my son isnt eating much- I need advise.

clevohardcore - 8-12-2009 at 01:06 PM

He's not sick. He is always rocking out. Ton of energy, but for some reason is not eating much. He only eats a couple things and will not try anything new. No matter how much we try. Chicken nuggets fish sticks and tater tots all manly his forte. Plus, he keeps waking up around 1 or 2 am and climbs in bed with the wife and I. Last night I was in hardcore dad mode and set my foot down until he just sat in his bed crying for 20 minutes. Eventually he was allowed in bed with us again and slept all night.

Please tell me this subsides and he starts eating and reclaims his own bed.

Enyo - 8-12-2009 at 01:26 PM

clevo- it's totally normal for kids to go through stages of only wanting to eat certain things and/ or not eating much. unless he starts losing weight I wouldn't be concerned... just continue to offer other choices and DON'T make it a power struggle.

ok for the getting out of bed... you can do the "rapid return technique". This is goingt o sound harsh, but it WORKS. and YES you have to suffer through a few bad nights, but the pay off is worth it. (in my opinion anyway...)

When he gets in bed with you just say " it's time for sleep and we sleep in our own beds" (don't say anything esle, but it's ok to repeat that phrase 2 or 3 times)... walk him staraight back to his room and put him in bed. don't cuddle or do anything more than just putting him in the bed and tucking him in. then walk away. Ignore any crying... if he gets up.. take him again right back to his bed. The first night.. you may do this 50 times. but the second night should be about half and so on.

We did this with our foster son and it worked like a charm... the first few nights were HORRIBLE no one slept at all.. but by the 6th day he was sleeping like a rock for 11 hours at a stretch.

if all else fails.. you can reset his circadian rythum by setting your alarm clock for about 30 minutes before he normal wakes up and going in and waking him up... just enough to get him to move around a bit and then fall right back to sleep.. then you've broken and reset his normal wake/ sleep cycle and after a few days of that then he should stop getting up at 1/2 AM.

ofcourse if you're ok with co-cleeping.. then just let it go.

Or put a mattress on the floor of your room so he can crash there.

He is in the 3-5 range, right??

clevohardcore - 8-12-2009 at 03:02 PM

I'll do the tough guy sleeping technique you speak of. It's just tough as nails when your asleep and you get woken up and then you have to try and get him back to bed and he is giving it his all to come and sleep with us. It's a new thing he has started and its making me a little stressed. My son is 3 and will be 4 in October. Says he's scared of "guitar pillow". I have no idea what he is talking about. It's funny, but I have no idea what it is that is stressing him out. Thanks for the advice.

CR83 - 8-12-2009 at 03:10 PM

Clevo, my friend just created a bed for kids who get up in the middle of the night and wander around.

Expensive but looks rad:

http://www.myreadysetbloom.com/

barc0debaby - 8-12-2009 at 03:56 PM

My mom threw everything I didn't eat in the blender and made me suck that shit through a straw.

BDx13 - 8-12-2009 at 09:31 PM

^ are you fucking serious?
that rules!

as for the food, clevo...
remember, little ones go through wild growth spurts. they'll go weeks, even months, where they devour everything, then their bodies chill out for a bit and they don't anywhere near what they were. just make sure he's getting something in his belly every meal, otherwise... he'll eat when he gets hungry.

Mickey - 8-12-2009 at 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Enyo
clevo- it's totally normal for kids to go through stages of only wanting to eat certain things and/ or not eating much. unless he starts losing weight I wouldn't be concerned... just continue to offer other choices and DON'T make it a power struggle.

ok for the getting out of bed... you can do the "rapid return technique". This is goingt o sound harsh, but it WORKS. and YES you have to suffer through a few bad nights, but the pay off is worth it. (in my opinion anyway...)

When he gets in bed with you just say " it's time for sleep and we sleep in our own beds" (don't say anything esle, but it's ok to repeat that phrase 2 or 3 times)... walk him staraight back to his room and put him in bed. don't cuddle or do anything more than just putting him in the bed and tucking him in. then walk away. Ignore any crying... if he gets up.. take him again right back to his bed. The first night.. you may do this 50 times. but the second night should be about half and so on.

We did this with our foster son and it worked like a charm... the first few nights were HORRIBLE no one slept at all.. but by the 6th day he was sleeping like a rock for 11 hours at a stretch.

Spot on advice. Straight out of nanny 911. It works. Remember as much as it is going to suck for a few nights it'll pay off.....you make the rules, not him. My 3 year old is the same way with eating habbits. We have an old school doctor who is awesome. His advice...if he's hungry, he'll eat. We tell him " this is what we are having for dinner....if your not going to eat, you still have to sit there and hang out with the family." No toys(distractions) at the table. If we are having desert, no desert unless he eats, and stick to it. Even if it means eating in front of him. No snacks for the few hous before dinner. Sometimes we'll trick him and tell him we are having his favorite ________ for dinner. When he says he doesn't like ______, we tell him he's silly and we had that last night and he loved it rememberrrrrrr. I'm no kid expert, but if you ever need to vent or advice, don't hesitate to U2U me. I have 2 boys ages 3 and 2...so far so good and they are2 smart happy little guys. Good luck

XnMeX - 8-12-2009 at 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by clevohardcore
Says he's scared of "guitar pillow".

That IS scary...

Enyo - 8-13-2009 at 09:08 AM

clevo- How did it go last night??

clevohardcore - 8-23-2009 at 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by XnMeX

Quote:

Originally posted by clevohardcore
Says he's scared of "guitar pillow".

That IS scary...

DUDE! WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU FIND THIS?