NO EATING

[mamoomin]

WE WENT ON HOLIDAY AND 2 YEAR OLD WOULDN'T EAT HAVE BEEN HOME A WEEK AND NO LUCK IAM SO WORRIED ANY ONE ELSE HAD THIS

Your 2yr old has not eaten anything? Nothing at all? For how many days? What is the child drinking?

ONE MOUTHFUL AND VERY LITTLE JUICE GOING ON HOLIDAY HAS BEEN THE WORST THING I HAVE EVER DONE SHEE SPENDS ALL SAY VERY UPSET

So she's had no ice creams, no lollies, no ,milk, nothing, GENUINELY nothing but one mouthfull and less than 1 cup of juice a day has passed her lips? Is this the case?

Take off your caps lock.

One mouthful a day? Or one mouthful only in how many days?

How many times a day is she drinking?

One mouthful of what food?

And like colditxz says - nothing? crisps? sweets? biscuits? nothing?

one mouthful a day and a milk in morning has always been a very , very good eater would eat anything has always had exotic pallet and now not even toast or a sandwich have seen the doctor and all he said was persist but how long she has lost weight and we have a very healthy life style

i dont let her have sweets , and snacks she had a mouth ful of roast which she would usally love but no nothing tried jacket spud , pasta

one mouthful of what?

Try laying out various bits and pieces, finger foods, in bowls and leaving them out for her to grab.

Try not to turn it into a battle.

Make sure she gets plenty of water and milk

And chart her weight and go back to gp!

x - post. one mouthful of roast today?

So one mouthful of food once a day and one drink a day is that what you are saying?

Which meal does she have this mouthful at? At the other meals she does not allow food into her mouth?

no i know that is why iam distrought the doc says there is no phsyical reason that he can see , but that does not help me . she had the roast mouthful last night and tried again today and nothing previous i thought maybe adjustment to being home but it has gone on to long now

ok, but the more you try to force the issue and follow her around begging her to eat, the more of an issue - and power struggle - it could become.

So cut up some fruit and veg you know she likes and put it in bowls in the living room. maybe some raisins too. Keep going to the bowls and taking a handful yourself, without comment.

Keep serving the meals, if she doesn't eat it, remove it without trying to make her eat. Perhaps try a different way of serving? If you normally just put it straight to plates, try serving it at the table from dishes, each serving self. Or get her to cook (with help of course!) the meal.

Keep cups of water around, so she can sip away. Let her see you enjoying a nice long drink.

Offer ice pops!!

But go back to gp too. If she's losing weight then she can't be left! What does your gp think is an acceptable weight loss? What does your HV say?

You sound absolutely hysterical, which must be thrilling to her, to know she has so much power.

Spread a towel on the floor. Put a DVD on. Put some of her 'normal' food choices on a plate, weigh the whole plate.

Put her on the towel in front of the DVD, give her the plate, and LEAVE THE ROOM. Do not go anywhere near her while she holds/plays with/looks at/touches this food. Watch her, but don't speak to her about food.

After 30 minutes, go and take the plate WITHOUT talking about or encouraging her to eat the food.

Weigh the food that is left.

Do this every day for every meal.

Record this and take the findings to the doctor.

Just milk for a week is fine.

She's really found out how to push your buttons, hasn't she?

The essential thing is fluids - being de-hydrated can be dangerous, whereas, unless she has lost a lot of weight, not eating for a week won't do much harm.

My ds (also 2) has sometimes gone through a week or so either at the beginning or after big holidays where he wouldn't eat. It doesn't bother me, as long as he drinks - and during times like this, I'm not fussy what, so milk, water, juice - it's fine. I've added vitamin syrup to water before if it's been more than a couple of days worth of decent eating.

Like others have said, the more you force it, the worse it gets.

Grapes, raisins, tiny cubes of watermelon / melon, cheese cubes etc works well if left out on the table. Sometimes I might "play" feed his stuffed toys, and sometimes he approaches for his share too, other times he doesn't. Also, having a friend over usually good, as they like to copy eachother. Just try and stop "feeding" her for the moment, let her lead.

My DS1 has just been through something similar-ish (he's almost 5yo though and had a mild choking incident which scared him off food - but end result and dealing with it is probably the same). Sorry you're going through it - I was at the end of my tether, incredibly, incredibly stressful.

I agree with the others....best thing you can do is completely take the pressure off. No cajoling, no pleading. Anything she really, really would normally eat? Yoghurts, cheese, pizza, bananas? Guess you've probably tried that though. Keep up with the fluids.

The key thing for me and my DS1 was me changing my attitude from pretending I didn't care/wasn't bothered - to actually not caring/not being bothered (not that I didn't care but I felt OK that it'd be OK in the end and accepted that this was how it was for the moment). And 'pandering' (ie. giving him what he wanted...within reason) rather than just going about day to day normal. Although I can see the advantages to just having what you would normally and not pandering too...we tried that first, didn't work for us (but might for you - different age, different situation?). We had some success with having a friend over - so much excitement that he 'forgot' to have issues.