One year old won’t eat or drink at nursery

[Niketan]

Hello just looking for some reassurance from all you experienced mums out there! DS just started nursery this week and so far he has basically refused to eat or drink anything. I have been collecting him early due to the hot weather and obviously wanting to make sure he is ok, but I’m going back to work in the next couple of weeks and quite worried! Anyone dealt with similar? It’s only been three days so far and I know change takes time but I’m obviously concerned.

Thanks!

Oh poor little fella! Adjusting to nursery can be quite hard for little ones And it’s only early days. Did they say he’s settling in otherwise? Playing, engaging with others?
Does he eat well when you get him home? Make sure he has a decent breakfast and supper. And lots of tlc he will have missed you. Can you send his favourite beaker to nursery and see if that helps?
I would speak to the nursery as it’s important he etc and drinks and that they reassure you that they have it under control. Find out what food they’re offering and if they are helping him he still may need a lot of encouragement from them.
Hopefully he will settle soon so you can go to work knowing he’s in Safe hands xx

I think this is perfectly normal. It can take quite awhile for them to settle (I'd say 2-3 months really) and especially in this heat, I'm not sure anyone is eating a lot during the day. Do you know what they are offering him? And how similar or different is it to what you would normally offer at home? I know when my first started (she was 9 months and not as much of an eater as my younger one, who I didn't have any issues with), I'd send her in a few snacks from home that I knew she would likely eat in the event she wouldn't eat anything there.

I think actually some of the problem was the expectation that she would 'eat like a baby', hence they were trying to spoonfeed her mashed up food. But actually, she'd been eating regular food from the start and had no idea what to make of their attempts to actually feed her. Once they got more comfortable with just sitting a plate of food in front of her, she started to eat as normal. So that could be something worth checking too. Alternatively, if you tend to spoonfeed at home, could they just be sitting him at the table and assuming he'll do it himself?

I had the same with my dd. She was only morning sessions though, I used to stress just trying to find time in the morning to give her breakfast before nursery, just so she had something. She settled after a few weeks.

My son was the same when he started nursery at 14 months. Took about 3 weeks for him to eat consistently. Nursery weren’t worried so I tried not to worry either! He had a lot of dinner when he got home and woke in the night for feeds for a little while but it eventually settled (even though it felt like it never would!). It took DS that long to start napping there too!

DS was like this, took about a month. Now he a great eater at nursery and will eat things he refuses at home.