Toddler won’t eat!!!

[justamum98]

So… my son is now 2 years old and started nursery.

weaning him was great. He was trying everything. Then around 12 months + he was having 1 cows milk bottle a day and the rest was food.

he enjoyed food. Once he ate 3 cream cheese sandwiches. Was a chubby little thing and a good eater.

then he started walking and with it came the fussiness.

he won’t eat any meal. Can’t even get 2 pastas down him. He won’t touch food with his hands and is too lazy to use a fork etc.

at the moment. During the day. He eats maybe 4-5 spoonfuls of wheetabix for breakfast.
tiny bit of banana (fork fed)
a few fries for lunch
2-3 pastas for dinner

in between meals he will eat organic carrot puffs, raisins etc so snack wise he’s a lot better. But if I try to give him anything to snack on that is even close to healthy he hates it. He won’t even eat cheese.

he won’t eat meats or fish, veg or fruit.

can’t even get him to eat toast. With peanut butter or something.

apparently his weight is ok…. But I think it’s too skinny.

he drinks plenty of water which is good so he is definitely hydrated but sometimes I take his drink away to see if he gets hungry as I worry he drinks too much but that never happens.

he started nursery and doesn’t eat anything there. They have to offer him biscuits.

nightmare. Please help. Who would I get in touch with to help?!?

I feel like he has a food phobia.

Following - because same! 😩

My son wasn't quite this extreme but he does struggle with texture.

I found the only way to get meat/fish/veg into him was to chop it up small and put it in mash potato or mash sweet potato. I used to spoon feed him as well in the evening.

He was OK with bread/cheese/fruit/porridge/yoghurt however so did feed himself breakfast and lunch.

He's now 3 and suddenly turned a corner overnight. I don't have to hide anything in mash, he feeds himself and is eating more of a variety all the time.

I decided not to worry about how he was getting his food but just making sure he was getting it as he is a big boy for his age. It's taken a lot of patience and trial and error but something has just clicked thankfully. I'm sure people judged me spoon feeding him mash with all the hidden extras but I didn't care as he ate it!

He still isn't keen on pasta and rice however!

You can't compare the cubby baby stage with the toddler stage. They stretch out and start to eat less. If your 2 year old was as chubby as he was when he was a baby it wouldn't be a good thing.

It really is normal for a lot of toddlers to go off food around this age and it's a shock to the parents who remember how well the weaning stage went. We feel proud that they merrily tucked into broccoli and fish and avocado. Then it all goes to shit. But it's a natural part of their development.

You need to leave him to it. Serve him food, eat together, let him eat what he wants and how much he wants. Do not pressure him or try to convince him to eat. Your job is to present the food and his job is to decide what and how much he wants to eat. Do not spoon feed him anything.

Keep an eye on his weight to reassure yourself but I can guarantee you that the only way to see him eating more variety is to take the pressure off entirely and to stop caring what he eats. Easier said than done but for now you'll have to fake it til you make it!

I would be having a word with nursery offering him biscuits. That's not on. Nursery should be presenting meals and healthy snacks and your son can decide what he wants to eat. I'm quite shocked that they are offering biscuits. Of course he's going to hold out for that now.

I had the same issue. At some point, my dd did not have dinner for 2 weeks (2 years and 2 months old).

Two weeks ago, I stopped giving her snacks. No fruit, no yoghurt, no rice cakes, nothing.
3 meals a day. Now she has breakfast, lunch and dinner! She is still picky but at least eats the food that I know she likes.
She has her "snacks" such as yoghurt, fruit, hommade ice lolly etc. as a "dessert" after lunch and dinner.

I can't believe how much I struggled feeding her when I just needed to cut the snacks.

@MissMarchple is correct.

Also cut down on giving them snacks. Any snacks you do give should be fruit e.g. apple, banana.

If you stop stressing about them eating you will find they will eat a lot just before going through a growth spurt then spend weeks and even months not eating very much unless they are with certain family members or friends.

Same with my daughter. I find it emotionally exhausting- consumes me! I’ve genuinely cried about it and it stops me from doing things eg well we can’t do that because she won’t eat if we’re there.

find it heartbreaking and am trying to get to the bottom of why I do - I think it’s because I think it’s something I’ve done/ it is going to last forever and don’t think have energy to cope with it / worry she will lose weight and get ill etc.