Sensitive kids group

[karlilay]

JC - so glad that Daisy is adapting well to Pre School. She sounds like shes going to fit in just great.

DaisyBee- sorry to hear about the side affects from your flu shots. I read somewhere else on the forum that there is a real bad epidemic in the USA now, where quite a few children have been dying. How awful

OM- Omar sounds like hes doing really well with keeping himself occupied. Did you find this since you got rid of the dummy. We binned Madis dummies on the 4th of Jan, and she has been like a different child.

Just a quick question... are any of your children over cautious? Zach isnt reall ya sensative child, but hes quite quiet. Anyway he didnt walk till 18 months, but since he has been walking hes never fallen, it was like he didnt dare incase he fell. But hes still now really overly cautious about things. Like he wont and cant go up and down a slide/ride or push along with his feet on a ride on. Or go up and down steps and curbs. He is just so frightened he will fall.

 

[OmarsMum]

Omar got more active when we got rid of the dummy, he didn't know how to relax during the day bless him, but now he's more in control, he changed a lot since his 3rd birthday. He's more active & confident, he went through a whiney phase after we weaned him off the dummy, but I guess it's the over tiredness, but now we don't really have lots of whining.

As for cautiousness, Omar is the same, he will not do anything he can't master, he didn't start to climb the stairs without holding the rail until recently. Now he runs up & down the stairs. He's always been cautious. He wasn't so physical but now he doesn't stop

 

[karlilay]

Aw im glad its not just Zach. Everywhere i go and a baby group all the boys his age are so rough and tumble. He likes to watch them all, but he doesnt want to join in. The ride on thing bothers me, i brought him one for Christmas and he wont even sit on it.

 

[OmarsMum]

Omar never used his as a ride on he still uses his but to push it around. We have his balance bike since his birthday, & few weeks back DH got him a bike with balance wheels. Still no interest in the balance bike, & he only plays with the bike's bells

He got his scuttle bug at 14 months but didn't show an interest until he was 21-22 months, he still plays with it although he's too big for it.

 

[cutie4evr01]

Christina is very cautious also. She was the same with walking - she didn't walk until 17 months and then never fell, never even stumbled, just went straight to walking well. She crawled up stairs for quite some time after that, I can't remember when she started walking up stairs. Even now she only walks up/down stairs if she has a handrail or someone's hand to hold. She used to need a hand to hold to step up a curb also, but in the past couple months she's started doing that on her own. She loves playing on the park stairs/slides/etc. now, but I think that really only started around age 2.5. She also never stood up in the bath or climbed in and out herself until around 2.5 or so. She's also very cautious in pools - she wants to wear her lifejacket and floaties and be held by someone (admittedly we haven't been in a pool in several months now, but back in August that's how she was). She pushes herself on ride-ons and on her trike now, but I don't think she did that until after 2 either.

My DD2 has nearly given me a heart attack so many times because she is such a fearless child - she's been standing in the bath since about 12 months, she's constantly trying to climb things, diving headfirst into the bath or off of a bed/couch, wandering off places, etc. - it has been such a stark contrast to Christina's cautiousness. I've actually just secured some furniture to the walls and added some extra child locks on some kitchen cabinets, because Christina was never like that so we hadn't needed it before.

 

[OmarsMum]

Progress in messy play gooey slime

 

[polaris]

JC - that is fantastic news that Daisy is doing so well in preschool. Must be a huge relief! I'm sure there will be good days and bad days but that's to be expected - but the main thing is that she likes it and is settling well!

Omarsmum - that's great that Omar played so well independently. Sometimes Thomas will do this, but very rarely. Love the messy play picture!

Tacey - brilliant news about the hair washing!! Yay!!

Daisybee - hope you are all feeling much better today. I had the flu jab when Thomas was a baby and I felt rotten for about three or four days. It's put me off getting it again to be honest, although obviously I would in your situation if there was a real epidemic.

Karlilay - Thomas was (and still is) so cautious. I can count the number of times he bumped himself because he just didn't ever fall, he never did something unless he was sure he could do it safely. We never really had to childproof for Thomas because he was so careful. He is still really cautious but he does much more now because he is more confident. But he still knows his limits and doesn't take risks. When he was younger, he never used his scuttlebug except to push it around the floor, he never bounced in the jumparoo, he never climbed on anything, he didn't jump until he was maybe two and a half, he only went down the slide backwards on his tummy until about two. But now he is much more confident with stuff he knows, he is great at swimming and he loves his balance bike now (he sometimes even scares me going fast on his balance bike now but he always knows exactly what he's doing!).

Cutie - I can't exactly remember flights - but I know we had two three or four hour flights and probably two short flights (45 mins) when I was pregnant on Thomas and I think we just had two 45 minute flights when I was pregnant on Clara.

I know there's other stuff I wanted to comment on but I can't remember now!

 

[karlilay]

Well done Omar! That looks like great fun, is it cornflour?

 

[DaisyBee]

Megan is cautious about physical things. She wouldn't climb on something until she was older and knew she could do it. Her first step was at 14 months. Her cousin was climbing up on chairs around 12 months, and I remember commenting that Megan would have never attempted that at his age. I remember daycare toddlers climbing up their chair to their booster chair by themselves... Young toddlers. Megan just started that this past summer. She would never hit her head on a table as if she is under it, she turns her head to look at where the table is. Not all kids do that, especially at the crawling stage.

But she has a very very curious side. She is the most curious child I've ever seen. So we had to childproof everything. She notices everything and so I couldn't just tuck something away as she would find it. I would have to put it up or really away. She still gets into everything, so although I trust her with things like my makeup and know she wouldnt eat it, she wants to use it and play with it so I have to put it up. She wants to use things like fingernail clippers. She gets into tampons and plays with them making them unusable. I had to use cupboard child locks with a few of them where dishwasher soap, etc was as she would want to get into it. I left most though as she was so into searching out the cupboards and playing with everything. She likes to play with measuring spoons and big spoons, etc she will get Tupperware and pots out. She is constantly into everything.

She never jumped in her jumperoo either... She didn't like it ever.

 

[DaisyBee]

Im thinking a discussion about food and eating habits of our sensitive kids would be nice... Especially with what I was discussing in toddlers.

Ive always thought Megan was an ok eater. She doesn't eat much when we are out... She is too distracted. She doesn't like what's available on kids meals much, she isn't into fried foods. She doesn't like veggies that aren't very very cooked. And restaurants tend to undercook things like carrots and broccoli. So getting her to eat much when out has never happened. At home she eats better if she isn't facing the patio door. She isn't so distracted then as well. I've always thought she ate ok... But she is picky. She likes one brand of something and that's it. She used to love broccoli, but only frozen baby broccoli. Any other way of steaming, raw, whatever, and she wouldn't eat. She likes carrots boiled, won't eat them if I cook them with a roast. Wont eat the real big carrots that you have to cut up... Only the baby carrots in the bag. She only likes certain kinds of crackers. Wont eat goldfish ( cheesy crackers) but will eat better cheddar crackers. She will eat graham crackers and pretzels, but will not eat potato chips, doritos, ritz crackers. She will cry if someone offers her a chip. Bananas can't be very ripe or she gets repulsed by the texture. She spits out raw veggies.

She has a hard time with meal transitions. She needs advance warning that we are going to be sitting down to eat. She also does best with eating on a schedule. Even if everything for lunch is finger foods she gets upset if I don't give her a spoon and a fork. Likewise if she really only needs a fork and not a spoon, she still needs both.

Foods can't be too hot ( warm) or she gets upset. She is ok with foods touching, she doesn't like the consistency of mashed potatoes, but will eat them in chunks or homemade fries in the oven.

What she is doing lately almost makes me think of what she did last year at Xmas. Last year right before Xmas she had gotten a cold, we did our Xmas the week before actual Xmas and she was sick. But she was getting better, but then stopped eating anything. She went over a week without eating any actual food. We offered anything and everything. She stopped even eating yogurt, and was only having milk and pediasure. I couldnt get her to have cookies, suckers, chocolate, as it was Xmas and there was lots of stuff available to entice her, she wouldnt eat any of it. By the time I could get her to the dr she started slowly eating again. It was like she was afraid to eat and refused to. Her appetite is much less recently, and she is getting pickier every week. I'm trying to figure out when it started... Xmas? Im not sure. Her hair washing issue got worse and that's when her shirt issue started as well... wondering if it was all around the same time?

 

[DaisyBee]

I also wanted to mention that Megan has been more interested in drawing and letters the past few days. She was doing the fisted hold for pens, the past few days I've seen the Palmer grasp. She is wanting to have me write her name and then she tries to write M for megan she says. It looks nothing like the M but she is interested! She has been wanting to play Elmo game with abcs on the iPad more lately, and going around the house saying things like P is for ball, p is for ball! Or "a is for pot, " etc haha not the right letters, but she is showing more interest than she was.

 

[OmarsMum]

Omar is picky with food as in textures, tastes, trying new things, & touching. But he eats well. He started to eat well since he had all his teeth at 2yrs 8 months. But when he gets sick he goes completely off food & he lives on water, when he finally recovers, it's like starting weaning & introducing food again.

I also noticed that he started to finally ask for food when he's hungry since we weaned him off the dummy.

I kind of force the 1st taste of each & every cooked meal (knowing that he likes that dish), the only dish he will open his mouth to without arguing or picking on what I'm offering him is fried rice with mince & green peas.

Like today for example, he wanted to eat the rie only without the minestrone soup, I gave him the ipad, & put the tv on, I started to feed him rice only, bit when he got distracted I was able to feed him the soup, I know he likes it, but I had to distract him to get him to taste it. If he doesnt like the taste of something he will spit it out even if he ate it & liked it before. I doesnt matter if he's realy hungry, if he's not in a mood to eat a certain dish, he will not eat it. Bribery doesnt work when it comes to food, as he doesnt care if goes all day without food.

Cooked food should be warm close to room temperature, he will not eat hot food, his milk pudding, milk as drink & yoghurts should be really cold out of the fridge, if they get warm he refuses to eat them. He loves cold water, but he doesnt like ice cream. He also eats his porridge cold mixed with cold milk & cold fruit smoothie, he will not eat warm porridge.

But he eats decent amounts. Like today he had two milk puddings & a yoghurt when he woke up, after an hour he had a small bowl of porridge mixed with fruit smoothie & some milk. For lunch he ate minestrone soup & rice, he had two small pots of yoghurt as a snack & one hour later he had some cashew nuts. For dinner he had rice with lamb meat cooked in yoghurt sauce.

Today is considered as a good day. As he's move active those days, he's eating much better than before when he used to relax a lot during the day.

We had a success with the balance bike today, he rode it across the long corridor at home, twice.

As for classes, I decided to attend the classes, & I didnt take the housekeeper with us. I noticed that he's more open with the housekeeper as she keeps interacting with him, as he loves to play with her, he acts as if he's at home. I dont want him to feel comfortable there because he has someone he knows with him.

The gym class was fine, bt he needed me around, but it was fine as the 2 other kids in the class had their mummies with them & we were all interacting with the kids.

At the mess lab class, there were 5 kids with their mums, but i decided to hide when he was occupied. He did great, he noticed that I wasnt there so he was talking & asking the class assistance for help. but after 30 mins, he asked the teacher if I was coming back with a tear in his eye. I came out from my hiding place & I told him it's ok, mummy will always come back after she leaves.

Daisybee- Glad Megan is more interested in letters Omar went through this phase but as it went on for over 1.5 yrs, he's not really bothered anymore. I want to start some more advanced activities like tracing & proper letters writing, but I dont know if it's a right thing to do at home. Should I leave it for now?

Those days he's more into messy play, we do a messy play project almost everyday, he's getting over his sensory issues slowly. I want to try messy play with food next week. I really hope it goes well.

 

[DaisyBee]

Omarsmum - so when Omar is distracted he will let you feed him? Megan eats worst when distracted. And if I try to feed her or even help her put something on her fork she will then completely refuse to eat. I have a better chance of her eating something if I act like I could care less if she eats it. I can't help her at all or she shuts her mouth as hard as she can and I then stop. And she then is pretty much done, she would rather go hungry. She is very stubborn. She was refusing to let me put any food in her mouth by 9 months. I couldn't even spoon feed her yogurt by then... She would refuse and scream at me. But would pick it up herself. Jordan likes to feed herself, but is willing to let me help with things that need a spoon.

She did well at lunch today... Much Better than it has been going. She had a midmorning snack of some cheese, some raisins, and a small amount of juice. Lunch she ate some tuna salad sandwich ( maybe 1/4 sandwich?) tomato soup ( 1/4 cup) a couple of blueberries with whipped cream that I gave her to make the fruit look more appealing and it must have helped... She then licked the cream off of the fruit and left the rest of the blueberries and blackberries. Haha 2 crackers with her soup, a bite of cottage cheese, and a few sips of milk.

 

[Quartz]

Samy (she insists this is how to spell her name) is not too bad with food - like Megan and Omar will not eat anything hot and I have to eat the first mouthful of all food to check that it is warm and not hot! She also goes through phases with carbs so we will have a month of her wanting potato so chicken pie, fish pie etc, pasta or rice. we are currently on rice and she will happily eat it plain. She eats a lot 3 meals plus snacks.

We went out on her trike today which was slow progress but we are getting there. Also her social side is improving - we are throwing a 4th birthday party and she is happy and excited about who is coming.

 

[karlilay]

Both of mine are an absolute nightmare to feed, in fact, i have just about given up now. Zach wont eat meat, only in spag bol, neither will eat any veg. Zach lives on potatos baisically.

 

[OmarsMum]

Daisybee- Omar never showed interest in food until recently. He never attempted to feed himself. He had a very bad relationship with food. Maybe it's his reflux? He was suffering from reflux when he was a baby & his gag reflex was very snesitive. It didnt settle until he was 18 months.

This is why distraction works with him, he prefers to be spoon fed, when he eats something on his own, he's too slow & he looses interest quickly.

With Megan, I dont think distraction will work. My nephew who's two & tiny for his age eats better when he eats on his own, he's not picky with food, but he doesnt eat much. My cousin who's 3 eats on his own, he will not let his mum help while he eats, & he gets frustrated when she tries, he will eat much better without disrtaction. But his highly sensitive brother who's 6 still needs his mum's help to eat his meal & he needs distraction to finish his food.

Quartz- Glad you have success with the trike hun, it's amazing when they finally get over their cautiousness & fear. Hope she has a wonderful birthday party xx

 

[OmarsMum]

Karlilay- it's not easy when you have picky eaters.

 

[karlilay]

Madi was a good baby, but she got a really bad cough and ended up on an inhalor for a month , she stopped drinking milk then and got so fussy with her food, she was only 11 months old.

Zach was BLW and he used to eat anything and everything.

Neither will eat real meat only processed stuff, Madi like cucumber and carrot sticks, and theyre both real fruit lovers.
I was so bad with food when i was younger, i rememeber having Salad Cream sandwiches every day for 6 years through primary school, i lived on that and salad, and sausages without skins. I rememeber how awful i felt when people would try to make me eat, so i dont push it with them. But they both get real praise if they try something new, even if they dont like it.

I get really wound up because 9/10 Madi wont eat snack at Preschool, but i dont want to send something because i hope she will try what the others do.

 

[Tacey]

Food hasn't been a particularly big issue for us. Alice barely ate any solids until she was well over one, and only started eating quantities more like the other toddlers I saw when I got pregnant. That makes sense as it coincided with my milk supply dropping. She has never let me (or anyone else,) feed her. One thing I find frustrating is how she'll suddenly decide she doesn't like something she's previously loved. On the flip side, she'll just as easily decide she likes something she used to leave, as happened tonight with carrots, so I can't complain!

She eats an enormous breakfast, a reasonable lunch (half a sandwich and some fruit for example,) and dinner varies depending on how much she likes it. She constantly asks for snacks, but I think that's related to boredom. I had to stop offering snacks while we were walking as it was getting ridiculous. She'd ask for something before we'd reached the end of our garden path!

 

[OmarsMum]

Tacey- Interesting about boredom, Omar doesnt ask for food when we are out, but at home when he has nothing to do, he goes to the fridge & looks for something to eat.

When he had a dummy, he used to ask for it when he used to get bored, but as he doesnt have one, now he asks for a snack.