My 15 month old that used to eat anything has turned fussy!!!!

[tarzan]

Is anyone else finding this? I can't bear fussy eaters and was busy thanking my lucky stars - before DS decided not to eat most things I cook! Has also gone off the hipp organic trays that he used to love. He eats potato, pasta with pesto, yogurt, cheese and fruit pots. I am wondering when you have to start on the old "that is dinner and that is all you are getting" routine as I feel like he is trying his luck some times as we go through the contents of the fridge! I cant bear waste so end up eating what he doesn't which is BAD!! The trouble is I think if I don't feed him and send him to bed then he will wake up hungry and that to me defeates the purpose of the lovely break in the middle of the day, ie the only break I get. Is he holding out for the yogurt/fruit at the end of the meal or is he just bored? He does eat happily when it is something he wants. I try to do lots of finger food and a heathy diet. Is this just a phase or am I too soft? Help!!!

are you feeding him or does he feed himself?

A bit of both. He always has a spoon and gets some in. He is good with munching on finger food and best if I leave him to it.

My dd (16 months) is exactly the same. It all seemed to go wrong around the time of her MMR - she was a bit under the weather with the usual side-effects, and went off her food for a while. She eventually got back to eating again, but she's never been the same as she was (I'm not blaming the MMR for this, by the way!) She refuses even to try anything new, and sometimes will only eat breadsticks or other snacky things. Her diet is getting less and less varied. So I have no advice, but will watch this thread avidly.

Nothing helpful to add but my Dd 16m is excatly the same & I could have wriiten this. I've decided that she's old enough to not starve hersefl so she gets what she's given. I always offer fruit or yoghurt after a meal so someimes that is all she has but I'm not going to offer her more sweet stuff, or cook endless alternatives. she will only eat finger food apart from yoghurt. have come to the optimistic conclusion that it is a phase, where she is trying to establish her independence. sorry not to be more help but wanted you to know you are not alone!!

so if he does best if you leave him to it why not leave him to it? he wants to feed himself? doesn't want you interfering?

Necking banana's!! how funny. The little buggars. Well I hope it passes as I would like to continue to pretend that MY child will of course be very healthy and eat everything I give him eagerly and not be a fussy brat. Oh well, at least we are all going through the same thing. Thanks

Will try.....

I think loads and loads of kids start of eating whatever they are given then about this age get fussy.

Ds is five and still fussy but getting better with bribery and starvation

Mine are 19 months (16.5 corrected) and I could also have written this post. Sorry no advice, just assume it is "another phase" . One day tuna pasta will be gobbled up and the next week the same dish met with howls of despair and thrown on the floor!

I offer my girls their meal and if they don't eat it I offer them bread and butter. If this is refused then can only assume they are not hungry.

Varying the type of food does seems to help. I tend to do a 'proper' cooked lunch then a tea of nibbly bits (sausage, roasted veg, fish fingers, chicken goujons type thing). Same with breakfast cereals - if I cycle through 4-5 different ones they are eaten, but the same three days in a row often gets chucked.

My dd turned 2 last month and started the fussy bit at about 14 months. Before that I was a teeny bit smug as she would eat anything. Now, if she eats a mouthful 3 times a day I am delighted. She may eat pesto pasta, yoghurt, olives. I try and shovel in a huge breakfast if I can, as that's the meal she will normally eat most of. For the rest of the day, I offer stuff, then throw it away. She can't be suffering for it though as has boundless energy even on 2 bites of toast and a Pringle.

I used to be really smug too! My girls would feed themselves things like broccoli florets and lentil cake. Now it just gets thrown on the floor

My dd is also like this. She is 2.9 and it started around the 18 month mark. It seemed to coincide with her big molars coming in, she went off food generally (up until then was a brilliant eater, mostly home-cooked stuff) and when her appetite returned had become a fussy madam - with each bout of illness she's had it has got worse, eats no veg except tinned sweetcorn (although she will eat a quite good selection of fruit) and her 'main meal' type food consists of things like sausages, fish fingers, chicken dippers etc. If I try to make homemade versions of these, it's rejected. About 3 months ago I started the 'if you don't eat your dinner, then no pudding' which she quite happily accepts!! Itr's so bloody frustrating when you know that they have eaten so well in the past. I try not to 'react' to her fussiness but sometimes I can't help, which is probably fanning the flames! So no advice, but sympathy!

Thanks all. Good to know any way.
I have just been reading one of my toddler books that suggests keeping fairly regular times for meals and snacks and trying not to let them fill up on water before. ie breakfast before 8am, Lunch at 12 and dineer at 5 with a small snack at 10 and three (ish)
I must admit the the old snack department does get a bit of over-use sometimes as a distraction to keep in the pushchair when I am out and about. DS walking takes forever so me feeding him and speeding along gets the jobs done! Also, now that I have read the obvious, how nice is it to give DS a cup of milk in bed and read a few stories in the morning before DH gets into the shower and we get up for breakfast. DH does not get to see DS too much during the week, would feel mean to wish him downstairs asap in the morning. Like Catrin, breakfast is usually a good meal. I know lots of others who have said they fed their children amost constantly between 1 and 2 years. I think we cant be all bad.

I have just left the kitchen table after 45 minutes of trying to get FSB (16 months)to eat a bit of sausage & rice, the same as we were all having & not a bit went in.
I to was Mrs smug untill about 6 weeks ago when for no reason other than a new tooth it all went pete tong. As you have all said there is still unlimited energy etc etc so not starving yet.
MMR tomorrow morning so lets see what that does to the whole show (hmm)

I am so glad to read what you have all written,as my 14 month old DD is just the same and now I don't feel so despair-full! Spend every day wracking my brains for new creative and exciting foods just to have them thrown on the floor! Then when you have given up and least expect it, they wolf down a bit of something they've never liked before and you'd never thought to have given them! She's always been fussy and pernickety, but went through a stage of eating all veg with gusto, now they are just scrutinised and discarded! She always wolfs down any fruit, but I'm worried about giving her too much as it's all she will eat and the sugar content etc, she is also still BF so I worry whether I should give her less milk as this is filling her up, but i can't get her to sleep any other way! any ideas??xxx

My ds, 15 months, is exactly the same and has just had his MMR today. So frustrating as I cooked a lovely stock of dinners for him for the freezer that he's not likely to eat. Glad I'm not alone. I've even tried the finger food but he's not interested.

HAve you tried eating on the go? May be a weird suggestion but my friends son goes in my son's walker when he comes round as he screams blue murder in our high chair. He is 14mths and a little big for it but we lob stuff on the tray and let him bounce off the walls in it - he manages to eat at the same time. I think its because he is distracted as apparantly he wont touch a thing when he is in a highchair.
Not good practice long term i know but may work to introduce new foods again for a couple of weeks.

So relieved to read this thread. My DS (17 months) behaving exactly the same. Some days (like yesterday) eat just anything and everything. Today - nothing. I go through all the stuff in the fridge but am slowly learning that sometimes it's better to stop and start again at a later time. It's me that ends up being frantic and worrying. One of my problems has been that I haven't been adventurous enough with finger foods - done loads and loads of healthy ones but am going to try fish fingers etc now. He does, of course, eat everything at nursery. Always.

Right. Firstly my - oh look he'll eat chorizo in a casserole darling is now a fish fingers and sausages boy. Nothing spicy, nothing in a sauce, no rice, no pasta etc etc.
Here is my rant though

OP: 'I can't bear fussy eaters'

Now I know all the dc being mentioned here are too little for this to apply but I was a 'fussy' eater when I was a child. This meant
a) I used to dread going to other people's houses in case I didn't like what was given to me to eat
b) Going to restaurants was also a nightmare incase there was nothing I liked on the menu

I wasn't being difficult, we ate very plain food at home, I was a very polite child and found it extremely difficult and embarrassing to say if I didn't like things.

I eat a much wider range of things now but my dad is still very limited as to what he eats. I can't bear the term 'fussy' as it implies some sort of deliberate obstinancy about food and this is the case. Just keep that in mind ok?

Point taken danceswithhughjackman. I guess "I cant understand it" may have been better. My DH also likes plain food as thats what he was brought up on. Being a farm girl I had roast mutton with potates and vegetables EVERY night as that all dad would eat. Cant get much more plain than that. but, I still cant understand it when people dont try new things. Just try one bite then say you dont like it. Maybe I had a growly mother? Differnt strokes for different folks I suppose. Didnt mean to offend. Would be boring if we were all the same. On the child front - Happy to report he has been pretty good this week.