Two year old not really eating - help!

[cupcakelover1983]

My DS will be 2 in August and has always been a really good eater. However, recently he has stopped eating lunch and tea. He will eat a good breakfast and then be reluctant to eat anything substantial after that. He drinks like a fish all day - water and milk. His nappies are sodden and often leak. I'm concerned he's not getting enough vitamins and minerals so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Can't help but watching with interest. DD is the same age. Doesn't eat, drinks too much milk. Nighttime waking and sodden nappies. It's a vicious circle.

Another watching with interest!!

DS2 (2.4) refused to eat at home. He eats happily at nursery but refuses most things at home.

It's so frustrating isn't it??

Can I join in! DS (2.1) has just refused everything except breakfast and 'fun' food for the last 2 days. None of his favourite meals tempt him at all. Today he has survived on a muffin with jam, some chips and a chocolate ice cream. Everything else utterly rejected, nothing else asked for or wanted.

It's depressing isn't it.

Another one here that has a DD of two years old that does not eat. It worries me alot, next thursday I am going to get her height and weight measured.
OP you can give your DD multivitamin syrup for children aged 1 to 5 years and try not to offer milk before meal times.

Lots of watchers! Now we just need an answer!

I've no answer but if my 3 yr old eats most of ONE of the 3 meals I give to him plus healthy snacks and lots of fluids I'm happy.

If he eats a massive breakfast I don't bother with lunch as such. It will be a small plate with some raw veg, cheese, egg and slice of toast for example.

So if he's been with childminder and she says he ate a massive amount for lunch I know to give him a weeny portion for dinner.

They only have teeny tummies still - this is what my friend keeps reminding me as I stress out!

Just another one feeling the pain here - my ds is 21mo and has gone from being a fab eater, eating everything I give him, to barely eating enough to keep a rat alive and howling at me like I am trying to attack him every time I proffer a banana his way.
He refused his dinner tonight, so I lovingly made him a weetabix, banana and milk smoothie in the blender. I might as well as given him arsenic, it would have got the same reception. I hate it. He is miserable, sallow skinned and not sleeping anywhere near as well. I am at a loss. He does have a cold as well at the moment which doesnt help. But seeing you all here give me hope. This too shall pass!... right?

My ds goes through phases like this and sometimes will eat very little. He never ever eats meat unless it's undetectable (mince) or occasional sausages.
No chicken or steak or even ham shall pass his lips.
It's very worrying.
Today was a no tea day and no amount of persuading him would help. Supper is more popular, he likes porridge before bed so then I relax about the lack of tea.

I have found that offering him little and often seems to be the best way forward and giving him picky food like a bit of quiche, some fruit, cheese etc laid out like a little platter helps him to eat and he comes and goes snacking at it and before I know it he will have eaten the lot.
I also give him a multi vitamin supplement daily which he thinks is a special pink sweetie.

He also has a little cup holder that attaches to his car seat and before we go anywhere I fill it up with fruit and crackers and he eats most of it. Maybe he is more relaxed about eating when I am not watching.
Beans on toast is a sure fire winner and so on bad days he has that for tea with brown bread.
I would love him to tuck into family meals with us, but I guess one day he will.

Hopeful bump!

My 20 month can be a shocking eater. It is so painful and I feel like I spend my life throwing out food.

He seems to go through phases. He struggles with breakfast but loves crackers and often eats a whole banana for morning tea. We also went out for breakfast on the weekend which was his morning tea time and he drank a lot of a banana smoothie. He used to love egg but gone off that now. Gone off backed beans. He does toast with vegemite (equivalent of marmite) and crumpets with vegemite. Strangely also loves steamed vegetables.

He still has 2-3 bottles a day and will drink a massive amount of regular milk from his sippy cup. We are trying to wean him off bottles but it's hard. Sleep also shocking - I think he wakes up hungry and so needs a bottle to get back to sleep but that probably puts his eating out of whack. God what to do!!!!

Ok. I have some advice but you might not like it!

Ds1 was a very poor eater. He started to lose weight at about 2yrs. My hv told me to make a food diary for a week and I was shocked at how little he was eating. The lowest was one spoon of cornflakes and one spoon yoghurt in 24hrs. It's fair to say I panicked a bit lot.

I had tried all kinds of strategies to get him to eat and it didn't work. The hv told me two things that both cheered me and made me feel guilty.

1. Healthy children will not willingly starve themselves.
2. Does he ever see you eat?

It was the second one that shocked me. I realised that he very rarely saw me eat. Her response to this was "well if you don't why should he?"

In all honesty he never improved much until he went to school. He is now 16 and consumes food like a Hoover. He also never stops.

That was probably the worst time of worry I've had with him and I was absolutely devastated by it some days. The best thing I ever did was relax about it and let him get on with it.

With my next two dcs I never worried again about lack of food. My advice would be to go with the flow. If they are healthy, they'll eat when they're hungry.

Sorry for the essay. :)

I'm so glad there are others out there that stress as much as I do! I think we do have to remember that they'll eat when they're hungry - but it's not always that easy. I'm very conscious of trying to not make a big deal out of it because I don't want him to have any issues with food. It's difficult!

It is difficult. Heart wrenching. I still remember how awful I felt and it's now fourteen years later.

I only really relaxed after he started eating properly. You aren't on your own with this and your ds will be fine.

ok, i have a son who was like this. He dropped from the 91st centile to the 9th centile over a period of a year or so. (from around 12 months to 24 months) He weaned well and was a good eater - then stopped. Pretty much overnight at the age of 10 months. This cooincided with an ear infection and he just simply never started eating again.
Eventually we got him into a child phsycologist, dietician and feeding clinic at the local hospital. They said ignore nutritional needs, (hard as it goes against what we want) the key thing for him was calorie intake....so if he will eat one type of food, give it to him.
So over a period of months and months my son ate bagels and chocolate mousse and nothing else! However, over that time we had to reassess how we dealt with it and had to relax (hard!), not stress and worry, make no issue of food, no 'go on just try it' etc. And gradually start reintroducing different foods whilst still giving his 'safe' food, i.e. he would have a bagel but i would also put one piece of banana on his plate. Dont fuss if he didn't eat it, and if he screamed about it, not to make a fuss etc. The whole thing was around me keeping calmed and relaxed and not making food into a battle zone.
It was very long road but my son is now 5.6, has caught up to the 75th centile and while still a little fussy eats a wide variety of food and actually enjoys it. I still love watching him eat!
I'm not suggesting your son is as food phobic as mine, and it is very common for toddlers to reject food. But the more stressed and panicked you get the worse it will get. Just take the pressure off for a bit and you may find he starts again on his own, and as Theone says, sit and eat together (while not forcing him to eat!)
Good luck, it is hard, no doubt about it but having been through a terrible time with my DS i can echo what others say in that he really will not starve (and there were times i really thought my son would!)

My DD1 went through various periods of "fussy" eating starting at about 18mo before this she was a fab eater. People kept telling me it was just a phase/teeth/cold at first I did it put it down to this but when it carried on for a couple of months and I noticed she had lost weight I was concerned.

I took her to my hv who took me seriously (thank the lord) and referred me to GP. GP suggested a full blood screen to check vitamin absorbtion and to test for coeliac disease. The vitamin screen was fine but she got a positive test fir coeliac I was so shocked as I didn't think she had any symptoms other than weight loss. It took a great deal of getting used but now 5 mo post dx she is doing amazing! She eats us out of house and home asks for her dinner eats almost anything! She's gained 10lb in 5 mo!

I'm not saying your dcs have a medical condition that's causing this lack of appetite but I would say better to be safe and get them to hv to check.

I'm so glad I followed my instincts as she is a delight and it pains me to think what the implications for her health and well being would have been had we not found out so quickly.