Toddler refuses to eat

[Ahahahstop]

I have a very light almost 2 year old who refuses to eat!

We make porridge in the morning, she used to eat 5 teaspoons of that but now refuses. Then she might eat a few bites of an apple. She used to eat pasta/noodles/potatoes for lunch but now might eat 5 pieces of pasta but nothing else. If she refuses the pasta I'll offer a yogurt (normal full fat yogurt) she may eat half. After lunch time nap she might eat yogurt if she didn't eat one before lunch. If not then maybe 2 tuk crackers and some milk. Dinner can be hit or miss, may eat 2-3 teaspoons or totally refuse. Might have a cup of milk if nothing eaten and possibly eats very small bit of branflakes.

Any ideas on how to get her to eat more? I hate making food only too throw it out

Try serving her only a few spoonfuls and if she finishes that, offer a bit more.

It may be that a full serving looks a bit overwhelming.

Or instead of 3 meals, try 5 , obviously much smaller. Grazing can work well at that age.

These are things that worked with mine when they were going through this stage. They may not help but it's worth a try.

What's important is not to make it a battle because that always ends in disaster.

Firstly, I don’t think you should force her to eat. That’s just going to create stress.

I know you probably know this already, but make her the same as what you’re having and get her to help herself to what she wants. Don’t pressurise her.

With toddlers I feel like you just need to come to terms with wasted food.

I agree that you won’t win this battle ! Let her eat what she wants when she wants it for now.
Try a little sandwich at lunch.
Does she go to nursery, if so how is her eating there ?

Thank you all. Her serving sizes are small as I know she won't eat. I usually do make her what we eat, I don't make food a battle, I'll usually let her keep playing or watching TV and I offer it a few more times and then I give up. She doesn't go to nursery, I don't mind her grazing but she isn't really doing that either

Has she got a sore throat or mouth? Are her back teeth coming through?

Does she drink a lot of milk, perhaps at night? My daughter isn't a great eater and I do suspect she fills herself up on milk.

Is she filling up on something else like milk or juice

What does your HV suggest?

DS was like this. He developed reflux at 1 and developed almost a fear of eating. Things that worked: not making a big fuss of things, spoon feeding him and he did have one meal he would eat (tuna pasta) so I used to give him that every few days to plump him up. To be honest I just got to the stage where any food was a win so he ate whatever he fancied, whenever he fancied! Biscuits for tea? Yup! Chocolate for breakfast? Yup! I took the view that some calories were better than none at all! Now he's 6 and regularly doubles up on meals (3 breakfasts some days!) but is still super slim. Once he started eating more reliably I started moving back towards a healthier diet and he eats most things without a bother. It's a phase and it will pass!

I'm sure I heard bran flakes are not suitable for toddlers, so just googled and this came up.

www.madeformums.com/school-and-family/healthy-toddler-snacks/#:~:text=You'd%20think%20that%20high,remove%20them%20from%20the%20body.%E2%80%9D

I had issues with a child and I was told by doctor that our Western standards are so high, he worked in Africa And saw dc survive on littler and far more limited diets.
Can you try all sorts and let her pick? Maybe a range of stuff and let her self feed.. To see what she likes.

Classics, jacket pot and tuna mayo, or beeans and cheese, fish fingers, chips...

I loving made all the healthy stuff and she just went off it at a certain age and wanted the classic child stuff.

I hated macdonakds but resorted to that to keep the stomach larger and not shrink.
Pastry, cream... Home mate sauge rolls.. Different cooking strategies..
I had to drop my standards.

There's no chance she could be autistic is there? This isn't me saying her not eating means that she is, but when my son did similar and ate very little I had all sorts of advice that just didn't work - and I ended up feeling like I was clearly just doing it wrong! When actually, it was because he's autistic and even the professionals struggle to get him to eat anything more than (what is now) one food item. There's some relief in not berating yourself and just going with what they'll tolerate.
May not be relevant but thought I'd mention just in case.

That's how much my toddler same age eats (very little), but she drinks lots of milk

I should add her weight is big :)

Contact your HV

There’s a fantastic Instagram page called solid starts which is a brilliant resource for weaning but is centred around fussy eating.

if she has playing or TV at the same time as food, is she too interested in the TV to eat? some toddlers are almost hypnotised by the screen.

Thanks everyone for the replies. No she doesn't fill up on milk, might have 2 beakers a day. She does have reflux since she was born and the doctors have always said its reason for low weight. Went private recently and starting new medication soon so maybe that will help.

I don't think she is autistic but I wouldn't know.

Mine was like this too. HV just said “she’s eating more than you realise, keep a food diary”. So I did, and HV panicked when she realised how little DC was eating!

So, keep a food diary, and be ridiculously accurate with it, for a week to ten days.
Nice picky food at the table with a cheery chat / playfulness going on.

If she’s energetic, healthy and active then she’s OK. It doesn’t sound like an aversion to particular foods, just lack of appetite.

DC is still similar- she just doesn’t eat much, even leaving sweeties, cake, ice cream if she’s full (I wish I did the same!), and is notably more skinny than her peers.

What are her poos like?
My son was very similar, very bad acid reflux food avoidance, low weight etc, always has slightly runny poos.
He’s lactose (not cmpa) intolerant. Since cutting lactose he eats much better has put on weight - still fussy but will eat.
Have you looked into intolerances?