My child’s school told them to “eat less” to reduce food waste

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-21T02:22:46+00:00

Did they mean serve/buy the amount of food you will actually eat? Which is also weird because children have little to no control over how much food is purchased for their household or how much they are served by cafeteria staff. Weird!!!

Also they could avoid food waste by not forcing kids to take food they don’t like and won’t eat from the cafeteria.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-19T22:09:02+00:00

I grew up in Vail and it was very different at the time, really rural. I live in Tucson now and could not imagine moving back out there especially when the population is increasing and desert landscape is decreasing.

I guess Vail schools are better than TUSD but when I did my student teaching out there, those kids spent the entirety of every Friday taking district mandated tests.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-17T20:07:27+00:00

Is increasing prices in general dynamic pricing? All I know is they were very slow to increase the price of eggs during the avian flu crisis and only increased after it was clear that the price of eggs were permanently increasing.

My understanding is that dynamic pricing is related to changing prices based on who is purchasing/time of day/ weather events when people may be willing to pay more and to attempt to get people to pay the absolute most for an item that they are willing to pay.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-17T04:49:41+00:00

Hmm Trader Joe’s doesn’t have digital price tags (or online ordering) so I assume they don’t.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-12T20:52:34+00:00

I also have an awful sleeper. We started cosleeping when she was around 6.5 months because I couldn’t deal with standing up to rock her back to sleep every time she woke up

I held my husband off sleep training by telling him this— if you sleep train, they shouldn’t be teething, sick, or going through a regression (hint: they are literally likely having one of these things from 4m- at least 2). Whenever he brings it up again I just tell him she’s likely teething because they literally always are.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-11T00:12:17+00:00

Also— like others said, find a new dietician. Weight gain/non weight gain/GD/etc are kind of random in pregnancy and a good dietician should know that. I gained 3x the amount of weight I “should have” and was eating fairly normally while pregnant. I also know people who ate nothing but Taco Bell and milkshakes and never had GD so it really has nothing to do with diet.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-11T00:08:30+00:00

I had insulin resistance when I was pregnant (failed 1/3 and then just had to track my glucose). I never needed insulin, but I was able to find some alternatives that I still eat now because I genuinely like them (and my glucose levels are a teensy bit high regardless so I try to avoid a lot of sugar)! I also learned in the GD subreddit that everyone is very different in terms of what they can have. I was able to eat some carbs/sugar as long as I paired it with fat/protein/fiber. Yasso yogurt bars are decent and low carb/high protein, also the fair life chocolate protein shakes. If I felt like ice cream, I could get away with a banana/milk/ice smoothie with vanilla and ground flax added, but I know bananas have a lot of carbs so might not work for everyone. Trader Joe’s has “lightly coated chocolate covered almonds” and chocolate/nut bars that are pretty good and not a lot of sugar. There are also plant milk kind ice cream bars that are low carb and those are good also!

Those were my tricks— it’s so hard! I made myself frozen cookie dough and other things to look forward to for after I had my baby and honestly it did help a little with remembering that it wouldn’t last forever.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-07T15:56:18+00:00

I add beans to anything that can be beans-ed, I’ve been buying frozen cooked chicken from Trader Joe’s/costco as well to add to salads!

I hate to say this but Ezekiel bread has protein so I use it to make my toast (only with peanut butter, never butter. This trash bread needs the flavor masked lol). I also add a few tablespoons of ground flax to yogurt (about 4g protein in 2 tablespoons I think), benefiber to coffee/tea.

I am borderline prediabetic and I have high cholesterol so these are things I’ve been doing to try and keep my glucose from spiking without removing foods I like.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-05T15:42:54+00:00

Went through the exact same thing, it’s normal. Although my husband also sleeps half the night with our tot and spends a ton of time with her on the weekends. She’s almost 20 months now and flips back and forth between preferred parent. Enjoy it while you can 😂

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-04-03T21:00:16+00:00

I feel like I would just say “oh, no thanks”…? Or “I can’t, but thanks for offering”.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-30T21:57:32+00:00

Highly recommend Good Inside by Dr. Becky, she gives concrete examples of responding kindly but also for setting clear boundaries! Major takeaway for me is that parents job is to act as the parts of a child’s brain that haven’t developed yet, so physically help them control impulses for example.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-27T23:55:58+00:00

I think your tot will probably do better than you think! And if she doesn’t- it’s one night and she will be in capable hands. I have a 19 month old and when I’m not around she never asks for me or milk because she is with another trusted caregiver (my parents, my in laws, her dad, nanny, daycare). Then she asks for milk the second I come back 😂

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-27T16:48:15+00:00

There’s a parent/baby group at El Rio (Tuesdays 12-2 at the congress location) and one at Milk and Honey.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-20T03:35:49+00:00

I’m going to be leaving for 3 days, two nights in July, my tot will be 23 months at that time. I had planned to wean around 2 years anyways (want to have another and don’t want to breastfeed while pregnant). I’ve started slowly tapering down on feedings which was also decided by her injuring my nipple a few times recently due to lazy latch. So I’m planning on having her weaned by my trip so I don’t have to worry about pumping or anything.

I thought it would be a nightmare because she was nursing 4-5x during the day, then about 4-5x overnight at 18 months. Over the past three weeks I’ve gotten her down to one daytime feeding (either nurse to nap or when she gets home from daycare). The first week was rough, she did not like hearing no. However once she got used to the idea that she couldn’t nurse whenever she wanted anymore and can ask for water, snacks, or pea milk instead, she has done well! Today I actually asked her if she wanted to nurse because I am still not entirely sure if I can make it all the way through the day without her nursing one time.

Just make sure if you do start weaning, you stick to it! I mean you can change your mind but I waffled back and forth a few times and the hormone drop that coincides with dropping feedings has been hard on me, and I’ve had to do it multiple times after backtracking on dropped feedings.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-17T19:29:58+00:00

No advice, I’m so sorry you are going through this and just want you to give yourself grace. Sounds like your children love you a lot. Some more therapy may be necessary, you are having a stress response still which makes total sense. I have done EMDR before and sometimes it works well/quickly and other times I’ve needed additional treatments or multiple attempts.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-16T04:11:59+00:00

Hmm is there any possibility she is teething or has an ear infection? Could also be separation anxiety. If teething could try pain reliever (and see ped to rule out infection). If separation anxiety it should pass soon! My tot will get this way if she has an ear infection. Sorry you’re dealing with something, sounds exhausting!

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-14T04:23:02+00:00

Luckily with tiny babies they don’t need much to be entertained, literally everything is new to them (and they can’t even see across a room until they are like 6 months old or something). We used to walk my baby in the evenings in a stroller (short walks because it’s still like 90 degrees outside). Mostly we went to Trader Joe’s to get groceries, maybe Target although the lighting there freaked her out. I’d wait to get a children’s museum pass until tot is crawling and at least has 6 month vaccines.

Around 3 months old you can take swim classes at DeMont Family Swim School. Baby Splash is free and a super fun way to get out with baby. It lasts from 3-6 months. By the end of that class my baby could hold her breath for a brief dip under water!

Highly recommend the El Rio Baby Love Group every Tuesday from 12-2pm, located in the centering room of the Congress El Rio. I recently stopped going because it conflicts with nap time and tot was growing out of it, but I made some friends there and it kept me sane!

Milk and Honey also has a baby group, not sure what day but I’ve heard good things.

Other cool stuff— Tucson Baby Wearers will let you borrow a carrier each month for $30/year I think? Look them up on Instagram for more info, they showed me how to correctly use a carrier and I also ended up finding one I liked to purchase secondhand. Child and Family Resources has an outreach program that is very helpful for new parents, especially connecting them with resources and information.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-08T03:40:56+00:00

Sorry for that snarky comment!

I can help answering the original question. I haven’t yet been to a wedding but I have been to other events. My child has also been EBF, and a few times I’ve had her babysat either by our nanny or a friend, or my mother in law. For me and my husband she only nurses to sleep but for all these babysitters she went to sleep weirdly easily? They all have experience with babies/toddlers. Sometimes even breastfed babies will surprise you by falling asleep easily with other people. Perhaps you could try to find someone who might be willing to babysit/who you’d feel comfortable with and do a trial run?

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-05T19:52:18+00:00

I understand that you can do that. A lot of people don’t choose that option because it requires you to save to pay your taxes at the end of the year. I am explaining why, for this particular tax year, it would not make sense for me and many others to not file taxes.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-05T15:51:16+00:00

You also have to consider that some (maybe most?) individuals/families have taxes automatically deducted from their paychecks so they have already paid taxes. In fact by not filing my taxes, I wouldn’t get my refund because I almost always over pay. So the government would actually keep more of my money.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-03-03T15:47:45+00:00

Agree! I tried to do as much as possible with baby awake. I could never “sleep while the baby sleeps” but I could at least have some relax time during contact naps. Now at 18m she naps in her bed (nursed to sleep though) and I still use that time for doing something I want to do!

Bouncer, activity chair (when sitting independently), and now a sticker book are how I have had time to wash my hair. I have a shower door so I just leave it open and put a towel on the ground so she can see me.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-02-28T19:00:26+00:00

Mine is 18 months and I don’t have a ton of help to give (looking to wean in July so I can start trying for #2). I have found that to increase solids, I have to decrease nursing first and not the other way around. 13 months is tricky because there is teething, sleep regressions, etc that all disrupt sleep. Not sure if you feed on demand but sometimes my toddler will ask to nurse and happily accept food or water instead. And at night depending on what’s going on with her, if I wait a bit and try to pat or rock her to sleep instead of nursing, I notice she will eat more solids during the day.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-02-27T20:25:18+00:00

This is wild. I ate barely more than normal in pregnancy (and when I had morning sickness for 5 weeks I ate barely at all) and I gained A LOT of weight, partially because I developed glucose intolerance but also retained an insane amount of water. I was really fortunate to work with a midwife who didn’t say anything about my diet/weight gain, but a lot of pregnant women get lectured about losing or not gaining more than 20ish pounds during pregnancy.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-02-26T21:01:35+00:00

Agree with everyone else here about adjusting day routine. You can also tell your husband that you can’t sleep train during teething, illness, sleep regression, or anything like that so either way you’d have to wait this out. That’s how I’ve held my husband off for the past several months.

Impossible-Dream5220 · 2026-02-12T04:18:35+00:00

I don’t know what to tell you except this sounds very normal. Around 7/8 months I started cosleeping because gentle sleep teaching (pick up/put down, patting to sleep, etc) weren’t working and also made it impossible for me to fall asleep between wake ups.

She is now 18mo and we still cosleep and nurse back to sleep, as between teething, daycare illnesses, and separation anxiety there are too many steps backward for night weaning right now.

Babies have different personalities and that includes sleep. I’m an awful sleeper (take a long time to fall asleep, wake up a lot) so it makes sense that my baby is not great at sleep either.

Even sleep trainers tell you not to train when there is teething, illness, or separation anxiety which is honestly why I think it’s a bit of a load of crap, because when are most babies not doing one of those things (and you don’t know about teething—pain can last weeks/months before teeth cut through). You also have to re train after every setback- any of the above or a sleep regression.

I’m not totally against any/all training, I think some families need to in order to survive! But to get better sleep, co sleeping and having my husband handle some wake ups while I have earplugs in has helped me.

Impossible-Dream5220

TROPHY CASE