Had enough of 18 month old not eating

[Vicky1989x]

My DD’s picky eating is really driving me up the wall now. She’s tiny, 12-18 month clothes are hanging off her but she won’t eat!! Sure she has days where she’ll eat everything but that’s maybe 1 or 2 days out of 7. Everyday is a battle to try and get her to eat.

Today she’s had 2 spoonfuls of weetabix and refused anymore & half a fruit pouch for breakfast. Lunch she ate maybe 4 spoonfuls of spag bol, 1 tiny bit of cucumber and refused anymore.

Mostly worried about her weight.

Just needed a rant. Anyone else have the same struggle?

Sorry that sounds exhausting for you! I don't have any advice from myself but we follow an AMAZING account on Instagram, they focus on starting solids for babies, but the main lady has an older boy who she's trying to reverse picky eating and you can really see the difference in him!

They have a ton of saved story highlights and a huge database website too!

https://instagram.com/solidstarts?utmmedium=copyy_link

What does she drink ?

@nousernamehere01 thank you, will definitely check it out!

@FigureofEight She drinks water during the day and 6oz of milk morning and 6oz before bed. She still has formula, she wouldn’t take cows milk and it gave her a bad belly.

Cows milk can upset their stomachs at first. You need to introduce it gradually. We mixed formula & cows milk together, so 1oz cows milk & 5oz made up formula, then 4 days later 2oz cows milk & 4oz formula & so on!

They are notoriously hard to feed around 18 months. I’ve had a fantastic eater of a second child but she’s 19 months now & picky. Not as picky as DD1 was but picky. Just keep offering food, it’s all you can do. Even if it’s the same thing every day .. do you give her a multivitamin with iron in it? She’s potentially anaemic & that can affect their appetite!

Is she hungrier at certain times of the day?
My dd refused breakfast and ate more at dinner. It was torture trying to feed her. Playing games with her to get her to eat.
Also underweight and consistently in clothes much younger than her age. But health visitor said she was growing in height and not to worry.
I found she would eat more If I ate at same time.

At that stage I used to take mine outside for a quick jaunt before eating - even in the rain. Midday and evening. They would come in to delicious mashed potato with plenty of butter - it is very nutritious but manageable enough for them at that age. You can add various things to change it up and get a little more nutrition into her - cheese, peas, sausage etc. Saved the day for me at that age. Also - try goat milk - it can be an easier ween that cows milk. I had success with that.
It will get better but it is a slog right?

@Bobholll I did try gradually mixing it as well (refused straight up cows milk so done the mixing) and it upset her stomach still. I didn’t know that, I’ve tried to give a multivitamin but she spits it out.. any tips? I can’t hide it in food if she doesn’t eat 😂

@Rummikub She’s always been fussy with breakfast but would eat lunch and dinner fine but today has been a different story! Haven’t seen a HV since she was 5 months either so no idea how she’s doing.

@CanIPleaseHaveOne I take her out a good 2 or 3 times a day but she’s still picky. That sounds delicious but my DD hates mash! Maybe I’ll give the goats milk a go, thank you.

Dinner was an absolute disaster; as soon as I put her in the highchair she started screaming, threw the spoon and tried to climb out. Then screamed for 45 minutes straight so I’m beginning to think she’s either getting her molars or she’s unwell

What about skipping breakfast so she’s really hungry at lunch? You could offer anyway then leave it till lunch. Might be less stressful for you.

I'm in exactly the same position with my 19 month old and it's just exhausting. Some things I've tried-
Ignoring her lack of breakfast, I take her out for a walk a bit later and she tends to eat something in her pram.
Serving food in the middle of the table and giving her the independence to choose what she wants.
We have occasional good days but it's very hard going...

Does she go to nursery? Nursery was an absolute godsend as mine was also a bugger to get to eat and DC seeing the other children eat helped her want to eat.

Have you tried just leaving food out for her on a table (obviously take away after 30mins or whatever time frame the food can safely be out for) she can reach so she can feed herself I had to do this with DS as he hated being strapped into his high chair which he refused to eat.

Why not more formula if she takes that with no issues?
Lots of 18 mth olds are heavily breast fed, bar the occasional bit.

Stop making it a battle. She doesn’t like her high hair. Don’t use it. How about sat on your knee? Picky bits she can help herself to? It’s all about building good habits. Do you sit together at the table to eat or does she eat alone? Stop forcing. Reduce her anxieties. Reduce the reinforcement of bad habits which invite a lifetime of issues.

At 18 months we had done away with the high chair because dd absolutely hated it. Instead we got her a kids table and chairs and set that up for her to sit down at eat at whenever. I would put her plate down, tell her it was there and she would enjoy going to sit down at her own table to eat. She still didn't eat masses, mind you, never has and she's 4 now but it was better than the high chair battle !

My son used to do the same in a high chair. After the age of 1 I got him a booster seat but would place it on the floor under a plastic cloth. He seemed to prefer this and saved a lot more waste as he wasn’t throwing food of the floor. Also if food dropped into the plastic he would pick it up and eat it

Maybe try dropping the morning milk as that might be filling her up? Mine lost interest in morning bottles quite quickly so I would give them some breakfast cereal made with formula milk. Weetabix and Cheerios were favourites.

As pp suggested, get a little table and chair for her to sit at. Forget the high chair if it's stressing her out.

I know it's hard to not stress but if you focus too much on it she'll pick up on the feelings and become anxious around food and it could turn into an even bigger battle.

A HV said to me at my DD's 2 year check that she'd been doing the job for over 30 years, in all that time she had spoken to loads of parents who were worried about kids not eating but she'd never known of a healthy child who had food provided to them to be malnourished. If the food is there and her body needs it she'll eat. Maybe call your HV team for reassurance.

If I were you I'd definitely cut the morning milk, she'll be full from that.

Thank you everyone for the comments and advice. Today I tried to stay relaxed as possible, offered her food and if she didn’t want it I took it away with no fuss. She didn’t try to climb out or throw a fit but still didn’t eat hardly a thing today or take much milk.

She’s had diarrhoea, red cheeks and been very clingy today so going to assume she’s getting her molars.