Toddler not eating

[2020firsttimemum]

So in short our toddler (20 months) hasn't eaten anything since Thursday morning breakfast time. (It's now Sunday)

He's drank his milk (when he can) and he's had some yoghurt but other than that he won't eat anything.

At first I thought it was teething as he has a bottom molar coming through but teething has never stopped him eating before.

Then I thought he had ulcers on his tongue but I can't see them either.

He's clearly in pain as when he's not dosed up on calpol / nurofen he's screaming in pain. He's done so much of that he's lost his little voice.

My question is how long can I leave him without eating? At the moment we're substituting food for milk

Make sure he has water and milk, and he'll prob be ok until the virus passes. Keep an eye out for red spots on his hands and feet, as whenever my kids were like this it often turned out to be hand foot and mouth. I'd also book a gp appointment to check ears and tonsils, as he may need some antibiotics. Or it could just be really bad teething, but always worth getting them checked by the doctor just in case!

They can go for a remarkably long time without food so long as they're well hydrated. DS was I'll over a hey and barely ate for two weeks (maybe one or two mouthfuls a day). The GP wasn't concerned at all and it's totally normally. I just made sure he always had milk and water available and also let him have weak juice if he wanted.

Keep up with the milk and fluids. GP on Monday to check for infection I would say.

@itshappened

Thank you! He's had HFM before so I have checked that and so far nothing (the ulcers made me think it could be that)
And I've never had tonsillitis either so unsure what I'm looking for

I'll see how he goes today and tomorrow and take him to the Dr Tuesday if he's still not better

Poor thing isn't sleeping well either 🥲

Honestly, I’d be trying the doctor tomorrow, if not today. He really doesn’t sound well.

Regardless of whether he’s ok not eating, you don’t want to leave him in pain.

My DD was like this last year, but then she started choking and eventually being sick so we took her to A&E. she had bad tonsillitis, it was actually the puss dripping from her tonsils that was causing her to choke.
Hope he's ok, I will 100% get him seen

My DD did this. The HV advised not to give her milk as it would fill her up and she wouldn't feel hungry.

I started by giving her the sauce from some spaghetti hoops by spoon. Then mashed up a few hoops.
Then we had the juice from some tinned peaches, then a peach slice mashed up, and so on until she'd was eating properly again.
It took a while, and she lost weight, but we got there in the end.

Thanks everyone for your replies and sorry for being late!

He started eating little bits Sunday evening and since has been fine. We kept him dosed up until today and he seems to be okay now. Just worrying when they can't tell you exactly what's wrong!