PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CJ1836]

PLEASE help. I am at the end of my tether with my daughters eating habits. She is 23 months old and is THE most fussy child I know and it is leaving me in tears each day.

At the moment she will only eat chicken or turkey goujons for her dinner and maybe a bit of cheese for lunch. She does eat grapes, satsumas and apples during the day but that is about it. She certainly won't eat veges and has even stopped eating pasta which she used to love and I could at least hide veges in there. I just wish she would eat a roast dinner or even the same as us.

I really don't know what to do. I know she won't starve herself and I have stopped worrying about how much she eats. She drinks lots of fluids too but I am just so frustrated at the lack of variety she has and find it difficult when going to other peoples houses. She has even stopped eating bread although will have cheerios for her breakfast and will lick the spread off her toast.

CAN YOU PLEASE HELP???????????????? I have read numerous ideas and tried them all.

Can anyone give me any advice? This is not just a passing stage and has been going on for months and getting progressively worse. I am expecting my 2nd child any day now and don't want to same thing to happen.

THanks so much!

She won't starve.Put food in front of her and if she won't it it,don't make a fuss.

Is she having too much juice/milk do you think?

I wouldn't worry too much about the veggies for now, as long as she's eating plenty of fruit. As the others have said, don't give in to the temptation to only feed her the things she likes - offer her a variety of food but don't make a fuss if she won't eat it, just take the plate away without comment. It may be your reaction she's enjoying.

Hello CJ, poor you. I know it's not want you want to hear because it's driving you nuts, but it really could be worse and you're right, she's not starving and she's getting a decent spread of nutrients (ahem, I think - not a food expert, just know children who survived on chipsticks and the like).

However, the only practical thing I can think of: do you think she'd like to dip the goujons in something? Could be a way of getting her eating a 'pasta' sauce (i.e. veggies) without the pasta.

Sure you'll get some better ideas here, good luck.

I do sympathise. I could have written your post a year ago. Your dd sounds exactly like my ds. He is now 3.4 and has improved, albeit only slightly.

The trick is to really just relax about it all and take a step back, Your job is to give her food, it's her job to eat it.

If she is eating chicken, cheese and fruit she is getting her nutrients from this.

Don't worry about the vegis, not a single one has passed my sons lips in 2 years and he is as healthy as they come.

Good luck

Thanks for all this. She just cries if i give her anything different.

what about trying veggie goujons? carrots, parsnips etc - breadcrumb them and she'll maybe not notice the diff. or if you are doing the chick goujons, mince the chick with some onions, garlic adn carots and then she'll not notice that?

This is all great advice - thanks so much. I just find it frustrating that she will only eat shop bought goujons - I made some myself and she even refused those.

Im having good and bad phases with 21 mos DS at the moment.

I can certainly say though that the best way out of a bad patch is to carry on with no fuss.

Introduce new foods one at a time. Remove what is not eaten and do not replace.

He soon gets the message, a day or so and he soon remembers whos in charge .

ds is a horror when it comes to eating. He likes buffet style food and is a picker, but wont eat a proper home cooked meal. I have got good at hiding veggies (ie. I make a sauce to spread over a pizza base made of garlic, basil, tomatoes and carrot!). I also juice carrot and put it in his orange juice!

What we have found is semi successful (but is really hard work) is rewarding him with stickers. If he eats a mouthful of dinner he gets a fuss made of him and a sticker. Sounds too simple to work - but does (well sometimes!!)

I now work to the principle of cooking ds dinner and if he doesnt eat it then that he is his choice. taking away the stress! He still has to sit with us at the dinner table though. This is working too as when he realises that I will not give him anything else to eat, he is keener to have his dinner.

good luck!

hi,

totally sympathize with your situation ,my dd 2.4 mnths ate brill till we took her off jared foods she only eats chicksticks and weatabix now and junk ! ,no veg no fruit absolutly nothing else will pass her little lips .
She has a speach therapist and we have tried the starve method to no success !

She has trouble going to the toilet and drinks little, it drives me mad! I agree with everyone s advice and today i will try again then tom and the next day .

You are not alone.

Dont despair.
I've been there too. My son went from being a great eater at 22 mths to eating the same 3 meals in rotation for over a year!! All because of a bout of flu!! We tried everything too but it was only when we stopped stressing about it that things started to improve.

He would only eat tomato sauce , no pasta, no rice, no potatoes only chips. However we found out that he had actually been eating those things at nursery !! The little sneak!! It is about control and attention which everyone else has mentioned.
Its only in the last 6months we have started to see improvements. We started a star chart and tried to make an effort to all eat together. We told him he would get a star if he tried a new food even if it was only a bite. It didnt matter if he didnt eat any more than that , the point was for him to experience something new and to make eating an enjoyable activity not an anxious one. We praised his efforts when he ate something new so he got lots of positive attention. On days he wouldnt touch anything, we just took the food away and didnt offer anything else.

Now 6 months later he is eating pretty much what we eat, he even eats grapefruit and lettuce and asks for broccoli and carrots. 6 months ago he wouldnt eat a vegetable !! He loves to help preparing the meals too.

Dont give up. It may take a few months or another year, but dont opt for the junk. They will get a taste for it and it will be hard to get them back to the subtle tastes of real food. 23mths is a difficult age to negotiate things so in the meantime sneak the nutrients in where you can. Tomato sauce can hide tons of great veg. Also you may find a change in attitude when baby 2 arrives and starts eating at mealtimes. Its amazing what a little competition can do!!

Good luck

My DD has been pretty fussy too. It's incredibly frustrating isn't it. As others have said, the calmer you are about it, the more she'll eat/try.

We have also found that eating with friends kids (as long as they are 'good eaters') helps. It may go on for a while longer. DD has just started school and is suddenly asking to try new things. DH and I nearly fell off our chairs at the weekend when she asked if she could eat some fish from my DHs plate

Good luck when baby arrives. She'll need lots of support then so try to start being calm about mealtimes now. You're not alone