dd not eating much at nursery

[eeky]

I hope someone can reassure me. Long post, sorry.

dd (2 next month) started nursery just after Xmas. She had previously only been cared for by myself or husband or combination of both, so was dreading it, tbh. She had also been much clingier and pretty intolerant of strangers since maybe 1 year old, so a big step for her. We have ds, almost 6m now, who she loves to bits, no obvious jealousy - but still waited till he was 3-4m old till she started as didn't want her to feel pushed out.

I am not yet back at work, so have been able to take it very slowly with settling in. We are now up to 2 full days with surprisingly little problem (relief!). She has been plagued by really nasty cold/cough/sore throats since she started which has made it much harder for her, but really enjoys it most days.

Main problem is that she eats very little whilst there, actually less than when she started. Normally fantastic appetite, but have been having a very picky phase coinciding with nursery/being ill/maybe just due to a phase. She is needing a fair amount of encouragement to start eating at home but mainly eats well then. She has just started having breakfast there (Weetabix or toast or Cheerios, as at home) and not too bad, but I think wants to go and play straight away!

The food is all cooked on premises and is excellent (have sampled it) and she is eating less and less. Last session ate half breakfast, refused lunch apart from a potato. Staff made her some toast and she ate a fruit muffin. Refused tea completely (sandwiches/fruit). Ravenous and eats well when gets home.

She is pretty good with cutlery and self-feeding, but the staff are all lovely and will help the children or feed them if struggling. She seems to like sitting at the little dining table with the other kids. All the food there she would be familiar with. Only things I can think of are:

at home meals are a bit less formal, will have picnics, eat whilst out in park or garden, or even with tv on, I'm afraid (esp if dh is on duty!). She also really likes to take her time over eating and maybe the mealtimes are a little faster than she is used to?

Any ideas? Have you experienced this too and did it settle?

My DD is 2 and she is going through a similar phase and she doesn't go to nursery. Some days I struggle to get her to eat at all but by tea time she is starving and eats the lot.

Not very helpful but sure someone more helpful will be along soon

Mealtimes can be interesting!

Not eating could be due to too many distractions, her not liking the food, her needing persuading to eat, etc, etc.

It could also be about control. Eating if one of the few times a child can refuse to do something and get away with it as you can't force feed in a nursery.

i work in a nursery and with almost all the children you will find there is an issue with food along the way, as tiggyd said it more often than not it is to do with control, as said, we do not force feed children, but that said in my 2-3 room, if they don't eat the main they don't get the pudding.

What i have set up in my room is a chart so the children have a visual aid, if they eat everything their picture goes on the smiley face, if they eat half on the face with just a line for a mouth, and if they eat nothing they go on the unhappy face, (this is only the main meal, for both lunch and tea) if they get two smiley faces they get a sticker.

We look at the childs eating patterns when they come in, work out what they like and don't like and what portion size they will roughly eat, and then is carried on for their time in our room.

E.g M will not eat chicken, and doesn't eat as much as other children in the room, if chicken is on the menu we give her the veggie option and keep her portions small there for we are not expecting to much from her, and meal times don't become a battle ground.

The reason i am telling you, is that maybe you can use this info to help with her nursery, maybe you can ask them to give her smaller portions, there must be a reason why whe's not eating them, it can be quite daunting when facing a large amount of food, mmaybe that is why she is refusing.

i hope that it is not to confusing