The 'my toddler won't eat' Support Group

[MaskedKitteh]

Hello,
I'm Alice. My eldest son Luke is 2 and he doesn't eat, he's very skinny and has a limited list of what he eats. After talking with a fellow BnB'er I decided to create this group so those having these issues can chat, share ideas and support eachother as having a food refusing toddler is HARD!

Who we are;
MaskedKitteh(Alice)- Luke 27 months
Chele- Max 28months
Fredapain- James 22 months
Gumb69- Chloe 20 months
Scarlett316- Jacob 16 months
OmarsMum- Omar 33 months
xpinkpandax- Madison 28 months
AtomicPink- Alex 3 years
MikaylasMummy- Koby 22 months
Please join and I'll add you to this page xx

 

[chele]

Hi, I'm Chele and Max is 28 months old.

We started weaning at 6 months and he took to it well. Unfortunately he then got ill when he was 7.5 months old with bronchiolitis and this lasted until he was 10 months old. During this time he hardly ate, vomited lots and lost a lot of weight (roughly 1.5-2lbs which for a baby of that age is loads).
When he was better food was suddenly a huge issue and I spent a lot of time in tears from him refusing most things.

He's now one of the fussiest toddlers ever.
He won't eat fruit
He wont eat veg
He won't try anything new
He eats an extremely limited diet, non of it healthy particularly and I'm at my wits end as to what to do.

He weighs 25lbs and is incredibly skinny. He has chubby cheeks, always has, so people think he's a normal size. He's recently grown 4cm upwards but not gained a thing.
https://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk232/chele80/2d69aaab.jpg

Now weaning my second and he's doing really well and loves his food, but every single day I feel like I'm waiting for it all to go wrong and end up with two fussy eaters.

I've just no idea how to get him to even try anything. It's not even a case of hiding veg anymore, he literally won't try anything new

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Luke is 27 months, we weaned at 4.5 months, he was the most amazing eater, he'd lierlly eat anything, then shortly after his 1st birthday (a lot like Chele) he was plagued with illness, chest infections one after another (which 3 months on proved to be asthma) we had one week in the midst of all this when he ate nothing but yogurt!
Now he's gone 2 and nothing has got better, I feel like crying, I try so hard with him, I cook him some really tasty stuff (and I know it's tasty as I usually end up eating it!!!)
The list of things he will eat is very limited,
Pasta
Bread
Sausage
Chicken nuggets
Potato waffles*
Chips*
Pizza
Bread
Bread
Bread
Cheese
Banana
Apple
Grapes*
Green pesto
(anything with * means he'll sometimes eat it)

I honestly can't think of much else (other than silly things like crisps)
It's atrocious.

He's a skinny little thing, but extremely tall, I'll try to get a pic tomorrow. A typical day here goes

B.2slices buttered toast, fruit (sometimes he won't touch the fruit or half the toast)
L. Lunch is hit and miss, some days he'll refuse to eat anything, lets imagine he's eating today, 3 slices cheese, 3 ritz crackers a few grapes or a little bit of apple
D. Honestly, I'll offer something like 4 nuggets and a good handful of chips, but to be totally frank, the nuggets will be eaten, the chips? He'll probably eat a couple and then give them to his brother or not touch them at all. My jaw drops on the rare occasion he eats them all.

I try to get him to have a biscuit and milk or a yogurt before bed, this is 50-50 the milk is always drunk though

I get so stressed, I just want him to eat well! I worry about him, I'm going to try to get a dietitian referral I think, I can't so this anymore :'(

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Luke's not done bad today
B. 1 slice toast 1 apple
L. 1 egg scrambled, 1/2 a slice of bread, 2 slices cheese 2/3s of a sausage.

Let's see how dinner time goes!!

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Okay so todayS dinner is pasta with chicken nuggets (weird combo I know) the pasta has a cheesy sauce as well, seems to be going down well.

 

[satine51]

Hello Ladies,

I think didn't want to read and run and maybe this is obvious, but I saw this programme on tv a while ago about not eating toddlers and some of them had issues about the food consistency (e.g. would not touch anything gooey/runny). The advice that I remember is to do some sensory play with food (touching, painting with custard, smelling etc) and not giving any negative/positive reactions to their eating habits e.g if they don't want to eat, just take it off the table.
It must be really hard-my Lo is bfed and she prefers boob to any solid food. Sometimes I just wanna scream but I try not to show any negative emotions. She does eat, just not consistently!

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Hi and thanks!
Personally though, texture isn't the issue , if Luke doesn't recognise what something is we won't touch it. That's it! And then there's silly things like he won't touch rice, ever!

Today was pretty good
B- a tiny bit of chocolate cake (I was eating it!) 1/2 a piece of toast
S- small bag of dorritos
L- a few more dorritos, a banana and 4 bog slices of cheese
D- pasta, cheese sauce, sweetcorn(which he picked out!!!) and sausage!

All in all a good day!

 

[Scarlett316]

I have a much younger one who is fussy beyond belief, I just looked in his red book and in the last 12 months he's only gained 5lb. He's always been this way, weaning was an absolute nightmare and it's just got worse ever since.

Jacobs food today

B 3/4 of a weetabix
S 1 mini animal biscuit
L 2 cracker bread, 1 yogurt, 1/2 bag of carrot sticks
T 6 teaspoons of cheddar mash, 3 cherries.

And this was a good day.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!!!!!

 

[gumb69]

I'm glad i'm not the only one.
We are waiting on our dietician to call us. Chloe used to be great for eating now she is horrific.
Today she ate a bowl of porridge that's it and some sippy cup of millk
yesterday yogurt and kiwi
day before yogurt, pineapple and strawberries
arrrgh!!

 

[Fredapain]

Hello....my lo is 22 months and a skinny, tall, fussy eater.

Last time I was able to weigh him at clinic (have given up now due to major meltdowns, so not worth it) he was 23lb 1oz at 17 months and on our scales at home is now is 24lbs 2oz.

HV has never been concerned as he has never crossed 2 centile lines, although it’s always been very close.

Chele - your photo certainly struck a chord with me, my lo is the same.

I've struggled since day one. He hated and still hates milk, whether it be breast, formula or cows milk. On advice of one HV (another told me not to) we started weaning at 5 months as James was only drinking about 15oz of milk a day (mostly at night and certainly not the ‘required’ amount on the back of the tin).

Weaning was okayish, he certainly ate a huge variety of foods and seemed to put lots of weight on at first (well lots for him). But as purees made way for mashed and chopped up food (although he always had finger food from the start) he has become so fussy, certainly from 12 months onwards.

An example of his fussiness is breakfast. A normal breakfast consists of half a slice of toast and 3 or 4 spoons of porridge. We're still on baby porridge, just one flavour, as he will simply not eat anything else. Have tried and tried.

It's not just the lack of variety that worries me but the small amount consumed. I have no idea how he survives on so little, as a few slices of carrot, couple of spoonfuls of peas and a few bites of chicken can constitute a meal.

He will not eat potato which I find utterly bizarre. Right from weaning he wouldn't touch mash and now I've tried chips and mini waffles, but still he refuses. Lots of foods he used to like he won't tolerate (recently gone of yogurts) and new foods he simply won't try.

He has about 6oz of milk at about 10.30pm, which we are happy to continue with as it’s the only milk he has (I know it's bad for his teeth, but it's a no win situation). This was the only big feed he ever had and he dropped all other feeds by about 9 months.

Out of curiosity, do the other toddlers on this thread like to drink milk/juice/water? I struggle to get what I’d consider a good amount of liquid down James during the day, even in this hot weather.

The only thing that stops me from tearing my hair out, is that my mil reckons my OH was the same. Not a fussy eater I(she can't recall), but just tall and skinny. I'm hoping it's all in the genes.

Am also hoping someone will take me seriously at his 2 year check, as so far no professional has offered me any support.

Sorry to go on, just feel so relieved there are others out there......

 

[MaskedKitteh]

I'll add you all to the OP.

I'm sorry to hear you are all going through this but relieved to know that I am not alone.

Freda, your LO sounds a lot like mine. The refusal to try anything new and sudden dislike of things, so frustrating!
As for drinks, Luke fills himself on squash, he literally would down cup after cup if I let him, I've been trying to be more strict with it to see if he'll eat more. Not really helping though.

Scarlett, Luke's issues had begun at your LOs age so you're Deffo more than welcome here, it's hard, I'm so worried that Tom (my 9 month old) will pick up On it :/

 

[Scarlett316]

Jacob drinks loads of very weak orange squash, he will not drink water or milk during the day. He has about 4 cups of squash though. I have tried reducing the amount available to him but it didn't make him eat any more and I thought, at least I know he's hydrated.

Breakfast today has been a nightmare, only 2 bites of scotch pancake

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Breakfast didn't go well here today either.

1/4 f a slice of toast, 1/4 of an apple

:/

 

[Fredapain]

My lo has weak squash and now there's a vast improvement on what he drinks during the day, but it's still a struggle in terms of me offering it, he never just helps himself to the beaker I keep handy for him or asks.

Breakfast today was the usual poor start, 1/4 crumpet and about 4 spoons of porridge. I tried offering a yogurt and some fruit as an alternative, but it was a resounding no.

However, I have discovered something he will eat, a Greggs Gingerbread Man. Nearly as big as his head and he ate the whole damn thing so quickly I thought I was seeing things.

Hoping he'll have a late lunch when he wakes from his nap, he could only manage a banana for lunch. My fault for 'filling' him up with a Gingerbread Man ;-)

Hmmm....now can you hide veg in a gingerbread man....lol

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Luke loves those too! He blew my mind the otherday as he ate an entire cheese and onion pasty frOm greggs!

Yea, banana was lunch here too apparently... He's just got up so I'm going to try him with something else in a minute.

Anyone have any ideas?! I'm stumped!

 

[Scarlett316]

I'm going for my sure fire, will definitely be eaten dinner. Carrot and potato waffles with melted cheese.

Wish me luck!

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Good luck! Hope it went well!!

Luke had some chips after his nap, then, terrible mother that I am, he ate coco pops for dinner :/

 

[Fredapain]

It's been one of those days today. James woudn't touch breakfast and didn't have a bite to eat till lunch. Mustn't grumble though, he had a good lunch and tea for him.

It got me thinking though, do your los feed themselves using a fork or spoon? James can use a fork (but prefers his hands) but has never shown an interest in a spoon. I worry that my anxiety over trying to get him to eat has led me to hinder his progression in using cutlery with me always trying to ram food down his neck rather than leave it to him to do (maybe not ram it, but you know what I mean).

Scarlett316 - I'm going to try James with a potato waffles and melted cheese

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Luke uses a fork for most thongs but will use a spoon for yogurt/chocolate pudding/jelly

Today he didn't eat breakfast, then he had

L. 1 egg scrambled w/ cheese and 1 slice of bread and butter
D. 4 chicken nuggets and 1/4 of a sausage sandwich

 

[Scarlett316]

How was everyone's Sunday?????

We actually had quite a good day once we got over our bad start of no breakfast!!

Jake had 14 spoonfuls of corned beef hash with hidden veggies and a yogurt!
Then 2 fish fingers and 8 potato letters

Without doubt the most he's eaten for ages!!!!