Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

DS will only eat yoghurt, crisps and biscuits

19 replies

AnonyMaw · 29/10/2011 00:23

My DS (20 months old) is a fussy eater, he used to eat anything and everything, but for months now has been on a fairly limited diet, the only things he will reliably eat are crisps, yoghurt and biscuits. He'll often accept grapes, apple slices, fruit puree, cereal, ready brek, bread, but that's about it. Every day he refuses at least 2 proper meals, then at bedtime I'll usually give him yoghurt or something to fill him up for night time as he's eaten so little all day. He used to be great at eating, but not now. He also won't eat for our child minder. He is slightly less fussy when he's really hungry, but I'm reluctant to ditch the evening yoghurts as without then he'll have had so little food before bed.

Today was typical, as an example he had a handful of shreddies for breakfast, then a small amount of bread for lunch (refusing bacon and fruit), apple juice mid afternoon (refused cake! - he was suspicious of it as it was unfamiliar), one small slice of red pepper for tea (refused pasta, olives, chicken, sweetcorn, lettuce) then at bedtime he ate five petit filous yoghurts, he was asking for more of them but I didn't let him have more. He had milk at bed time.

What should I be doing differently?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
AnonyMaw · 29/10/2011 00:26

Prob worth mentioning he doesn't have milk at night time, if he does wake in the night he's only looking for cuddles, so I'm fairly certain he's not filling up on milk, only has max 2 beakers in 24 hours

OP posts:
AnxiousElephant · 29/10/2011 00:47

If he is a reasonable weight then the fact he is 'less fussy when he is really hungry' suggests he would be fine with a no nonsense approach. All children given the opportunity will eat sweet food i.e. yoghurt. I would (and have) ditch yoghurt, present what you would like him to eat including some he likes and if he doesn't eat give nothing until breakfast/ next meal/ snack. Always offer healthy foods and see what happens after 4-7 days. If still eating nothing then supplement.
No yoghurts!

I had a CM child who was similar that after 3 months of 'this is it' approach ate everything. Its a control issue by the sounds of it.

Ensure he is drinking plenty throughout the day as dehydration can decrease appetite. Use water or apple juice diluted 1/10 for a drink. Milk am and PM

AnxiousElephant · 29/10/2011 00:51

I started DCM child on fruit at snack time with 'eat the fruit and you can have x', then 'try x, y, z and you can have a yoghurt'. Must eat at least 1 piece of the new thing. Offer several times in a week to desensitise. i.e. if trying carrots give it 4 times, or cheese 4-5 times in the week. Introduce a couple of new foods per week.

winnybella · 29/10/2011 01:03

Hmm. Don't let him have 5 Shock sweet yoghurts for dinner, for example?

Toddlers can be fussy- tbh with the things you mentioned that he will eat (cereal, bread, fruit,yoghurt) he won't starve. Does he never eat meat or eggs?

winnybella · 29/10/2011 01:07

Oh, and my DD also often refuses to eat when there's a lot of mixed stuff on a plate i.e. beef stew with all these horrid carrots and onions or pasta with chicken and sundried tomatoes etc etc. I have definitely noticed that she eats more when things are more separate. I haven't give in to it and it seems like she's slowly starting to accept that that's the way it is, but perhaps it's something worth a try with your DS?

kelloo1 · 29/10/2011 13:56

My DS is similar, was a really good eater but now only wants junk. He has a small breakfast but most of the time refuses dinner and tea. If he doesn't eat his meals then he goes without, he also gets no pudding. We try not to make a fuss of him not eating and just ignore him and sometimes he will pick at it and eat bits. He knows at meal times we all have the same and if he doesn't eat it he's not going to get something different. We also cut out any treats until he starts eating properly again. His reward chart helps now, if he eats his dinner (or at least tries it) he gets a sticker. I would stop giving him yoghurts before bed though. Sometimes my DS will have some toast or bread and butter before bed if he hasn't eaten much and he always has a bottle of milk at bed time.

oldmum42 · 29/10/2011 16:10

Ditch the yogurts. One a day, max. He's probably getting enough calories from this diet, but he certainly isn't getting the nutrition he needs for healthy growth over the long term - very little protein or iron. Or "good" fats for that matter.
It's all carbs and sugar (even if the yogurt is no-added-sugar, it's still full of milk sugars and very sweet to taste, fruit puree=sugar).

Unless he is actually underweight, I agree with other posters, offer food and if he doesn't eat it, don't let him eat multiple pots of yogurt instead (1 only).

Give him some infant supplements with vitamins and iron too, to safeguard his development while he gets through this fussy stage.

You say he was eating fine when younger - could it be the change from "baby" foods (smoother, everything mixed in together), to more adult textures
has started this problem? Do you think a temporary return to puree/mashed meat (or any other specific food he's having an issue with), might help? Then you could increase the texture of one thing at a time and see how he manages.

AnonyMaw · 29/10/2011 22:44

Thanks for the suggestions. He is a good size, but has been slimming down since he's been so fussy. He was a chubby baby, even when exclusively breast fed, so its probably not a bad thing altogether that he's lost some body fat. I've not had him weighed or measured in over a year Blush as the baby clinics are always on a day when I'm at work, but to look at him I'd say he's taller than average and a good weight, he's still growing well (e.g. has gone up 3 full shoe sizes in 9 months)

He definitely does prefer baby food, i.e. mushy blended home cooking or particularly jars, but a while ago I decided to get tough on jars and stop giving him them, as I felt he was too big for them (he likes the 7 month slightly textured sort). Sometimes if he's ill I'll relent and give him one though, e.g. in the past month he's had a couple of viruses and fevers, so if he's not eaten much in days then I'll offer a jar, which he'll usually eat.

Meat is the most difficult thing to get him to eat, the best option I've found is bolognaise which has been blended up a bit, but then he'll only eat it perhaps half the time when offered it. He'll occasionally have a nibble on a chicken nugget or something like that, but consumes so little it's barely worth bothering.

I think I'll look into supplements. And get tougher. Our CM is quite soft on him too, she'll often say "Oh he refused his [whatever delicious sounding homecooking she'd done that day], so I gave him a jar/yoghurt/biscuit instead" At least if I'm filling him up on yoghurts in the evening I try to leave a long gap after his failed dinner, so that he in theory doesn't associate refusing dinner with being fed sugary snacks. I bought some plain greek yoghurt today also so that he will get less sugar in his diet, though he's not had any yet, I was tough on yoghurts today!

Thanks again!

OP posts:
kelloo1 · 29/10/2011 23:01

Yay on no yoghurts! If you are gonna get tough you really need CM on board and sticking to what you decide. My Ds's nursery used to be soft with him and say oh he wouldn't touch his dinner but he had 2 pieces of cake! They now leave him without pudding if he doesn't eat his main meal, although I did have to tell them about 20 times. I have just started giving him a multi vitamin liquid so I know he's getting some goodness in him! Boots do different liquids and they are suitable from 4 months. Good luck!

wannaBe · 29/10/2011 23:15

I am going to be blunt and say the only reason children "will only eat" certain foods is because they are allowed and enabled to do so. (with the exception obviously of children who have specific medical conditions etc).

And I speak as someone who, as a child, would eat only dry breakfast cereal and whose mother pandered to this because she felt she would rather I ate that than nothing at all. In my defence, I had (and still have) massive issues with textures of certain foods, but I think that if I hadn't been pandered to on that level I would have been less of a fussy eater as a result (even though I was the child who would rather go hungry than eat something I didn't like).

Op - you need to tackle this now because the longer you allow it to continue the harder it is going to be to actually deal with.

Firstly though you need to get an idea of what it is your child is actually eating. Because in truth we often over-estimate how much our children should eat in comparison to the size of their stomachs.

So, for the first seven days I would change nothing. However, I would draw up a chart with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack times, and note down everything he eats at each mealtime, including drinks, because this will give you an indication not only of the volume of food your ds is eating, but also the variety, and will give you a better understanding of just where it is he's eating too much and what he's not eating enough of. It's something that's hard to keep on top of on a day-by-day basis, but a week-long chart will give you the bigger picture.

Also from the chart you can make a note of what foods he likes from each particular meal, so that you can include some of these in the next stage.

After you've done your chart it's time to get tough..

Firstly you need to cut out the foods that are being used purely to supplement his eating. so no crisps, sweets, biscuits and especially no yoghurts.

The first meal I would work on is breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal and is the one that will start your ds' metabolism. So, you already know that he eats cereal and toast (did you say?) so I would offer that for breakfast. There's nothing wrong with cereal and toast for breakfast, at this point it is actually important that he starts the day with a decent meal otherwise it's a downhill spiral from there. So let him have his cereal/toast, offer fruit if you think he'll eat it, but if not then don't worry about it. Equally let him have fruit juice if he wants some, but again, if not don't worry.

For snack I would offer fruit and nothing more. Grapes/apple slices/dried fruit/whatever fruit he'll eat. If he turns it away just say "well you're obviously not hungry," and remove it without comment.

What does he usually eat for lunch? If a main meal then I would serve elements you know that he'll eat i.e. some carrot/pasta/sweetcorn, along with some things you know he is less likely to eat - meat/other veg he won't touch, but only introduce one or two things to his plate and one or two he does eat. In the beginning give him more of the stuff he will eat and less of the stuff he won't, but as the week progresses gradulally switch this so he is getting more of what he would normally refuse so that he has no choice but to try things if he doesn't want to go hungry.

If he doesn't eat the food don't turn it into a battle - just remove the plate without comment, but don't offer any alternatives - he will learn that if he doesn't fill up on lunch then there will be nothing more forthcoming. If he tries the new foods then talk to him about them, tell him how good it is to try new things/give asticker if need be. If he says he doesn't like the new foods persiveer - a child needs to be introduced to a flavour up to twenty times before they will develop a taste for it, so be aware that it takes time.

Again at snack time offer fruit and nothing more.

And repeat the same senario at dinner time - new flavours/textures, with emphasis on him eating the food but no comment if not. And no pudding - especially no yoghurt. Smile

If he won't eat meat then you can make allowances. I know lots of children that won't eat meat and often it's because they don't like to have to chew it. My ds is similar although he's got better as he's got older. So compromise - make bolognese/shepherds pie for dinners, even soups with meat in them - nothing more delicious than dipping bread into soup and getting the nutricion that way.

Also roast dinner can be cut up quite small without having to puree it, and if your ds doesn't like roast potatoes there's nothing wrong with mashed potatoes with gravy.

It's not going to happen overnight, and you're probably in for a rough few weeks/months, but if you persiveer he will gradually develop new tastes/textures and lose the dependence on yoghurts.

Once your ds is eating better I would perhaps reintroduce yoghurts as snacks but not as food substitutes, and only one at a time. but in the meantime I would cut them out altogether.

good luck.

Woodlands · 29/10/2011 23:19

Plain Greek yoghurt sounds like a great plan, it's high in fat/calories yet without the sugar. We've given it to our DS every day since day 1 of weaning practically and he loves it.

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 30/10/2011 15:09

oh god, seriously worried by how many people say ditch the yoghurt! DS is 3 and has been moderately fussy since 20months, having eaten anything put in front of him up until that point, but will happily get through TONS of yoghurts, maybe I'll switch to greek yoghurt too then.

Something I'm going to try which a friend has just done successfully is find a toy they desperately want (some piece of plastic tatt) and say they can have it when they fill up a sticker chart - they get a sticker for every new food they try (reiterating if they try and like it put it on their plate again several times that week) - even if he doesn't eat lots, if he tries it's a good start so only put a tiny bit on his plate then make it bigger every time you offer it again.

I also cut out snacks completely when DS is being fussy because he's not a massive eater anyway so if he's only going to have 3 meals and no snacks, at least he's eating "proper" food and not snack type food

krustyloaf · 01/11/2011 21:24

I'd just add to everything everyone as said that no (weaned) child will ever be harmed by skipping a meal occasionally (unless they're diabetic or something..). If all of this great advice doesn't work then just don't give him anything. He'll soon eat what's put in front of him if he's really hungry. I know it sounds/feels cruel but like everyone has said I think, if you persevere and are firm then it will pay off and make a difference long term

BryonyBee · 03/11/2011 12:48

Just come in on the end of this as needing help with my 2 year old DS's selective eating! If is isn't weetabix, pesto pasta, humous or of course yoghurt then he just wont eat it! Thankfully though he will at least take multi vits!
Will try ditching the yoghurt and like the idea of a reward chart! Already ditched the snacks which doesn't seem to have bothered him at all...I suspect he is just being very stubborn - its exhausting though and I hate throwing food away twice a day and his waking in the night asking for milk because he is hungry.

PeanutButterOnly · 04/11/2011 13:05

Ahh, my DS too at 2.3! He's eating peanut butter and bread, yoghurts, banana, apple, no cheese, no eggs, no vegetables. Sometimes fishfinger and he tried a meatball the other day. I know I need to follow a plan but with working 3 days (GPs in charge), 2 other DCs and being really tired due to early morning wake-ups, it's a real challenge to get organised. Wannabe's advice is so good but it seems to require so much time to set it up.

PeanutButterOnly · 04/11/2011 13:06

It does make you feel like a bit of a failure this kind of thing Sad OP let us know how you get on!

snowmummy · 04/11/2011 13:26

I don't mean to be rude but my kids would only eat biscuits, crisps and yoghurt given half a chance! None of mine have had biscuits, crisps, chocolate before the age of 2. Why give it to them? They don't miss what they don't know.

If I was you I'd try giving him proper, balance meals including some things that he used to eat and enjoy. If he doesn't eat them take them away without any fuss or bother and do the same again next meal time. Offer him a healthy snack between meals. However, I'm no expert so perhaps you should speak to your health visitor.

Good luck

perfectmummy · 04/11/2011 13:54

I have a fussy 21 month old and have just been to docs to check that there is no medical reason as to why he has suddenly started eating a very limited selection of food. He for the last 2 months has eaten no fruit, veg, no family meals at all - just basically crisps, dry cereal, toast and crackers.

I have read many posts on here searching for some advice and was always shocked at how many of you have such a harsh "if you don't eat it then your not hungry" approach. I have tried this on a few occassions along with no snacks etc. and it deffinatly doesn't work with my son. My doctor also agreed that at his age and with him being quite little that she would certainly not recommend he go hungry and I should always offer him something he will eat if a meal is refused even if it is a slice of toast or cheese and crackers. She seems to think its not a huge problem and most children will grow out of it at some point in the future.
I have made an appointment with my health visitor next week so will let you know her thoughts.
Sorry for the rant but just wanted to let any other concerned parents know what advice I was given!

snowmummy · 04/11/2011 15:59

Fair enough perfectmummy, cheese and crackers or toast at least has some nutritional value unlike the crisps, biscuits and sugary yoghurt to which the OP referred. Alongside cheese, crackers etc, I'd also offer something else and encourage him to eat that too and I'd also hold back on the crisps unless he's tried something new. Just my opinion.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page