Good Morning!!  Happy St.Patrick’s Day and a very happy Friday!!  Today I am so excited to be teaming up with Re-Play Recylced to chat a little bit about toddler eating!  Plus, one of you will have the chance to win a feeding set for your little one at the end of this post!!

Here are some of the tips that have helped to make eating with your little one a little easier!

1. Cute tableware.  This sounds ridiculous, but honestly it gets me excited to prepare meals for E which is NOT my thing.  Any new mom who asks me if a certain splurge is worth it, like a blanket they love or a certain outfit or stuffed animal…my answer is always: if it brightens your day at the mere thought of your baby using it and it is within reason, why not?  Sometimes, when your child is tossing their peas across the room and screaming because they really just want to eat the sticker that they spotted 100 miles away, a brightly colored pink plate might just get you through it.  The great news is that these recycled goodies are actually some of the cutest, but cheapest sets out there!  Bonus!
2. Give utensils at every meal.  Eleanor is already an “I wanna do it by myself” toddler.  If you are finding that your baby/toddler is having a hard time with meals, give them some control where you can.  One way we do this is by letting her feed herself with a utensil even if it means a total mess.
3. Speaking of control, a question I get asked a lot is how we keep Eleanor from tossing her plate.  When she starts to pick up her plate, bowl, etc…we just ask…”all done?”  and start to take it away without worrying about how much she ate or didn’t eat.  If she continues to push it away or doesn’t want any bites we try to give her off of the plate, we remove it and let her be done.  Often times, we will say it and she will immediately point back at the plate and we set it back down.  After a few times of removing it before she was really done, she has learned that when we take it, the meal is over–it becomes less of a game and more a way of her communicating her needs with us.
4. Giving each item of food a part of the plate.  The nice thing about divided plates is that it makes it easy for her to communicate what she wants more of by pointing to the area where the food was.
5. Try to have fun with meals.  There have been many nights where meals have ended in tears for both E  and me because I was afraid she wasn’t eating enough, or she screamed the whole time, etc… and she was frustrated by XYZ.  It is hard when your child won’t eat, no matter how old they are.  It goes against my momstinct to let her go without eating, but sometimes by dinner she just isn’t hungry or she just doesn’t feel good (that’s usually our first sign she’s getting sick!).  We offer a variety of solids and soft foods (sometimes when her teeth hurt she refuses solid foods so if she flat out refuses everything we do try an applesauce or yogurt just to be sure it isn’t the teeth) and then I just try to let the stress go and try to make it fun by making shapes, playing music during the meal, or throwing a lemon on there and watching the expression on her face!
6. Eat together.  E loves when I sit down at her table with her and we practice our “cheers!”  We also try to eat the same thing as her when we can!

All this being said, I am not going to lie and say mealtimes are always easy.  I would love to hear your tips because like all things parenting, it’s always changing and what works one day might need to be adjusted the next.  It’s an adventure for sure!

Also these sippy cups are the stuff of miracles because this is the first one E was able to use with a hard top (it has a skinnier lip)–no more transition cups!  Wahoo!!

And now for the fun part!! Re-Play has offered one of you lucky ducks a feeding set in your color choice for your little one!  All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter below!  I will announce the winner next Friday!!  They have also offered all of you an exclusive coupon code for 15% off your order of $20 or more on their site using code: Planning4Paris2017 (Expires 3/24)

You can also find their products at Amazon, Target, and tons of other retailers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, friends!!
Erin

*This post was sponsored by Re-Play Recycled, but all opinions, as always, are my own!