What do you do when a one year old refuses to eat?

[rowrowrowyourboat]

DD is not usually a problem to feed, she eats most things but resently she has started to occassionally refuse her dinner, it's been something that she has eat before so not a new food. I've tried giving her her yoghurt first to get her to eat and no problems but she still refuses her main dinner.

What is the best way to handle this? I don't want to leave her hungry, she still so little, but just want her to eat what she has.

Could be teething? DD is nearly 2, and can still go through patches of not wanting dinner when teething? I'd just offer dinner first, make no fuss - try to eat with her if you can, chat, have a nice time, then give yoghurt afterwards. Give it a little while, and let her nick stuff off your plate if she tries...

are you feeding her or is she feeding herself?

How old is she exactly? Ds2 is 16 months and currently on and off with eating. He feeds himself and so I let him take the lead and not push him into eating. Does she have snacks during the morning/afternoon? Sometimes at this age it can help to either cut out the snacks or load them up a bit more with numerous healthy choices.

let it go. Seriously, - this could mushroom into a much bigger problem if you don't. It is biologically normal for 1 yo's to start to east much less - one because if they ate as much as they did when they were babies, they would be about 20 stone by the time they were 3. Two, becuae as they get more mobile, they get more cautious about what they put in their mouths (a hangover from cavemen and poisonous berry days). Your job is to offer her food at regular intervals - breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack and tea. Hers is to eat. If you try to force her it will get worse. If you pander to her and offer her 6 yoghurts in lieu it will get worse. Let her eat when she wants to and you will shorten this stage. I have 3 dcs - did it all wrong with ds1, and he ate nothing but yoghurts and shreddies for 3 years. Took my own advice with dcs 2 and 3 and this stage was short lived.

continue to make her meals and offer her them the same way, she will eat when she is hungry. It could be that she is teething, it could be her appetite has dropped off a bit, which it does naturally at this age. I was shocked and quite woried when DS1's appetite dropped at around this age (he is nearly 4 now) and thought he couldn't possibly survive on the little amount he was eating, but he did and they do!
Just don't stress about it, you don't want to make meal times an issue, and don't just give her things that are her favourites, or treats to make her eat, i think that is rocky road to go down and can cause more problems in the long run.

Oh, yes, wtf's advice very good - forgot about the whole loss of appetite at 1 thing too - dd is a bit of a human hoover, so the effect was less marked, but nonetheless true!

cross posted with WTF, basically I am saying the same thing!

DD is just turned one (two weeks ago). She has a small snack in the afternoon but not much as she isn't quite walking yet.

If she has finger food, snacks and lunch, she feeds herself, if not I feed her but let her "help" a bit once she's eaten a bit. Currently if she wont eat dinner she gets her yoghurt, just the one, and a couple of rice cakes or breadsticks, which she eat so must be hungry.

And she is teething, I do eat with her at lunch but not really possible for dinner as DH isn't home in time.

Most evenings she wolfs her dinner down, I do stress if she won't eat, I guess I just need to take a chill pill one this one.

I'd be inclined to let her feed herself more, tbh - less stressy, as you're not so engaged with it. Embrace the mess, and all that...

I know it is stressful when they don't eat...well i think it is and i still stress about it now when my DS's don't eat (there's me telling you not to stress!), I think if they eat a decent healthy meal then everything else will be fine!

But seriously she is just at 'that age' do still try and offer her balanced meal and if she is hungry she will eat.

If it helps, I got in to the habit of doing a main meal at lunch times with mine, as I read somewhere that it is easier to get them to eat at this time, as by tea time they tend to be much more tired, crabby and less likely to eat, so if they've had one decent meal at lunch, it doesn't matter so much if tea is just cheese on toast and a yogurt or that sort of thing.

I agree Mabel, all 3 of mine have eaten much better at lunch time and in the evening up until recently I have often given bread cheese eggs type of food as they just weren't interested in a fully cooked meal.

it is really stressful, I know from experience, but rather than measuring meal by meal mouthfuls, keep a count of it over a few days - you may well be surprised by how much actually goes in, and how nutritionally balanced it is.

Having a cooked meal at lunchtime isn't always practical as we're often out over lunch, though it does make sense. I'm also wondering about making her dinnertime earlier as I'm sure there are times when dinner being later makes things worse, especially as she won't always have a nap in the afternoon at the moment so can be very tired.

I think that moving her dinner earlier and giving her more freedom are currently the best option for us.

Thank-you for your help.