My 18 mos. old daughter has recently decided that she doesn't need to eat food!! At first I tried eliminating all snacks and drinks between meals, so that she would eat her 3 meals a day. However, she then turned to not eating at all so we changed our approach and offered her any kind of food at any time during the day. We've tried making it available at her reach at her conveinence but that still has not made a difference. She simply does not want anything to do with food! We've tried introducing her to Pediasure...won't drink it. Any ideas that anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated. My husband is starting to stress out over this issue which in turn stresses me out! She has lost 8ounces between her 15 and 18mos. check-ups, but she was also battling several seasonal colds!
Both of my children at various ages have gone "off their feed" where they refuse to eat for a few days and then make up for it by eating everything in sight. As long as the child is getting plenty of fluids I wouldnt worry to much about it. Just continue constanly putting out little finger foods for her so she can graze if she chooses to.
Kids go through so many different fazes. If she will snack then I would try and just make sure she was eating healthy snack foods. Will she eat fruit? Whole grain cheerios? Does she have a place where you typically put snack food? If you prepared some veggies and put them there for her to simply munch on at her convenience will she do that?
I have found yhat my daughter is starting to not like her high chair so sometimes when she won't eat we just put her at the table with us and let her stand on the chair and eat off of a regular plate. Kids certainly can be finicky. Sometimes we just have to try and alter simple things to see what the problem is. I hope she passes through this faze quickly. (((hugs)))
I would put her on a bottle filled with goat's milk. It is very good to taste and also is the closest thing to momma milk and then you wouldn't be having to worry about nutrition and it would put a little weight on her.
You can buy it at Market Basket or send me message about where you live and I can put you in touch with a goat farm.
Hi,
My daughter, who is now 19, was the same way at 18months. She wouldn't eat and when she did she would only eat chicken nuggets and popcicles. It was a very stressful time. Two things that was helpful to me was her doctor told me that toddlers are great at eating enough to sustain themselves. He said that the rule of thumb is one teaspoon for every year of age. So, for 18 months she only needs 1.5 teaspoons of each item to maintain her weight. When you think about it that way, toddlers don't need to eat alot to be healthy. We sometimes try to put how much we eat on what they should eat and if you do that then it will seem like they are not eating enough. The second piece of advise was that if you offer six small healthy meals and allow her to eat what she wants over the course of a week she will get all her nutritional needs met. Don't stress over each meal, look at her overall intake for a day or even a week.
Good luck.
My daughter went through the same thing at that age too.I would try to give her nutritious snacks throughout the day.Sometimes she would eat sometimes she wouldnt.She is 3 1/2 now and is still a snacker.If she isnt feeling good she might not want to eat.It could also be a power thing too because that is the only thing she can control at this age,and the more upset you get the more she will do it.I used to get upset too but my mother told me they wiil not starve themselves and it is true.The more you relax about it she will start to eat more.Good Luck!
It seems that this has turned into a battle of wills.
No child has ever starved to death with a plate full of food in front of them.
Take the focus off of the food. Make it a non-issue. If she eats, she eats. If she doesn't, she doesn't.
I would skip that pedisure stuff or filling her up with milk. At this point, you don't want her to get used to being full without eating solids.
She will eat. I promise! ;)
I've had the same trouble with my daughter, she's in the 4th percentile for weight and 68th for height so super skinny. I just put food around when she is playing and she will sometimes eat it that way; I also eat where she can see me and she sometimes wants what I'm having. I've also had luck making sure she gets something to eat right when she gets up in the morning - for some reason that seems to make her eat better throughout the day. Don't worry about pedialyte unless your doctor recommends it; she won't starve but dehydration can be an issue so make sure she gets enough fluids.
I have a stubborn son and am never sure when I should butt heads with him and when I should cave. But when these little ones want to push mommy's buttons they sure are good at it - at least in my case.... Anyway, my thoughts on your predicament are first to talk to your doctor about whether you need to be concerned about the weight loss. If your daughter is basically healthy then then try, try, try not to stress too much. Kids appetites go up and down. Also at your daughter's age the ONLY thing she can really control is whether she eats or not. She may be exercising her independence - and there is not much you can really do about it other than what you are already doing - having good things available, offering them often, and letting her be.
