15 Month Old Not Eating and Need Meal Ideas

I went through this with my daughter. I thought she was going to turn into a chicken nugget or a hot dog! The doctor said to keep introducing new foods and eventually she'd get out of this stage. She has and now eats a much larger variety of food. Keep introducing those foods and she'll eventually expand her diet. Buy a couple of cookie cutters in fun shapes, you'd be surprised what they eat if it's fun to look at. Don't get frustrated, though. If the kid feels it's a power struggle, she will be less likely to want to eat. Make a fun game out of the food. At one time, I'd have to do the most ridiculous "happy dance" after every carrot bite she took. I looked silly, but she loved it and ate her carrots! Good luck.

Hi Carolyn,

I have had a lot of difficulties with this too (I'd say it is the norm). Two things I discovered my son really likes are meatballs with pasta and tomato sauce and tortellini in tomato sauce. I use turkey, and mix in an egg, some italian bread crumbs and some garlic and sage. Also you can add some veggies to the meatballs or the sauce.

One thing I discovered about my son is that he likes very flavorful, even spicey (hot) foods. He is 2.5 years old now, but this was true from a year or so. To my surprise, he gobbles up Indian food. You could try foods with other types of spices and see what she goes for.

Good luck!

C.

I have a 20month old who is very picky as well. He is underweight since birth and i have grown to realize that they will eat when they are hungry.My md pointed out that 15 goldfish are almost 1/3 of there calorie needed intake for a day, trial an error works, and I have even had to give pedisure supplements at times, but overall they will eat

I went through the same thing with my daughter. It's a phose and she will grow out of it. My peditrician assured me that a toddler will not starve themselves. Once I finally believed him I stopped trying to make her eat. We started giving her Ovaltine in her milk so I knw she was getting vitamins and such. I also made sure she took her vitamins every morning. For snacky food, I dehydated fruit for her. At meal times, I'd sit her with me, give her a little bit of what I was eating and Ovaltine in a sippy cup. More often than not she didn't eat a thing. As time went on, she started to pick at the food, then eventually started eating most of it. Now she is 11 and will eat just about anything. She still loves her milk and fruit (fresh now, not dried), but is willing to try anything.

Meal Ideas that work like a charm for my son are as follows:

Sauteed ground beef with onions - he loves this
sauteed ground turkey with onions
sweet potatoes
shredded baked chicken with creamed spinach with feta cheese
papaya(snack)
dried mango (snack)
beans with rice
various soups
peas
grits flavored with applesauce and cinnamon
avocado(snack)
Maybe you can try hamburger helper.

I know it is tough but you have to keep trying. Sometimes they may refuse something the first time but enjoy it after a few more tries. I also blend two different foods together so that he gets more nutrients. Best of luck.

I'd say it's very normal for the age. Once they get walking 12 mo or so...everything changes. I've seen it both ways. I have friends who's kids will eat all kinds of healthy things still. Mine is difficult. It takes time to figure out what they'll eat. Once you find out stick to it. My daughter has a limited menu that I am able to rotate thru. I'll write more later. I'll get back to you with more details.
I don't think I am the best one to give advice on this topic. I really like the other advice you've been given. It is best to make them learn to eat what everyone else is eating.

Dear Carolyn,

I'm so sorry I don't have any miracle cures, but I just wanted to say this is unbelievably normal. My son became super-picky at 15 months, and at 16 months he started throwing everything on the floor! I think it's sort of the flip side (one of many flip sides) of mobility and independence. As toddlers enter the "into everything" phase, they develop food pickiness to help them avoid eating things they shouldn't eat. Just a theory....

The only thing that sort of works for us is for me to give Noah a lot of choices on his highchair at once (helps to have various leftovers in the fridge). That sort of enables him to choose the "least bad" option.

Good luck!

Yes this is typical behavior. She is learning so much by doing this as frustrating as it is. Just know that she will eat and will not let herself starve.

What has worked for me would be to prepare meals as usual and offer it to her. When she refuses then she can leave the table and go play. She'll come back and want to eat your food (at least that is what all 3 of mine did). I would either give them bites of mine each time they came (ignoring the lousy manners...that can be taught later) or I would sit them on my lap and share my dinner.

My kids were always interested in my food more than their own even if it was the same thing. Children this age are learning independence, control over themselves, cause & effect. This phase usually doesn't last that long so try and tolerate it. Good luck.

A.

Yes it is normal - my daughter did the same thing and I hear this all the time - don't worry and if you are nursing then she is still getting lots of nutrients. just keep offering healthy things to try. Try offering it in a new bowl or with a spoon or share a plate together - she will eat again I promise - and you can always hide healthy food in a smoothie
F.
Alithea 21mon

Yep. This is normal. All of the sudden they realize that they can assert their will on their food. She will grow out of it. Don't resort to giving her a lot of sweet foods, though, just so that she gets calories. Little girls tend to have a sweet tooth early, one little bite seems to satisfy them. I would look at what she is eating a bit more carefully, maybe take a diary of it for a day or two, then compare it to a nutritional chart for children her age. For example, the average little girl her age will need about 1000-1200 calories, about 500 milligrams of calcium, and about 10-12 grams of protein - if I can remember the U.S.D.A chart right - you may want to check it out for yourself. They did a study recently about this subject and they found that although parents worried that their children were not eating enough, when they tracked their food intake, the kids were doing OK.

Also, a serving for a little one is about 1/2 the recommended adult serving. So if an adult serving of corn is 1/3 of a cup, a full serving for a child that age is pretty small. Likewise, if she eats a whole small banana, that is two servings of fruit.

How long has your child gone without eating or drinking anything? By that I mean , have you given her a sweet drink, fruit juices or snacks in between trying to feed her her regular meals?

just like other mothers have said, it seems to be the normal time for kids to start doing this. my daughter spent a good 6 months of barely eating anything, while my friend's son rarely ate anything for nearly a yr. GOOD THING...they WON'T starve themselves! When my daughter was going through this, I used to leave out bowls of cereal (always 2-3 options, and of course, dry....just a handful of each), some small pretzel sticks, fruit puffs, and dried fruit, sometimes grapes (peel them if you've never given them to her before..you can even cut them in 1/2). at dinner time, i tried to do finger foods (which i know you said you do) just put her in her high chair to eat, then whether she ate, or just took one bite, or refused to eat..once i figured she was done, i would say ok, you're not interested, fine...put her down, the chair away, and left the finger foods she was having for dinner out on a table for her to have access to them. and surprisingly, she would eat throughout the day (after a couple months of me being so upset that she wouldn't eat, and trying everything, THIS was the ONLY way to get her to eat). so just TRY to feed her at her normal times, then whether or not she eats, just leave some little bowls out with a couple different choices out on a table she can get to, and pretend to ignore her every time she goes near the food. just clean, read, watch tv, ANYTHING except watch her (at least not enough for her to realize that you're watching) and she'll eat something.

they tend to "graze" at this point, but don't worry, it WILL pass. now, she usually eats her 3 meals, sometimes she gives me a problem, but i always have something out for her to pick on throughout the day. now that she's almost 2, i usually leave hand-fulls of different cereals (a fav is special K, and ANY chex) and sometimes pretzels...i just try to scrape of most of the salt so there's no issues of her having too much salt.

so, try the "grazing" approach, and make sure she's getting the 18-24 oz of milk/formula a day that she's supposed to (unless her pediatrician said something different), and her vitamins, and she will be fine. just remember that they won't starve themselves, as long as they have access to the food, they'll eat if they're hungry. good luck, and hang in there. hope some of this helped.