Today, we took Little Bean back to the Hospital to see the Paediatrician again because we want to rule out that she might/might not be anaemic through iron deficiency. I feel that she has a really poor diet as fruit and vegetables barely feature at all, and she eats very little fresh food at all, perhaps one banana a week, every now and then she may eat raisins and every day she will eat a pouch of fruit puree. She is constantly constipated, and we feel that she seems in a consistent state of over-tiredness. By this, I mean she lolls about on the floor, yawns, props her head against the side of the sofa, yawns, lays on me, yawns and then the challenging behaviour kicks in. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that she is of ‘that’ age, the one they call the “terrible twos” but this feels like something other than the terrible twos.
However, when we explained everything to the Paediatrician today, he just kept telling us that she sounded perfectly ‘normal’, the food that she eats is perfectly ‘normal’ for her age. We also voiced our concerns that she has become very ‘spotty’ over recent months and seems to be extra hot and sweaty. Again, he told us that spots were ‘normal’ for children aged 1-7 years and being sweaty was ‘normal’ for age 2-4 years.
If you have children in this age bracket, do you find that your child sounds anything like Little Bean? Does she sound ‘normal’ to you?
I’m not trying to put a label on my daughter, I was want to make sure that she is healthy and that if she isn’t, that I can encourage her to eat a diet which would be better for her. I hate to think that what I am feeding her could be damaging her health.
My little boy is two and half and his diet sounds fairly similar. He has fruit smoothies and will only eat brocolli and everything has to be smooth – he is not great with lumps. I have been quite lucky with the tantrums so far (the naughty step works well and so does ignoring) but ask me in a year when my twins are going through the same! Noah does get the odd spot and he still has a two hour nap a day, but he is very active when awake. It does not sound not normal to me, but I also believe as a mother you have instincts and to trust those. However do ask yourself if you are putting too much pressure on yourself – as mother’s we constantly worry and compare, but to me it sounds like you doing a grand job!
Ah thank you, that’s a lovely comment and very reassuring. I probably do put pressure on myself but just because I really want my children to grow up strong, healthy and most of all happy. I was most surprised by the spots because I’ve never noticed other little ones with them so I really thought something was wrong with her xx
From a mum’s point of view – yes she is normal – H never seems to have as much energy as other kids her age, she gets very ratty when she is tired and also has the odd spot here and there regularly. She still looks “pale” and she is still very small for her age. She eats plenty of fresh cooked home made food, but doesn’t eat veg other than honey roast parsnips – and won’t touch fruit, not even the puree pouches. B suffered with constipation, and I swear by prune juice, but she might not take to it as it is a strong taste, but if she likes raisins maybe try dried prunes – we called them sweets with B and that worked? B grew out of it at about 2 1/2, around the time she potty trained, but didn’t have a change in her diet at that point.
From a professional point of view – yes she is normal, she will hopefully grow out of the fussy eater stage but this could be any time between now and adulthood. It is natural to worry, you are her mum and love her and have done the right thing in getting a medical opinion, just keep an eye on things, you know her best so if you keep seeing things or feeling things arn’t quite right, don’t feel ashamed of taking her back and getting her checked again.
Good luck and hugs xxxx
Thank you – we have been giving her Califig lotion which she is happy to take and it certainly helped with her constipation. I was just worried about the amount of sugar in it. It’s good to hear how other’s children are with food because often you feel like you’re the only one xx