Food standoff with a toddler

See that picture in my last post? The one where Annika looks like she's eating?

Well, it's real, but it's not typical.

This is what she usually looks like when she eats.

"I ain't too sure 'bout this here food thang Mama. Me thinks I'd rather just nurse."

Toyin is out of town this weekend and Annika decided to spend the day not eating, mostly nursing. She did eat a handful of trail mix and about half of a banana sometime around noon, then nap-nursed for two hours.

Tonight I spent about an hour trying to cajole Annika into eating dinner so I wouldn't get stuck with her sleeping with my breast in her mouth all night.

By 5 p.m. she was crying over things that she would normally laugh at. Throwing tantrums, whining and just generally fussing. She was hungry. I knew it. But how do I tell her that she will feel so much better if she just eats?

I know it's not that she doesn't like what I'm offering or that she doesn't feel hungry. I can offer her food and she'll refuse, but if Toyin walks in and picks up the fork and offers her a bite, she'll accept it gladly and continue eating. She just prefers to nurse. But at 21 months, nursing just ain't cutting it for her necessary caloric intake.

So tonight after spending the whole day letting her nurse as often as she wanted, and then enduring tantrum after tantrum, I got ready for battle.

"Ok, see here lil gal, you'se gone have ter eat yer dinner," I says to her, setting my body in a cowboy stance and lightly stroking my six-shooter.

The dust swirled around us. She stared me down and let out a yell that would peel the skin offen a wild cat.

"NUSE! MAMA!"

"Ok, lil girly, you kin nuse, but only after yer eat cher dinner," I says.


The screams became more gutteral.

"NUSE MAMA NUSE!"

I stepped forward locking my stance and staring into the sunset. Bedtime was drawing near and this lil cowgirl had not eaten but a stitch of food all day. Something had to give. I set my brow and hardened my stance.

I decided to sweeten the pot and offered her juice and a banana.

In an instant, something changed. I suppose my peace offering did the trick.

She gobbled down the banana and then grabbed her fork and began spooning down mouthfuls of pasta. She guzzled down grape juice.

I couldn't believe it.

The standoff had worked.

And I didn't even have to pull my gun out of the holster.