How long can my child live on toast

[Bouncingbelle]

My 2 yr old used to be a brilliant eater. For the past fortnight he has refused anything except toast, bananas,peas & tangerines (except the odd bowl of pasta & pesto). Hes waking at night because im sure he is hungry (so i give him a bottle of milk) bit i dont know how to get him eating again. Is this just a normal stage? He wont starve himself will he??

He definitely won't starve himself

What do you do now when he refuses a food?

Are you giving him multivitamins? Worth doing so I think just to make sure he’s getting the vitamins. Abidec is good.

My brother ate tomato soup, bread and cheese for every meal for literally years. He is a fully fledged healthy adult 30yrs on!

My 1.5year old eats about 5 foods
I'm trying to just be relaxed about it and keep offering lots of options

Today he basically had nothing but crisps and milk though

Ds lives on sweet potato chips, fishfingers, baked beans, cheese, bananas, weetabix and panut butter sandwiches.... he's 3. He has multivitamins and drinks milk. It could be worse I suppose.

I was horrendously fussy and remember well how angry my mum used to get - the yelling, the tears, the being sent away from the table. Mealtimes were awful, I hated every second of them. I grew out of it eventually though, and now eat a normal varied diet - though there are some things I just dislike!

So my approach is don't panic and don't sweat it. They'll grow out of it in time. For now, I give him what he will eat and try to offer new things every so often. Today it was a tomato. He used to eat them. He very politely picked each bit off his plate and handed them over, one by one... hey ho.

Are there any other bread based foods that might appeal - bagels, crumpets, brioche, crackers, pitta, naan, crispbreads just to make you feel like there is some variety? I know it's hard but just go with it, feed them what they want for now and your relaxed attitude will pay off (former only ate beige child!)
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Avoid topping up with milk as that will see if the hunger that will in turn stop him eating so much. Have you tried offering things then taking away until the next meal? Especially when it something you know he likes but is just choosing to not eat?

30yr old DNiece as a child would only eat bread ,pate and cucumber and (occasionally for some reason) Fish pie .Only very occasionally would she eat any dairy and certainly no other eat fruit or veg . She is now a tall,willowy but certainly not underfed very lively and intelligent young woman (who eats pretty much everything)

My ds is 21 months, he used to be a great eater. He loves fruit, toast, porridge, yoghurt, potato scones, bagels and pizza. Sometimes he will stew or bolognese(but not spaghetti). I'm hoping be will go back to being g a good eater when he's a bit older. It's frustrating but I was fussy too and I really never enjoyed adults trying to make me eat things I didn't like. I try not to react to it as much as possible.

I used to rename things, and my kids were daft lovely enough to fall for it!

Dd wouldn't eat cottage pie, but she'd eat Princess Pie for example. Wouldn't eat broccoli but would eat fairy trees.

They would eat attractive looking food...how about cheese on toast cut out into a star shape? Food presented as a bitty picnic rather than one plate as a meal.

Other than that, offer the same food with one extra something. Don't go on about it. Don't make it in to an issue that could turn in to a battle ground.

Good luck!

Thank you for all the replies. It has actually reminded me that no-one was a fussier eater as a child than me . I dont make a big fuss but normally nor do i offer a second choice of dinner if i know i made him something he normally likes - but then i crack before bedtime and worry he is starving and try porridge/weetabix - and eventually resort to toast & banana again. LOVE the idea of small star shapes etc as he does seem more inclined to eat food if its presented in a 'picnic' style & also trying other bread based oprions. He is developmentally delayed & non verbal due to extreme prematurity so im always having to just guess his needs & i think maybe seeing him sooo tiny has left me with a fear of not feeding him (he is absolutely not underweight at the moment )
Thank you!

I'll defo get him a multivitamin as well, cant believe i didnt think of that. I was wondering if i should be being more forceful about eating, but it seems that staying chilled about it (as far as he is aware!) Is the way forward to not make it becone a battle of wills?

Try little food...my kids used to love 'rolls' of sandwiches.... get a piece of bread, cut the crusts off. Roll it out with a rolling pin until it's very thin. Spread with cheese spread/jam/marmite/peanut butter or whatever and roll it up in to a sausage shape. Then cut in to 1cm little spirals.

You can get lovely little melamine plates with tiny sections....maybe that would help too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSH1X81/ref=ascdff_B06XSH1X8158157135/?tag=googshopuk-21&creative=22110&creativeASIN=B06XSH1X81&linkCode=df0&hvadid=256170371706&hvpos=1o21&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7556445274483693458&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007416&hvtargid=aud-545868369748:pla-315840046063&th=1&psc=1

Ooooh is it bad that i'd like one of those too?! 😂