Ds won't eat and is driving me mad

[nutcracker]

Ds is 22mths and has almost always up until now, been a good eater.
For about the past few months though he has gradually started to eat less and less.

He isn't a big breakfast eater so usually only has toast and a bannana. Lunch is usually, cheese on toast or scrambled/boiled egg e.t.c (most of which gets left) and dinner is usually, savoury mince, pasta, roast dinner, shepereds pie, stuff like that.

Tonight i was savoury mince and pasta and he ate none. Last night it was chikcen supremem and he ate non of it.

I am running out of ideas now, why has he stoppped eating.

my dd has never really eaten so ive changed her eating pattern. she has one bit of weetabix and milk, one roll and a few crisps for lunch, and i make sure she has nothing to eat til dinner (unless im eating something then she has a nibble at it). Ive only been doing it a week now, but today was a break through. I made chicken casserole with mash and veg and she ate it. Couldnt believe it! But what I use to do so she wasnt starving was give her little and often. Does he have anything to eat/drink between lunch and dinner?

what does he eat between meals? personally i'd go for the big dinner at lunchtime, they get less hungry as the day goes on imo. also mine only like certain textures now - eg mince might be too runny - so try pesto pasta instead, ie hardly any goo. but grate cheese on top (or on the side if he's really fussy )

dare i suggest it's his early act of terrible 2's..ie- rebellion by non eating?
Some kids are totally compliant in all other aspects of life, but eating (or not) seems to be their way of "getting at" dear parent.

Just an idea.. if it may be the case, then don't let the little darling see that he has affected you.
Take food away and offer no more until next meal.

Well sometimes yeah, especially if i'm out as since he gave up his dummy he whinges all round the shops so i have to have a supply of stuff for him. Today he had some apple loaf and a mini cheese thing. He had a sausage roll for lunch, which he ate half of.

Dinner seems to be the main prob at the mo as he just doesn't seem hungry. We eat all together at the table at around 5.30-5.45. If i made it any later he would be too tired.
I also still give him something to eat if he doesn't eat his dinner as i don't want him to be hungry. He is really fidgety and restless at night latley and i'm sure he is hungry.

I really try and ignore him but eventually i will say 'eat you dinner harry' and then he'll pick his plate up and give it to me.

Today i did try giving him my plate with his food on and it worked, for all of 5 seconds.

im like that with dd, keeping her mouth full just so i can look around the shops
when dd didnt eat her dinner, i wouldnt give her anything, except a bottle of milk before she went to bed just so she wouldnt starve completely during the night.

nutcracker.....ds (26 months) is going through this too!
we need cp3 to tell us what supernanny did with her dd
but i cant find the thread!

Ooooh yeah Pops i'd forgotten about that.

I'll try looking too.

post a link if you find it.....
i will look tomorrow as i am off now

this it?

Ok will do. Have just tried a search but not found it. I'll try looking through a few topics.

i have - ahem - a proof copy of a on weaning, and she covers this - shhhhh - quite well. will dig it out from somewhere & report back.

Children do have growth spurts, and big changes in their appetites. I would strongly recommend riding the storm, sticking to your normal routines and rules about food. Just hang on in there - when he gets his next growth spurt he'll suddenly be starving again.

Mine are generally very good eaters; every meal they have a main course, and if they eat that fruit, then yoghurt, then 'pudding'. Just the last few weeks ds2 has rarely made it right through the main course. But he won't starve, and starting to give snacks will give the wrong messages to him and to his brother. I'm confident that he will start to tuck in again soon.

Yey thats it Tb, thanks

Thanks Bundle, will look forward to your reoprt

Roisin - All mine are to usually as i can be quite strict about mealtimes, but i am far to soft with Ds and he knows it.

(she co-wrote it with someone from GOSH)

He will be again soon Nutcracker, I'm sure. Stick to your guns.

Hello nutcracker,
My dd is 19 months and went through a phase of not eating, especially fresh fruit and vegetables, things got better but I don't think I really did anything, I kept offering (giving her lots of yoghurt, bread and dried fruit when she refused) meals and then one day she started eating again. I did notice that if she had dinner with another child who ate well, she was more likely to eat. Sorry I don't have much advice but I hope knowing your ds is not alone will make it easier to handle.

Just another quick thought; you may just find that ds needs slightly different/stricter rules than your older ones. My two are different in their appetites. They rarely have snacks, but tbh a snack doesn't affect ds1's appetite for a meal even if it's just before. But if ds2 has a sugar-kick 30-60 mins before a meal, (Biscuits and cake after church every Sunday, ggrrrrr....) he will hardly touch his meal at all.

Ds is 19 months and eats loads more if we completely ignore him and get on with our meal and talk about our day instead. A bit of a result really, as it's become a really nice time for me and dh, and ds must be enjoying himself too because he is eating.