18 Month wont eat - Always been a fussy eater

[Itonlymakesyoustronger]

Hi All,

I am so desperate right now and feel like a failure

MY LO is 18 months and has always been a fussy eater. weaned her at 6 months and meal times and snack times have always been stressful. But recently it has got so bad she will point blank refused everything we offer so will go days without actually eating a meal.

I offer her breakfast, somedays she will have some others she will not have any. then comes lunch time and that's the hardest, She will refuse Lunch & Dinner - I've tried letting her feed herself, me feeding her, sitting with her, everyone sitting together, giving her attention when she does eat something, not giving attention when she doesn't eat or throws or spits things out.

Whether she eats her meals or not regardless I always offer her dessert - yoghurt or fruit smoothie. But she still doesn't eat.

She has breastmilk once a day only before nap time but other than that she doesn't have anything else, I may offer her a small snack in-between meals somedays she has it other days she wont.

I am truly at wits end and really struggling, shes so tiny too only 2nd percentile.

Please please help

My DD was tiny, fussy and often refused to eat.

I think part of the problem was her stomach was still tiny and she really couldn't force much food in. We started giving her food 6-8 times a day. Not actual meals, but thinking about what she would ideally be eating each day and deconstructing into manageable snacks. Obviously she would have tiny portions of what we had, but in between healthy snacks. She also preferred food in component parts so a bit if bread and butter and small pieces of cheese rather than a sandwich, plain pasta pieces with a dollop of sauce separately etc. I also found leaving little plates of food just in the room which she could help herself to during play, rather than a formal sit down session, or perhaps a 'picnic' on a rug on the floor worked better.

Occasionally she would eat a really decent meal and then hardly anything at all for the next 3 days.

I definitely helped to think about what she had eaten over the course of a day/week rather than trying to get everything into a single meal.

Things had improved by the time she was 5, but she's 17 now and still pretty fussy!

Oh and tiny portions - you can always offer more. Even now, if presented with a big plate of food she just shuts down and can't eat any of it.

@Itonlymakesyoustronger yes, I think the idea is that it does distract him. He’s always been quite baby led but when he’s not interested or starts fussing in his high chair if I put telletubbies on for him he’ll just start eating or he’ll happily let me feed him! Not quite sure why but it works!

I don’t do it all the time but basically always for breakfast because otherwise he just point blank refuses to have even a bite

Worth a try?

Anything to make the LO eat - so why not give it a try - THANK YOU,

I started yesterday with leaving the food on a plate in front of her and doing something else in the room. She picked all the food of her plate and scattered them across the room and didn't put a single bit in her mouth. So I think we have a long way to go but some of these ideas are great and I will definitely be using them

Hi going through the same thing .. any improvements? Cx