DS 20 months isnt eating- Do I let him eat crap or persist with healthy meals even if he continues to lose weight??

[kbaby]

Hes 11kg which I think is 24lbs. Over the last 4 weeks he is eating a mounthfull of weetabix and not much else. He has dropped from the 50th centile to the 25th in 2 months.

I dont know if I should just give him whatever he wants to eat even if its rubbish or nly continue to give him healthy snacks and food.
Anyone been in a similar position?

well what would he eat if you allowed him to eat 'whatever'????

if he only eats nuggets and chips for example, then instead of giving him ready made, you can make you own (ie, buy chicken and cut them up to nugget size peices and coat in breadcrumbs and bake, make chips and bake in the oven again instead of fry), or if only cakes and biscuits, again, make you own and that way at least he is having healthier stuff while you keep trying with the proper 'healthy' foods.

and donlt give up offering them by the way.......I have made that mistake of forgetting to offer them foods thaat they previosly enjoyed and they forget that they like them and it is hell getting them to eat sensibly again once weight gain is getting better

does he drink milk?

offer him healthy food, he needs nourishment, not empty calories

baked potato mashed with some butter and cheese

steamed veg to dip into hummous

ommlettes/frittatas are nice to cut up into chunks

is he well in himself?

Has he actually lost weight? Or just dropped down the centiles?

Have a look on eatwell.co.uk - healthy eating guidelines for children there. May find some suggestions for healthy meals - what's healthy for adults isn't for kids. They need more fat than us. So I agree with lulu but would go further and say don't worry too much about rubbish.

Does he seem well otherwise? Worth checking out if there's anything wrong so he doesn't feel like eating.

Hope this is just a phase!

I had a major problem with this when my son was younger. He would only eat certain foods that my eyes where rubbish. (Sausages and tinned macaroni cheese and sweet yougurt) I battled and battled to get him to eat the things I thought he should (meat, fruit, veg etc) In the end I gave up as he lost alot of weight and was grumpy , so was I. He was so strong willed and would not give in, despite his rumbling tum.
However, there is light. He is now 3.5 years and eats exactly what we do. I can reason with him, bribe him and offer him treats if he eats his balanced meal. He understands and is very co operative. He is completely healthy and has no side effects from his poor diet early on. I wonder why I put myself thru all of the sruggle early on. If I knew what I do now I would of let him have what he wanted to eat. Hope that helps. Its so easy to get stressed out about this, just try to relax and go with the flow. It will sort it self out I promise.

I've always worked on the assumption that they will eat if they are hungry. The thing that concerns me about crap is that they get a taste for it, (sugar and salt basically) and they then prefer this sort of stuff. In the current climate, that's a bit worrying. So, short answer is I would persevere and let him see you eating similar stuff. Do you eat together?

Ooh, just remembered, telling ds exactly what different foods were good for helped. He was jolly impressed to hear that broccoli is good for your bottom! (A diet high in whatever it is broccoli has - I forget - is meant to lower your risk of colon cancer.)

How tall is he? My 2 year old is only 26lb, very low weight fopr age, but he is very short too.

Go for healthy and calorific. Cook veg in olive oil. Give him potato wedges and sour cream, good bread with lots of butter, avocadoes, falafel, full-fat cheese. Make him flapjacks. Weetabix with full-fat mllk is not unhealthy.

I don't think my nearly 3yo weighs much more than that, tbh. He is at the bottom of the centiles for height too, but has always grown in spurt with quite long periods of standstill. He is very very healthy.

FWIW my sister was a terrible eater as a child - lived on thin air. And the odd milkshake or omelette. She's a perfectly healthy adult! Goodness only knows how that works but don't panic, he'll come through this.