Our 19 month-old is becoming increasing hard to feed. She's old enough now to feed herself (she doesn't really like being fed any more), and she has just gone four days (and counting) and eaten barely anything. By that I mean just a few mouthfuls of food in total each day - pretty much nothing.
We try to give her plenty of variety, stay relaxed at mealtimes, have her eat with us, not make a drama, all the things that are normally recommended, and nothing works.
When given a meal, she'll either ignore the food, or take one bite, go 'urrgh' and refuse any more. she is currently living on a tiny amount of ham each day, plus a tiny bit of cheese. That's all we can get down her. When she eats, she loves pasta, steak, rice, etc, and when she doesn't, she even refuses 'junk' foods and chocolate.
She's had weeks when she's absolutely eaten like a horse and we think she's over her problems, then she'll go backward again. When she was younger, we often had to read to her or distract her to get her to eat, but now she doesn't want to be fed by us any more, it is no longer an option.
She hasn't put on any weight in two months now, and she's dropping into the lowest 5% on the weight chart, although her height is fine. She seems otherwise OK, she is active and ahead in many other areas.
Our doctor has told us that if she doesn't put on any weight before the New Year, she will be referred for tests. We know she can eat if she wants to and really don't think there is anything physically wrong, it just seems like she simply isn't interested in food 90% of the time!
Has anyone been through anything similar? I've read threads about fussy eating, but no-one has really mentioned it in conjuction with a lack of weight-gain.
It's been pretty hard work this Christmas, my partner is at the end of her tether, and cannot even cope with giving her meals any more as it upsets her so much. It's difficult to remain positive at the moment.
We try to give her plenty of variety, stay relaxed at mealtimes, have her eat with us, not make a drama, all the things that are normally recommended, and nothing works.
When given a meal, she'll either ignore the food, or take one bite, go 'urrgh' and refuse any more. she is currently living on a tiny amount of ham each day, plus a tiny bit of cheese. That's all we can get down her. When she eats, she loves pasta, steak, rice, etc, and when she doesn't, she even refuses 'junk' foods and chocolate.
She's had weeks when she's absolutely eaten like a horse and we think she's over her problems, then she'll go backward again. When she was younger, we often had to read to her or distract her to get her to eat, but now she doesn't want to be fed by us any more, it is no longer an option.
She hasn't put on any weight in two months now, and she's dropping into the lowest 5% on the weight chart, although her height is fine. She seems otherwise OK, she is active and ahead in many other areas.
Our doctor has told us that if she doesn't put on any weight before the New Year, she will be referred for tests. We know she can eat if she wants to and really don't think there is anything physically wrong, it just seems like she simply isn't interested in food 90% of the time!
Has anyone been through anything similar? I've read threads about fussy eating, but no-one has really mentioned it in conjuction with a lack of weight-gain.
It's been pretty hard work this Christmas, my partner is at the end of her tether, and cannot even cope with giving her meals any more as it upsets her so much. It's difficult to remain positive at the moment.
