My 20 month old barely eats anything....

[strawberriesandcream01]

She is 20 months, weighs about 21lbs. She barely eats anything. Things she does like though are fish fingers, smily faces etc which I am very reluctant to feed her!

I make homemade fish cakes, can I make some kind of homemade smily faces?

Anyone else have this problem? I make all these yummy meals and she wont touch them, she also takes one bite and spits the whole lot out and refuses to eat it.

It's such hard work. I make lovely, healthy balanced meals too.
My brother was similarly fussy and my mum tried to cajole him to eat in every possible way. I think that's what makes me go down the 'make no fuss about it at all' route. Nothing worked with my brother, and he's still a fussy sod with some very strange eating issues.
A small niggling feeling though that my family carries some kind of fussy eating gene that is resistant to any approach!

To be honest, I think it is the cajoling that can have a detrimental effect. I cringe when my mil says "one more mouthful for grandma" etc, etc. The more you do that with dd the more she steadfastly refuses to eat anything. I think the no fuss route will work in the end.

It has to.

evening all. i had a bad day with dd, she didn't eat her breakfast, had a bottle of milk, no lunch and a little bit rice for tea. taking her to hv on fri, at my wits end!

sorry to hear that strawberries, it is so stressful I know. In terms of her nutrition, could you make any smoothies/juice for her to drink. When dd is having a really bad week I juice carrots, oranges and pineapples (and anything else I have lying around) for her to drink and make her "milkshakes" with loads of fruit. She drinks loads of them and it is a pretty good way of getting some vitamins into her. The other thing I make is flapjakes with honey and very little sugar to get some carbs into her. She thinks they are a treat so stuffs them down.

Good luck with the HV, I know how awful it makes you feel.

My 18 month DD didn't really eat anything at all until 13 months. We slowly got her to eat by realising she likes all her food separate and without sauces. From mumsnet and local mums there does seem to be a subset of toddlers who like food like this - literally plain pasta, with plain veg, plain chicken. Worth a try.

After my experiences and research I do not advocate starving them to eat the food you want them to eat - that can be a very long haul. I would give them food they like along with one new food at each meal. It took my DD 9 months to eat carrots (sod 17 time to like a food more like 100) and 8 months for rice. Batch cook, use frozen veg and keep serving/rotating a limited range of food they like and new food and it should eventually work. Then you can expand the range.

tapster, I know you are right but I just feel exhausted at the thought. Food battles coupled with the recent entrance of bedtime battles is just driving me to the gin!

Hi. Today she had a good breakfast of porridge oats, lunch a bit of sausage and not even a slice of bread and a yoghurt. Supper was roast lamb and I did extra peas, I have now worked out she doesn't like peas. She had about 5 mouthfuls and no more. I mashed it up quite a bit for her. What is everyone's views on giving her more milk to drink? She currently has milk morning and night.

my son is 22months old and had previosly been a great eater and has turned into a fussy eater,my worst nightmare my ds10yrs has been like it his whole life.
he will only eat chicken pie,chips and chicken korma.if we have anything else he just plays with it and doesnt even try any.its very tiring and upsetting.my dd 7yrs eats anything and every thing so what am i doing wrong?????

I am having the same problem and am tearing my hair out, finding it very hard to keep calm. How did I get from all organic home made purees to fish fingers/chicken nuggets/Thomas tank engine yoghurt???? It is doing my head in. Like you all, I spend loads of time making gorgeous fish pies and pasta dishes only to have them rejected without tasting. How do I do the 15-20 tastes if he won't even touch any of this?? It has been very comforting though to hear I am not along. Better get back to work...to earn the money to buy the lovely food...to put in the bin!!

sorry 5 mouthfuls of peas means she loves them - in my book! Not liking peas or anything else is refusing to eat a morsel of them for months...

Remember they only have to eat only two of their own fists worth of food.

So relieved to see this thread. My DS (22 months) loves fish fingers, cheese on toast (any toast actually), bread, and all fruit. Doesn't eat vegetables, or much protein. Drinks milk morning and evening. What I have realized is that he will eat almost anything at nursery (he goes twice a week) - he will everything they put in front of him. And occasionally ask for seconds. He will eat quite well for his grandma and quite well for his dad. But if I present the food and it is just him and me eating - then he eats very little. Someone on this thread did mention trying to see the larger picture - and actually that's a really good tip. If I think what he's eaten over the last week then I realize he probably has eaten something from every food group. And the whole not eating with me is, I suspect, as much about my reaction to his not eating - so it all becomes a vicious circle. But I definitely belong to the school of feeding what he will eat - so fish fingers appear on the menu at least three times a week!

i think more milk would make things worse

can you make the porridge with cream?

does she like avocado?

would she do dips?

eggy bread, cut into different shapes?