2 year old not eating solids

[Mummybassist]

Hi all, I'm trying to find anyone with a similar experience to mine who may be able to offer solidarity! My 26 month old has never eaten solids and is still on formula 6-7 feeds a day. We have lots nhs help but no diagnosis and no signs of progress. It's like my boy has zero interest in food, he just says no or throws it on the floor. He's not a fussy eater, he has literally never eaten. He has nothing else seemingly 'wrong' with him and is hitting development milestones. I'm at a loss of what to do and it seems the team working with us are too.
I'm not after advice on techniques to try as I have attempted pretty much everything possible along with the feeding specialist of which we have seen many. I just wanted to see if anyone else has had this and if there's hope he wi ever eat!

Sort of similar to you. Dd1 started weaning OK at 6 months. She caught a few colds, went to nursery when I returned to work then stopped eating. She was bf and drank water. She would nibble sat chocolate, eat teeny bits of cheese, one or two filled pasta shells, a bit of yoghurt. She just would not eat. She survived on very minimal food, we'd make stuff, it would go uneaten. Then one day when she was two and a bit she just started eating. I made her a little chilli with beef, beans, rice and cheese with crackers on the side as usual - she would lick the butter off and I thought at least she was getting some calories! Bur she just ate it all, like a switch had flipped, and she continued to eat after that.

So nort exact thevsame as your situation but don't give up thinking it will never change.

Thank you for sharing, I keep hoping it will be like that and I do feel I'm just waiting on him now but I have such terrible mum guilt that I've done something wrong!
I have two older children who eat fine, albeit are a bit fussy, so I'm sure its not me really!

My sister who is 47 years old fighting fit and chews medium rare steak with a gusto
Ate nothing but baby food for the first five years of our life she did drop the formula fairly quickly I believe but yeah, she did not eat very much at all

That's encouraging to hear! I hope I'll be looking back at this as just a funny story to tell:)

Not as old but my son had bad issues with gagging, vomited with solid foods until 10.5/11 months, hated spoons so was a bit stuck as couldn't eat finger foods without gagging/vomiting and wouldn't accept spoons of pureed/mashed food.

He was on 4 bottles and pretty much just one meal attempt until nearly 13 months. The health visitor said to cut milk and see. I didn't think this would help tbh but it actually did.

He also needed some more teeth as his gag reflex meant he needed mushier textures until 18 months or so.
We also got some shorter stubby spoons so he could self feed easier and he was actually happy to use these himself then also to be fed too later on (would accept the spoons being loaded to start). Teeth shouldn't be an issue now but gagging might be an issue if not used to the sensation so I would stick to softer textures initially.

He's my second and it was a shock after having my first fab eater.

It's hard but I would start reducing then cutting bottles. Also ditch the rule book, you need to foster a positive relationship with food so sweet stuff, processed stuff, if he will eat it then grand. I couldn't believe all I was basically feeding my 11 month old was puffs, rusks and fruit puree pouches, just to get him to eat anything. And sometimes I did have to stick a finger with the puree on into his mouth to get him to realise he might want to eat it 🙄

Then later once happy with that stuff I introduced more savoury stuff, mainly lower age range pouches. I found tortilla breads a good finger food as turn to mush in the mouth and can use as a vehicle for pouch contents.

He's nearly 2 now and I can't believe how stressed I was about his weaning this time last year. I hope you can say the same in 2027 🤞🏻

My eldest was like this, got to 4 and asked for what we were eating out of the blue. He only eats 12 different meals at the age of 14. But there’s hope for you.

Nhs specialist feedong slt and OT and community dietician shouldd be advising you
What have they suggested ?
Have you been seen by specialist feeding clinic?
How is speech?

I've just noticed the number of typos in my post! Just wanted to add that like another poster, the Health visitor (I had a lovely one) and the gp when I mentioned it also said just keep feeding what she eats and if that is chocolate buttons and custard that's fine. I noticed about 9 months that she had lost weight but it never really affected her growth, she was always long a long baby and that tallness continued.

We have a lovely nhs worker who is doing play therapy with him. He initially had complete oral aversion - he has never chewed a toy or had a dummy so we've been working to get him happy just to hold and explore food keeping things light and not pressured. We tried cutting milk but it made him super hungry overnight to the point we were back to 2.to 3 overnight feeds which is hard with two other children (and we both work). We have seen massive progress, he will hold and touch food, although he still hates getting any on his hands amd shows interest in it, but this hasnt translated to eating any so far.

Oh and speech is ok, he has about 100 words and forms 2 to 3 word sentences. Hes not as ahead as my 2nd in terms of speech but way ahead where my first was at this age.

That's good you have some NHS support, oral aversions are not fun. Was he bottle fed or breastfed out of interest? And did he ever have a tongue tie procedure? I only ask as getting our son's tongue tie cut and also using nasal sprays then trying to feed him when he had bronchiolitis contributed to a feeding aversion with him.

Maybe if try again with the milk reduction you could focus on the first 1 or 2 bottles then make up larger bottles for the later ones to offset the reduction? So if he doesn't ingest anything if attempt breakfast or lunch, so overall calories in 24h would be the same and hopefully minimise night hunger? I agree 3 kids and working then I wouldn't want avoidable night wakes either!

If his speech is good, can he communicate why he isn't eating? And is he in nursery if you're working? Will he eat for them or not? The peer pressure/herd mentality of group meals defo helped with mine.

He was initially breastfed and lost 9.5% bodyweight so I was told I had to give formula as well as breast. This became so time consuming he ended up on bottle by probably 6 weeks. He had a posterior tongue tie that was separated twice (it reattached) and was very traumatic so ive always thought that caused the feeding issue (hence the guilt, as I paid privately for the tongue tie division thinking it was the right thing to do). He does nursery twice a week and we sit as a family and model eating, etc. He just doesnt seem bothered. Before we were told to keep it low key we did try dabbing things like chocolate cake and ice cream on his lips to get him to eat but he would just either gag or spit it right out at us.
He did once or twice lick a spoon woth yoghurt on and pulled a fave of such disgust hes never done it or tried any food ever again!
Dropping milk volume during the day is what we started doing but I should probably try and reduce it more. He can't tell us why he won't eat yet, bit if hes hungry he'll go and point at the fridge (for milk) and even in the shops once he went and got a bottle of formula and gave it to me!

Is nhs worker specialist?

You are doing right things and being patient.

You can request referral to gosh maybe they can offer an in patient week long service? Feeding and Eating Disorders Service | Great Ormond Street Hospital share.google/rH6GOjTJlvqdfosDs

Yes we are under the dsyphagia team, also seen an SLT and paid for nutritionist appointment as weve been in NHS waiting list for nutrition team for nearly a year now :(

That's really interesting, my son also had his posterior tongue tie cut twice too, so maybe a connection. Though tbf my first had hers done twice too and she was a fab eater so I wouldn't feel guilty about that, just anecdata.

Hopefully with time he will be able to communicate what's going on in his head. That is funny about the milk in the shop though!

We did so much modelling, so much mhmmmmmming, my god. It does sound like you're doing all the right things. I think he's an age now where he'll have a bigger personality and won't tolerate anyone trying to put things in his mouth. My son also didn't like chocolate ice-cream the first time he tried it, now goes mad when he sees chocolate stuff 🙈 I really hope you get that breakthrough soon.

What happens if his siblings try to feed him? When my son has been funny with food when ill or teething, sometimes he will let his sister feed him - they even sometimes roped her in at nursery for his breakfast, before she left for school anyway 😅

BIL only ate sausages and cornflakes until he was 7. MIL was at her wits end. Doctor said" just keep giving him what he likes, it's food". Can safely say BIL grew out of it and has a wide and varied palate now.

My own mother was a very sickly child who didn't like food and like a previous poster she ate jars of babyfood for years. She still is not a big fan of food now though, eats very little and not much variety.

Wishing your little one all the best.

Thanks all will try to not worry so much. Incidentally the best progress we've had is with his older sisters modelling eating so that is definitely something to exploit going forward. I'm really hoping I dont have to send him to reception with a bottle!