Toddler won't eat - any advice

[jaydeflann]

Hi,

I have a DS - 2 years old. We have been struggling for a long time with his eating. He hardly eats and doesn't tell us when he is hungry, we just have to guess. He will refuse to eat most things, resorting to have to give him toast as we know that's pretty much the only thing he will eat. We have tried everything! And now getting to the point where it affects me and Dad mentally. It's all we can think about and I pretty much end up crying every night as I feel I have failed him or he hasn't ate enough. He's very small for his age anyway and he has been weighed with little progress but HVs are not concerned just now about his weight (although I am, he is tiny). Have any of you experienced this and can give any advice on what to do next?

Could you try something like this? They do chocolate and strawberry. Malnutrition can actually cause lack of appetite, maybe if he had a few of these it may stimulate his appetite. Maybe don’t give him food but put dishes of things out at certain times and just eat yourself and see if he starts picking at things. It sounds very stressful.

shake

Mine use to mindlessly graze in front of telly, brain switched off food go in.
Use to cut up lots of bits into easy bitesize pieces.

Little squares of toast, grapes, strawberries, breadstix, cubes of cheese etc..

They would also stop eating if they were really hungry so I would give them a thick milkshake about half hour before a meal to take the edge off...

Twins are teenagers now and one will eat almost constantly the other still has to be reminded to eat.

Mine is exactly the same. Today he asked for every brand of cereal for breakfast then refused it all. At the moment he mainly lives on melon and garlic bread! He'll grow out if it. Just keep offering healthy food and stop worrying about it, especially if the health professionals aren't worried about him. Mine is my second and I I wasted a lot of time fretting about the first one and his eating so I'm speaking with a bit of experience. He's still fussy but he is healthy, full of energy and is slowly trying new things. Stressing about it won't force them to eat, it just makes you all miserable. Give him the food and don't make a fuss whether he eats it or not. Then move on with your day. Good luck!

Mine was like this. I'd not worry too much about meal times. Serve things in small portions that can be left out for a bit. Grapes, cheese, bread sticks, cocktail sausage, cucumber. Let them pick at it. Then if they do preschool, book them in for lunch club. Peer pressure can really help. When they start school, do school dinners. Mine would eat nothing at 2. Now 17 and eats everything. I was in tears at the time because she just wouldn't eat. Had no sense of hunger.

I had this problem and I resorted to taking my daughter to Sainsbury’s sat in trolley and just fed her as I went round the shop…obviously saving wrappers etc if off the shelf! Think I was probably the only Mum who would get excited feeding my child doughnuts…that’s how desperate I was !
My other son was also difficult and he lived on marmite toast ,chicken nuggets and bananas!
They are both absolutely fit and healthy adults . My daughter is vegetarian and still very fussy with her food.

hi op, I have no advice just wanted to say you’re not alone. My DS who is also 2 is exactly like your little one except he will only eat porridge if i feed him.
i have tried Pediasure which he loved at first but won’t touch it now!

This was how my DD started off and she has now been diagnosed with ARFID. I was always told it’s normal and she would grow out of it but she never did and we struggled to get anyone to listen as like your child, my daughter was very petite so her weight matched her height so no one was ever concerned. Give him what he will eat and add a few new items on the plate, if he only eats the favoured food, least you know he’s eaten but you are still trying with having the other foods on the plate. Hopefully he will grow out of it but please don’t put too much pressure onto him as long as he eats that’s the main thing, ARFID can be triggered by trauma so making every meal a big drama really isn’t going to help or encourage him to want to try new foods if you and dad are stressed. Fed is best and don’t worry too much about 5 a day and all that rubbish, my daughters dietitian told us that as long as she is getting enough calories for her age (she is very bland, beige carb foods so not too difficult to get calorie intake in). Good luck ❤️

Dry toast? Does he drink milk?
Will he take a multivitamin?
No ideas, just hugs.