Want to Hear Some Good Ideas

Throw away the junk food. Seriously, just get rid of it! If it's in the house, you'll break down and give it to him. You'll think "At least he's eating SOMETHING." Am I right? ;) Trust me, you are not alone! My daughter has always been a small eater. She will gladly eat three bites of dinner, then wolf down five cookies. We had to just get rid of the junk all together. My husband still struggles with giving our daughter treats when she doesn't eat all of her food. We're much better now and she'll at least east MOST of what's given to her. Sit him down with a meal, if he doesn't eat it, he doesn't get anything till the next meal. You can also save his last meal and if he wants a snack, that's what he gets. That worked for us too. Start it now while he's young enough and he'll be a better eater in no time. Trying to break him of a junk food habit later in life will be MUCH harder. I'm not saying it will be all smiles and roses, chances are you'll have to deal with a few tantrums of epic proportion. Just remember "this too shall pass." Stick to your guns and THROW OUT THE JUNK! Good luck! :)

He might just be a wiry little boy like my grandson.
Just make sure that he eats fruit and veggies and not much junk food.
As to how to get the weight to stay on him,I don't know.
It just might be the way he is, like my grandson.

Definitely do not give him foods that have no good value, but he should not be losing weight. Try milk, milkshakes, icecream to make sure he gets his calcium. French fries, mashed potatoes, whole grain bread are good for gaining weight, but make sure you give him vegetables and fruit also. All you can do is offer it to him; you can't force him to eat. He will eat when he is hungry.

There's no reason for a 1 year old to have junk food. Just keep offering a variety of healthy foods prepared in a variety of ways. Put a little bit of everything on his plate at mealtime and let him eat. Little kids are born with a great sense of knowing what their body needs. Look at the foods over the course of a week and they'll be balanced -- even if he nothing but fruit for 2 days and nothing but bread for the next 3. As long as he has a variety of healthy food, it'll balance out and he'll get enough to eat. A young child will never starve himself... although he may go hungry for a day (or 2 or 3) until he realizes that you aren't going to cave in and give him trash and he'll start eating the healthy stuff.

Try giving him simple foods, if you haven't already tried. My sons preferred simple foods, such as sliced bananas, saltine crackers, animal crackers, or plain pasta with spaghetti sauce. They did not like it when I tried to mix too many things together, or tried to make things look fancy. Hope that helps somewhat.

A few things to consider:

What kind of milk are you giving him? If you're giving him anything less than whole milk, talk to his doc about giving him whole milk. My son had weight problems (being a very busy boy) until we weaned him off formula and onto whole milk, and while he hasn't turned into the Staypuff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, he's picked up a few pounds pretty quickly, while getting the nutrition he needs.

Also, how many snacks is he getting a day? An afternoon snack right in between lunch and dinner and a nighttime snack might help as well.

My son is also 16 months old. He doesn't get any junk food at all. He will discover junk food one day and I'll have to fight to keep it away from him. For the time being he only knows what is offered to him, so make what is offered to him veggies and fruit, and some proteins like peanut butter (as long as he's not allergic). Try to even avoid much juice since it's just sugar. Make sure he gets whole milk, and make what he does eat fatty. Everything I eat is light, but I buy him regular cheese, etc because they need the fat and calories right now. Remember, he can only eat what is given to him, so make that the healthiest foods possible. No junk food!! You'll do just fine! Good luck!!

I don't keep a whole lot of junk food in our pantry. A few items, yes, but I keep stuff like whole wheat crackers, raisins, fruits and veggies. My kids enjoy things like that and as a treat they get chips or cookies, but not every day. They know whats in the pantry and if they choose not to eat whats there, they are out of luck. More often than not, they choose the more healthy stuff. Good luck to you!!

Hello when my daughter was that age and a lil younger I got a prescription for pedisure shakes from her ped's doctor in order to get it with my WIC everymonth to insure she got all of her nutrients in no matter what. They have several flavors and you just gotta do several ways and don't give up. The main key is if they don't see mom doing it why should they. I use and sell MyHerbaLife.com also is another way my daughter dranks thoses shakes now and takes the vitamins with me you ever need advice let me know I'm glad to help single college student my self and it would be a nice easy income for you and get you healthy also. I lost 80 lbs my self and drop 5 jean sizes. ____@____.com is my e-mail or ###-###-#### is my number have a healthy day !Thanks M.

I'm not sure what you mean by "you try your hardest". You either give him junk food or you don't. I try to keep it out of our house so I don't have to fight with my son over whether or not he gets some of Daddy's potato chips. But, if you have to have it yourself, there's nothing wrong with telling him "no" and just not giving him things that are bad for him.
Just always have snacks around that are good for him. He won't starve himself and he may learn to really like things like raisins, any fruits, lunch meat, nuts, cheese sticks, veggies and hummus or dip, etc...

Agreed - take all the junk food out of the house. He will begin to operate like you do. If you have no junk food in the house but you are hungry you will eat what you have, right? He'll do the same thing.

Around 18 months, my son - who would wolf down anything and everything - had a huge decrease in his appetite which continues to this day (6 months later).

A typical dinner for him in a string cheese stick, a variety of fruits, some sliced almonds, and milk. Other times it is whole grain crackers, a slice of swiss cheese, turkey, and a banana. I make sure he gets complex carbs, fiber, protein, and fat. He won't eat meat or vegetables at home and, quite frankly, I got tired of wasting food.

Offer him healthy choices but don't push. Don't bother offering the junk food. When he gets hungry he'll eat!