Foiled at last... the continued nutrition saga.

Well, Sweets has officially beaten food tactic #2. Actually she figured it out two or three weeks ago, but I haven't gotten around to blogging much. Apologies to those for whom my kid's eating habits are wrenchingly boring- we're obsessed. After the "no pressure" meathod failed miserably for our first several weeks, we went to the old-fashioned method of not leaving the table until Sweets had eaten what was required. She didn't like it much, of course, and meals were often lengthy, but food was going in! Weight was gained! After a couple of successful months, she started this fun habit of putting food in her mouth and refusing to chew or swallow it for so long that she would choke on it. Having dealt with pukey episodes a few times in a row, we knew we'd been beaten. So, we had to back off again, and of course she immediately stopped eating at all, but after a few days of that she started to improve again. For all the struggle it was, though, I'm glad we went through the progression as we did, because I think having a proper diet for several weeks not only helped her to gain a substantial amount of weight, but may also have "reminded" her body what it needs and helped to jump-start her growth. Now that her body is growing again, I think it's requiring more calories and so she's hungrier and eats more on her own than when she arrived. I also think it was good because now when she tries to skip a meal, we can tell her she is required to eat something and she knows we mean business, so there's more compromise involved. Altogether, we seem to be on the right track- hopefully at our check-up in a few weeks the doctor will say she's grown enough to have beaten her Failure-to-Thrive. Grow girl!