Advice on food to tempt 18month old

aligerdie

My dd2 is 18 months old now, and is undergoing various tests as she seems to be falling behind development wise, mentally and physically.

Lately she has gone right off her food, and despite being a happy little thing, she will not eat.

I'm starting to get worried now, and desperate to get some healthy food into her, does anyone have any suggestions on what to try?

Before all this she ate a great diet with plenty of vegetables and fruit, but now she's not interested, and I just want to see her eat something. She's put on less than 3lbs in 7months and it is starting to show now. She's been referred to the child development centre for review, and tests are being done next week by our gp. I can't stand watching her push more food away before then.

I'm open to suggestions with regards to helping to get her to eat, I would really appreciate any ideas as I'm so worried about her now. x

scoobydo_2

I childmind and have seen various children not eating its nothing to worry about if you know they do like the foods previously some will use it as a way to control you ,yes i know they are tiny but they are very bright !!
I give things funny names ....shpherds pie = monster pie , eggy bread is fairy bread .
I also do the "just one more mouthful" great while they can't count
cut the food in too fun shapes using pastery cutter .

aligerdie

thank you for your reply, I'm liking your ideas...:D

Only thing is she will not touch foods, I have tried tempting her with sweet things just to see if she'll have them, and still nothing.

She doesn't appear to have an appetite anymore and I really don't know what else to do.

pukkamum

Is she still drinking ok have you tried making her smoothies with full fat milk, yoghurt or icecream and plenty of fruit i know it isn't a sloution but it may stop her losing too much weight. htht

aligerdie

thank you, she's drinking a bit of milk, I have been putting abidec drops in that too, but she didn't like those, so I put a bit of strawberry milkshake mix in too.

I'll try the smoothies actually, thank you, that may just work for now!

She used to love yoghurts, mousses, anything like that, and now she just refuses them and won't even try.

I have found out this week there is a history on my husbands side of the family, of very underactive thyroids. Apparently slow development is one of the symptoms of this, so we're getting this checked along with everything else!!

Nenen

In my experience, the more stressed you get the more she is unlikely to eat. This is especially so at mealtimes and you are probably (but very understandably) giving her a lot of extra attention to try to tempt her to eat. She will have cottoned onto this very quickly and is probably enjoying all the attention!

Next mealtime, instead of sitting her in her highchair, you could try leaving a couple of finger foods on a low coffee table (or similar) where she can reach them while playing? If you just put them down next to her favourite toys without saying anything or appearing to even realise what you are doing (motherhood requires Oscar ability acting skills I know) she might go and help herself. I'd try rusks, peeled seedless grapes, cubes of cheese, cooled sweet potato wedges and anything else she can pick up with her fingers and feed herself. If you have any pets make sure they are shut out of the room while you try it!

Is she still drinking plenty of milk? Good luck.

the_other_mce

I was a very picky eater when I was a small child and far too thin for my age. My mum used to leave small sausages, bits of cut up cheese and ritz crackers (or anything she could think of) in the fridge and I was allowed to help myself (the fridge was an under the counter type). It worked well for me. I liked to eat little but often. Also have you tried drinks like Horlicks or Ovaltine at night. They have a lot of added vitamins and minerals as well as all the goodness from the milk and most kids love them.

aligerdie

awww, thank you, I'm loving all these ideas, and I'm starting to feel a bit better about getting her to eat.

She's drinking some milk, alot less than she was, and she used to love her milk. Milkshake mixes seem to have helped to get her to have a bit more.

I'm going to try seeing how she gets on with a few things left on the coffee table, smoothies, and renaming foods too!!!

Thank you all for your fabulous ideas, and helping me feel a bit better!

x

aligerdie

the_other_mce wrote: »

I was a very picky eater when I was a small child and far too thin for my age. My mum used to leave small sausages, bits of cut up cheese and ritz crackers (or anything she could think of) in the fridge and I was allowed to help myself (the fridge was an under the counter type). It worked well for me. I liked to eat little but often. Also have you tried drinks like Horlicks or Ovaltine at night. They have a lot of added vitamins and minerals as well as all the goodness from the milk and most kids love them.

oooh, now I hadn't thought of those, so I'll try that tonight! thank you x

Titch89

Going on what others have said, when she has food, can you turn it into a game? (like tea party with teddy bears)

Jollygiantswife

Nenen wrote: »

In my experience, the more stressed you get the more she is unlikely to eat. This is especially so at mealtimes and you are probably (but very understandably) giving her a lot of extra attention to try to tempt her to eat. She will have cottoned onto this very quickly and is probably enjoying all the attention!

Next mealtime, instead of sitting her in her highchair, you could try leaving a couple of finger foods on a low coffee table (or similar) where she can reach them while playing? If you just put them down next to her favourite toys without saying anything or appearing to even realise what you are doing (motherhood requires Oscar ability acting skills I know) she might go and help herself. I'd try rusks, peeled seedless grapes, cubes of cheese, cooled sweet potato wedges and anything else she can pick up with her fingers and feed herself. If you have any pets make sure they are shut out of the room while you try it!

Is she still drinking plenty of milk? Good luck.

I'd go along with this too. It worked with my two when they went off their food. Any kind of finger food is good including dry cereals (cheerios, shreddies etc), fruit and such like. I used to turn it into a bit of a game too, just leave separate little pots with snacks in dotted around and include enough for you too - that way you can 'pinch' one or two bits yourself and comment on how delicious (mmm this is yummy!) it is to her then walk away - bet your bottom dollar she'll tuck in when your back is turned.
If this works you can then move onto mini sandwiches etc.

I agree that if you put loads of emphasis on her eating she will use this as an attention seeking device, so the best you can do is make food available for her but without any fuss.

It won't last I promise, it's just one of those phases that occasionally happens and I'm sure she'll be absolutely fine!