18mo eats all his food at nursery....and refuses everything at home. What am I doing wrong?

[babyglow]

Hi,

Hope that there is another parent out there who has had a similar experience. My 18mo has a healthy appetite - normally eats a good breakfast of weetabix, a healthy lunch, mid afternoon snack and dinner followed by a small puddingg (yoghurt etc). Over the past month I've noticed that the amount of food he eats at nursery is staying the same, whereas the amount of food he eats at home has sharply declined. Today he had 2 spoons of weetabix, one small part of his sandwich for lunch and a box of raisins for dinner. Dinner was a HUGE tantrum when I initially offered him the usual.

He also has problems with constipation which makes everything far more stressful when he doesn't eat well.

Has anyone else out there successfully dealt with this?

All advice very gratefully received.

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

I honestly think this is really normal. Ds is 4 and has always eaten fairly well but I know there are loads of things he'll eat for the childminder that he won't touch at home. He's just started school and a fair few parents are saying the same now they're having school dinners. He's started trying more at home now so I just go with the flow, eventually what he tries elsewhere he ends up asking for at home.

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

Sorry not much advice, I think as long as you're confident he's getting a good meal at nursery all you can do is keep offering things at home and go with the flow. Wrt the constipation, I've had this a few times with ds and have given either dried prunes as a snack with loads of water, or diluted prune juice.

[toastedbeagle]

My 4 year old had 2 helpings of lamb tagine and couscous at school today whereas there isn't a cat in hell's chance she's eat that for me at home.

[DoodleCat]

Same here! 18 months old and doesn't eat much at home now. I'm just going to keep offering a variety with a few things here and there that I know she'll eat and rely on the couple of days at nursery to keep her stocked up! I'm consoling myself with the usual, it's probably just teething line. I'm also putting far less on her plate now so we don't have so much waste.

It is normal though for some children. I have a 4 year old & he got picky but a year or so later. Don't worry, carry on & know it's nothing personal!!

Good luck.

[eyebrowsonfleek]

It's totally normal for toddlers not to have equally sized meals at each sitting. If he had a good nursery meal then let it go. It's how much he's eaten and drunk during his waking hours as a whole that will determine how he sleeps. Remember that their stomach is the size of their clenched fist so they don't need loads at each sitting.

[eyebrowsonfleek]

It's totally normal for toddlers not to have equally sized meals at each sitting. If he had a good nursery meal then let it go. It's how much he's eaten and drunk during his waking hours as a whole that will determine how he sleeps. Remember that their stomach is the size of their clenched fist so they don't need loads at each sitting.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Tired, and maybe he's full

[babyglow]

Wow, thanks so much for your responses! Will take the overall response which seems to be its normal, he'll get over it.

[Artandco]

I wouldn't feed weetabix if he's constipated though, that's stuff is like cement

[That1950sMum]

Are you sure the nursery are being totally honest about what he's eating? If so, I definitely wouldn't worry. They do go through stages. Make sure he's drinking plenty of water or a bit of juice to ease any constipation.

[Kariana]

Seconding the weetabix comment. It's terrible for constipation. Could you switch to porridge?

As others have said just don't make any fuss, take away what he's not eaten and don't offer anything else until the next time he would be eating (ie no extra snacks). Also is he drinking a lot of juice, either at home or nursery? Juice really fills up little tummies and stops the feelings of hunger. Try cutting it down or replacing it with water if you think it might be that.