1 Year old, refusing dinner and wont eat healthy stuff..

[juliaemma]

I am going mad with it at the moment. My one year old boy has just started to refuse dinner nearly every night, even after having only a few bites for lunch. It seems he has started this since we let him have very little bits of "bad" foods. A few chocolate buttons, some baby crisps and chips occasionally (we havent let him have that much). Its just so anoying when you have spent ages preparing fish and veg and healthy dinners, to throw it all away. Im also not 100% sure if he has severe teething, and thats putting him off...although i have given him some chrips in desperation and he ate them, quite easily!!! Has others been through this? Whats the best thing to do?

Stop stop stop giving him junk food if you want him to eat healthy foor. Children prefer the junk, it is easier to eat and stronger flavoured, and at 1 he is old enough to hold out for what he wants. Just don't give him any 'bad' foods, he will eventually give up and stop waiting for them.

just offer him good stuff - if he doesn't want it then say - ok not hungry. And don't give him "bad" foods at all.

When he is hungry he will eat. Make sure he has fluids - but don't let him fill up on milk.

Quite usual, unfortunately! First thing is don't react. Just wait until he's finished mucking about with it then say 'anymore?' (in a chirpy voice) then take the plate away. It's then up to you if you offer dessert, obviously only healthy desserts allowed. Does he prefer the chips do you think beacuse he can feed himself. Does he have finger foods that he can squidge and smear and then try to feed himself? Things like small lumps of cheese and small pieces of ham. Chopped cooked veg etc... If you are already doing this and he still is 'not hungry' what about his milk intake? Is he having a milk drink and filling up on that?

welcome to my world. it is a total pita when you have cooked up something fabulous and nutritious and they look at you like you are insane and then splatter it about without eating it.

i find it goes better when i know he is really properly hungry, i am completely nonchalant about whether he eats or not, and on the rare occasions dh gets home on time to have a family meal

We went through this around the 1 year mark, and DD hadn't yet seen a chip or a button - I think teeth had a lot to do with it, along with on/off colds for that whole winter! I go along with what everyone else has said - try not to worry about it (frustrating as it is) and just keep offering. DD went through sudden dislikes of foods she'd loved up until then around this age - but I found that giving them a break then bringing them back a couple of weeks later, broccoli/banana/avocado whatever would suddenly be the bees knees again. Teeth have a lot to answer for, huh?!
This won't suit everyone either (we have a continental sort of schedule, tends to be later than most), but I always offered DD a healthy snack eg bread and butter, fruit at the same time as her milk after her bath - so she could fill up a bit then if needs be.
Also found that eating together as much as possible helped from this age on - now, at 2, its rare for DD to eat alone and she's a great eater.

Thanks. Furball...he only has 6oz bottle in the morn and 5oz at night, so i wouldnt say alot of milk??!
From about a month ago, he wanted to feed himself with his fingers, so i have just let him do it, so he has for a while eaten with his fingers, so its not the fact he wants to finger feed himself, as he has done.

I am defiantly going to stop the bad foods totally, at any time of day and stop getting angry with it.

Tonight he done it again and after i feel as if he has not eaten all day, i just had to give him something, so gave him a banana, which he ate all of. Should i offer fruit after and nothing else? Is that ok, or should i not offer that either?

I give no alternatives, ever. I really strongly believe in the "if you're hungry you'll eat it." So if ds has nothing to eat, he clearly wasn't hungry. But I do then try to give him something that I know he'll like at the next meal. So between about 12 and 18 months ds1 ate mainly bananas and bread.

I personally would let him have a banana or some stewed apple after his tea whether he'd eaten it or not.

Also you could try offering say half a banana or a lump of cheese or some raisins half way through the morning to tide him over till lunch and similar in the afternoon. Not too much so it spoils his tea but just enough to stop him getting hungry.

I meant - to stop him getting overly hungry when they sort of go past it.

Yep, I did/do the same as Furball. I vaguely remember the HV saying 'as long as they don't have a snack within 1 1/2 of a meal' and, I imagine, as long as its not a huge snack! She also said that kids of this age tend to have sudden likes/dislikes of food which may be to do with teething or development, and (as long as you're cutting out the 'bad' foods) they can pretty much be trusted to know what they need. So if its bananas and bread for a year, maybe thats fine....