Going out of my mind with DS fussy eating please help!

[worriedmum29472]

DS just turned 2 has become fussier and fussier with food since he was about 15 months. He is my second so I have it before but not now to this level. He lives off pizza, carrots, bread and sometimes fruit. He won't anything else. He use to eat fairly well not pasta, any form of meat or fish.
At first I was relaxed about it remembering with my older DS it will improve. But it just seems to be getting worse. Everyone I speak to says it's just a phase but I am feeling really concerned he will be lacking important vitamins. I have got him multi vitamins that he will not have even when I mix it with a fruity drink to try and hide the taste.
Would really appreciate any advice?

My grandson is the same, he was a really good eater, until he had a incident when he had a heavy cold, and projectile vomited in the middle of a meal, coming out of his nose etc. That really upset him, and has been a poor eater ever since.
I wonder if the below link may help
www.psycom.net/eating-disorders-in-children
Dont want to worry you, but it's best to know.

Does he go to nursery ? You often find they eat differently away from home.

DD remains very fussy so you have my sympathy.

Will he drink toddler milk (formula)? That has the full range of vitamins added, so would be one less thing to worry about.

I'm afraid DD still doesn't eat normally at 8, but she never did (weaning was a challenge), so something different may well be going on for her.

By 2 my son was down to about 4 foods- raisins, dried Cheerios, cucumber and weirdly cod!

Now at 3 he eats about 20 different things. Just keep offering and don’t let the anger/stress show!

Nature's aid do a range of vitamins which are only 1ml so easy to hide in drink.

Would he eat a chewy vitamin if he thought it was a sweet ?

Try not to let him know your stressed, if it becomes a battle of wills he will win!

Make sure at least one safe food is available at every meal. Have other foods available but served separately, not touching safe foods. Don’t make any fuss whether he eats them or not.

Maybe get him making his own pizzas with you?

Or cooking in general. Get him used to the different foods with no pressure to eat them.

Ultimately you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Ds has an extreme version of a condition called ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) so I fully get how frustrating it can be!

It's easier said than done but just go with it. My daughter ate very few foods from that age up until around 4. I always offered tastes of new things/things she used to like. Gradually she started to eat more and now at 9 she eats a great range of food and especially loves her vegetables.

Have you tried gummy vitamins? They taste like sweeties. DD always asks for her sweetie in the morning

Hard as it is, you need to show it doesn't bother you or stress you out as then it just makes things worse. Just serve what you know he will eat along with whatever everyone else is having and don't talk about food. Just all sit down together and chat about your day, etc. It won't last forever.

If you make your own pizza sauce, you can load it with veg and blitz it so he's getting more than he knows he is!

@Cherrypies

My grandson is the same, he was a really good eater, until he had a incident when he had a heavy cold, and projectile vomited in the middle of a meal, coming out of his nose etc. That really upset him, and has been a poor eater ever since. I wonder if the below link may help www.psycom.net/eating-disorders-in-children Dont want to worry you, but it's best to know.

Whilst MN can be needlessly neurotic, suggesting that a child has an eating disorder at 15-24 months is just pure insanity.

I shove them a multivitamin and not worry about it. I make sure I do a ‘respectful plate’ ie it includes something the kid definitely likes, eg carrots. I also go by this:

Parents decide: where, what and when
Kids decide: if, how much and in which order

Yoghurt, fruit etc served same time as everything else to not make any foods special.

Ps my youngest lives off hummus, apple, and bread essentially but he’s growing and developing fine and has recently added in cucumber, potatoes etc so we’re getting there following the steps I mentioned above. Key thing is to remain chilled, IMO.

My DS was like this,
Nursery was a massive game changer for us.
Offer something on his plate he doesn't normally eat along with one thing he will. Leave him to it.
Don't go overboard with praise if he eats it just be chill and likewise if he doesn't eat it.

My nephew was diagnosed with a condition called ARFID at 22 months old. He only eats one variety of yoghurt, bear biscuits (but only if they are in tact, if they are broken he won't touch them), burger flavoured crisps and peas.
Sounds like it may be similar.
Unfortunately there isn't much help on it due to the wide range of reasons it affects children and until they are able to fully vocalise reasoning it makes things really difficult. Good luck OP x

Obviously not, just because you are not aware, does not mean it does not exist