Fussy eater 22 months - help!

[Pontouf]

Am having a few problems with my 22mo DS. He has a fairly healthy diet generally - we give him meals with protein, carbs and veg but he has recently started to be really picky about what he eats. He will eat the carbs, especially bread and potatoes, often pasta but is not keen on rice. He tends to turn his nose up at the protein unless it's eggs or sausages - he won't eat any other red meat or chicken and will only occasionally eat fish. It is almost impossible to get him to eat veg unless I hide them in an omelet or something. He will eat yogurt and cheese till it comes out of his ears, but is not keen on fruit other than bananas and raisins although he will eat kiwis sometimes.

He used to eat absolutely anything we put in front of him but I'm starting to really struggle to get nutritious food into him. We try not to give alternatives if he refuses food but sometimes end up having to give him porridge or toast before bed as otherwise he won't sleep through. How have other people managed to convince children to eat good foods. He often won't even try foods and will get very distressed if we try to make him. We are trying really hard not to make a big issue out of food - I know that way madness lies, but I don't want to end up in a situation where his diet is really narrow and unvaried. Should I just chill out about it and continue to offer new foods (which inevitably get wasted which infuriates me) or should I be getting tougher? He's not really at an age yet where bribery has any effect.

No advice but lots of sympathy. My DS is 27 months and as a small toddler would eat anything. Got very very fussy about 20 months and still a bit of a battle, but easier now we can negotiate. He gets fruit or toast before bed if he refuses his main meal, but we don't offer anything else at the table. There are some weird things he likes though, like very strong cheese.
I'm hoping it's just one of those phases but will read any advice with interest!

DS started this at about the same age. Turned out his last molars were coming through and making him very reluctant to eat much of anything. About 6 weeks ago he gave up fruit, veg, potatoes, rice, pasta and all red meat . He's just two now and the appetite and variety is starting to come back thank goodness.

No advice, but similar concerns here too. I've bought liquid vitamins to give my ds (20 months) as he's become so difficult to feed - all he wants is carbs, eggs, yogurt and custard - he used to eat brilliantly. Only fruit he will eat is those fruit pots - pureed fresh fruit gets spat out, all fruit and veg get thrown without a taste. He's living off cereal, bread products, potatoes and dairy. And a lot of fruit pots! Quite recently he ate what we ate, mashed up.

It's hard not to worry, though I've already lived with a very picky eater and at 4.5yrs we're out the other side!

Thanks everyone.

Pascha that is good to hear, will cling onto that hope! He still has quite a few teeth to come through - oddly he has quite a few back ones but is still missing two of his bottom front teeth

So Beat your DC1 has actually started eating normally now then. Obviously I'm hoping this doesn't take another two and a half years (Please God?!) but nice to know it isn't necessarily permanent.

22 months must be the age for it! Posted something on a similar thread in 'behaviour' recently as my DS is doing the same. He too has always been an excellent eater who likes trying new things.

Essentially yes, try to chill out a bit. Toddlers this age are notoriously picky and have appetites that wax and wain for all kinds of reasons but mostly because they're either just not hungry or they want to exercise some control over what they eat and when and how they eat it. The hallmark of growing independence i think! It's always useful to try to put yourself in their situation: are you always hungry? Are you always hungry for the same thing at the same time every day? I know that what i like to eat one day doesn't appeal to me the next, but i am able to choose accordingly. It must be very frustrating to be a toddler with limited verbal communication skills!

With that in mind, offer a choice where possible - an apple or a banana? Toast or cereal? Even if your toddler doesn't have many words, most will be able to point and express either pleasure or disinterest by 22 months. You could also try a plateful of different brightly coloured finger foods so that your DS feels he has more choice over what he eats. I now regularly do a plate of olives, ham, cherry tomatoes, cheese, chicken, boiled egg and a few fingers of bread with dairylea for example. Currently DS will eat everything except the bread. But in a week's time i expect it to be something else. He went off toast - until i showed him that by taking a bite here and there you can make it look like a fish, a whale, a car, a boat etc.

I don't offer alternatives either or give him dessert if he doesn't touch his main. At the moment he'll eat maybe 2 meals a day - there's always one where he'll barely eat anything. I remove it calmly and get him down from the table. If he asks for a banana i say no and explain it's because he doesn't seem hungry. More often than not i'll give him a small healthy snack an hour or two after the meal he's missed (such as the banana he asked for earlier). The important thing is not to let him associate leaving his meal with immediately having a nice, sweet treat. He can have one when lunchtime is a distant memory. He's usually ready to eat the meal after the one he's missed.

It's all very normal and they'll get over it providing you don't force the issue and remain calm. I think sometimes it's probably boredom with the same foods too, so keep trying to offer new foods even if they don't eat it at first. One day they probably will. Until then they'll get all the calories they need and will eat when they're hungry. Toddlers don't grow as quickly as babies, so the decrease in appetite can sometime seem a lot more alarming than it actually is. If he's bright, alert, happy and developing otherwise normally, then he's getting all the nutrients he needs.