Ok, I know this must have been done a million times but my DD (19mo) has become incredibly fussy about eating for about the last month. She will reliably eat yoghurt, crisps, chips, toast, pear, scrambled egg and raisins (almost a balanced diet?!) but anything else, even stuff she used to like gets flung on the floor with manic cackle (increased when I try my stern mummy 'NO') She won't let me feed her at all any more, unless it's selected bits from my plate (most of which get spat out), preferably with my spoon / fork, though she apparently expects the childminder she goes to two morning a week to do so. I know it's a control / testing boundaries thing (though of course in the dark moments I assume she has an obstructive tumour in her throat that makes the consumption of food impossible); she is not wasting away, not even waking in the night hungry. Sometimes she seems grizzly though, and i bet a snack or better still a proper meal would make her happier. But she'll sit in her high chair and cry (eh-heh,eh-heh, escalating to proper crying) and refuse to eat. Eggs and toast and pear and yog for every meal seems perfectly nutritious but I LOVE food and it makes me sad that it's become a battleground - who can possibly not get a bit cross when lovingly cooked stuff (Ok reheated leftovers) get lobbed in their hair / on the curtains / at the cat mealtime after mealtime? Someone more angelic than me. But I get cross, she laughs, and I really really try not to laugh but it's so funny (as well as incredibly annoying)... So the questions are, if I give her only what she will eat for every meal, will she snap out of it in time or get worse, always refusing anything else and holding out for the good stuff? If I take away the refused food and don't replace it am I being evil (and will she get hungry / unwell - can she make the link 'I refused to eat, I'm hungry, so next time I'd better eat?) How should I respond? - Have tried ignoring, even leaving the room, and saying no very firmly, taking the food away, leaving it there till it's all on the floor... She's a darling girl in every other way and I really try not to get got down by this, but every mealtime is a battleground. And I so don't want food to be any kind of issue. It's an uncomplicated joy to me (or at least is when I'm eating it - not her!). Btw she was not especially keen to wean, but got there in the end - she's never been one of those stuff everything in their faces babies (sadly) but never this bad. She's been teething on and off forever (about 3 months) but isn't especially toothy at present. If it started / escalated anywhere it was with a nasty cold in early Dec but she's been fit as a fiddle since.
Anyone? Help?