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Poor Eating of 20month old

6 replies

wunmi · 09/08/2010 06:23

My 20month old daughter wont eat her meals. She might try a few spoons and that's it.(She doesnt have sufficient food for her to look chunky enough for age) She wont touch fruits at all not even in smoothies or milkshake form. She doesnt fancy veggies either.
I'm getting really exasperated now cos I would really love her to weigh more than she's weighing now. All her age mates are chunkier than she is.
I always offer her varieties of food same as her older brother who eats everything presented to him. She just seems to turn her nose up at her meals and I end up choking whats left in bin.
I dont know what am doing wrong or if anyone has anymore tips what i can do to improve her eating habits and make her like her fruits and veggies. Need help desperately!

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tortoiseonthehalfshell · 09/08/2010 06:42

You're not doing anything wrong; if you're offering her a variety of food and not forcing her to eat it, that's great parenting.

If she's slim, she's slim, and a naturally slim child is often going to eat less than a naturally chunky one. Is she actually losing weight, or has she always been slight? I don't really know what you mean by "chunky enough for age".

Mine's 20 months as well, and one day she'll eat with gusto (last night my Mum babysat and I left a chicken and corn chowder. Apparently my daughter insisted on two spoons so she could feed herself twice as fast) and other days I get home from work to be told that she's eaten half a baby yoghurt and a piece of satsuma all day. It's just their age, I think.

Maybe add a baby multivitamin to her diet if you're concerned about fruit and veg intake?

bowbluebell · 09/08/2010 12:20

Good advice from tortoise.

You can't get them to eat if they don't want to. Imagine how unpleasant it would be for someone to try to make you eat when you are not hungry or don't like the food. And in my experience, once they work out it's a real issue for you, it can open a can of worms in terms of their anxiety levels and 'manipulating' and 'attention seeking' behaviour at mealtimes.

My nineteen month old sounds like tortoise's (and a bit like your's). She's dinky (dinkier than yours, I bet!) and always has been, but she's also energetic and healthy. Sometimes she eats like a horse, other times she seems to live on air. She's not especially keen on several vegetables, quite likes fruit. We eat together, I make sure that DD is prestented with a plate of varied, healthy and tasty food and then get on with enjoying my own meal. We talk and have a giggle, but it's not about how much we are eating/not eating. Before, when I gave her a separate 'tea' to myself an DH, she tended to perform and eat poorly. She always eats better when we are eating the same food as her and often tries something if she sees us eating it (even if it then gets spat out!). DD is also at the stage where she loves preparing food to eat (and quite a bit goes in during the preparation too!)

So, I've not got any advice about getting her to eat, just about enjoying mealtimes together and making sure that the food she does eat is healthy and varied (and I do go for a multivitimim syrup, just in case, although my GP said it is pointless -will just give her vitimim-filled wee!)

wunmi · 09/08/2010 20:19

Just felt she didnt have as much weight on her as the rest of kids around her age. I've now started her on multivitamins and this morning I had an idea to finely grate peeled apple into her weetabix.
Will try your other suggestions too. Thanks so much.

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cara2244 · 09/08/2010 21:52

Try not to compare...hard I know! My son's little buddy is in age 3-4 clothes (they are both 19mo). All are different.

Chil1234 · 10/08/2010 12:22

If you want your child to weigh more then, rather than just adding apple to the Weetabix, try something like double cream as well. Fat is very energy-dense in small amounts and can be added to most foods in the form of oil, butter, cream, cheese, mayonnaise etc. Fat also tends to improve the mouthfeel of foods and make them more appetising. Do the opposite of what you would do for an overweight adult.... fry rather than grill foods, for example.

wunmi · 10/08/2010 15:03

I like the idea of double cream. Will try some in her weetabix. Really want more meat on her.

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