Advice on Getting My 19 Month Old Son to Eat

You have received some great advice already, but just wanted to suggest hummus--my 20 month old son LOVES it! When he was about 9 months old he went on a food strike (he was still on formula, but still...) and I tried EVERYTHING under the sun. It was so frustrating. And what broke him out of the food strike was roasted red pepper hummus (red bell peppers). He also loves regular hummus. To this day, you would think we were giving him ice cream when we bust out the hummus. Maybe it's just my son, but it's worth a try. It's protein for him, and it's all healthy ingredients. He prefers to just go at it with a spoon (like you would eat applesauce), but sometimes he will dip crackers in it. Good luck!!!

There is a great book by William G Wilkoff, MD called Coping with a Picky Eater that every parent or provider of kids should read and have a copy of. http://www.amazon.com/Coping-Picky-Eater-Perplexed-Parent...

This book has what I call the Picky Eater Plan. I have used this plan with kids that literally threw up at the sight of food and within 2 weeks they were eating normal amounts of everything and trying every food.

First you need to get everyone who deals with the child on board. If you are a provider it's ok to make this the rule at your house and not have the parents follow through but you wont' see as good results as what I described up above.

The plan is to limit the quantities of food you give the kid. When I first start with a child I give them literally ONE bite worth of each food I am serving. The book suggests that every time you feed the kids (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner) you give all 4 food groups. So, for lunch today I would have given the child one tiny piece of strawberry, one spoonful of applesauce, 3 macaroni noodles with cheese on them, and 2 oz of milk. Only after they ate ALL of what was on their plate would you give them anything else. They can have the same amounts for seconds. If they only want more mac and cheese, they only get 3 noodles then they would have to have more of all the other foods in order to get more than that. If they don't eat, fine. If they don't finish, fine. Don't make a big deal out of it, just make them stay at the table until everyone else is done eating. They don't get more food until they are sat at the next meal and they only get what you serve. When I first do this with a child I don't serve sweets at all. So no animal crackers for snack but rather a carrot for snack. Or one of each of those. I don't make it easy for them to gorge on bad foods in other words. Now if they had a meal where they ate great then I might make the snack be a yummy one cause I know they filled up on good foods.

Even at snacks you have to limit quantities of the good stuff or else they will hold out for snack and just eat those snacky foods. I never give a picky eater the reward of a yummy snack unless they had that great lunch prior to it.

It really is that easy.

Hi R.
Try mixing his favorite foods with the foods the mash, veggies & see of that works.

There is a show on TV called The Doctors. They did a special segment on just this subject. The doctor showed how to handle the situation. When the family sits down to eat put the food you want him to eat on his plate. Try to make sure that you are eating some of these same foods. He may push the plate away but that is OK. You and your husband goes ahead and eats some of the same foods that he has pushed away and comment to each other how go the is. Then ask him do want to try some of this food Mom and Dad are having if he says NO and pushes the plate away again, say Ok and then do not say anything else to him about the food. DO NOT give him other foods to make him happy, just go ahead and eat some more of the foods he has pushed away and talk about the food again but this time do not offer it to him just wait and see after you have had a few bites more if he says can I try that. If he does not just keep eating as normal but talk about how good the food is to each other not to your son.
If he asks when do I get my food, you say here is your plate. It has the same foods you and your husband are eating. If he pushes it away again, just say fine and you continue eating.
On the show what happened after a while of hear everyone talking about the food the little boy final asked can I try that. And everything worked out fine. But the big thing the Doctor said was do not give him other foods unless he has finished what you really want him to eat first. Do not talk to him about why he does not want to eat what is on his plate. Just offer it don't get made or show any signs of being up set. Just make sure to eat slow so he has time to think about what is going on and talk about how go the food is.
Just thought it was a need way handle the situation.
My son was never a picky eater. All the time he was growing up he like good food and seemed to eat all the time. My husband and I final figured out why, when he turned out to be 6'2" tall and 200 of solid muscle. He need all the food to grow that big.
Good Luck..

I too feel your pain & know how frustrating & worried this makes a parent. I have a 21 mos. old daughter who is a horrible eater. Right now she is on a hunger strike and won't even eat the few things she usually eats. I agree with a previous post in not forcing the foods, it will make things worse. I just keep presenting my daughter with the food & if she doesn't eat, I can't force her too. I have done EVERYTHING I can think of to get her to eat & nothing works. She is also a drinker more then an eater, so I will make her smoothies with lots of fruit in them, she loves V-8 veggie drinks & peanut butter/sunflower butter is also a hit. Hang in there & hopefully they will come around SOON! :)

At 8 and 6 our girls will eat literally anything---quite often people ask us how we got our girls to eat so well. Their favotie snack now is cold canned green beans. Here's our secret---we didn't listen to our kids. Starting at the first time they got table foods we simply plopped food on their plates (or at 19 monthes just on their high chair tray) and didn't make a big deal out of it. Small amounts is key as is repetition. There are some studies saying it takes like a dozen times of introducing a food before a kid will eat it. We found that if we just put a small amount of a new food on their plates (like a spoon-full), ignored the "I don't like that" comments or the tossing it off the plate, and went about dinner like it was no big deal that the kids generally came around and ate some. No begging or pleading by Mom or Dad. I also realized early on not to prejudge what our kids would like or not like. When our child at less than 2 years old snatched the salmon off my plate that I was sure she would hate I knew not to prejudge. Stop trying to force him to eat something, just plop it down and forget it. Also, if your child was used to a certain temperature of baby food make the table food the same temp. Our daughters HATED and still don't like anything warmed up. Room temperature or cold foods were the favorites-- a cold green bean would be gobbled up whereas a warm one would get a nasty face and thrown on the floor. BTW-- I found the Gerber toddler foods like apples, those disgusting meat sticks (casing removed), pasta pillows and carrots big hits at that age. Also, Bushes baked beans. Good luck!!!

It's totally normal at his age to do this. I wouldn't worry. Just keep presenting the foods and eventually he will eat them.

There is also a GREAT book, Deceptively Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld, that has recipes where you can HIDE veggies in them. It's great. The Spaghetti Pie is AWESOME. There are recipes for Mac and CHeese, grilled Cheese, and Chicken Nuggets ALL with hidden veggies.

But seriously, don't worry. It's normal and all toddlers go through this.

Hi R. Does your little one like oatmeal or cream of wheat? If so put his veggie and fruit in a blender or food processor and mix it in with his cereal.

I was just going to say that you aren't the only one out there. Some days my son will eat everything I put in ront of him and other days he eats nothing at all. It really is just this age I think. Just try to offer him food... if not try again in a little bit. I found that boys are worse at eating because they just want to go go go go go go go go go go go go go... my daughter who is almost one will eat twice as muh as her brother and Caidan was never like that. So just try... my ped said they aren't going to starve them selves. Also are you giving a lot of milk??? Sometimes thats an issue. And if you are worried about him not getting enough nutritions try pedi sure. Good luck!

Just had to respond with another "it's normal" because I know I didnt feel like it was when I was going thru it. I used to drive myself nuts, and then I got the same advice as a previous poster just gave "kids with food available to them will not starve", however, I like you was more worried about "what" they were eating rather than if they were eating enough. My son would eat bread/crackers & dinasour chicken nugs (any other shape was turned down)- very little fruit and not eat any cheese or vegis (still wont and we're going on 6+ months). I finally, for my own piece of mind, purchased a whole food supplement (filled with vitamins from whold food fruit & vegi sources) for him and add it to his milk every morning. It helps that it is chocolate flavored, but its natural, not supersweet, and he loves it! The brand I buy is Amazing Grass for Kidz, but there are a few others out there I think. Since I start his day with the good stuff I feel better when he thinks fishy crackers is all he needs for lunch (of course I always give him other choices with the crackers!)

There is light at the end of the tunnel, my son has recently started to love oatmeal again (as long as he gets to feed himself) and I sneak fruits in there all the time. Also he recently asked for a banana, its funny how exciting that was! Still no vegis, but he's going in a good direction. (I think?!)

Youre doing great! We moms worry about everything, dont we? Good luck!

R.-
I am dealing with the same issues with my son and he is almost 2. I do like the Jessica Seinfeld book, however it does take some time to make most of the recipes. I will try them out and if my son likes them I will make a double recipe and freeze the rest.

I actually rely a lot on juices containing veggies. My son is a drinker and loves his juice. It can be a little more expensive but there are some great juices at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's that are really good and have lots of vegetable in them. Just make sure to examine the labels for too many extra ingredients.

I don't remember enjoying vegetables until I was an adult so I'm not shocked to see my son avoiding them too. Good luck!

Here is some info that I hope might be helpful...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030800.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T031900.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030500.asp

Best wishes,
J.

I am also a 38 yr old mom. My baby girl is 17 months old.
It seems like at 12 months when solids were introduced she lacked interest in eating. She also does not eat well today.
I end up adding 1/2 & 1/2 to her cereal. I add Carnation instant Breakfast to her sippy cup , whole milk and dry milk with baby oats cereal. They also have a new product called DUOCAL which I heard about through my Pediatrician.
I have taken her even to a Nutrionist. She does not eat any proteins so I also giver her Pedia sure and vitamins.
Try introducing the meats with garlic powder , salt , tomato paste...and make it a small but high in flavor. This advice was also given to me and we are still working with her. Be patient and he will come around. I know I keep telling myself that!!! I hear feel your pain.