Food wars

We have had trouble getting Reese to try new foods. Surprised? Not really but it is something we really wanted her to improve on. There were some steps to this process. First Reese is very sensitive to smells. There was a time in her development that she was throwing up about 3 times a day due to the different smells from food. Next, she has a sensitive gag reflex. When trying new baby foods, she would gag at the new taste and then throw up everything from that day. So those things made us hesitant to have her try new foods.

Through a parenting class we are doing we recently gained new perspective on the food battle. First, trying new foods is a skill, it is not a moral issue. This means we don't punish for not trying new foods. Instead we are trying a goal chart. We now have a sticker chart posted in the dinning room. Each night we offer her a small sample of what we are eating for dinner. If she eats it, and keeps it down, then she gets a sticker for the chart. Once she completes a row, she gets to take one of us out to dinner, to show off her new skills!

Another thing we are learning is portion size. I have never been good at this myself! We have a food pyramid for toddlers posted on the fridge and it reminds us of serving sizes for younger kids. Hopefully smaller serving sizes and this goal chart will lead to better eating without a battle! :)