22month old shows no appetite

[Akshayan]

Hi,

I've got a 22month old toddler who just wont eat his meals. Its becoming so stressful now to a point that I dont know what to feed him anymore.

His breakfast is at around 7am.
I'd give him 1 Weetabix + Milk with mashed 1/3 banana, either couple of blueberries or a date or 2 teaspoon peanut butter. Breakfast goes easy as its mashed and easy to eat.

However he just doesnt feel hungry for lunch. He plays outside for good 2 hours before I attempt to give him his lunch around 11.30-12/12.30pm and sometimes as late as 2pm if he wants to nap straight after play. He doesnt show any signs of hunger and it becomes a huge battle, with me mainly loosing my emotional temper 😭. There has been days where even after 5/6/7hours he still doesnt show signs of hunger ! How can they not be hungry ? I just dont get it. His 12-18month trousers fall off his hip yet the Dr checked his weight and said 11kg on 25th percentile is fine. But he is visibly so skinny and bony 😫 and I simply know its because he doesnt eat much.

He has snacks inbetwen but they are not proper snacks instead may be one walnut or something, or those petit flous small yoghurt pots.

My biggest stress is he goes nursery at 1pm. So on the days if he doesnt eat lunch at home my expectations are that he would eat something there but not at all. They try to offer him around 2 and 4.3pm and he still wont eat. I am totally clueless why he wont feel hunger 😭😭. Am I feeding him the wrong breakfast ? I am just stuck in this vicous cycle of him not wanting to eat. How can they not feel hungry every few hours ? He doesnt get milk either now inbetween meals ! Only at night and if he has eaten his lunch then one towards the evening. I cant carry on supplementing him vitamins as a substitute to healthy food.

He just keeps the food in his mouth, wont chew it down. Its such a nightmare and has been like this for weeks now. I genuinely dread lunch time and sometimes feel like i should just let him not eat 😔😔.

My daughter is two and a half and has always been like that. She doesn't even eat as much as your child does at breakfast! She has never snacked and only very very rarely eats any lunch. Today she has eaten a bowl of Rice Krispies and half a piece of toast all day. She obviously gets offered all the same food that the rest of us eat, she just doesn't seem to feel hungry and has never once told me she is hungry in her life.

I would be more concerned except she's my third child and my eldest was exactly the same. He's 7 now and it's only in the last year that he has ever even said he's hungry, and even then it's not often. We once went on holiday when he was just turning two and he honestly ate practically nothing for a week. He's skinny but he started eating normally at age four and now eats a proper diet. I'm just hoping my daughter is the same.

My advice would be not to stress about it, easier said than done but worrying about it achieves precisely nothing. If he has been weighed and deemed healthy then I would accept that for now and take the pressure off. Make sure you are offering something he likes at mealtimes, I honestly don't think it's the time for trying lots of new foods when they don't eat at all. My daughter can have toast at every meal if she wants, it's often the only thing she will eat, but she's given a proper meal first to try. Sometimes she tries it and sometimes she doesn't but she gets no reaction from me either way. We don't bargain or plead or ask about it, the food is there is she wants it and she can eat it or not.

He will likely grow out of it but remember a two year old grows much slower than a newborn, so some will stop eating as much at that point naturally.

Hi @Akshayan. Did your little one ever come out of this? What helped? I'm in a similar situation though mine went from eating something to nothing overnight. Hope your son is doing well with his eating now.

He doesnt get milk either now inbetween meals ! Only at night and if he has eaten his lunch then one towards the evening. I cant carry on supplementing him vitamins as a substitute to healthy food.

How much milk would you say he had in a typical 24 hours and which type of milk is he having? Only asking as this can have a huge affect on appetite.

And I know how worried you are, our DD has ARFID so has been extremely difficult to feed from around 12 months, but all DC under 5 should get daily vitamins.

Apologies, just realised it's a ZOMBIE THREAD.

Hey,

Don't apologise. I did get a notification about your question.

My boy has now improved completely the opposite. He is now 2.5yrs and eats everything. One thing I realised with him was that he will only eat even if it is chocolate only when he is hungry. I realised that his breakfast was too heavy so wasnt interested in his Lunch so much because of him just playing at home and no physical activity outside. Once he started going out in the mornings he aas pretty much ready for lunch. I allowed a longet gap between meals, stopped milk first thing in the morning.

One major factor for his change in this was going to the nursery. Once he was settled they introduced him to variety of foods and seing other children eat prompted him more and more to try foods before he decides whether he likes the taste of it or not. Social eating with his peers made a huge difference.

I used to have nightmares about his eating as he barely ate or wanted to eat a variety for about a year. Now I dont worry as much 😊 Hope this helps. All the best !!

Hi any updates please ? ☺️