3yr old suddenly turned into fussy eater

[rosmerta]

Title says it all really. Ds1, nearly 3, used to eat anything that was put in front of him but now has become really fussy. He usually pushes whatever I give him away & says he doesn't like it, even with his favourite food.

We make him stay at the table until he's at least tried everything on his plate but this can take up to an hour sometimes & leaves me feeling cruel.

I'm hoping its just a phase but is there anything else we could try to encourage him to eat?

My dd started doing this at about 3 too.

Now I just take the plate away and tell her there is nothing else.

Sometimes she comes back to it later but sometimes she doesn't. It does not happen at every meal though, usually teatime, when she is tired.

Luckily, I have no worries about her wasting away as she is 'well-covered', lol.

I think making a fuss about it is the way towards there becoming issues around meals, imho.

I agree DesperateHousewife. We also take DD's plate away but don't immediately throw the food away as she'll sometimes change her mind and ask for it 15 minutes later! As above, it happens mostly at tea-time with our DD.

We worry a bit about DD though as she's very wee for her age and verges on too-thin at times However, we are determined not to make it into a battle so we sort of get round it by not denying her snacks (fruit, toast etc) which is kind of a catch-22 as she's more likely to refuse her meals when she's had lots of snacks! We figure she might just be more comfortable with eating little and often than three square meals.

Yes, I think the less stressful you can keep mealtimes, the better for everyone.

Try to think about what they eat over a week rather than on a day-by-day basis as you may find they have good days and less good days.

Thanks. You've made me realise it always happens at teatimes, especially since he's dropped his nap! It has been getting stressful as well, as he usually ends up crying which is what makes me feel bad.

I'll try the taking his plate away & leaving it where he can come back to it. Hopefully if he feels the pressure is off, he'll be more willing to try it.