I am about 5 minutes from force feeding this child...calm me down...PLEASE

[girlylala0807]

My ds who is 1.6 is seriously testing me today. I made him his dinner, he threw it on the floor. I gave him a banana, he mushed that into the floor. I have made him porridge, he wont eat it. I have now put waffles in the oven in the hope he will eat those.

What am I going to do if he wont eat them...he has to eat! Help!

ps..the food issue is only 1 in a long line of things he has done today. His behaviour has been very odd...

dd (21 MONTHS) was off her food for about a month and someone on here suggested giving Minidex tonic . It worked v quickly, I have to say, and she's now back on 3 meals a day.

I think she was lacking iron after not eating much following a cold, teething.

FWIW having been in your position and been stressed about DCs eating habits and come out the other side, my advice would be,

only cook one meal (same for all the family or at least all DCs if more than one). If your DC refuses to eat it just take it away with no comment. Do not try and coax and do not offer alternatives.

If DC starts making a mess with the food to gain attention, simply take the plate away and present one small piece of food at a time, therby taking away the "ammunition" to get attention.

I used to worry that if DCs didn't eat they would be hungry and wake in the night but it never happened. Sometimes they are just not hungry and have natural appetite dips as they grow.

The more of an issue and attention you give over food the more your DS will play up.

Finally, when my DS1 was around 16 months he started refusing food and became very fussy. Like you I tried presenting different foods etc. In the end I decided he would have to eat what I had made or nothing. He went 3 days living on his breakfast and bedtime milk before he caved- I have never looked back and all four DCs now eat a good diet(most of the time!)

Good Luck!

Good grief!! He's 1.6! Don't even start getting into fights with him at this age. Food is interesting ... bananas go squidgy when you mash them - why put them in your mouth??

I have 2 boys - ds1 was fab at eating - followed all the rules and was happy to try new flavours, ate regularly etc.

ds2 was a total nightmare - limited pepertoire of things he would eat. I did all the same things I'd done with ds1 but ds2 wasn't having any of it. Just a totally different character.

It really isn't worth making an issue of mealtimes - it will just escalate.

At 1.6 I would give him a variety of food all chucked in a bowl - more or less what you are eating but maybe chunks of banana, breadstick etc too. Let him pick out what he wants.

Make mealtimes happy and sociable - let him eat with you - laugh a lot and talk to him.

We started having candle lit dinners on Sundays when ds2 was about 3 and that worked wonders - he ate loads more.

He's now 15 and not a particularly fussy eater apart from not liking much fruit - he will eat heaps of veg quite happily.

oops - repertoire

As frustrating as it is just make one meal for him and if he won't eat it tough. He's entering the Wonderful World of Toddlerhood, asserting himself and making choices etc. No child ever starved themselves and forcing a child to eat is IMHO cruel. By all means encourage, and put out stuff you know he likes/has eaten before. But don't fall into the trap of cooking 47 things hoping he'll eat something. Make mealtimes more about social togetherness and look forward to a glass of wine when he's in bed!

I may be wrong but my DD (13 months) started doing this a couple of days ago and yesterday it became really obvious it was her molars coming through - there were no signs for 2 days just went off her food, and like your DS she would put it in her mouth then spit it out.

Fast forward to yesterday when fountains of dribble started and general wailing, red cheeks etc - her mouth is just so sore she's only eating yoghurt ( and peas, strangely). I'm fairly worried but it must just be too painful.

If it is teeth you'll know soon enough, and have my sympathy!

hope your evening has settled down.

dd4 is 23months old.

today she has eaten 3 small toddler bowls of dry corn flakes.
2 rice crackers
and 3 kernals of sweetcorn.

oh and dipped one piece of carrot in gravy.

Thank you,

It has indeed settled down, he fell asleep all cuddled into me. I will now be able to get on and watch x factor write a wee bit of my dissertation or essays.

Don't make a drama of it. Let him not eat - no toddler ever starved himself. BUT also don't keep making him endless things. Yesterday my 2 year old told me she didn't want my lovely home made soup. I kindly said that was fine but if she was hungry then thats all she could have. Once the soup was finished she could have something else. Gave her lots of praise and attention as she ate my soup.

Every time my almost-2 doesn't want to eat for more than a day or two running, she's either teething or brewing a cold. When I've made her favourite to tempt her, she's eaten a bit of it and then thrown it up.

Currently she's going through a growth spurt, and, bloody hell, it's like living with the Very Hungry Caterpillar and every day is Saturday. Yesterday she ate more than I did - not proportionally, outright.

It all evens out, I think. Glad your evening got better. It must be hard, a child that age and a diss to write.