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Parenting

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Original poster

Is it okay to let an 18mo go hungry for a couple of days?

18 replies

InCiderMind · 11/04/2014 08:24

or at least untill he accepts more than grated cheese and biscuits?

I am a bit worried as he wont eat any veg or fruit and i mean NOTHING healthy. He may pick at a bit of chicken or scrambled egg but mainly demands cheese. Ive fallen into a bit of a trap after he didnt eat anythng for a couple of days as his canine teeth erupted. In my desperation I gave him yoghurt, cheese and biscuits. Now this is all he has.

I breast feed him still at night and once a day and when it comes to meal times I offer him a small portion of a balanced meal but he throws it on the floor. Which is fine, but later he is really hungry so i gave him a snack of a biscuit and then he is not hungry next mealtime.

So I really need to stop these bad habits as his diet is too fatty and too sugary!

So how long can an 18mo go without food, which isnt cruel but will make him hungry enough to eat, say a bananna?

he is a healthy chubby boy who drinks lots of water and breastmilk.

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Original poster

InCiderMind · 11/04/2014 08:25

Oh god that looks like I mean to starve him for a couple of days, what i mean is, can i not give him snacks until the next meal even if he didnt eat the last meal?

OP posts:

gamerchick · 11/04/2014 08:28

It doesn't work trust me.. All you'll do is start a food war that you will lose.

Ditch the biscuits but keep with the yogurt and cheese. Buy a bottle of vitamin drops and maybe a bottle of eyeq baby and just keep offering other stuff.

HandragsNGladbags · 11/04/2014 08:28

Get to the dinner before it's slung on the floor. If he refuses just say that's fine but there is nothing else. When he gets hungry re serve his dinner.

However, if it is his teeth then go with what he will eat. If my DD2 is ill she goes straight back to mashed potato, yoghurt and milk and she's nearly 3. Try not to worry too much.

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gamerchick · 11/04/2014 08:29

He needs lots of fat in his diet at this age so don't worry about that.

Ditch the in between meal stuff if you want. . You'll need nerves of steel though

Original poster

InCiderMind · 11/04/2014 08:33

Oh replies already! Okay no more biscuits and just re serve dinner. will try to do this and see what happens.

gamerchick I have no nerves left, they are all shredded!

I think i will look into a vitamin supplement as he eats nothing with vitimins in.

Thanks!

OP posts:

Minnieisthedevilmouse · 11/04/2014 08:35

Mine stops solid food if teething so I serve stew and soup only. Couple of days of that frankly even she's gagging for something else!

YoureAShoe · 11/04/2014 08:36

Yeah I would say just don't offer biscuits, could you possibly offer mealtimes later? Mine (although only 9mo) only really pushes food away if she's not hungry so he may just not be hungry when you're offering. Good luck!

gamerchick · 11/04/2014 08:40

It's hard as it's our primary instinct to feed our kids. Your bairn will pick up on it and they win because you just want them to eat something.

I just introduced ready break with a bit of sugar as it's full of the good stuff for breakfast and just rode out the rest of the day.

SuiGeneris · 11/04/2014 08:43

DS2 (23 months) tried this about a month ago when, like you, we had fed him whatever he wanted while he was ill. If he refused dinner we offered fruit and if he refused that we played a bit, then tried again with dinner then fruit. No biscuits. He lived on milk and bananas for a day or two, then started eating normally again. We reintroduced biscuits as a treat after about a week and all has been fine since.

hm32 · 11/04/2014 08:43

I only give fruit for snacks, and nothing near mealtime. When there are tooth issues, I give Calpol 20min before dinner. If he doesn't eat his dinner/lunch, nothing until the next scheduled snack/meal time. If he doesn't want raisins/pineapple/whatever for his snack, nothing until the next meal time. I figure if he's hungry, he'll eat it. I don't give him any attention for refusing food though - it's offered, and if he doesn't want it, that's fine. His choice. At the moment he's not so keen on veg, but is happy to eat fruit.

At one point my DH kept offering yoghurt after dinner if DS hadn't eaten it all. The result was, that he started leaving more and more dinner to have his yoghurt. So now, no yoghurt after. Pudding is fruit!

TanteRose · 11/04/2014 08:44

he is getting vitamins from your breastmilk

don't worry, try not to make it too much of a battle

try to stay bright and breezy "oh dear, you don't want that? OK we'll have it later"

he WILL eat more as he gets older, promise

Original poster

InCiderMind · 11/04/2014 08:53

these replies are really reassuring, thanks so much.

gamerchick youre bang on the money about it being a primary instinct to feed our offspring - and then panic when they dont eat.

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lola88 · 11/04/2014 20:10

DS had a bit of a food issue starting about 14 mo he mostly drank milk and refused more than a few bites of anything else, most of the advice I got was he would grow out of it and not worry about it but by 2 he was hardly eating at all so I stopped his milk he went 3 or 4 days of going hungry until he started eating properly again. It was a hard few days but I felt that if it went on much longer it may have become a serious problem luckily he found his love for food quickly and broke his bad habits.

So what I'm saying is just be careful it doesn't become a habit I definitely fell into giving him what he would eat just to get something in him but a few hard hungry days and he's doing much better.

hotcrosshunny · 11/04/2014 20:41

I would offer regular snacks - healthy stuff like bread sticks and hummus, cubes of avocado, rice cakes, bananas etc then smaller meals.

Savoytruffle · 14/04/2014 20:02

Good tips above! Another thing, are you eating at the same time as him, and the same things? Leading by example can work, and it also gets you out of the habit just watching or egging him on, which might be a bit off putting (not saying you do, but having a fussy child, i know i watch his every food move too much!)

Jaffakake · 14/04/2014 21:40

We had a phase, probably after teething or an illness, where ds would only eat beans or egg, yoghurt or puréed fruit. The best advice I got was just serve him what he'll eat & it'll pass. My backup plan is always feed something challenging at lunch & stick with what he'll eat at tea time, so he'll sleep well.

At the end of the day they'll eat when they'll eat & there's nothing you can do about it really.

Good luck. These things are hard to deal with.

HolidayCriminal · 15/04/2014 18:22

I have done the food wars thing at age 2.5yo & really happy I did; my 3 DC I did that with now eat most veg. The only DC I was soft on, didn't try to make him eat veg, is now 6yo & eats no fresh fruit, and only carrots for cooked veg.

But it's hard, I accept most people don't have to go to such extremes to get a balanced diet into their DC (only I haven't a clue how). And even I wouldn't do it with an 18m old.

LynetteScavo · 15/04/2014 18:30

It sounds to me like he's filling up (and getting what he needs) from breastmilk.

But he's used to feeding little and often, so is a snacker. Apparently DC like this need to have access to healthy snacks when they need it, rather than three square meals a day.

Much easier said than done! (I had a three square meals DS1, and a snacker DS2)

I did as hotcrosshunny suggested.

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