I have 14 month old daugher that wont eat mcuh of anything. We are currently weaing her off the bottle and giving her milk in her sippies. Shes been drinkning juice from sippies for a while. She has milk before her nap in the afternoon and before bed at night. And juice when she wakes up from her npa and some with dinner. As far as fruits shell eat maybe 2 bites of a banana and 4 bites of an apple and then doesnt want anymore. Vegetables she wont touch. The only things we seem to be able to get her to eat are fries, string cheese, hot dogs, and occasionally shell eat a few bites of those Tyson 100% chicken nuggets. Ive looked on many sites and they say that thell eat when they are hungry and that thry are great at knowing when they are full so theres no need to worry about overeating. But what do you do with a kid that wont eat much at all?
Thanks to everyone for the advice. Its so weird, as soon as I posted this I thought avout making a grilled cheeese and she loves them. Shes eaten more today than she has in a long time. Im going to get somen of those V8 juices today. Never thought about those. Again thanks for al; the advce!!!
Don't stress. It's not unusual at all for children at that age to not eat much. I know it worries you, but she'll grow out of it. Just keep offering food. As far as vegetables, try the new V-8 juices that have veggies in it.
Good luck!
She needs nutrients that she isn't getting from the limited diet she has, even if she is gaining weight. Try to think outside the box to get her more veggies. Have you tried vegan hot dogs? What about sweet potato french fries? The V-8 juice that tastes like fruit but has veggie juice in it? Vegan chicken nuggets? My hubby was trying to lose weight and added some vegetarian meats to his diet, and some of that stuff is really tasty! Also, I discovered that if someone else served veggies to my son, he would be more likely to try them, although he was a bit older than your daughter. I found out quite by accident that my son adores cauliflower because my mom had served him steamed broccoli, which he adores, mixed with it. I don't serve it as a rule so I would have never tried it on him. I don't remember how long he's liked broccoli, but I think she got him on that too. Now he likes lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and some corn. No peas or green beans, but I don't worry as long as he eats SOME veggies. If she likes ketchup, try tomato based stuff that is similar like tomato soup. Blend cooked carrots with ketchup and serve it instead of pure ketchup. And even if she turns her nose up at stuff now, keep giving her a variety of stuff to try. It won't be long and she'll suddenly show more interest, and then the things you want her to eat will at least look familiar if she's seen them over and over.
I have the same issue with my 19 month old twins. I remember reading somewhere that when young children enter the toddler phase, they don't eat as much as they did when they were younger. The reason for this is that they aren't growing nearly as fast and so their bodies don't need as many calories. Still there are a few things I have tried that work fairly well.
You can try:
(If you don't already do any of this of course :)
Eating with her..modeling eating and showing her that you enjoy it too. I know that whenever I am eating something, my twins run up and they want some of what I got. It's always best to show that you are eating the same thing because you enjoy it too.
If she drinks large amounts of milk, cut back on it some and replace with water. Milk tends to fill their bellies up and makes them less hungry.
Try giving her a variety of different foods to try..we use alot of applesauce, mandarin orange chunks, casseroles made with mashed veggies, mac-n-cheese, yogurt...cheese.
Most of all though, if you are especially concerned take her to her pediatrician. They can examine her and check to make sure she isn't losing weight or dropping in the percentile scales.
I know one trick that my doctor always tells me is to not force them to eat. Eating should be a pleasant experience and not high-stress. I usually take the side of "well its ok if you aren't hungry, we will save this for when you are".
Good luck!
I know when mine were teething they didn't eat much or going thru a growth spurt. If she is mobile that could be a distraction as well. Couple things you could try. Put a tray out of different foods and let her pick from it. Feed her on the go, don't limit her to a confined spot unless she is ok with that. If she will drink, then make shakes out of the nutritious foods. Finally, she could just not be hungry. Good luck!
for starters, i'd completely cut out the junk food (fries, hot dogs, tyson chicken in any form). if she's got a tiny appetite, what she does eat should be nutritionally sound. a little junk food won't hurt kids for the most part, but it shouldn't be the main part of her diet. if she likes milk and bananas, she'll probably go for fruit smoothies, which can conceal all manner of healthy yummies. string cheese is good. yogurt may fly with her. a couple of bites here and there of fruit is good.
it's very hard to watch picky littles sail through a day on such little sustenance, but they really won't starve themselves. and it's better to stick to your guns and offer only good food than cave and think that junk is better than nothing. in a desperate situation it would be, but at this point in time her choice should be good food or nothing, and she won't always pick *nothing.*
khairete
S.
our ds didnt eat much at that age either. Now at 2 yrs he eats everything! He really turned around alot when we began sitting with everyone for each meal. He has his booster seat at the table and eats the same meal we all have...worth a try
I have a 5 year old who is a very picky eater. She has always gone thru phases like that. Most of the time though, she won't hardly eat. But, at all her check ups, she is always growing and doing fine. She stopped drinking milk at the age of 2. That's actually when I stopped drinking it too! Last night she didn't even eat dinner. She just told me she wasnt hungry. I never push her to eat. She will eat when she is hungry. She loves waffles and chicken nuggets, strawberries and grapes. That's pretty much her whole diet! Sometimes I can get her to eat carrots and green peppers (with ranch of course). I think when they get a little older, like school age is when they start to eat more. I wouldn't worry as long as she is growing OK. You can always check with your doctor too.
cut down milk and juice and give her water in her sippies. Take her to the park or somewhere where she can run an hour or two before mealtime and don't give her snacks unless they are super healthy. Then, give her a variety of food.
My daughter, now 7, has subsisted on much of her life off of yogurt, cheesits, goldfish, cheese sticks, pizza, chicken nuggets and Apple Juice. She has a lot of anxiety over food and is getting help on that, but my point is that she is in the 50-70 percentile for weight and per the pediatrician is obviously getting the nutrients she needs from some where. So unless your daughter is loosing weight, I wouldn't worry so much about this. Keep in mind that a baby's portion size is very small. Make sure her juice is calcium fortified. Keep offering her new foods. With my son at that age (we were determined not to make the same mistakes), I would eat the food and make yummy noises. He would then usually eat off of my plate and try it. Sometimes we would brush the food up against his mouth when it was opened so he would get a taste of it also. It may take a while, but unless you have a kid that is super sensitive (trust me, you don't, her diet is not that of a sensitive kid), she will eventually try the foods.
