I'm worried, if this doesn't sound to weird, that I'm not worried ENOUGH... was at my mum's this w/e and she was constantly fretting about how little DD was eating, DH has worried about it too but I've been very live-andlet-live... until now!!
DD is 21m and though she does have days/sometimes a week or so where she eats loads and loads, she more often has phases where she can barely be convinced to eat a single meal a day.
We are in one of those phases now. So, for example, today she ate:
breakfast: peanut butter from the top of two crumpets but not the crumpets themselves. two strawberries.
Snack - a hot chocolate (freezing day and we had been in the park so hot choc felt right!!)
Lunch - the cheese from one large slice of cheese on toast. half a little pot of fromage frais
Snack - (best meal of the day as it happened!!) five wedges of sweet potato that were meant to be for her supper
Supper - two mouthfuls of pasta and one mouthful of corn, half a fromage frais.
Looking at this I guess it seems as if maybe I've given her snacks that are large and rich (hot choc and sweet potato) but the snacks were both in fact several hours before her proper meals ie the hot choc was at 8am (lunch at 11.30) and the sweet potato was at 1.30pm (supper at 4.15...)
Breakfast is ALWAYS a trial, no matter how late in the day I delay it to, she has maybe a maximum of four or five spoons of cereal or two mouthfuls of scrambled egg, even on a good day.
On a good day, in a good phase, she will eat a decent lunch and supper, maybe a large plate of pasta with tuna and fresh veggie tomato sauce for one meal, and then a yogurt, and an omelette with potato wedges for the other meal. Fruit and veg are usually a trial as she is v fussy but somehow I get some into her if I keep sneaking them in here and there...
But for the last 5-6 days, today's picking and no sign of real appetite has been the norm, she has been through long phases like this before, too.
As a baby, she was a HUGE eater, then toddlerdom hit and she got quite fussy but I thought that was just a phase and didn't worry about it.
The minute amount she actually eats sometimes, though, is obviosuly concerning to other people in her life and I'm a bit concerned I should be doing more!! But my instinct tells me NOT to make a fuss as she is very strong-willed and will just REFUSE to do anything if she thinks I'm making a big deal of it... gaining her independence IYSWIM.
So today, after she literally refused to eat a single bite of salmon for supper and picked at the pasta and the corn, I just said, "OK, no problem" and took it away.
Is there anything different I should be doing??
I do try to give her things I know she likes but that changes so much - last time I gave her salmon, for example, she ate vast amounts of it and today she was 'off' it, so I can't keep up!!
She did manage to eat a very chunky piece of choc from her advent calendar right after picking at supper, btw, so I don't think her lack of appetite is totally across the board :)
Anyway, sorry for epic post, but is there anything I can do and should I be be concerned? I guess I am getting a bit worried about how little protein she sometimes eats... but not sure how to combat it.
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At what point should I start worrying about how little toddler DD eats?
Emeraldgirl2 · 09/12/2014 21:19
My third child was like this from 18m to about 3 - it was really hard work but I just went with it. He is ok now at 6, eats regular meals, still fussy but lots of veg and protein and unrecognisable from his toddler self. You sound like you are doing a great job 
DD is like this. She's 18mo and I just go with it, she'll eat if hungry.
Today for example, she's had:
7am pre nursery breakfast:
Toast & banana - 1 bite of banana had, fed toast to the dog 
8.30am nursery breakfast:
Weetabix and toast - ate some weetabix
11.45 nursery lunch:
Beef, potatoes and veg - refused
Artic roll - scoffed apparently
3.30 nursery high tea:
Rice cakes, cheese, fruit -
Ate some but left a lot
5pm dinner at home:
Chicken casserole - Couldnt eat quick enough
Yoghurt - refused
If she refuses something I don't make a fuss and just take it away. in picking my battles and food isn't one of them here.
My 2.5 yr old is the same. In nursery he eats like Henry VIII, here he lives on cheese and strawberries. Shame. As a baby he loved broccoli, carrots and all sorts, I was smug way back then. Try and look at her food intake over the course of a week. Our routine is
730 ish breakfast
1130is lunch
6 dinner
Plus couple of snacks....
Is she sticking to her centile line in weight over the last several months (as in the chart in the red book)?
If yes, then she's eating exactly the right amount of food for her, regardless of how it compares to other kids of the same age or a DGM's dodgy memories of how much her own kids ate 30 years ago. There's huge variation in how much kids eat that's perfectly normal, which is why looking at an "average" toddler diet is often not very useful (and can make parents worry needlessly). Giving your DD the recommended vitamin/mineral supplement might help banish any lingering qualms about the balance of her diet.
If it happens that she has moved down to a lower centile, it's still no panic but it might suggest she could do with more calories, depending on her height, general health, and a few other things that need to be looked at together as part of the big picture. A good HV or GP could do that.
She's probably absolutely fine. But looking at her pattern of weight gain is the best way to gauge if she's eating enough for her.
When I was 2 I stopped eating, according to my DM, and lived on air . She took me to the dr who asked if I was lively, ran about etc. On receiving an exhausted affirmative, the dr said on that basis, I was fine. I started eating more when I was 8, btw, and now at 42 could wish I ate marginally less 
It's only an issue if she's tired and lacking in energy, or losing weight.
All the official advice these days is around letting children regulate their own appetite- our dietician says that its our job to decide when we offer DD food, and what to offer, and its up to her whether or how much she eats.
Definitely don't pressure her! (Or try to bribe her) She'll just eat even less. Sounds like you're doing exactly the right thing.
If you're worried, go see a dietician who's used to dealing with young children. They'll do an analysis of her diet- its really reassuring to see the range of nutrients they're actually eating. It's also useful to have official backing when it comes to well meaning grandparents. They'll ignore me telling them to leave DD alone at mealtimes, but 'the dietician said' wotks wonders 
Unless she is losing weight, she is getting the right number of calories and she is being allowed to listen to her own appetite and take what is right for her.
You're setting her up for a much healthier relationship with food than you had/have. It's perfect so don't change it.
I, too, have some food issues as a result of being made to eat more than I needed/wanted as a child and I've had to work hard to prevent my DM from doing the same to my DD2 who can be a bit of a resistant eater if you give any hint of engaging.
I can't quite get my head round the fact that our society seems to work on the principle of cramming the maximum calories down the necks of babies and toddlers then spending the rest of their lives trying to get them to eat less 
You're doing the right thing. Don't let anyone change that.
Haven't had time to read every post so apologies if I'm repeating. My DD (2.6) is wild some days she will eat her breakfast and a few breadsticks throughout the day and that's it, then some days she'll have one good meal, and then there are the days she will eat like she's never going to see food again I worried about her a lot, but I now look at what she eats over a week and generally she's not too bad. She is gaining weight and growing so I've just decided to go with the flow
Our clinic has a seat attachment thing for older children to be weighed on-I've definitely seen 2 year olds being weighed there. Speaking as someone who has just eaten half a box of Cadburys chocolate fingers I would say that it's good that your dd knows her appetite! If you'd said that she refuses all regular food but gorges on chocolate/crisps etc that would be different. I'd try to ignore your Mum's opinion on this. From listening to our parents generation you'd think we all ate everything on out plates, never misbehaved, slept through at 2 days old, never interfered with their plans etc-I could go on! I wish we were as good at parenting as they obviously were .
Yes, local children's clinic or GP will do the weighing on high-spec scales but it's fine to weigh her at home also. Do use electronic scales, though - even the cheapie ones are more accurate than analog scales with a spinning dial. Most kids love seeing the numbers change when they hop on
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You would have noticed her loosing weight by her clothes. As others have said we just stand DD on scales at home
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