getting me down :(

[AlfieAndMomma]

Hi all need some advice my 15 month lb is barely eating he used to be such a great eater and for the last month or so he's really fussy and barely touches his food unless it's yoghurt, biscuits or carrots, and his milk, he's got a cold at the moment so I'm not expecting him to eat much right now but even before the cold he just doesn't seem to have an appetite, is this normal and does anyone have any tips please?

Xxx

I'd say it was normal. My son was similar. Pasta, cheese, cucumber and yogurt is what he lived on for a while.

It might pay to get him checked over by your doctor. I'm sure it's nothing but at least it rules out anything medical.

If it's not that then I would recommend trying to as hard as you can to keep some diversity in his diet. I have a friend with a child older than mine and she let her DD get fussy early on. Now shes lucky if she'll eat anything outside of salad dressing sandwiches and crisps!

Good luck! Every childs different and they often go through 'food phases'. Hopefully thats what this is

My eldest Dc went through this and he was always A bit on the light side anyway, so survived on tiny portions of stuff stressed me out no end. So you have my sympathies!

What I was told was make sure they're not filling up on milk to drink and maybe try watering it down if they are.

I think at that stage I just ended up buying ranges of ready made food so that at least I wasn't spending hours cooking for it to be chucked away anyway. And having bits he did like and bits of new stuff. I also gave liquid multivitamin as a belt and britches approach (low iron can also affect appetite). And trying not to let it stress me out or make it into a battle. Much, much easier said than done I know.

You're doing the best you can and if he's happy, healthy and active (cold aside) then you and he are doing a good job nutritionally!

My DC is now 8 and eats a wide range of stuff. He does still have a small appetite.....I think for him he needed x number of calories and once he'd had x then he wasn't hungry and wouldn't eat or try it.

Just a phase probs. my daughter ate nothing but cereal nectarines and chocolate for a while. Now she eats everything! Even stuff like olives and really got chilli pasta stuff!

I think the advice is generally to keep on offering different foods over and over again, alongside 'safe' foods that you know he'll eat, until he accepts it.
Make mealtimes and food fun: you could get him involved in prepping it - even at this young age he can help stir or put the chopped items into the pan or baking tray for example - or play around with the presentation and make it as bright and colourful as possible.
If you don't already, eat the same thing at the same time so that he sees it's normal to eat and enjoy the food. You could even offer him tasters from your plate - my dc won't touch egg or omelette if I give it to them but if I'm eating it for my dinner then they can't get enough!
If you can, invite his non-fussy friends or cousins of a similar age around for dinner. Perhaps if he sees his peers eating and enjoying the food then he might want to do the same.
Be strict with timings etc. My dsis used a sand timer for her dc because she was fed up of mealtimes taking all afternoon. She'd serve dinner and by the time the timer had finished (15 mins) she'd take it away. After several days they learned to hurry up. And she would also say that if their dinner went in the bin there was no pudding, and would also not offer any alternatives: it was that or nothing. Her dc were older though.

Thanks everyone for your advice and tips nice to know I'm not alone with this one :) hopefully just a phase I'll keep persisting and definitely take on board your tips :)

Normal stage for food battles to begin. DS was about 14m and we're still in the fussy phase he's 3.6yo but I'll say that in a whisper.

Read my child won't eat by gonzalez. Basically, you offer the food, they decide if and how much they eat. And do not get stressed. Best approach if it works. Not easy. Keep offering.

Try cooking and batch freezing. I feel much better throwing food in the bin if i haven't just send 2 hours slaving over it.
Deep breaths and