I have no idea how to get my 19 month old to eat!!

[SleepFreeZone]

It's so difficult and starting to verge on not possible.

Food I can get into him tends to be breakfast. He wakes up has some milk/boob and then will eat either porridge or weetabix with whole milk and banana. Then lunch starts to go downhill.

I try and encourage him to eat a roll or sandwich, mainly cheese, some crisps, some cut up veg, a yogurt etc. This sometimes involves a few mouthfuls of each but often he'll just sit for ages with food in his mouth. Not chewing and now swallowing. Eventually he'll spit it out. Sometimes I try a hot lunch like boiled eggs and soldiers. If I leave him to his own devices it all gets hurled on the floor, if I feed him he stores it in his mouth and again will eventually split it out.

He will eat a tangerine and then dinner is just mainly impossible. Most of it ends up on the floor, sometimes I can cajole him to eat s mouthful or two but he mainly just dumps it on the floor it holds it in his mouth. Last night he held a mouthful of food in his mouth for over half an hour.

He then gets some more milk before bed and boob. He is surprisingly big centile wise Height 50th weight 90th, but I feel like he is visibly getting slimmer now and I'm worried it's going to be a problem if it carries on.

Any advice or can we call it a phase? 😬😬. It's been going on for over a month and he is still waiting to cut his four back molars.

I know how it feels!
What happens if you don't give him his milk first thing?
If this is only been a month then I do believe you're right in it being a "phase".......!!!

Forgot to say....maybe a Drs visit might help with peace of mind.....? X

If he starts skipping down the centiles then I think a GP visit would be needed. Right now he'd act like I'm mad I think as he looks like a very well fed little thing.

I've really cut down on his milk intake to try and encourage his food intake. So far it hasn't made s difference.

His height and weight are out of proportion.
How much milk does he gave I sounds like he's filling up on milk
Or you could be expecting him to eat much more than a baby needs.
I had problems with mine eating (premature babies) so I asked the health visitor to observe a meal time. It was very helpful as she pointed out that my dd was eating a variety of foods, not huge amounts, but enough. It took the stress out of it fir me. Dd us a great eater now.

I would only offer milk after meals. Make a for more tiring mornings but he will be hungrier.

My DD (18 months) does this every now and again for weeks at a time, I can only assume it's when her teeth are moving up but haven't broken through so there's nothing to see. The only thing that works for her is making soups for lunch and dinner. Or over cooked pasta with a smooth sauce. I always offer a few solid things as well and eventually she puts them back in the mix. I just try not to worry too much, as long as her weight stays ok.

I think he was absolutely drinking too much milk. I wasn't monitoring it and was just topping up his cup ad hoc.

greeen I was wondering whether I should try offering some soup.

This is his frame. I think sometimes he looks pretty slim but there are no ribs showing or anything.

Move milk to after meals.
Don't have drinks readily available so they are constantly drinking. Monitor how much your giving and when.
This might help a little.

I wouldn't give crisps at that age. his diet not variable and very simple.
I think he can it what you eat. you giving milk too much.

of course he can eat soup. he can eat everything.

DS did this and I found it so stressful! It went on for months but he did start eating in the end. The thing he liked was dips - e.g. a little bit of ketchup or gravy. He liked to dip everything into this and it helped encourage him to eat. Friend's daughter loves hummus - if you want something more substantial!

I would cut out other milks, as they tend to be filling with little substance but keep breastfeeding as it's got lots of protein and vitamins so should help make up for the lack of food.

IME lots of people worry overly and come up with bonkers suggestions, including sometimes GPs/health visitors! But the useful ones are:

• Don't stress - it's a phase. They need to eat less than you think at this age. Their growth has slowed down a lot and they will probably eat less than a younger baby.

• Don't cut down on breastmilk - do cut down on other drinks except water.

• Yes to offering milk after meals but IME witholding completely doesn't encourage them to eat more.

• Grazing is fine. Extremely limited diet is fine. They grow out of this.

• Ignore bonkers suggestions to give them lots of junk food just to get them to eat. Keep offering foods you'd be happy for him to eat, in small amounts, in fun shapes, whatever, don't get into habits you don't want to extend.

• Observe foods eaten over a period of 3-5 days rather than concentrating your efforts daily. Usually over a longer period things balance out.

He is surprisingly big centile wise Height 50th weight 90th

This should tell you all you need to know - he is eating enough if his weight is on 90th Centile.

I would suggest less breakfast, and think of breast milk as another meal...

I agree with everything Bertie says and also suggest if you can, to involve ds in the food shop and there are so many colours in the grocery section to make it fun. We do it and it gives dd an opportunity to choose her own veg and she seems more keen because of it.

I wouldn't be offering any milk during the day to a 19 month old. A cup in the morning and one before bed max and I'd ditch the morning one too if they weren't eating. And no snacks during the day either if he wasn't eating meals. My kids hold food in their mouths when they just aren't hungry so I suspect he just isn't hungry! Try not to stress too much about it though. He's a good healthy size so you don't need to be overly concerned. I have three dc and they go through phases of eating everything in site and then phases of eating barely anything, I've learned to just let them do their thing, children seem to have a much better ability to regulate their intake than grown ups!!