Advice needed on what to give a 1 year old to eat whilst ill!

[bondgirl77]

What do you give your child whilst ill to tempt them to eat? My 1 year old DS is starting to be reluctant to eat anything from a spoon anyhow, I thought he would be different whilst ill, but even though I'm offering him his favourites he has barely eaten anything for the past 3-4 days. Brings everything up if any lumps get stuck in his throat. He is drinking a reasonable amount, but I'm concerned that he's going to get weak! Any ideas? He has a hacking cough and cold, and has been sick a couple of times after bottle. Also having mammoth sleeps, has been asleep for over 2 hours this morning. Any advice gratefully received!

clear chicken broth to drink in a cup
hot chocolate with crackers and marmite
roast chicken dinner cut into appetising bits

that's just my ideas with what worked with my DS, hope your little one feels better soon!

when my DS is off his food because of illness or teething
I feed him what ever he will eat, but mainly this consists of

Milk
plain greek yogurt, with pureed fruit in it
bananas
toast with cream cheese and/or marmite
porridge with pureed fruit

often in front of the telly for a really big treat, as he has to sit at the table usually.

but sometimes also resort to
ice cream
cake
biscuits

just so he has at least eaten something.

luckily he generally loves his food and seems to accept that these things are not going to happen on a regular basis, so goes back to eating properly quite easily when he is well again.

Dry cereal - Rice Krispies for example. Could also make Krispie cakes.

Small pasta with cheese sauce (with added egg)

Scrambled Egg

Puréed veg, fruit

Cucumber sticks

Plenty of milk to drink

Thanks all for your advice. Have tried toast and cream cheese, all went on floor. Am going to try his absolute favourite at dinner time, fish fingers and mashed potato, which he managed to eat a little bit of last night. Oh dear, it's so difficult and I try not to show that I am stressed but he must realise! Reassuring to know that they revert to normal once well again, I hope so. Good idea to feed him in front of TV! I keep forgetting how good it is at distracting them, if only ITNG or Teletubbies was on at suppertime!!

we have many troubles with getting dd to eat in the past. i found that buying a small table and chair when she was about 13 months worked wonders. sit her at table in front of tv, put on favourite channel and thats it, she pays no attention to what goes in mouth or even who puts it in!! baked beans always a favourite here, even when ill and not wanting anything.

hope he feels better soon.

Personally I belong to the camp that says anything is better than nothing! So I will give my DS just about anything that classifies as a favourite: dried cereal, croissants, biscuits, yoghurt, strawberries, bananas, milk in a bottle, baked beans, fish fingers, mashed potato. It is unbelieveably stressful when they don't eat, isn't it? It can reduce me to a nervous wreck with hours. Good luck.

Aha! Baked beans, I didn't think of trying those. Which brands do you buy for little ones that don't have much sugar/salt in? Or don't you worry about that when they are just having small amounts of them?

Smmothies always go down well when our DS is poorly even if he won't eat much else. Buttered toast in front of a favourite television programme also sometimes works (Normally he has to eat at the table but when his ill I let it slip until he is better). As long as he is drinking thats the most important thing - DS when on a complete hunger strike a month or so ago when he was poorly - didn't eat for three days - on day four just got up and polished off two bowls of cereal before eating normally again. He will eat when he's ready - but I know how horrible that wait is.

How is he with tomato soup & 'pobs' (bread ripped up small and soaked in the soup?

My DTs are full of cold and cough etc at the mo. They are nearly 11 months. DD esp is not eating as much as before but likes cool things like yoghurt or ready made custard straight from fridge as they seem to sooth her sore throat. Also cheesy mash! She is also finding lumps hard to deal with having just got used to them, and brought up her morning milk both days this weekend as she was so snotty . She enjoyed some fresh pear yesterday too, it was a bit overripe so very soft.

Sorry your little one is poorly bondgirl77

In a similar situation my gp said that dc don't suffer too much if they don't eat for a week or so as long as they are drinking lots. He told me just to follow dd, and that she would eat when she was ready. I have to say I was surprised but this but it did seem to work.

Personally I'd avoid dairy for colds and go for tiny sips of lucozade, flat coke (I know this sounds terrible but doctor recommended it and only whilst taking "emergency" measures!) rice cakes, clear chicken broth in tiny thimble-sized portions, tiny bit chicken with tiny portion of rice, cut up grapes, and eventually marmite soldiers and pears and then back on to boiled eggs.

Hope he feels better soon ...if it's any consolation, once dd got her appetite back she was ravenous ...

What does he fancy? Sometimes I can only stomach rich tea biscuits and dry toast if things are coming straight back up again.

chicken soup sounds good, could drink out of tippee cup. Drinking is more important than eating when you're ill so make sure he's having lots of fluids. Milk and dairy can make you produce more mucus.

i'm afraid to say I give her normal baked beans (not reduced sugar though, as these are normaly full of sweeteners) as my HV said she should be eating exactly what we're eating now.

Hows he doing today?

dontbite - the Heinz lower salt/sugar ones are now without artificial sweeteners etc (yay). They dont taste half as good as normal ones though. DS1 will only eat "daddy's beans" (ie normal ones), DTs don't know any different.

My nearly 11 month old is poorly too and she will only eat fromage frais, its better than nothing.