My toddler's diet?

[Sarah Thompson]

I am looking for a little feedback on my toddler's diet. He's 3 1/2. He isn't really nursing, except for a few seconds a couple times a day. He's healthy and strong. I am not really worried, but I am wondering. He eats as many apples as I have in the house. If I buy 6 apples, they are gone in 4 hours. (It's hard on the pocketbook to buy 6 organic apples a day). So, of course he has the runs all the time. He also eats cukes, carrots and raw pole beans (and anything else he can find in the garden). He'll eat other things, too, but it's mostly the 6 apples a day I am wondering about. Is that all right for his system?

[Kathy Brown]

If it's giving him diarrhea all the time, I wouldn't say it's okay. It sounds like he could get dehydrated. It's possible that he's intolerant to apples and so he craves them (this happened with my daughter).

[Sarah Thompson]

Well, I shouldn't exaggerate. He often has loose stools from it, but I wouldn't call it regular diarrhea.

How did you deal with the situation with your daughter?

Kathy Brown said:

If it's giving him diarrhea all the time, I wouldn't say it's okay. It sounds like he could get dehydrated. It's possible that he's intolerant to apples and so he craves them (this happened with my daughter).

[Pat Robinson]

What about apple flavored alternatives, apple crisp, apple dumplings, apple/oat cookies, apple dip, apple in fruit cocktail, etc.

What about the apple does he like, sweet, crunch, tart, cold, hard??

I offer a "buffet" of foods, including the apple, but with many alternatives. The other foods get eaten also. Mostly, because they are already conveniently available.

Can he get the apple himself? If so, consider having him help to select other fun snacks from Trader Joes or wherever, and place them where he can help himself to those at home, also.

We've been discussing nutrient dense snacks, such as chocolate lollies with protein powders mixed in. Ds will eat anything chocolate. And I've made snacks with pureed veggies as the liquid. Kathy is the master recipe maker at this!


Pat

[Kathy Brown]

With my daughter's apple intolerance, we stopped having them in the house. She didn't get loose stools from it. She would just wake up/cry multiple times at night, and wet the bed at night. She also drank a ton (so much so that she was tested for diabtetes twice). When she stopped having the apples, she stopped wetting the bed, started drinking at a normal level, and started sleeping at night (it was one of the last food triggers we figured out for her, so when it was removed, it all clicked into place).

If he wants them all as soon as he sees them, can you buy 6 and only put 2 out? And put the other two in a cupboard or something? If it's just a matter that he eats too many. We offer a wide variety of foods as well. When we were trying to broaden our kids' horizons, so to speak, we did what Pat suggested. We'd go to the store and pick one new fruit and one new vegetable to try, and the kids would watch while it got prepared, and everyone got to do a "taste test". It made it fun. You can even do scorecards.

[Sarah Thompson]

I think he just likes the textures of fresh fruits and veggies. We work at a farm and have a big garden, so he is always grazing on something - carrots, kohlrabi, salad turnips, beans, whatever. I think he particularly likes apples because he likes them, and he knows exactly how many we buy and how many are left! However, I do notice that he goes through "food phases" and then gets less demanding of certain things, still liking them when we have them but not always asking to go out and buy more. We are about to be in apple season here, so maybe when we are through that he will show less interest.