your drinking, or the tempurature
* a water gun :) Spray it into her mouth
* If your desperate, maybe roll play that she is a cat and drink ot of a bowl. Might be a dangerous game give you do have two pets though

As for food:
* Let her help make it, she might be inclined to enjoy eating it
* Play a game with her where she has to guess what she is eating but can't see it
* Play the same game except she eats it and you have to guess what she ate...if there is a variety of choices, and it is easy for her to eat. I don't know what she is allowed but say she has 3 celery sticks, 10 raisins, and 5 grapes. Close your eyes and tell her to eat one and you will guess which on it is...game over though if she cheats i guess she could try and dmp it.
* Instead of “Duck, Duck, Goose,” play “Grape, Grape, Juice.”
* Counting down as she eats, or rewards as she eats.
* Take turns eating and make it a competition

That is all i have for now. Good luck, your doing great! Hang in there.

Kathleen.