Two year old won't eat. And is making him poorly.

[wildlingtribe]

So he's got a love hate relationship with food and since turning two (he's three next month) he's gone off so many foods. Now he's my 3/4 kids so I know this can happen but he's lost weight, no chubbiness on him at all, he's rarely ill but this week (christmas of all weeks) he's had a bug I think with diarrhoea and fever, lethargy and even more so refusal of food.

Even before the bug he just won't eat much. Christmas Day he had a two yorkshires. Today he's had a mini croissant. Still drinking fluids but food is a no go.

We offer, try to make it fun, try a variety but it's not working. He's so low on energy that everyday this week he has been in such a low mood, lethargic, says his body hurts, his mouth hurts, so I don't know. I do think he has his main molars yet to come through but no sign of them cutting through?? He has 16 teeth.. where as his 6 and 4 year old sisters have 20.

Any ideas?

I'm just so worried about him, thinking the worst like him having to be tube fed or something, or like meningitis or worse...

:(

What is his favourite treat food - can he be tempted with ice cream etc?

If he has been poorly his appetite may not have fully recovered yet and treats may get him interested enough to start eating again

Also - if he will have liquid - what about fruit milkshakes? Banana, whole milk and a little vanilla ice cream to sweeten if necessary

Milk is a whole food and will cover most bases short term

Could he have contracted Herpes? The first outbreak tends to not be getting a coldsore but sores on the throat and just a really sore mouth etc.

My friend's toddler went through hell for a few months before it was actually the dentist who thought it was this. She just wouldn't eat because her mouth/throat was too sore.

In the meantime do you have a walk in centre you could visit tomorrow to check he's not dehydrated/nothing else going on?

He doesn't have a temp does he? My DS went off food completely a few weeks ago with strep throat...maybe he's caught some viral and his throat is sore? Have you taken him to GP for checkup?

Is there 1 food that he will always eat no matter what? My eldest went through this i took him to a dietician the works he was literally skin and bone. However he would always eat a salmon paste sandwich and practically lived on them much to my despair 🙈 he did grow out of it though and although he rarely eats anything potato based he does eat a wide variety of fruit veg and salad- he's more of a snacker than a full meal person

We had a really similar thing with our DD about a year ago. It kind of crept up on us, but she had cut down the amount and variety she ate, and coupled with a virus she became very weak and lethargic. We took her to the doctor, and I was surprised by how concerned they were - sent us straight to hospital for blood tests. They came back fine, but worth investigating (anaemia was a possibility).

Anyway, what worked for us was to stop outwardly worrying about it. It was incredibly hard, but I realised I'd got so worked up about it that mealtimes had become incredibly stressful for everyone. We started serving all food family style in bowls in the middle of the table, and everyone helped themselves. We all ate together (even though DH and I had to eat weird combos of food at 4.30pm), and made stupid light hearted chit chat. The key thing was that we did not say a single thing about DDs food intake. That was hard, and a real change from cajoling and bribing. It took a few days, but she started eating again. We always made sure in the early days that the food included some of her favourites - hence weird combos).

That would obviously only work if it's behavioural, so I really would suggest the doctor as well if you're worried, they were very sympathetic.

Good luck!

We have two with autism ... one is so severely oral adverse he is tube fed!
Just let him eat what he wants to eat!!! Use a multi vitamin. Soft cheese on white bread was the go to thing in this house... still is if feeling low.
Let them choose, eat how much they want ... no pressure !
Pain au chocolate goes down a treat her too !!!

This sounds familiar. My son had a fever for a week and only wanted to eat chocolate, cookies and cake! It was during xmas so we had treats etc. Anyways after a few days of battles he finally started eating some normal savoury foods. But still cries for chocolate and cookies every day :( meal times takes him one hour of tantrums for chocolate before he finally eats. And no, we don't give into chocolate or biscuits. Those are now off limits as I notice if he gets a little then he refuses all other food and turns into a nightmare for days!