20 month old losing weight very quickly - help!

[chubbly]

Hi - has anyone got any 'new' tricks I can try on my DD? She's 20 months, always been a light eater and quite slim but recently she's become even worse, her trousers are falling off her, she's lost so much mass. I'm worried sick - from around 9 months her weight gain has been crap, HV advised adding cream and butter to her food- done. Introducing puddings- done, extra snacks - done. We eat together at mealtimes, I try so hard not to fuss and no pressurising her to eat; She's the only one at nursery that gets pudding not fruit. But in the past month it has really got bad, she's refusing her dinner every night. Even favourites are just being pushed away, she won't eat ice cream or cake. I'm really desperate, the only time she eats is at nursery so this weekend she has literally had a few mouthfuls and some milk. Has anyone had something similar? And what method worked? Thanks.

Get your GP to have a look at her, just to be on the safe side. I don't have any direct experience your situation but I've found a bit of medical input very reassuring. If it is something medical it can be treated and if it turns out not to be you'll be less worried and in a better frame of mind to help her eat. Hope all is well soon.

I really feel for you and can only imagine how hard it is for you.

Do you think she maybe has a bug at the moment and being such a poor eater anyway has reduced to almost nothing?

Is she filling up with milk?

Poor you! xxx

Hi Itchy and MP - I'm waiting to see how much lunch she eats today and if it's none we're going to the GP tomorrow.
She has had a cold and a cough - this has reduced her appetite a bit, but when I was talking about it with DH I realised that since Christmas she's been fussier. We've recently had the arrival of DD2 in January and she was premature so I think we let DD1s eating slip a little. But she's always been a poor eater. I thought we had it cracked last November, she was doing really well and even starting to look a little chubbier. We stuggled so much when we were weaning her and the stress of it all has just come back.
She is still drinking milk - but again in smaller quantities... is it child abuse to add cream to her milk? ;) I'm going to try some home made cheese and potato pasties tonight. I also think she's getting sick of chocolate (!) - as we know she likes it we do resort to offering her chocolate flavoured things to just get a few extra calories into her.
She does like quorn slices - but they are 60 calories per third of a pack!
xx

advocados have lots of calories, coconut milk, my son is the same he is now 17 months old and refused to eat and went off his food for over a month- he dropped his weight. i think it was due to recurrent chest infections but also teeth have a big part to play- has she any teeth coming?? i try and rub his gums first with some anbesol?? sometimes he wont eat anything- its a stress.
could it be a power thing- due to new baby??

Hi enimod - she has a full set of baby teeth so I'm hoping it's not teeth. Avocadoes were her favorite but she won't even let them get near her mouth... it may be a power thing. She has been more 'wingey' but often she just wants daddy. She does respond better when I ask her to eat - it may be that she gets more attention from me at meal times so extra fussiness means extra attention from mum.
It's a real worry when you can see them losing weight, especially when you've just sat through a meal where nothing has been eaten! I hope your son gets better at eating, does he go to nursery? It did help her start eating more, it may be a social thing for her. She did go through a phase of eating everything, I was so thrilled!
x

no my son does not go to nursery- i dare not send him as he gets repeateded chest infections already. my elder boy was also very picky and once he started nursery he became a great eater!
it is the worst feeling watching them not eat- and watching your floor get covered in discarded food. i have now resorted to pushing him round in the poushchair in the morning when i do my jobs etc in town- that way he wont burn up many calories! he doesnt mind- does not protest- then after his nap he cna run around etc and burn off what he has not eaten!

Are you offering a lot of sugary things? You mention she will eat chocolate flavoured things. I ask as foods high in sugar can put children off eating non sugary foods and work as an appetite suppressant.

i have used edible pink glitter to make food "sparkly" and pink food dye to make things pink. My DD has tried all sorts of new stuff due to this trick.

I have also found she eats better if all her friends are eating, she wants join in. I s it worth organising some meal times with her little friends ?

here

Does she eat with TV on? My friend's LO needs a distraction to eat - friends, TV, etc or eats nothing - she would rather have TV on than stressy meal times.

fruit on sticks and a chocolate fountain ?

ds2 went through a really picky phase and we got referral to paediatrician. However, he was happy and healthy and though losing weight, was still growing and paed thought he'd just grow out of it. He is still a bit scrawny but happy and healthy at age 7.

Poor old dh used to play a game where he pretended he was going to eat something on ds2's plate and would just turn away for one second ... and ds2 would eat it. Game invented by bil who also had picky dd2. It's a very very tedious game but they love it.

Ds2 pickiness extended to wanting to eat with his hands, not knife and fork, and also to the way food was presented. Can you accommodate any of your dd's demands without making mealtimes even more of a nightmare...?

could you bribe her with treats like a trip to toys are us ?

my DD would not pass urine for 24 hours due to an infection. the doc in a&e told me to take her home (more relaxed) and try anything I wrapped up a Barbie doll and let her see it and said if she did a wee the doc said she could have it - it worked.

Got her to sleep in her own bed for two weeks in exchange for a Jessie the Cow girl doll. Let her see it, dangle the carrot.

Reward chart ? I am amazed what my DD will do for a star. A week of stars = a trip to the cinema.

he he i do that one..i do nto want you to eat that carrot there..i turn around and he eats it!

you poor thing I have been there. DD (now 4) was a dreadful eater, and we got referred too, and she ended up on special high calorie milk/shakes. Also added cream & butter to virtually everything!

We tried every trick in the book - distraction, games, making faces with food, new cutlery, 'cooking' together, and I'm afraid nothing worked. HOWEVER she has got loads better - she's a really slow eater and eats less than her 1 year old sister, but she IS eating, and it's varied, and she does try new things. I don't think she'll ever be a big eater but just wanted to let you know that from my experience they do get through it.

Your DD is too young for bribery rewards now I think but when she's a little older, what really really helped us was to have an empty jar and a pot of marbles. Every time she ate really well or tried something new she got a marble, and an extra big marble if she ate everything on her plate. When the marble jar is full, she gets a special treat - could be anything from a comic, a little toy or a trip to the local farm or something

Good luck, I know how awful it is. I used to dread every single meal time.