[lakimnafite]

I have lived a very healthy lifestyle for years. I gave up soda about 15 years ago. I have eaten mostly wheat free and dairy free for about 10 years. When I was single, my typical day would be:

7am: protein shake with soy milk and banana

10am: fruit

noon: chicken salad (anyone remember macheesemo mouse...!?!? ) or stir fry chicken and vegetables

3pm: protein bar

6pm: workout

8pm: light dinner or another protein shake.

I was very lean, very strong, never sick...

Today, for breakfast, I had a couple of bites of banana that Allie didn't eat, and a couple of bites of toast that Tate didn't eat.

For lunch, I had 4 chocolate chip cookies and two diet cokes (with lemon).

Snack, the skin and bruised part of the peach that I wouldn't feed to Allie. Also had two rice cakes dipped in hummus.

Dinner, I ate the spaghetti that Tate didn't eat - from his plate with his fork!

My only workout - I walked one half block to meet Tate's school bus...

Do I wonder why I can't fit into any of my old clothes...!?

Now, the baby...

This child can eat! I think she went way too long being hungry and never feeling full. I don't know if she understands what the full feeling even means..... In Russia, she would eat until she threw up. I finally started determining when I thought she was almost to that point, and then distracting her away from the food...

Her typical day:

7:30am: Breakfast is usually an entire banana, a small bowl of hot cereal, three or four handfulls of cheerios, and juice.

10am: bottle of formula

11:30am: a toddler meal, a piece of fruit, water and some crackers

3pm: a container of yogurt and some gerber puffs

6pm: most of a chicken breast, some vegetables, and about a 1/2 cup of pasta,and rice milk.

8pm: bottle of formula

Each meal and snack takes about an hour, because she is eating so much.. Most of the pictures I have of her at home are in her chair at the counter - because she is eating or drinking a bottle for about 5 of the 9 hours she is awake!

Is this normal...?


So, another question. Allie, Princess as she is, is very impatient when it comes to her food or bottles... She is great about using the 'more' sign and the signs for food and drink. When she makes the sign, I will tell her, "oh, you want more to drink, or more to eat. Okay, let mommy get it for you." She gets a big smile on her face. I will begin to prepare (open the box, or wash the fruit, or pull out a bottle to fill) and she laughs. Then, when I don't had it to her immediately - and I mean IMMEDIATELY - she screems! So, I'm cutting the fruit and saying, Yes, you are going to have more. I make the sign for more, nod my head yes, say yes in Russian. It doesn't matter, nothing works. She will laugh, then scream and cry, then laugh again if she thinks it's ready, but if it isn't SCREAMS louder. Turns purple, can't breath, sobs and cries and screams... I prepare as fast as I can but it's like she is starving. Never mind she is probably still full from the last time she ate.....

I'm not sure how to help her get more patience and to really know and believe that more is coming, but has to be prepared... What should I do?

[waitinginnj]

You might try a food box. Provide healthy snacks where she can reach them and access them at any time. Allow her to each as much as she wants. Don't ever stop her. Over time, she will start to realize that she will always have access to food and her eating habit will modify. This worked wonders for a friend of mine.

The first few days it was a struggle to keep it stocked, but then it got better within a couple of days and eventually disappeared.

[jkkclinton]

James still does the freaking out for food immediately. He comes down in the morning and will start whining and fussing immediately if his breakfast is not already on the table! Ugh...what a way to start the day! Then five minutes after he leaves the table he asks when we will be having lunch. Always looking for the next meal.

He is a good eater but very picky about what he eats. She will, as will James, eventually realize that they are going to get fed when they are hungry and that they don't need to worry about it....looking forward to that day!

[Wendrew]

I am not sure if this would help, but maybe you can give her a few cheerios or puffs while you are preparing the food she is waiting for to distract her.

[Chris3148]

We are home six months, I am almost ten pounds heavier and haven't figured the "me" part of it yet. Sorry, no help there.

Our girls SCREAMED the entire first month they were home when it came to food also and ate NON-STOP. I too think they were just starving for food and that full belly feeling. I prepared A LOT of meals with my little one on my hip and the older one by my feet. What worked for us was putting on a Disney sing along video-calming music-and giving them a sippy of milk or a cup of Gerber puffs while I prepared the food. This worked most days. And I did stay up a few nights a week and prepare the dinner food ahead of time just to heat up at a later time. But of course that doesn't work with breakfast and fruit!

Good luck to you. After a month their screaming stopped. Sometimes the little one will still ask for milk while I am preparing food. But she will stand next to me holding on to my leg, rubbing her head on me, drinking her milk quietly! LOL And if the older one whines now, I just have her help me prepare the meal and she thinks that is the best.

[adoptiveparentblogger]

I can really relate... My daughter age 22 months home for 5 months can out eat me. I also give her a snack cup of plain cherrios or gerber puffs at all times.
She has gained 8 lbs since being home and just now is finally tapering off on her eating. It takes time. I have to make smart choices for her as she does not seem to have an off switch . She still has tantrums while im preparing her food even when I provide her snacks while waiting. I just wrote about this and I will be posting it on my blog this week.Adoptive Parenting Blog

Hang in there.. it gets better

I remember our ped saying not to worry as our girl had so much weight gain to get caught up on, since she was underweight to start with

[Annabell]

Poor you! Poor her! Your poor ears!

We had a food hoarding issue (at 2, when first home, DD was hiding bits and pieces of things -- I kept smelling funny, yeasty smell in office and finally found her hiding place) -- so I put healthy snacks (carrots, celery, Cheerios, sliced apples) out on every surface she could reach and left them out all day, so that everywhere she turned, there was food for the taking, whenever she wanted it. Also let her fall asleep holding a really stale bagel every night (stale so that all she could do was gum/lick it -- not bite it and choke).

Within a very short while, the food desperation went away. Of course, the upholstery got sticky and there were crumbs everywhere, but she got over her food issues.

I think my child's hoarding and your child's frantic calls for food, more food, probably have similar origins.

Hope this helps.

[tbristow]

Ditto to some of the above posts. Hunter was very much like Allie in the food department and when he was hungry you had ot have it yesterday!! He gained 5 lbs. in a very short time. I never did have the throwing up problem, but we started making sure he had fruit snacks, cereal, etc... that he could get to. There was a little storage tray on his chair that we could fill with the cereal. It got better all of a sudden. It was like we flipped a switch about 3 months after we came home. He's now a typical picky toddler. I wish you the best of luck. I still haven't figured out the "me" thing this time and we've been home 19 months!!

[bonsaroonie]

Your child is "gorging". It's very normal and can last weeks or even months. (This does not sound like hoarding to me.)

We spoke with our SW after 3 weeks of this behavior and she's the one who told us about gorging. She said we could start to cut his food back if we wanted. Pierce was eating DOUBLE what your daughter is, so we did slowly cut back.

Pierce still has minor food issues, but has come a long way in these last 15 months. When he came home, each meal took an hour and was accompanied by MUCH screaming and crying. I noticed that by 9 months home, he had enough trust that I could take his bowl and refill it in the kitchen. He wouldn't cry - he trusted that I would bring more.

I'll be honest: I don't think there is much you can do other than staying on a schedule so she'll learn to know that she'll be fed. Trust takes time. At some point you may have her evaluated for oral sensory issues, but I think this is classic gorging at this point. Wait it out for 6 months or so, then see where she's at.

As I said, Pierce still has some issues. I pray that some day he will be 100% over these issues, but only time will tell.

Best wishes!

[doozer22boys]

I just had to say that I can totally relate to your chocolate chip cookies and diet coke for lunch. I wouldn't think of feeding that to the kids, but it's good for me. Man, why does that happen to us?? I'm there too.

[GCS]

Sophia was only 5 months old when she came home and she went absolutley nuts if I didnt feed her the minute she let me know she was hungry. She was a bottomless pit. I couldnt get enough into her.

At the point that she was taking 10 - 8 ounce bottles a day to keep her satisfied, I ran to the doctor sure that there was another problem. 80 ounces a day!!! At 6 months!!

Turns out my girl was going to be very tall and was more undernurished than we thought. I had to get her more cereal and other baby foods to help get her off all that formula. She had a huge appetite for almost a full year home and then started to taper off.

Today I am thrilled if I can get her to actually eat 3 meals a day.

I agree with keeping healthy foods available to her - where she can reach them or where she can get it and give it to you to serve it. Try not to expose her to fatty sugary foods (which it seems you dont keep around anyway) because then thats all they want. Keep good snack alternatives with you like small containers of cherrios or trail mix if she is eating that kind of food already. Also, offer snacks after big activities like going to the park and after nap time when their sugar is low.

I cant help you with the "me" part of this. I have lost all my lean mean muscle mass and am now a person who has to catch her breath after running up the stairs. I keep saying "how did this happen to me?", but 2 years of eating whatever was easiest to get and not working out has taken its toll.

[kimtenn]

Hi Kim -- Kim T. from the Astrakhan boards here. Charlie was hungry when we first got him too. But we didn't have the tantrums at mealtime like you're having. That must be awful. A schedule does help, and it sounds like you've got her on one.

When we started Charlie on solid foods (Dr. put him back on formula full-time for first 8 months home until he was 2), if we gave him his full portion of food, he would stuff his mouth FULL like a chipmunk!! Occasionally, this led to choking, so we immediately started feeding him bite by bite to avoid hazards like choking.

Have you thought about asking your doctor if Allie should go back on formula full-time? That might help with the hungries and nutrition since she seems to have a good-sized appetite for a toddler. Her little body is probably craving what it has missed all these months before her wonderful parents came in the picture.

Also, my mom had the brilliant idea of setting out healthy snacks (goldfish, Gerber juice gummies and teddy grahams are his favorites) on a terrycloth towel on an end table in the living room, so he could graze whenever he wants. Charlie is definitely a snacker (especially crunchy snacks!). We also give him water, juice or whole milk to drink in a sippy with the snacks. Doing this helped Charlie know that food was around whenever he wanted. This way, you control the portions and kinds of snacks, and he controls when he wants it. So he has a "snack towel" at both Grandmama's and at home.

Good luck to you, and let us know how Allie is doing.