This would really drive me crazy. Actually, my parents do the same thing and I asked them to stop. If it's important to you then it's worth mentioning. Do not underestimate your instinct to feed your children well.

Christy Przystawik
Holistic Health Coach. Chef. Mother. Motivator.
coachchristymarie.com

Anonymous wrote:13:09 - the critical part is that the Inuit never ate sugar, grains, or any other junky carbs either. That's why they were healthy - not because they didn't eat vegetables.

OP -you do have every right to say "no sugar." And there's no reason you shouldn't. The bloggers below do not feed their children table sugar and they find their children all the better for it:

http://everydaypaleo.com/
http://paleoparents.com/
http://www.growinguppaleo.com/

You really are silly the Inuit ate the way they did b/c they lived on the frozen tundra. Yes, so chomp down on whale blubber b/c you wouldn't be able to grow a crop.

OP you are overthinking this. not worth the stress. In general is sounds like your child is eating quite healthily. The fact he missed broccoli one day is really okay. instilling healthy eating habits is important, being obsessive or rigid or stressed about food isn't healthy.

Tell your MIL what the no items are....if MSG is one of them tell her no MSG, but don't try and dictate every item if she is helping you and is good for your son.

If you were home all day you could feed your son whatever you wanted, but you aren't and that means you need to let the people who are helping raise him feed him. You will lose your sanity if you try and micromanage everything that goes into his mouth when you aren't there.

OP here again... BTW soup is chinese.. not one of those healthy soups with lots of veggies and meet. Lots and lots of egg drop soup and wonton soups... dumpling soup...

Hi everybody. Thanks for all your responses. I posted this a while ago and tried to follow the advice of letting it go.

I'm having one of those nights.... perhaps my blood sugar is low right now but I am having trouble with this issue right now.

My mom makes soup mostly, sometimes with and sometimes without msg. Since it is soup, she spoon feeds him, not following advice of doctor to let him feed himself. Last night, he didn't even want that and kept pointing to cheerios on the table and she said "oh, you don't want? You want cheerios instead? here you go.." without even trying.

She's come over every other day this week. Also, when he is with me, I am tired after coming home from work and often doesn't get the right meal I want to serve him. I feel like it is so difficult to feed him now because he is so picky. I too, just want to give him what he wants--crackers, tasty msg soup and no veggies ever! My nanny gives him what I leave but she also would of course rather give him the foods that he'd like to eat too. It's hard to ask her to give him veggie every day. I slipped a little this week and even though I had broccoli chopped in the refrigerator this week, he didn't get it at all because I forgot to tell her about it and if I don't say anything, she just picks from the fridge what she thinks he would like. Today it was tons of pear and cheerios.

I feel like I'm fighting a battle with everyone who helps me and I feel so bad about that. I want to do what the pediatrician says and give him an option of healthy veggies, grains on his tray and have him self feed but this only happens maybe once a week.

I'm scared that I'm training my 13 month old to eat unhealthy and it just gets harder from here.

I made him roasted broccoli with paprika on top and he tasted it and spit it out and that was that. He had milk and toast for dinner.

I'd be more inclined to focus on the red-lines. Ok, she's not going to feed him a well rounded meal with broccoli and organic skinless chicken breasts. But, if you strongly feel that he shouldn't have soda at age 1, make sure you state that clearly. That is, understand that she's going to spoil him in her own way, but there are things that even she cannot do if that's your preference.

As one PP alluded to, serving a not-horrible meal (spagetti & meatballs, chicken nuggets and fries) without vegetables is one thing. These aren't ideal meals, but they won't kill him. Serving chicken-fried steak with gravy and mashed potatos smothered in butter and sour cream with a big slice of chocolate cake and a root beer float is something else.

Anonymous wrote:Grandma's still walking this green earth, so her cooking mustn't be THAT unhealthy now.

such a dumb thing to say. My MIL eats HORRIBLY and she is still walking but barely. She has diabetes and is overweight and miserable. Bad eating ruins lives.

Grandma's still walking this green earth, so her cooking mustn't be THAT unhealthy now.

OP, I'm having a similar issue except it's a little more extreme... Grandma 'teaches' DC that the foods he eats could be so much better so he tries to apply all of this to home (also, she visits a lot so sees how she eats and wants to model it). For example, his plain scrambled eggs need to have lots of butter and cheese, the whole grain waffles he used to eat plain should now have butter, syrup, and whipped cream. Instead of milk with dinner, it should be a milkshake. She even taught him to add butter to hot dogs, spaghetti, crackers, you name it. Gross! Grandma usually eats ice cream or cake for breakfast in front of him. Grandpa has tried to teach him to differentiate between different fast food chains. He's only 2 1/2. We try to hold our ground but she's created some food battles that didn't need to be there and it's so frustrating!

OP, I side with you on this one. Since your dc is so young, even more reason to keep his diet healthy. There's no reason why your mom can't figure how to make something healthy that he likes. At this age, she is being selfish to put her desire to be liked above his health.

Anonymous wrote:My mom never cooks any vegetables. I grew up thinking veggies are usually garnish.

I have a 12 month old and she comes over twice a week. She has told me she doesn't want to give him anything he doesn't like since she's the grandma. So, he never sees any greens when she visits. Even if I put them out, what does a 12 month old prefer, yummy carb dish or steamed veggies? After lengthy discussion, she's trying but what she gave him was sugar and soy sauce laden mushrooms.

Should I forget about it? I understand it just gets harder. I try to give him veggies on other days and he gets them on other days, more often than not.

But you're his parent. Where will it stop? What if he doesn't like to hold her hand while crossing street? What if he doesn't want to go to sleep? And since she's in your house, shouldn't she defer to you as the parent?