Why won't he eat?

[Magneto]

Ds is 14 months old, his diet consists of:
Weetabix, toast, banana, scrambled egg, cheese, sausages, tinned spaghetti, pasta, apples, raw carrots (but only to chew he doesn't eat much) cucumber, jars of spaghetti carbonara, yoghurt and any kind of fruit purée.

Add to this anything sweet, chocolate flavoured, chips, crisps and even half a slice of dominos pizza (I let him try anything we eat buts it's by no means a regular thing before I get flamed).

But that is literally all he will eat. I have tried homemade pizza but he wouldn't touch it, he won't eat baked, roast or mashed potatoes, no cooked vegetables, no other fruits, no meat. It doesn't matter if it's home cooked or in a jar and he is always worse at tea time. He has just screamed for half an hour because he wouldn't eat what I had made but happily ate the spaghetti on toast I offered because I don't want him to go hungry. If he doesn't eat his dinner he wakes up at 4am starving!

He was never like this before, we did a mixture of blw and jar foods and he would eat anything but now almost every meal is a battle

He also refuses to hold his own cup/bottle/spoon even though I know he can because I've seen him do it!!!

Please help!

[LydiaWickham]

We went through a stage like that at 13 months. DS (now 21 months) is a little better, there's more fruit and a lot of red meat in his diet (current obession, along with hummus). But he's getting there slowly. Don't don't make a big deal out of it, try not to take it personally (I found this very hard!). Go back to the BLWing appraoch of sharing whatever you're having.

[Bossybritches22]

No baby /child will voluntarily starve themselves.

However giving mum the runaround is a great new game at this age, the first taste of power (evil cackle)

Tinned spag can be quite salty as is pizza although a little now & then won't hurt.

How about pasta twirls or bows, just plain with a little grated cheese & maybe some cucumber or tomato chopped up.

If he won't use a bowl, make sure his highchair tray or mat is wiped with anti-bac & serve food directly on to that so he can grab fistful. Sit with him, try & eat all at the same time or at least have a cuppa & engage with him. Ignore tantrums (so hard) & reward quiet co-operation.

Don't give in & provide alternatives, he has quite a few things he WILL eat so always give oneof those & add something else you are trying to introduce.

Remember it takes a child about 12/14 goes of a new food before he'll like it.

If he's waking hungry make sure he has a bedtime supper of Weetabix &/or a banana, the good stodgy carbs will keep him going.

You are in charge....just sometimes you wonder!!

[LetTheSlaughterBeGincognito]

Magneto, my nearly one year old is pretty similar - I think it's pretty common and I'm trying not to fret about it (although I am one of nature's fretters so it's tough).

This week all he really wants to eat is (plain) yoghurt and fruit. I just make sure I'm offering him other stuff, keep an eye on his fluid intake and try not to make a big deal of it.

[sprinkles77]

Sounds like a reasonably balanced diet to me! He eats more variety than mine did at that age. DS was the same and still can be at 19 months. I still feed him Purée when he is being fussy. Try to go with the flow. Put a time limit on meal times , maybe 30 mins. When he starts screaming walk away til he calms down then try again. If he's feeding himself put one item on his tray and offer no more till it's swallowed. This reduces food throwing and spitting with my DS. If you are worried about the balance of his diet and he will eat purée I would start each meal with home made purée made of his favourites plus the meat of what ever it is you are worried about. I still use sweet potato to hide chicken which he will not eat! If you do this before he fills up on yoghurt then you can feel confident he's had what he needs.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Some great advice on here already, like offering something you know he will eat along with the other things you give him. Ignore the tantrums and give him lots of attention if he is eating what you want him to eat Don't offer alternatives, no matter how much he insists and giving him supper to fill him up. Like bossy mine both like pasta with some veg and one likes it with butter the other with some grated cheese. We use wholewheat pasta 'cos I think it fills them up more.

If you are still worried this book might help, although I'd be tempted to see if my local library or LLL group had a copy before I forked out that price [hsmile]. I haven't read this book but we used her No Cry Sleep Solution and it worked for us [hsmile].

[balletmoo]

Hello all!

I'm having a similar problem, so have read this post with interest. My DS is 14 months and has gone from eating anything so long as it's strongly flavoured, to chicken escalope, pork escalope (yes, breading all of this does seem to make a difference!!), potato waffles, olives (I know, I know, salty! Doesn't get many or often...), peas, garlic pasta, baby corn, or cherios scavenged from the floor...

Sigh...

So I take from this that it's normal, that "this too will pass", not to offer alternatives (regardless of tantrum) and not to show stress. Easier said than done but we'll have a go!!

It does get easier, right??

[BertieBotts]

It's really common for them to massively reduce their food variety so they are only eating a few things at this age - one theory is that it's related developmentally to walking, because from the days before we lived in houses etc they would have had access to various poisonous plants etc. The ones who were fussy enough not to touch the plants are the ones your baby evolved from

DS was like this, he's 3 now and tries most things if he's hungry and in the right mood.

[BertieBotts]

There's a new edition coming out of that book, JJJ. www.amazon.co.uk/Child-Wont-Eat-Carlos-Gonzalez/dp/1780660057/ref=pd_cp_b_3?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21