Toddler won't eat his dinner -help!

valk_scot

guruchelles wrote: »

Toddlers - in fact humans - don't need cows' milk at all. We need calcium, but that can be found in other foods like green vegetables (although not spinach) and nuts. I'm not saying that milk is bad - I drink it and give it to my children (not my 18 month old as he is breastfed) but we don't need it. Over the years the Milk Marketing Board has done an excellent job of persuading us otherwise.

I think in our traditional UK culture of eating though (and barring allergies) milk is still one of the main calcium sources for kids, plus it's cheap, easily availible and most kids like it. It was a source of much irritation for me when I found that my #3 child was lactose intolerant and ended up drinking soya milk after she'd stopped breastfeeding.

And in the context of the OP's question, how much milk her son is drinking and when might be important from the filling up point of view. Would be the same if it was any other type of milk or foodstuff though.

guruchelles

valk_scot wrote: »

I think in our traditional UK culture of eating though (and barring allergies) milk is still one of the main calcium sources for kids, plus it's cheap, easily availible and most kids like it. It was a source of much irritation for me when I found that my #3 child was lactose intolerant and ended up drinking soya milk after she'd stopped breastfeeding.

And in the context of the OP's question, how much milk her son is drinking and when might be important from the filling up point of view. Would be the same if it was any other type of milk or foodstuff though.

Agreed. Just wanted to add the information, as many parents believe that milk is obligatory.

pinkshoes

My DS (now 26 months) went through the same phase, and has now stopped and gone back to eating everything!

If he pushed his plate away without trying, I'd just say 'that's ok if you're not hungry' then me and OH would carry on eating, including pudding. He refused to eat xmas dinner, but when pudding came out and he realised he wasn't getting any, I've never seen him eat his whole dinner so fast!

It's just a phase that they hopefully all grow out of! Mine just says 'no' to everything else now!

wannabeasupersaver

It's definitely a phase that children go through. My lo is now four and has re entered the picky phase. We make sure that we all eat the same thing so that he can't fuss about that. I have noticed that sometimes the amount that's on his plate maybe overwhelms him as when I take some off he eats better. We don't give pudding if he hasn't eaten enough tea and he has gone to bed without eating much but after a few days he begins to realise what we say is what we mean. Good luck OP x

lilymay1

Could have written that post OP. My son is 15 months and during his short little life we've had a lot of problems with his eating, starting minutes after he was born!

My son is very tiny for his age, 0.2% on the graph in the lovely little red book they give us anyway, on a good day he will eat porridge for breakfast, half a slice of toast and a yoghurt for lunch, and then maybe some cheese and half a pear for his dinner. He might have a biscotti during the day and has a milk at bedtime.
On a bad day, he won't eat anything.

I got so stressed and panicked about it, particularly as he is small, but now I understand that he will eat when he's hungry. He is perfectly healthy and I refuse to be dictated to by a 15 month old baby. If he refuses what I give him he goes without.

Start as you mean to go on.

madtrekker

I think it's quite common in kids of this age. My just-turned 3 year old went through a very similar phase a few months ago which came as a bit of a surprise as she had always been a VERY good eater. She just stopped eating her evening meal, this is how we dealt with it:

Her dinner was put in front of her and we made no fuss at all if she didn't eat it and praised her when she tried some. If she left it (and sometimes she didn't touch a mouthful), it got cleared away at the end of the meal (when everyone else had finished), without remark and nothing else was offered (we tend not to have pudding on a regular basis). I also stopped her having any snacks in the afternoon in the attempt to preserve her appetite - but after a few weeks I realised that her resistance to eat her evening meal had roughly coincided with when she dropped her nap and I came to the conclusion that she was probably too tired to eat a full meal at that time of day. Also toddlers' growth slows towards the end of their 3rd year so they genuinely don't need as much food as they did at say 24 months.
We now, when practical, give the children a cooked meal at lunchtime (usually reheated leftovers from mine &DHs dinner the night before) and she's much happier to eat it at midday, and will eat a light tea at 5pm.
Remember though, NO CHILD WILL LET THEMSELVES STARVE and so long as you don't turn it into a battle, they will start eating again when they are ready.

fluffnutter

go_cat wrote: »

Have you tried making the food into a face to make it fun for him

We don't eat faces, we eat food. I've not seen any concrete evidence that faffing around with food makes kids more likely to eat it, quite the opposite in fact. I recall one mother dyeing cauliflower all sorts of violent colours in an attempt to get her children to eat it - who wants to eat neon pink food??

pennypusher

Hi my advice would be to get the dr to check him out to make sure he hasn't got swollen tonsils or anything.

Gillby1

Hi,

You have my sympathy! My nearly three year old went through a similar phase around 2, but is now back to eating anything and everything. It will pass!

I can't remember if you mentioned whether your little one is very active? If not, perhaps he simply doesn't have much appetite? I know my boys will eat considerably more food on days when they've been running around.

Also, as well as struggling to eat when they're over-tired, my boys both seem to struggle with eating when they're over-hungry. I went through a phase of limiting all snacks when DS1 was being fussy, and i remember being horrified when a friend turned up and gave her son and mine loads of raisins and other snacks just before lunch, thinking DS1 would now eat even less than usual. However, to my amazement, he went on to finish everything on his plate, for the first time in months! In our case, withholding snacks actually seemed to be part of the problem. Even now, i notice his mood change massively if he goes too long without food.

Lastly, i'm not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but is it possible he's filling up on juice, or even on water? Some children will drink so much that they don't have any room left in their little tummies!

Hope it all works out soon

Gillby xxx

balijay

Really common in 2 year olds. I read the following somewhere which I found helpful :- you decide when and what, your child decides if and how much. In other words you decide what the meal will be and at what time, your child can decide whether or not they will eat it and how much. Useful I think in preventing the table turning into a battleground. Don't let your child see you are stressed!