I hate to comment on others parenting, BUT...

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

I've just seen a post on facebook saying that someone is proud that their 6 week old baby has just eaten a whole jar of puree...

Has anyone else seen examples of interesting parenting first hand that they thought were the stuff of MN myth? I honestly didnt think that people this, ahem, naive existed!

Nearly 2, dear SLM.

Well frankly I couldn't give a single shite what other people think of my parenting. The most important thing is that I know she getting a healthy diet with the occasional treat. If someone sees her with a can of coke and assumes she's drinking it that's not my problem. If they want to take it up with me they will soon be put right. If they see her eating chips out then they don't know that it's an incredibly rare event and that she usually has an extremely healthy diet.

We only ever see a minute snapshot of strangers' parenting and i am sure that we have all done things that other people would be smuggly whispering about.

Not an easy age, you will probably have soon terrible two's to recon with.
All said and done, and yes I know (hindsight is a wonderful thing), he will grow out of majority of difficulties, poor eating being of of them.
Give variety of foods, and hope something will click soon, as for his sleeping, if is any consolation, our DD was a terrible sleeper till about the age of 3, and in her case had nothing to do with food.
On the other hand who was terrible fussy eater, always slept well, my point being poor sleeping has nothing to do with amount of food, but rather poor sleeping patterns.
As said keep offering, and keep cool, I am sure soon he will grow to become strong, healthy, and beautiful and you will wonder what all fuss was about, good luck.

noble I agree with SLM as you dealing with a difficult stage & sleeeping & food not being related -

going off on a slight tangent, we went through similar with DD at that sort of age - have you tried putting a couple of cups of Epsom salts in his bath?? - its a good way of getting magnesium into him, magnesium helps regulate a lot of body systems, including relaxation & sleep & if he's a fussy eater he's even more likely to be deficient - modern diet & farming means a lot of people these days are - so no bearing on you - we also added a few drops of chamomile & lavender aromatherapy oils to either an epsom salt bath, or added to a cuddly toy, or heat pad - this worked wonders for DD & if its nightmares/dreams, a dream catcher can work too - not quite sure whether that one was auto suggestion, but DD slept like a log & no more nightmares once we started the "shake out last nights bad dreams, so it can catch tonight" bedtime ritual

ps - it could help with your own frayed nerves too

I used to complain because DD stopped liking salmon and asparagus when she started school. Not that she had that sort of thing at school

But it was okay because I was an educated parent who knew how to encourage healthy eating, not that I particularly needed to, but I knew all the tricks; picnics, involving the child with food, being positive, being creative and I kept no shite in the house anyway.

Then I had DS.

Paediatric dietician told me that he is the sort of child who will gladly starve rather than eat food he is phobic about. So he is offered the same as DD all day every day (much more than fifteen times then as he is 4.3) and he often ends up with cereal, toast or (lite) crisps to fill him up while he grazes on fruit, cucumber and carrot.

Thankfully DS likes milk so while he eats no protein-rich foods at all, no meat, eggs, cheese, beans, fish - he is growing well and not underweight. My friend's son is and she is very worried. IF he would eat a Happy Meal every day she would be delighted and rightly so.

So much for "keep offering"

Brigade and others who have posted similarly, I do have empathy with your dc's and your situation and I am not disagreeing that some children will be that way inclined. It is however, rare to find toddlers and less who starve themselves. I think it is important to try to understand where and when it became a problem iyswim. Like I said earlier my dc that I minded had issues and being strict worked. Her issues were learned from her DB who tried to vomit at meals, got lots of attention and the food he liked only, so she learned that to get what she wanted to eat......refuse food and pretend to vomit at 18mths . I hasten to add that both children were on the same plan and both recovered from their fussy eating as a consequence. I can only add that if a parent gives in on just one occasion then the willpower of the child is multiplied because they realise that if they try hard enough they get something else to eat. Its fine if you disagree but I have seen it so many times in my personal and professional life.