Help with 15month old

[Milkyway1304]

My 15month old DD was a nightmare to wean. Ate nothing til she was 10months, tiny amounts 10-12 months. There were a few weeks at 13 months where she loved food, but we are back to picking, begging for (breast)milk constantly and generally eating very little at home (she seems to do better at nursery).

My main issue at the moment is breakfast. She hates cows milk, and will immediately hand back cereal/porridge. Won't have cheese. She won't eat eggs, in any form other than quiche, which isn't something easy and quick in the mornings. She might eat a little toast with cashew butter, but that's inconsistent and I hate giving her bread all the time. She's pretty small and has dropped 2 centiles so I'm really trying to get protein and calories into her. She no longer has a morning breastfeed (she would like one but I'm trying to encourage her to eat). Does anyone have any ideas?

She will usually eat one ok meal (mostly carbs, small amount protein), maybe half a second meal and a little fruit/raisins through day. Not even worried about veg but am worried about general low intake.

Just to give example of an average day when home yesterday she had:

A quarter slice of toast and 2 bites of banana
A mini pack of raisins

About 4 pieces of pasta with Bolognese sauce (she normally loves this so don't know what was up)
A few grapes and half banana

A few bites of brocolli quiche

Half avocado on toast in the evening

So I think the half avocado was the best meal by far. She does like avocado but don't want to give her same things constantly!

I know you posted a few days ago but didn't want this to go unanswered.

I could have written this about 3 years ago. It's a pretty stressful situation especially when they drop centiles (what centile was/is she on, btw?).

My dd (now 4.6) was horrible to wean, was a spoon-refuser and just wasn't interested in food. If I'm honest, the thing I've learned (reluctantly) is there's very little you can do to get her to eat more and you need to follow her cues. We generally offer something we know she'll eat alongside food the rest of us are having, although I don't give her sauces as that's a step too far for her.

There's a book called 'My Child Won't Eat' by Carlos Gonzalez which helps put things in perspective - ie. chill out, they're generally eating enough/more than you think.

It turns out my dd is a slow grower (for one reason or another - probably a double dose of short genes) so her calorie requirements are fewer than that of her peers or even that of a child her size growing at a normal rate. Her appetite is small and we're (still) learning to accept that she's regulating her intake accordingly.

Re breakfast have you tried scotch pancakes? You can freeze them and pop one in the toaster. But otherwise let your dd lead you. Feed her more of the stuff she likes (even if repetitive) as long as it's relatively balanced and gently try new things.

Good luck, I know this can tug at the heart strings.

I'd also suggest a multivitamin. Wellbaby/kid vitamins are brilliant and provide really good iron/vit D levels which are frequently low in poor eaters.

French toast? Waffles? Pancakes? You can freeze them, and hide all sorts in pancakes.

I've got a recipe for a veg slice - it's like a really firm quiche and has tofu, olive oil, wholemeal flour, cheese etc in. Again you can hide a lot in and it's a fairly reasonable stand alone meal