Hi, I’m a long time lurker on mumsnet, and am looking for some advice about my 2 year old (3 in February). She was born on the 50th centile, but very quickly went down the charts, I think due to a continually missed tongue tie which wasn’t sniped until 4 months and then just seeming to not like milk. She had settled on the 9th centile.
However she is now an extremely fussy eater and I’m not sure what to do. I don’t know if there is a medical issue going on, or if she is just very fussy, so looking for some opinions. This is all a bit muddled but here are the basics! We have a mixture of eating meals together and her eating on her own (always with an adult at the table). I always try to offer something I think she will eat alongside other foods which she doesn’t usually touch, but in the past few months she is barely touching the foods that she used to eat or having the new foods. We have tried changing how we do things such as putting pudding out with her main meal so it’s not seen as a treat, leaving her plate out after lunch so that she can help herself if she is hungry later, encouraging her to have a bite of each food on her plate but nothing seems to be working. Sometimes she will eat two pieces of pasta and stop and say her tummy is full up, or she’s not hungry. We try not to show any negative emotions to her, and always praise whenever she tries new things or eats well. We offer a good range of foods but the diet she is actually eating is very limited.
She is an active and really smart girl overall, but we are now worried as a few months ago she started saying that her tummy hurt (this coincided with her new sibling arriving and soon after starting a new preschool, so we thought it might be anxiety). I spoke to the gp over the phone who said tummy pains are common in toddlers and prescribed lactolose, despite her not seeming constipated. This didn’t seem to make any really difference. We then saw a different gp about 6-8 weeks later for a different issue in person. I asked about her tummy, he felt her tummy and couldn’t feel anything to worry about, but when he weighed her she had dropped down to the 2nd centile. He said we may hear from a dietician, although this never happened.
Whilst getting my new baby weighed I mentioned all of this to the health visitor, who got my daughter an appointment to be weighed and have her height checked. She is now on the 2nd centile for height and weight. The health visitor wasn’t too concerned and gave some tips for helping her to eat more and said to try and get as much good fat into her as possible. She is being weighed again in two months to check she hasn’t gone to further.
I am obviously very worried about the drop in centile, and am concerned that she is barely eating. Is there anything anyone thinks this could be, or have any ideas of how to get my daughter eating more? Would people recommend going back to the gp? We have private health insurance so may be more likely to get an appointment with a specialist?
Sorry that was extremely long and rambling! I just feel like we aren’t getting anywhere doing what we are currently doing and want my daughter to eat! Thank you