17 month old and very small appetite

[Chanel05]

Child has met/ exceeded all milestones to date. Maintaining centile. They will often refuse/ decline a meal or want to stop after a couple of bites. Quite fussy at the moment. Will refuse veggies and all fruit, but used to enjoy fruit. I always promote eating together, same foods, positive attitude to food, prep together etc. How can I get them to eat more? Is this normal for this age?

Let your child's appetite be your guide - children do go through peaks and troughs with eating, and that's normal and OK. Don't try to get them to eat more, just keep doing what you're doing and try not to worry. Have small amounts of healthy snacks on hand and keep an eye on milk and squash intake.

Honestly a toddlers appetite is wildly unpredictable. They will eat and eat some days and pick other days. Fruit is a tough one. Some days strawberries are the most delicious things they have ever tasted and the next day they are thrown back at you.
For me the best thing is to keep offering the wide variety of food but try include a ‘safe’ food with the meal so there is always something on the plate you know they like. Thing about fruit is that it tastes wildly different depending on whether it’s in season or not so it’s very common for toddlers to object to it.

Generally if child is thriving and growing then there is nothing to worry about. Yes it’s frustrating throwing out half the food from their plates but it’s worth it for days where they decide to try it. Sometimes they will try something off our plates that they won’t eat off their own.

just to add I recently saw a instagram reel where they mentioned how a toddler licked a grape for breakfast as part of a skit. I found it so funny because that’s how it feels some days.

Don't try to get her to eat more. You've no reason to. She knows her appetite better than you do. Provide healthy food and eat together. She'll either eat it or she won't and it's as simple as that. Don't get tied in knots over it.