not sure if this a teething issue, feeding issue, toddler issue or all 3 so bear with me......

[flirtygerty]

Dd - 20m & only has 8 teeth - 2 top & botom , plus 4 big back ones. Her appetite has always been erratic but now mealtimes are becoming a joke. She has started refusing all food other than sweet stuff, no matter whether its finger food, givern to her with cutlery, whatever.

Yesterday she had half a weetabix for breakfast. half a crumpet for snack. Lunch she would only eat fruit & refused her sandwich. tea she wold only eat yoghurt and refused her sausages,broccoli & pasta. the later she used to eat quite happily. Consequently she is waking in teh night Ithink out of hunger but i'm not feeding her tehn as I odn't want her to get into teh habit as that took a while to break in teh first place.

it seesm that she is eating less with each passing day. I've kept a food dairy hence I;ve noticed teh sweet tooth. today I've not given her any fruit so she's had so far - a few shreddies, an oatcake adn less than a quarter of a slice of bread.

I'm at a loss to know what to do - if anyhting. she is happy in herself. Do I hold off teh sweet stuff or is some fruit better than no food at all? distractions don't seem to work. is she just being fiercely independent? could it be teeth?

CAn anyone offer me any ideaas/supoprt/help? thanks & sorry htis is so long but feel better for geeting it all off my chest!

It could be all 3 - whenever ds was cutting another tooth he'd go through a phase of existing almost entirely on yogurt. She could also just be asserting herself. Keep offering the savoury stuff and don't make a big deal of it if she doesn't eat it - just take it away. If the only sweet stuff she's eating are yogurt and fruit, that's not bad by any stretch! If she senses you getting tense over her not eating it, she'll just do it all the more.

Do you eat with her? She might find herself wanting some of whatever you're having.

Make her a lunch of a few bits eg today I gave grated carrot, lettuce, tortilla, mini sausages, red pepper, a few hula hoops then for pudding I gave melon, strawberries, pear, grapes and apple. I gave them both the same and let them get on with it for about 20 mins then when the plates were looking quite empty and they started to mess about with it I took it away and gave pudding which they both ate all of.

I think sometimes it can be about not fancying one thing and toddlers respond better to a choice on the plate BUT I will only give 1 meal and if they don't eat enough of whats on offer then I give them a chance of last mouthful or they go without pudding, it normally works even with my old mindee who had eating issues.

IMO - She won't starve, don't pander it will make her worse, give her a choice on the plate but only offer 1 meal, only give pudding if enough dinner has been tried/ eaten, don't pressure.

Btw I do understand it's fustrating/ upsetting/ horrible to see a child go without a meal etc but in the long run being tough is the right thing to do. You are only doing what is best for her.

Something to think about as well is, although I wasn't around during the war i'm prepared to bet they didn't have as many fussy eaters around back then because it really was eat it or starve wasn't it?

thanks. I eat with her ( & ds) at breakfast & lunch- by teatime I'm loosing the will to live. I suppose what you are both saying - in efect - is that as there's nothing I can do about it I should just carry on as I am & just chill about it! all of which I know it's just so much harder when they're your own kids!

Yep! My dd went through a stage of going off her food ebcause she was suffering with consipation, it was really horrible as she had always been such a good eater it didn't help I was also caring for mindee who didnt like food so she had him influencing her too, she saw him getting away with only having two mouthfuls and then pudding because at least he was trying and she thought she could do the same which really didnt help.

Now I don't look after mindee anymore and dd has been oon medicine for ages and is finally resuming some kind of normal and has her appetite back again.

This phase won't last forever, the more stressed you get the less likely she is to want to eat.

Try to look on the bright side (like i'm doing with dd2's pooh problem) she isn't throwing it and spitting it out etc she isn't starving herself or demanding only red yogurts and nothing else etc, try to look for the positives however small they are, currently my postive list for dd2 is she's not in pain, her appetite is back, she's not leaking pooh, she hasn't poohed in the bath for ages, she is back in pants and now only poohs in her nappy (would be nice if she poohed in the toilet but i'm hoping we're working towards that) most of all i'm thankful that my happy, content little girl is back (when she was going 8 days without a pooh she was so miserable, as anyone would be)

I hope things improve for you soon x