14 month old on food strike......

[woodforthetrees]

14 month old DD has been a fab eater from being weaned and would probably almost eat more variety than her brother (he's 3.5).

About 6 weeks ago both mine had D&V and ate nothing all week (unsurprisingly they were both really poorly) but both were back on track once they got their appetites back.

DD however about a week or so ago just refused all the things she'll always gladly eat - she'd take one look at the content of the plate/bowl and spit out shake her head. I always give her a spoon and let her have a go and also give her something to eat with her hands so she has the chance to do something she wants.

She's always eaten a fairly straightforward casserole/mince/pots/rice/pasta/egg/beans/cheese type diet and likes cereals toast etc. She's a bit rubbish on the veggies unless in the casserole or the tom sauce I make but she was happy to have pasta and tom sauce for eg. She'll eat a few fruits. She goes to nursery two days a week and never refuses anything there - even the slightly revolting sounding mackerel and sardine pie

2 weeks ago she got an ear and throat infection and had anti-b's for a week during which it seemed she actually had hand foot and mouth. Then she got conjunctivitis and finally she seems to be coming out of it having been extremely snotty and chesty for all of last week. I've also noticed that her two upper eye teeth are popping through (she's got molars and eye teeth at the bottom and her two first upper molars have just come through).

Today all she wanted was bread and butter and banana. She blows raspberries at everything else .

If you experienced illness and teething food strike how long did your previously good eater take to get back to normal. Should I still try with the usual stuff (I have to feed her older brother anyway) and then hopefully one day she'll get the idea again ? I made them fishcakes today and she picked at a few and then chucked them on the ground so she ended up with bread butter and banana followed by yog. She'd had nothing else since breakfast so really should have been starving.

I suspect the teeth and illness are just making her extremely fussy but I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

By the way, I've just sat with them and let her do what she wants - I then just take the plate away rather than try to make her eat anymore - it only gets her more upset.

She's on about 12 floz milk a day morning and eve.

Sorry, this post is a bit long !

bump

IT's true toddlers can live on air. I found it best to offer the normal diet and a little of the stuff that I knoew dd would eat. And most importantly not to stress about what gets eaten and what doesn't. She'll only relax back into her normal eating habbits if you relax too. (and believe me I know how hard this is)

Been there, done that...Well, still going through it with DS1 (now 7).
But...I have learnt from my mistakes and with my fourth DD who is 13 months and eats ALOT, she went through a period a couple weeks ago where she refused food, because of illness i think, and instead of rushing around getting her to eat at least SOMETHING, I just tried with the food she usually eats and if she didn't want it then that was it. With my oldest, i would offer something else and i think thats what started the fussy eating, that and getting all anxious over it. When shes hungry she'll eat, end of. I wiah someone told me that 7 years ago...

Maybe she is too tired for a big meal? Dd1 went through this phase & I am sure dd is on the brink of it. Maybe your dd is hungry, but too tired to contemplate a full plate, if that makes sense?

If it got too late, dd1 wouldn't eat more than a nibble, so I started to give her her main meal at lunch time & her 'lunch' at dinner time.

Best thing is just try not to react too much, either way. I know that that is hard, but if she sees you reacting she will start to do it for a reaction!

Good Luck! Oh & they don't usually starve themselves, so don't worry!

My DS is 2.6 and is still a terrible eater, but the one main thing I have learnt is - do not offer anything else. If you do give bread and butter then you are re-inforcing that she does not have to eat the meal she is given.
This is why I believe they eat better at nursery - they are not pulling anyones heart strings if they don't eat, and there will not be anything else.
It's incredibly hard to leave them hungry, and believe me the whinging and tantrums we get are painfull, but he is getting better and better. And you can always engineer sneaky ways to fill them up - favourite dinners, snacks for all etc; without looking like you are offering alternatives.

So, I think what most of you are saying is that it's best to just keep offering the usual stuff - I usually freeze loads of stuff (caseroles etc) so I could take a bit from DS's portion (he never eats the whole lot) and try it with DD to see what she does.

She refused plain pasta which she could pick up and dip in the tom pasta sauce then chucked the sauce all over me....She started crying when she even saw the sauce coming out of the kitchen having already pointed at the biscuit jar

I got her down. Half an hour later she's screaming her head off. I've given her some weetabix (we're all knackered as she wakes in the night at the moment and cries on and off presumably a mixture of teeth and hunger and she's right next door to us) and I'm at work the next three days.

If you do the "that's what for dinner there's nothing else" frame of mind, what do you do when it's bedtime? Did your dc's wake up hungry...I try to give the weetabix later on so she has something but not associate it with her food refusal in the high chair.

God this is hard - I was stressed before teatime even started. We had a roast dinner and I tried offering her my plate to see if she wanted anything from there but she just screamed at me......

Wow I just clicked on this topic to start a post about my 14 month old DS and I found this thread!

He has been a great eater up until now but has decided he will only eat toast/bread.

Tonight I made him a butternut squash risotto which I know he likes and he screamed and tried to climb out of the high chair and refused to eat a thing. So I made him a piece of toast and some sliced peach and pear and he ate every scrap.

Last night he refused all food except a bowl of pear and woke up starving at 4.45am this morning.

So am I right to just keep offering the toast and fruit and maybe some other bits and pieces? He will eat cheese, tiny bits of chicken, boiled egg etc.

woodforthetrees- I feel your pain!

I am too wondering this....what do we do?

We don't do faddy eating in this house....I know she's only 14 months but it seems to be this time when they suddenly start getting fussy - there seem to be lots of people here who've gone through the same and DS was pretty good. I wonder whether this is the age of big teeth coming through/illness (DS was the same - lots of teeth and was permanently ill at this stage as I kept delaying his MMR)...a bit of independence starting. I'm just rubbish at being calm and collected - I just feel stressed inside and want her to eat. I just have visions of landing up on Supernanny with that child who won't eat !!!...I know I'm being a bit melodramatic and I'm not helping matters.

Another one here with a 14mo who has gone from eating almost everything to complete shut-down. He's on milk strike too, so I'm a bit/frazzled atm...

I think its a combination of teething, illness (ear infection in his case) and development (he just started babbling lots and is ready to walk).

Hope it passes soon...

It's good to know that other people are experiencing the same. After reading this thread DH and I have decided that the best approach is to keep giving him the toast (at least then he will eat and we should get some sleep!) and little pieces of other foods, fruit and yoghurt and try not to worry about it.

I think with him it is a matter of independence and stubborness! Plus the fact he has had 2 recent chest infections and is also getting teeth so hasn't been the best in himself.

I really don't think he's old enough to understand that if you don't eat what you're given then there's nothing else. He would just be sad and hungry and not understand why.

MS - I am erring towards your school of thought particularly as poor old DD was all clean and in her pj's and sleeping bag and had just had her milk and promptly projectiled all over the bathroom door as she was saying goodnight to DS.....she clearly is not right. I've probably just answered my own questions now haven't I - she's clearly not as better as I thought she was. I just want to sit and cuddle her all day at the moment -she looks up puts her hands up to me and goes "cuggle"..... I think she's so phlegmy that it's sitting on her tummy and putting her off her food. I'm taking her back to the docs if she's not right by the end of the wee- we've already been twice in the last 2 weeks.

If he was nearly 2 I think he'd understand a bit more about cause and effect - otherwise they'll just be hungry but not necessarily for the right reasons IYSWIM - it'll make them cranky, not sleep and us cranky after getting no sleep and it'll all be a viscious circle won't it.

Have you tried reversing her meals, as I suggested?

Thanks, I usually give her her big meal at lunchtime with her brother so that when it gets to tea time I'm less fussed about what they've had if they've had a good lunch - is this what you meant? I also find though that if she's a bit picky at lunch she might be more hungry at tea. I think for now with her clearly still not out of the woods illness wise I should probably take each day as it comes and see how we get on. She's been coughing through the night again last night....and poor thing really really didn't want to get out of bed for nursery - I felt soooo mean getting her out.

Yes, bigger meal at lunch time.

See how it goes. My dd (21mths) can live off fresh air some days too, especially when she isn't feeling good.

ok, I've just called the nursery to see how she is as I was a bit worried after last night and she's eaten all her breakfast and all her lunch with snacks in between- and lunch was a sardine and mackerel pie with peas/carrots and potatoes.......she did this last week - ate there on Tuesday and then refused eating all week......and I told them to be gentle with her today if she wasn't in the mood...we'll see what happens when she's back with me on Thursday !

Hi WFTT- Glad to hear DD has eaten well today, though that sardine and mackerel pie sounds......interesting

DS has eaten toast with fruit spread, a whole banana and sliced peach and pear for breakfast and toast with boiled egg and some cheese for lunch followed by a big bowl of grapes.

So at least he is eating other things - as long as they are with bloody toast!

I know - toast toast toast (although I love a nice piece of toast with marmite) I've been out and bought another loaf today although when we got home from nursery after she'd had sausage and beans for tea (!) she had half a piece of toast and a bit of a heated roast potato from last nights tea. SHe also slept for over 2 hours at nursery at lunch which she rarely does there- they're lucky if they get an hour out of her...it's all topsy turvy !