What Does Anna Eat?

I get this question quite a bit. It's obvious by the 8+ pounds she's gained and the three or so inches she's grown that Anna is eating and eating well.

Food often causes a lot of stress with kiddos adopted out of orphanages. Most are malnourished to some extent. Many eat only puréed foods and don't feed themselves even at five or six years old. They don't know how to chew and food is basically shoveled in their mouths. Anna came home underweight, malnourished, and eating mostly starchy puréed foods. In Bulgaria she ate the jars of baby food and primarily it was fruit. I would sneak in yogurt for fat and protein when I could, but it was basically survival at that point. I figured we could address her food issues once we were settled at home.

Anna quickly developed an obsession with food, and for about 6-8 weeks if she got too far from the kitchen she would panic. She was eating more than six times a day. It was not easy because I felt like I was tied to the kitchen. She would scream if her bowl got even close to empty and eat until she was almost sick. In order to help her gain some security surrounding food, we allowed her to eat on demand. This also helped to build a bond with us as we were (and still are) the only ones feeding her.

Once we were home, I did everything I could to make sure Anna got healthy, well balanced meals with plenty of fat and protein. I would cook meals during nap time, and we started transitioning her from baby to table food by puréeing whatever we were eating. I also made and froze extras for those times when I didn't cook.

I gradually went from puréed foods to finely chopped foods to normal foods cut into small pieces, and Anna now chews pretty much everything you give her. She did go through a phase where she held certain foods in her mouth, but she rarely does that now. She started feeding herself back in January which I think helped her feel more in control, and thankfully, she is no longer obsessed with food. If she's hungry she lets me know, but she now eats regular meals and snacks. Sometimes she asks for more. Sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes she runs off to play instead of wanting to eat.

Many adopted kids, although they are hungry, refuse to eat and struggle with food. So I feel like we hit the proverbial jackpot when it comes to food with Anna. She does have some quirks. She won't eat out of her hands. She will touch food, but only eats off a fork or spoon. She only eats what I call "real" foods. Crackers, cookies, pizza (although she's not ready for that yet), etc. she will not eat. She eats all meats but prefers that I mix them in with veggies. She loves fruits and vegetables. We go through bananas, strawberries, avocados, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, squash, peas, carrots, etc. like crazy. She also eats either plain Greek or Bulgarian yogurt everyday and loves pasta prepared pretty much any way. When we go out to eat I usually take an avocado and a banana with us, and then she eats off my plate. Given time and maturity, I feel like, Anna will eventually eat finger foods.

One issue that is still ongoing is the drinking. She still drinks very little so we have to make sure she gets plenty of liquids from her foods. When she eats a bowl of cereal she will sit and drink the milk with her spoon. Since she eats a lot of fruits, I make sure she gets fruits with a high water content, and we just keep practicing drinking from a cup,

I'm super thankful that food as a whole hasn't been a big stressor for us. So many kiddos struggle with food, and I'm very aware of what a huge blessing a good eater is.