Advice pls re 14mo who's refused to eat now for 6 weeks!!

[SilkyDemon]

DS - 14mo - used to be a fantastic eater, I used to love cooking for him as he clearly enjoyed lots of new tastes and textures. I am at a loss to know what's gone wrong over past 6 weeks. Completely out of the blue, he cut down to only eating breakfast, but now he refuses absolutely everything - crying when he sees me approaching brandishing a bowl and spoon. He just about manages one, maybe two pots of fromage frais in a day. He's lost 2lb over the past month, and I'm really worried. Saw GP this morning who just said 'Oh its normal to be faddy'. What on earth could've caused this? Any advice welcomed.

did he have a tummy bug or anything? I know that can sometimes set things off. I know my dd's have gone through phases like this and it is really worrying at the time. Have you tried offering him a snack tray? get an empty icecube tray and put mini portions of food in each section - a couple of raisins, bread sticks, cubes of cheese etc, maybe a few of those Organix Goodies crisps. He will inevitably drop it all over the floor but might well eat a few bits and pieces too. Maybe he also wants to be a bit independent and have a go himself. might not work but worth a try?

Thanks for your response. No, no tummy bug, but he did develop quite a nasty cough for a few days which was around the time all this started. He's become quite listless, falling asleep on me regularly throughout the day, yet at other times he cries a lot. I think this must be through hunger - surely he must be ravenous?? I've just never heard of this 'hunger strike' type behaviour lasting for so long. I've seen 2 HV's and a GP, and all 3 seem unconcerned by this, which makes me think I'm getting anxious about nothing, but it just doesn't seem normal or healthy.

Also, thanks for the tip about the snack tray. I have tried this before, and it's all just been flung over the side of the high chair, but I think I've given up too quickly, maybe after a couple of days. I'll persevere with it, in the hope that a morsel slips past his lips somehow!

my ds had this. Try leaving lots of food around him, and making sure he sits with you when you eat - don't make a fuss - just put some food in front of him and carry with your meal. Soomething will go down eventually!

I also found our ds HATES his high chair. Will eat standing up or perched on a big chair, but not strapped in.

don't bother with the high chair - i know it will involve mess but just sit him down on the floor with a few toys and a snack tray and he may well have a bit of a nibble. Mine all hated high chairs at this age, I'm pretty slack chilled so just tended to feed wherever.

He generally starts to cry as soon as he's in his high chair, so maybe it's the chair he hates more than the food? Hadn't thought of that possibility, I'll try a few nibbles on the floor tomorrow. Thanks so much for your tips, I've been so worried about this lately I've lost a bit of perspective on it. He won't starve himself surely?!

we have had the same with our dd2 (12m) who refused to eat for a month, but we put food on the table and let her pick most of it ends up on the floor so the dogs are happy , but this has helped, and when we eat she will pick off our plates, i know its not always practical and is probably frowned upon, but when they wont eat you try anything

hth mt3 x

Our faddy DS is 3, but what works for him is if I have dinner with him at say 6, he will eat just a few spoonfulls. DH gets home at say 7, and DS sits on his lap and picks off most of DH's dinner, so it is a chilled way of making sure he does actually eat. We ALWAYS leave his uneaten food on teh table after, he often goes back and finishes it stone cold at 8 or nine when he gets hungry again. I second the removal of the high chair, try feeding from your lap, or again, leave food round teh house where he will snack from it. Is he teething? Is he drinking enough milk to survive on? Or a tummy bug, my DS2 went off food for several day because of cramps in his stomach..

Tbh I'd be straight back to the docs. If he is genuinely only eating one or two pots of fromage frais a day and nothing else, you need to get him seen by a proper specialist. Listlessness, tiredness and the fact that he has actually lost weight rather than remained static I find worrying personally - 2lbs seems like a lot to me in one month. What did he weigh before?

Also seconding all the tricks mentioned by the others here. I've got a limited eater though he's much older (2.9) and his weight has remained static for eight months now. But a very detailed food diary over the past two weeks has shown that he eats 90% of his intake before 2pm, so I'm trying very, very hard not to worry as much about tea now.

Agree with Sparkle about taking him to the doc again - i took dd to the hospital when she wouldn't eat for a week, and it turned out she had a serious infection! After a course of antibiotics she's back to her usual 'eat a horse' feeding habits.

You're right, I'm ready to try anything, as I just want him to eat. Haven't used the high chair all day, just left him with some nibbles in front of him on the floor. He put a raisin in his mouth, spat it out, but at least he tried it which is progress!

Sparkle - fully agree that I should take him back to docs, have made an appt for tom am. At 13mo he weighed 21lb, now he weighs 19lb, and I dont think thats normal despite what I'm being told by HV's and GP.

Kitstelsmum - did you get a referral to hosp or take dd to A & E?

Many thanks again for all advice and support.

Silky - I just went straight to A&E (but admittedly dd had a temperature as well, so they took us seriously and did some blood tests straight away)

Let us know how it goes!

Ds has had a mild temperature from time to time, and have considered taking him straight to A&E I've been that anxious. His periods of distress seem to come to an end quite quickly. I can imagine that after the 30min car journey to hospital, I would arrive at the front desk with ds a picture of health, smiling and waving at the nurses !

We are just back from a week in the hospital coz my DD had really bad pneumonia. The initial symptoms were: off food for about 3 weeks, a cough and occasional temperature. I had her at the GPs 3 times, and it was only when she was totally lethargic with cracked lips that she was sent to hospital. The docs did a chest x-ray saying that it was just to tick a box and it came back that her whole lung was filled. They couldn't hear it with the stethoscope. I'm not trying to worry you - but make sure your DS gets checked out, especially if the temperatures continue. Wishing you the very best.

Silky, how did it go at the docs? Have been thinking about you x

I'm sure you've checked this (and have probably been to doc by now) but it couldn't be mouth ulcers or some other painful condition that makes him not want to eat? My gs had oral herpes at 18 months which obviously stopped him eating for a while.

Hi all, still no improvement in ds' eating; he's crying a lot, but I'm not sure if that's through hunger, or whether he's in pain due to something that's stopping him eating. Once more, the GP seemed unconcerned as if I'm worrying about nothing, but I really do feel it's gone too far, and can no longer be passed off as a little phase. I insisted on a referral to paediatrician, which he agreed to - although reluctantly for some reason. I have appt for a week today, which came through quicker than I'd anticipated, so hopefully they'll take my concerns seriously and get to the bottom of this.

Boboma - these symptoms sound worryingly familiar at the moment. There's some days he feels wheezy, although the GP said he sounded fine through the stethoscope. I'll make sure they do an X-ray to rule out anything serious like that. It makes me wonder again if I should be going straight to A&E rather than wait for the appt next week. It's just that I've been treated like an over neurotic mother by health professionals lately (even although I've never taken ds to docs for anything other than routine checks and jabs) and I feel this has clouded my confidence a little. Thanks everyone for all your support x

Would you consider writing to the practise manager about the GP? No professional should be dismissing the worries of a parent whose child is losing weight and not eating (at all) for no appraent reason. It's deeply unprofessional.

Hope you get some answers, keep us posted x

Sparkle - I am certainly considering this course of action, although I will wait and decide once ds improves. He really did make me feel awful, and his insistence that ds's current refusal to eat is "normal", I believe to be quite frankly inaccurate. Thanks for that x

Just an update - ds has started eating normally again, just as quickly as he stopped he picked up the spoon and ate two bowls of homemade soup and bread! He insists that he does it himself with no help at all, so I just leave him to it. Perhaps this was somewhere at the root of his refusal to eat, but I suppose it's one of these things I'll never know.

Posted this update just in case any other mners are going through anything similar, and are searching previous threads. I'm a newbie, and this was my first ever thread on mn. Thanks to all who posted x x