Toddler refusing most foods

[NeurologicallySpeaking]

Any ideas on how to get her back on track? She is 18 months and has had a nasty cold / cough which she is still recovering from (not COVID).

She was a decent enough eater before. Fussier than DD1 but broadly ate family meals which are very varied in our house.

Since being ill, we are down to pasta, bread, rice, cheese, yoghurt and fruit. Loads of old favourites are off the menu. Is this normal after a virus? How do I balance offering a wide variety of food with actually keeping her nutrition levels up? Protein is not on the cards apart from the dairy. An occasional prawn is acceptable

Keep offering the variety and always have a back up easy meal- ours was beans on toast- but never eliminate foods, as easy as they dismiss them do many come back

My son (older he was 6 at the time) had a bad virus and the doctor we saw said that kids go off their food because eating takes up a lot of energy for them when they are poorly (not sure if this is true for everyone)

Do they prefer to graze rather than have big meals? I'd try and tag things onto the things they are already eating I.e. give the bread with soup or houmous to dip into. Hope they are feeling better soon!

My DC1 did this after a major operation and hospital stay, as she understandably didn't want anything at all to eat or drink afterwards and the ward encouraged us to offer chocolate, chips, milkshakes, ice cream, whatever she would eat or drink. She didn't eat that much even before.

Very gradually we did get back to a limited but reasonable amount of foods that would probably be eaten including two veg that aren't eaten preferentially but will be eaten if we say she needs to have a bit before getting down from the table. I know that this is not considered a great approach to eating and generally we do try not to pass comment on what is and isn't eaten but I do this to make sure some fruit or veg goes in and as long as it's not a hated one this seems to work ok without drama. Other things I would gradually suggest but not make a big deal of (ie would only eat plain pasta for a while, no sauce, for weeks maybe months I'd show a jar of sauce first and ask if she wanted it and eventually one day she said yes, which opened us up to loads of other things with sauce on like curries, casseroles etc)

I hope gradually your DC will eat more too, it's so hard and we still struggle a bit but I remember being the same and will eat anything now

Yes we are having the plain pasta issue. So weird- she normally wouldn't have plain pasta really- always tossed with ragu, pesto etc but now point blank refuses the sauce. Scrambled eggs were a top favourite - had one taste of mine this morning and then rejected outright.

I think that offering one thing she will eat like plain rice or bread alongside the normal food is probably the way forward. It's just hard when even things on toast are not acceptable any more.

Low energy could definitely be an issue also. She has been so tired with this awful virus.

Totally normal. DS is 2 1/2 and has been like this for about three weeks now since he got a (non-Covid) virus. He's mainly been eating yoghurt, plain pasta and cereal. I don't even remember when he last ate a vegetable. I spoke to the GP a couple of days ago who agreed that it would pass eventually and then he'd be extra hungry to make up for it but that toddlers can survive for a remarkably long time on little food (just make sure they're hydrated). I'm trying to just treat it as normal but I do hope it will pass. I've out to dig out his old 18-24m clothes because he's too skinny for his 2-3yr trousers now.

Totally normal when they've been ill. Just keep offering a range of foods and don't stress about it as it just makes them worse. What I find works well is to have a range of things on the plate, including something I know they're currently into if possible, even if it's a bit of an eclectic mix, and top up as needed. Typically for a few days they might only eat that one food, but by keeping on having the other foods on the plate when they're ready they should just go back to them without it being a big deal.

In my experience the more you encourage them to eat something the less they will.