feeding picky 15 month olds

My twins were never great eaters, but since we moved to 1 nap about 3 weeks ago I seemed to be having hard time coming up with feeding schedule.
It looks like this right now which is not working for them.BTW-They are on skinny side in 2-5% for their weight.

800 milk(DS drinks 6 oz, DD-3oz)
900 cereal,fruit, vitamins(both get about 4oz)
1015 yogurt(both get 4oz)
12 lunch(which they started to refuse about week ago, but I am able to give them few bites while they playing with toys(I know it is bad habit and not sure ow to break it)
1230-230-nap
300 yogurt 4oz each mixed with cereal and fruit, kind of like smoothie.
430 dinner(usually stew or soup, they still prefer Stage 3 texture, both eat about 4-5 oz)
600 some cheerios
800milk

Am I giving them too much?How to space meal time better?
I would love to hear your feeding schedules and any other ideas on how to make eating/feeding experience fun for all of us.
thank you.

 

My boys are just a few weeks older than your beebs and our schedule currently goes something like this

6:30 to 7am wake
7:30am breakfast- 9 oz cup of milk (usually drink at least half) 2 pieces of toast each or a whole bagel and fruit (1/2 a banana or cut up grapes)
10am snack- rice cake or crackers
Noon lunch- Fish sticks/chicken nuggets/pasta/sandwiches, veggie and whatever milk they didn't finish at breakfast, lunch is our hardest meal....I find letting them "dip" helps them to eat more
3:30 snack- fruit strips, cereal bar, cut up fruit, crackers or yogurt
6:00 dinner- Pasta or chicken/fish/pork/beef, bread of some sort, veggie and 9 oz. milk. They often get a dessert with dinner like little cookies or frozen yogurt
7-7:30- bath and bed

I don't think you are giving them too much to eat, if anything I think it sounds like not very much. Our pedi recommended about 1000 calories a day for us and yy boys are also on the smaller side weight wise (5% and 10% as of last Friday). They eat a lot though, if I let him James would eat all day long. For the most part though they eat everything that DH and I eat at most meals. We don't puree anything anymore and they really like it if they can feed themselves so we try to encourage that as much as possible.
My boys also really like to dip foods so we give them all sorts of different things to dip in, yogurt, ketchup, mustard, guac, salsa and BBQ are just a few of the things we offer them. I think they like it because it is under their control and we aren't feeding them.
I also make sure that we do everything in order every day and they HAVE TO sit in their high chairs to eat. If they don't eat fine, but I always give them at least one thing I know they will eat and when they are in their seats they know they can't get back down to play. In fact now when they get hungry they try to climb into their high chairs.

edited for spelling

 

Mine are the same age as yours and are on 1 nap/day as well. Here is our schedule


7:30-8am Wake Up

8:00 Breakfast-Cheerios/Banana and Cereal with water in Sippy Cups

9:30 8oz Homo Milk

11:30 Lunch-Today it was pasta, leftover Quiche, puffs and apple slices with water in sippy

12:45 6oz Homo Milk

1:00-3:30 nap

5:00 Dinner- Similar to Lunch

Perhaps in the morning you could feed them breakfast before giving them their milk and that way they will be more hungry and maybe eat more solids?? Also, the meal refusal could be teething, I know when my girls teeth, they don't like to eat as much. I would keep trying and do your best to set a meal routine so they know to expect it. Feeding them has got to be one of the hardest things!! :hug:

7:00 6-7oz Homo Milk before bed

 

My schedule is the same but the foods change every couple of weeks because they end up refusing it and I have to get creative and come up with new meals/foods. I also hide a lot of veggies where I can. I rarely give them snacks anymore because it was interfering with meals. I also moved the milk to the end of each meal so they eat more.
Here is our schedule now.

7:30 wake: Milk (4-6oz ea), oatmeal with a spoonful of veggie puree and applesauce and they split a waffle (wholewheat waffle mix with a jar of sweet potato puree) I make a batch and put them in the freezer and toast them in the morning.

11:00 lunch: milk 4-5 oz, wholewheat pasta (veggie puree mixed in their tomato sauce), cheese, fruit, peanut butter sandwich. I used to be able to do peas and carrots mixed in with applesauce but that only worked for a couple of months...try it!

12-2PM Nap

2:00 wake and snack: Plain yogurt with banana and a spoonful of veggie puree, Milk 3-4oz

5:15 Dinner: pretty much the same as lunch. I try to add chicken to the pasta meal. I was able to get them to eat chicken If I mixed it with apple sauce or tomato sauce. Milk 4-5 oz

6:45 Milk left over from dinner 3-4 oz each(bed 7:00)

My girls are still in the 3-5% range so I try to make every bite count since they don't eat much. That's why I offer veggies on the side but still sleep at night because I hide it in just about everything they eat!

 

Our day looks like this:

7:00 - 7:30am - wake up and full sippy of milk
8:00 - breakfast
10:30 - early lunch
11:00-1:30 - nap
2:00 - late lunch
5:00 - dinner
6:30 - bed

I give milk at meals, other than the first sippy in the morning, which they sip in their wagon while we walk the dogs outside.

I started giving four full meals a day instead of three meals and two snacks when we went to one nap per day a month ago. I try to make them as calorie-dense as possible with lots of meats, cheese, yogurt, etc. Every other morning they split three scrambled eggs with one slice of ham cubed up in it and melted cheese, strawberries, and bananas. The alternate morning they each get one full-sized Kashi waffle each (high in soy protein) with syrup and one slice of bacon crumbled on top, cubed cheese, and various chopped fruit (kiwi, blueberries, oranges, etc.).

For the lunches and dinner we'll do chopped up turkey sandwiches, peanut butter/almond butter and banana sandwiches, cheese tortellini with pesto sauce, chopped up hamburger patty, roast, pork roast, boiled shrimp, whatever meat we have left-over, sliced deli meats, rotisserie chicken. For veggies we'll do broccolli tops, sweet potatoes, black beans and garbanzo beans, cubed butternut squash, green beans, peas/carrots/corn, and I always melt cheese over the veggies to make them more popular. I'll cut up fruit and give that with yogurt as dessert.

Scrambled eggs are their absolute favorite meal and if we're having a particularly rough evening, they'll get that for supper to help cheer them up. My pedi said to only do eggs every other morning, so we try to stick to that.

I chop all of their food up into very small cubes and they feed themselves with their hands. We're working with plastic forks, but it's not going too well! I offer a sippy of milk throughout their meals and they drink about 4-6 ozs each/meal, plus the one large cup in the early morning.

I have found that I have to offer a new meat or veggie every day for a week before they really take to it. I just put a few pieces on their trays at a time so they don't sling it off.

Good luck!

 

IMO the problem is that they just eat too often. I mean, when babies are on bottles they drink every 3-4 hours, so I never saw the need to give them food more often. We switched to one nap at 14 months and their schedule has always been pretty much the same (until lately as they've been napping less).

8am breakfast
11.30am lunch then nap
2.30pm snack
5.30/6pm dinner

The problem I've encountered too is that they eat a lot at snack time because it's food they like better, and then don't eat much at dinner (even lunch is not so great lately)... The few times they've been grumpy and whiny before 11.30am, I gave them a snack then and put them down for their nap earlier and did lunch after.

 

Read the book : Child of Mine: feeding with love and good sense. The best place to start. I too have a 3rd percentile child (petite) and the struggle with food was from the beginning. This is a book that will cover feeding for YEARS to come.

While "normal" children (as I call them), have an appetite and therefore and drive to eat more, textures, tastes, etc. Our children can be slower to move onto real food, and with a lower weight there is a bigger concern to give them what they want/ or will eat. Sometimes you just need to give them what works. Keep in mind that each spoonful is likely smaller, so you need the food with the higher calories.

Adding formula to their milk will increase calories. Cream to mashed veggies, or into apple sauce. Keep in mind with the cream you will also need to make sure they get something to help keep their bowels moving. We have Wheet-a-bix with yogurt and milk in the AM to help with that.

I have another child now, a baby and last thing I need to do is spoon feed, but I often will offer finger foods, or give her a chance to spoon for herself, and then I will often spoon feed to get a few more bites in there. (not forcing of course).

It can be a bit overwhelming most times, but try to just keep up with variety and realize that at each week they chance and might try something new.

heather