Toddlers and fussy eating (merged)

inkie

My daughter often used to have her finger foods whilst sat on the floor playing - sometimes she would just go so rigid that she could not be put in the highchair! This phased soon passed - and when she started to be a bit calmer, she started to sit up at the table with us, and we have never had any problem since. Don't feel guilty about feeding spud whilst he is playing.

Have you tried him with tortilla, what about pasta twirls/twists etc - these will be easy for him to pick up. What about frubes yogurts - he could squeeze them into his mouth!

Alikay

My son refused to be spoon fed by me one he'd tried doing it himself too. I used to sit with him and we'd BOTH have a spoon. While he was concentrating on trying to get food on his own spoon, I'd shovel some in with mine- He seemed to think he'd done it himself and just ate the mouthful!! It was horrendously messy, and he was always stripped to his vest and bib for meals!
It sounds like your son is trying a good variety of finger foods and is eating a nice range from the different food groups - I don't expect your HV will be concerned at all. He'll start to slim down now that he's more mobile anyway, so I wouldn't worry if he starts to look a bit skinny either, as long as he's lively, healthy and developing normally.

my son also didn't like water or juice so I just used to dilute his milk a bit more so he was getting enough fluid. He never drank anything other than milk til he was 18 months old and then started having milky tea as well! He's now 15 with no fillings, probably due his continuing aversion to sweet drinks.:D

hankc35

My daughter (who is 7 now) used to eat anything I would give her when she was about 12 months old, mashed up vegies, mashed up sunday lunch, fish and potatoe pie, everything was cool and life was relaxed........then on one dark day whilst out shopping I thought I would get her a treat and I got some tellytubby yogurts........one tellytubby yogurt was enough to put her off anything else for the next six months, she would ONLY eat yogurts! even when we finally managed to get her back to eating a non-yogurt related food all she would look at was the odd chicken nugget or a fish finger with chips.

Total nightmare.

kal25

I have just discovered that he has cut another tooth today but we have had no teething signs at all so I don't think that can be causing him too much grief. I woud probably be a lot better at dealing with it all if I wasn't so knackered!
My health visitor advised me to introduce a morning & afternoon snack a few weeks ago, I am not totally sure I agree with this as I don't agree with teaching him to snack in between meals but I have gone along with it & he LOVES ricecakes. Should I let him have more of these at snack time? More food at snack time? At least this would get some more food into him but surely this defeats the object of meal times?



My daughter is teething and she often doesn't show teething but sometimes their gums can be hurting and so hard finger foods may be rubbing his gums a little.As for snacking I would say that it is okay to snack especially if it is healthy snacks.Try leaving some pieces of fruit and veg on a plate within his reach and you may find that he may be interested enough to try. I know someone who couldn't get her daughter to eat fruit and she did this,her daughter eats plenty of fruit now. As others have said try not to worry about how much he is eating as he not let himself starve. The other thing you could try is what someone else mentioned taking away his plate as soon as he is 'finished', you may find he realises he's not getting anymore and therefore wil start to eat abit. I tried this with my first as I found myself cooking 2 meals for tea as he wouldn't eat first.Now he eats whatever is put in front of him as he knows he will not get anything else. Hope this helps and good luck,it will pass.

jo_b_2

Hi Lillibet

The main thing is not to panic about your little one not eating enough (easier said than done, I know!) A child that age won't deliberately starve themselves and they will eat if they want/need to!

Stick to meals and regular snacks at set times so that you can still keep to some sort of routine. Personally, I wouldn't be shoving bits of food into his mouth as he was playing but it's probably not harming him!

It sounds like he is eating quite a nice range of stuff so that's not too problematic. Waking up in the night for a drink of milk could also be a reaction to the hot weather, not just because he's eating less. Maybe diluting the milk a little would help?

At this age, you're just starting to concentrate on milk being a drink rather than the main source of nutrition so don't worry about how much he is/isn't drinking. My little boy never had anywhere near the amount of milk he 'should' have drank as a little one. Unfortunately, kids don't read the dietary guidelines like we do.

The more stressed you get over mealtimes, the more likely it is that it'll get worse. :eek: Kids will soon get the idea of holding out for something better if they refuse to eat and can be b*ggers if it gets a good response and lots of fuss. I'd just stick to regular meals and offer a snack that you know he likes in-between. If it's not eaten, relax, and wait until the next mealtime. You might have a miserable child for a while until the next meal but, chances are, they will eat more next time and maybe even accept a little bit of help if they are genuinely hungry.

Lillibet_2

Another disasterous lunch. So far today all he has had is a quarter of a slice of toast & about 12 ozs of milk. He sat at his high chair at teh table with us & we ferd him bits off of our pates...worked a treat on Saturday but not having any of it today! I have given up giving him a palte or bowl, it ends up on the floor within seconds. I either retain the bowl or just feed him off his tray or off my plate.

Have spoken to the HV who has advised to cut back on the milk, will be a bit painful for a few days but should start to resolve itself a bti after that. Can't say I am looking forward to this............:p

lex

Sorry to hear you are having problems

A few weeks ago, my friend was worried about her 3 year old, and how much he was eating. I found some information on the quantities the "average" 3 year old should eat. It was something like a quarter of an adult portion. So if you have 1 slice of toast for breakfast, your toddler should have 1/4. This kind of put it in perspective a bit for her. Obviously a one year old would need even less. I'll try and find the link a bit later, just got to go and pick DD up from nursery.

lex

lex

Here is the link I found - http://www.health24.com/dietnfood/Eating_throughout_life/15-50-660,24773.asp

Also a friends health visitor was told their toddler only needed the amount of food they can hold in a hand in a day or something equally as small.

Doesn't help with the problem I know..

If he will pick up food, are any of these any good?

Large pasta shapes with chunks of chicken and cheese? Could add some sauce if you felt brave/messy?

Mashed potato and cooked fish (such as cod) moulded into "Burgers" or "sausage" type shapes, and baked in the oven. Then they can be picked up, and eaten more as a finger food. You could do mashed potato, mashed carrot, and mashed swede for an alternative. Infact, you could hide anything in that mashed potato and grill or bake it!!

If he likes banana, would he have mashed banana sandwiches? Or mashed banana on toast?

Good luck

lex

rainbowrisin

Hiya, just another quick thing I remember doing when daughter was going through the "food is for wimps" phase...I used to limit meal times to 15 minutes, on the basis that she would have eaten enough if she was hungry, and if she wasn't then it limited the boredom factor - it also meant i felt calmer as knew i only had to stick it for 15 minutes.
I also had the "bowl on the floor" routine - I'll never forget the look on the dog's face when daughter upended an untouched bowl of weetabix directly on his head - so i got one of the bowls with a suction ring on the bottom - it did work well for a while, then she found out how to unstick it. Maybe that might help? I'll also be honest and say that when i felt insanity was only another meal away, i dispensed with any messy food which would stick / stain (weetabix sets like cement) and did finger food on the basis it was easier to pick up repeatedly.
I also dispensed with the "lets all eat together thingy" - I did eat with her, but only a tiny "taster" bit, as i found i wasn't finishing or enjoying my food as i was constantly bending down to pick up bits, retrieve the spoon, etc etc, which added to the stress (and my indigestion was horrific)
Now she's older we enjoy eating together as she's got that bit more concentration and likes being "grown up" and eating at the table.
Good luck with cutting back on the milk....I wonder whether the heat might be playing your little one up as well? No one likes to eat much when it's so hot? It's only a thought, but you may want to wait a week until it cools down a little before cutting the milk - the cooler weather might make his appetite for food a bit better, and i can't think of anything worse than a hot night looking after a sleepless hot baby who wants an illegal bottle?

misty

In this hot weather, i think everyone is off their food. When my son was little - I gave him a lot of watery foods - because I was neurotic about him becoming dehydrated - so he would eat melon, grapes and suck on apples. I saw something once when the woman put into a bag everything the mother had fed the baby that day - so she could see how much was in the child's tum - it was more than she thought.