Is there a sort of equivalent of sleep consultant but for food?

[Needfoodsupport]

I’ve been concerned about DS eating for a while and just lately I’ve gone from concern to very worried.

Probably a daft question but is there anywhere I can go for expert support or advice?

What’s your concern? How old are they? The person would be a dietician and you’d ask the GP for a referral

Health visitor or GP depending on age/availability.

Dietician would more be for types of food though, wouldn’t they? (Correct me if I am wrong.) As in for instance if he would only eat baked beans.

There are a lot of people who specialise in child eating on Instagram (they promote their services through the platform).

Mylittleeater is one I follow but there are plenty more.

Thanks, I’ll have a look. Ideally I need someone who would come to the house and work with him.

How old is he? X

Just turned two

Think it would really depend how old the child is and what the exact problem is (eg - they’ll eat most food but only tiny amounts and they are dropping of the centile chart vs eats ~ ‘normal’ amounts but very fussy with which foods).

www.feedingtrust.org/

In terms of issue support on NHS support with weaning HV, sensory problems around food OT difficulties with texture or swallow an SLT restricted diet Dietician but if your child is medically will and gaining weight probably struggle to reach service access criteria

Ok 2 is a notoriously fussy age for food.
I've never heard of anyone coming to your house to help with eating.
Has he has his 2 year check? Have you asked for a visit from a health visitor?
What are your concerns? X

Do they go to any sort of childcare? Most children eat things for childminders that they never do for their parents!

He hasn’t had a two year check - haven’t heard anything about it so not sure if they still happen.

He isn’t fussy but he has absolutely no interest in food. I honestly think he’d starve himself to the point of malnutrition. Eats fine at nursery thank god but he’s off for two weeks now and it’s made me realise the situation isn’t really tenable.

This is prime age for fussy eating. Have you spoken to your health visitor ?

He isn’t fussy.

I know you are worried, but honestly as a childminder I've seen this many times.
No child will allow themselves to starve to death, but many children at this age have little or zero interest in food.
He eats at nursery, so he will eat.
Keep offering food, have mealtimes, eat with him.
Lots of snacks.
Kids eat better when sat with other kids (which might be why he eats better at nursery) so try to arrange play dates with your friends with kids.
There are supplements you can buy for this age if you feel he needs them.
And as I said...try not to worry xx

And two year checks do still happen...will be carried out between the age of 2 and 3 but you can ask your doctors surgery for one asap x

I know, it’s normal to a point but there’s also a point where it isn’t normal, or at least, becomes a worry.

When I say he eats nothing I mean it. Yesterday he refused breakfast and lunch and then finally ate some strawberries and half a crumpet. I also managed to get a banana down him. But that was with a lot of persuasion.

He is small and he’s thin. He’s also going to be subject to every bug going around at this rate

At 2 you still judge over a week not a day. Keep offering all sorts of food. As long as he still has enough milk that counts as food really rather than drink. Dieticians help with all aspects of food not just fussy eating.

Well, this week would be Thursday - nothing, Friday, nothing, Saturday nothing and Sunday looks set to be nothing as well 😂

I know, I am being a bit facetious there but in all seriousness he’s never eaten well and I do think we need support and need to go back to basics. A sort of supernanny if you like.

Have you asked nursery? Do they do anything staggeringly different to what you do at home? I assume you do all the basic stuff like eat together, sat at the table, at relatively set times?

I’d be surprised if a 2 year old who eats well at nursery but not at home would qualify for nhs support. Before attempting to throw money at the private sector (and I say attempting, as I’m not really sure who you would go to for what you are after?) i’d read Charlotte Stirling Reed’s book How To Feed Your Toddler. I think it’s great. She has lots of stuff on her IG and also does courses you can sign up for as well.

Has he eaten absolutely nothing for 3 days or does it not feel like much?

GP/HV to check weight and height and refer to dietician if underweight.If not underweight don't worry - just keep offering and making mealtimes fun.Allow messy play with food and lots of praise for trying.Try not to make mealtimes stressful.

I'm confused because you say he ate nothing then you said he ate half a crumpet some strawberries and banana. That's not nothing. Toddlers often need much less than we think they do. Is home a low pressured eating environment or are you always trying to cajool him to eat more? To answer your question, if he is slipping off his growth chart then see a gp. They will point you in the best direction. you can of course pay unqualified people, or Google your heart out but if you actually need professionals then go the gp route.

One of my DC was infuriating with her eating at home at about the same age. She would eat at nursery but not at home. If I picked her up early from nursery, they would give me her portion of food as a takeaway and she would even refuse to eat that at home. So the different environment was the issue.
I had a breakthrough one lunchtime. I was so fed up with wasted food. I made food that I knew she liked, put it on a dish in the middle of the table and an empty plate in front of her. Then I served myself and just started talking to her about what we were going to do later. She looked at me eating and was a bit confused. Then I said the food was tasty and if she wanted some she could help herself and carried on talking about other things. She took food for herself and ate more than usual. This way let her control her food.
You can get multivitamin drops or gummies to help keep him healthy.
I suppose you could try the ultimate low stress eating - picnic food on the floor in front of the tv. But this might not be a habit you want to get into.

Is he drinking lots of milk or juice?