The 'my toddler won't eat' Support Group

[MaskedKitteh]

Welcome!

Sorry to hear you are in the same boat.

Sounds like Omar may be somewhat food phobic? What you said about him gagging when he sees food.

Glad to hear that you're getting some help with it all though.

Well i THOUGHT we'd had a breakthrough here, but looks like he just had a couple of awesome days although it looks like kiddo eats rice now which is good, so that means we can now do rice, pasta or chips!

OmarsMum I'll add you to the OP. xx

 

[xpinkpandax]

Hi, my daughter is a very fussy eater, as a baby she never put anything in her mouth not even when she was teething! She also has language delay which makes it harder to convince her to eat more. She has always been small for her age but I wouldn't say she is skinny, she still drinks full fat milk in a bottle so that may account for that. My problem is getting her to eat more of a variety of foods, fruit, veg and basically anything new.

So what she will eat is

Mostly any cereal
Occasionally toast
Occasionally sandwiches depending on filling
Mashed Potatoes (can get away with hidden veg if mashed well)
Sweet potato chips occasionally
Sausage
Chicken Nuggets/Dippers
Potato Waffles/Letters etc occasionally
Beans or Pasta Shapes
Yoghurt
Raisins occasionally
Apple & Orange Juice til it's coming out of her ears!

That is it, I try to make up her 5 a day with the pure orange & apple juice, beans etc but it is clearly not enough and makes me feel bad, I try to make my own chicken nuggets whenever I can so she is getting actual chicken breast instead of the minced crap that are in the supermarket kind.

She can use a fork but she can't feed herself with a spoon yet as she gets annoyed when the food falls off.

 

[OmarsMum]

Pinkpanda- Omar never put things in his mouth when he was a baby even when he was teething (he was a late teether & started to have teeth after his 1st birthday)

He was also fussy with milk & he was suffering from reflux. He also has a very sensitive gag reflex.

 

[AP]

Omars mum that list is very very similar to Alexs!

 

[xpinkpandax]

I remember thinking it was odd as my son would have put practically anything he could find in his mouth lol as most babies do at certain age, I tend to think might be linked to her fussy eating.

She will cry at things she doesn't like the look or feel of, for example if I gave her a babybel she would take it but as soon as she feels its cold or whatever she throws in down and takes a tantrum, so confusing as she would happily play in cold water or paints?

 

[OmarsMum]

I remember thinking it was odd as my son would have put practically anything he could find in his mouth lol as most babies do at certain age, I tend to think might be linked to her fussy eating.

She will cry at things she doesn't like the look or feel of, for example if I gave her a babybel she would take it but as soon as she feels its cold or whatever she throws in down and takes a tantrum, so confusing as she would happily play in cold water or paints?

Omar is the same! He loves to play with water & paint, he's getting better with messy play, he plays with sand at the beach, he gets irritated but after a while he play with no problems. But he will not touch food, even when he tries, he throws it away then he starts to shake his hands to get the feeling out of them

 

[OmarsMum]

Omars mum that list is very very similar to Alexs!

Did you consider therapy as Alex is older?

I keep talking about Omar's fussiness with his paed, but he's not helping. According to him he's fussy because we spoil him

I'm not sure if the development screening or seeing an OT would help, I know he has a problem with textures, as he tries to eat but he spits out food saying that it doesn't taste good or it has bits he does t like

I'm looking for any help I could get, when I think we're finally over his gagging, he starts again & he still throws up from time to time

 

[MikaylasMummy]

Hi ladies.mind if I join in!?i have only a recently fussy toddler but would love some advice/sharing..
Chele reason your story is exactly what happened to koby at the exact same age.he weaned well but severe chronic bronciollitis left him unable to keep anything down for months.we got to a stage where his poos were a chalky white colour.it was scary and horrible.koby was also born nearly a month early.once he got a bit better we had to start weaning all over again and were doing well by 13 months.however now it's been winter again wev hit the croup/viral season and he gets very sick due to his asthma and gets severe croup.
He is 22 months and has recently started eating next to nothing.he will eat 2-3 mouthfuls of cereal for breakfast,a banana and half a sandwhich for lunch and no dinner..none at all.i keep trying different textures and tastes.all the things he usually loves but he just refuses.
Thankfully once he hit 1 he caught right up to the 75th percentile for weight so he's got some spare.im seriously thinking about going back ten month old textured mashed food to get veges in him!

 

[xpinkpandax]

Oh yeah I was meant to ask if I could join lol!

My daughter is Madison and she is 28 Months

 

[AP]

Omars mum that list is very very similar to Alexs!

Did you consider therapy as Alex is older?

I keep talking about Omar's fussiness with his paed, but he's not helping. According to him he's fussy because we spoil him

I'm not sure if the development screening or seeing an OT would help, I know he has a problem with textures, as he tries to eat but he spits out food saying that it doesn't taste good or it has bits he does t like

I'm looking for any help I could get, when I think we're finally over his gagging, he starts again & he still throws up from time to time

We've been to a dietician but theres nothing but "fussy" been thrown about and they like to concentrate on the non-exsistant dairy issue she has

I am sometimes frightened to admit it too I think I might get shot for it

I told OT and Speech therapy last time they were up and they will try and see her at snack time at nursery. No doubt she wont even eat there, never mind try.

On the other hand what she does eat is ok with helping her gain weight - we were told to look at freezer foods to help by the dietician. Not fab though is it when she wont deal with a lot of fresh food. Her milk intake isnt fab so we give calcium supplements where we can.

Sometimes its just a case of getting whatever we can into her as she still throws up (no idea why anymore)

 

[OmarsMum]

Hi ladies.mind if I join in!?i have only a recently fussy toddler but would love some advice/sharing..
Chele reason your story is exactly what happened to koby at the exact same age.he weaned well but severe chronic bronciollitis left him unable to keep anything down for months.we got to a stage where his poos were a chalky white colour.it was scary and horrible.koby was also born nearly a month early.once he got a bit better we had to start weaning all over again and were doing well by 13 months.however now it's been winter again wev hit the croup/viral season and he gets very sick due to his asthma and gets severe croup.
He is 22 months and has recently started eating next to nothing.he will eat 2-3 mouthfuls of cereal for breakfast,a banana and half a sandwhich for lunch and no dinner..none at all.i keep trying different textures and tastes.all the things he usually loves but he just refuses.
Thankfully once he hit 1 he caught right up to the 75th percentile for weight so he's got some spare.im seriously thinking about going back ten month old textured mashed food to get veges in him!

Everytime Omar goes through this, we have to start weaning again

He's on inhalers at the moment with antibiotics. he's eating little plain yoghurt only. His poop is so runny from the antibiotics & very light yellow colour. He threw up twice yesterday as he couldn't control the coughing

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Welcome to all the new members.

We also have issues with recurrent chest infections and suspected asthma here. When L is really bad his diet gets limited, pretty much the same as Omar, yogurt Although we've not had a flair up since we've moved, as our old place had damp.

 

[MaskedKitteh]

MikaylasMummy, have you tried offering the main meal at Lunch time? That SOMETIMES helps with Luke as he's more wide awake.

 

[MikaylasMummy]

Thanks for the hugs.good to know some of you ladies have the exact same problem(not goo but u know what I mean).
Maskedkitteh that was my next plan of action.i cooked a massive vege packed spag bowl and I think I might blend half for koby and take it out for lunches instead of sandwhiches then he can just have fruit or milk for dinner cos that's all I can get in him!he doesn't like yoghurt and he HATES juice and flavored milk!!he only has milk and water.
I'm also going to start making vege pancakes for him for lunch as the majority ingredients are vegies and cheese.that should get some extra veg in him as he seems to like them with Vegemite.
I think his issue is that his cough and asthma is way worse morning and night and mild during the day so he feels ok to eat.i have come down with the same virus/chest infection him and oh have and now I totally understand why he doesn't want to eat!lol.last night I was seriously considering taking him down to the ER to get his sats checked as e was so breathless weazy and coughing so much even after his ventolin and two previous doses of redipred.
I'll let u know how I go getting the spag bowl in him today

 

[OmarsMum]

AP it's heartbreaking when we can't get answers. I'm not really counting on the OT but I want to give it a try. It's too expensive as it's private.

 

[Fredapain]

I've resorted to putting lo in front of tv at breakfast and lunch. This week it's really worked. I know it's against all parenting books and advice, but hey ho, whatever works in my eyes. We've gone from refusing breakfast totally to now a few bites of toast whilst he's engrossed in postman pat. In my book that's a fab result.

I got my lo weighed last week, he's 24lbs at 23 months. The HV told me that the reason he's fussy, disinterested in food and not using cutlery is because he doesn't go to nursery and see other kids eating, i.e. all my fault for being a SAHM and still helping him by spoon feeding.

I was so cross. We regularly spend time with friends at their houses or at soft play and have lunch altogether. At playgroup they all sit and have snacks. My lo however won't eat at all in these situations, and when I told her this she then couldn't offer me any advice. As for spoon feeding, he gets fustrated and throws it down. He does use a fork, but prefers his hands. I just help him with spoonfuls whilst he's feeding himself otherwise he'd just give up after a while and have none. Perhaps I should stop this, I just don't know what to do.

 

[MikaylasMummy]

That's just ridiculous my dd didn't go to daycare til nearly four years old and she's a great eater.then ds went to daycare at 17 months and he's a bad eater!!no correlation there!
Well tonight was a success.koby ate about five or six mouthfuls of spinach pie.he absoloutley loves spinach pie so I might just start making that every night for a while.i put two whole packets of spinach,bacon and an onion in it so pretty healthy.and since he likes that so much I might try out a zucchini slice as they are similar tasting

 

[AP]

Fredapain we found that worked for us for a while too, stuff hwat they say , if it means getting food into them then sod it

Alex is going on a cheerios ban. She keeps screaming for them after tea not a good plan when I just want her to eat something a bit more substantial!

She did attempt to steal ravioli from DH yesterday, but promptly screamed when she got the texture and ran off. I had a mince pie and managed to give her a little, I let her polish of my plate of chips as she was refusing to touch hers

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Luke is back to being a pain about food again. Yesterday he had

B- cocopops
S- crisps
L- 1slice cheese on toast
D- refused everything except dry bread!!

 

[MikaylasMummy]

Hi ladies.just looked for advice from those whose toddlers are affected by coughs/chest problems.ds is currently on his 7th day of eating practically nothing.for the first four days he absoloutley refused any food at all and probably had about one mouthful of cereal,a bite or two of bread and milk all day for four days.then he went two days eating 1 weatbix and a couple of mouthfuls of dinner(no lunch) now he's at the stage where he actually can't get anything down past his chest.he swallows it but it comes straight back up like he can't get it down.anything thicker than water/milk he can't keep down.i am getting extremely worried as he's been two days now with NO food.last night he came and gave me an empty bowl with sad hungry looking eyes so I made him a piece of bread smothered in margarine to make it slippery and he got about a third down,so that was something.but I feel so sorry for him.he can't even eat his absolute gave choc chip cookies he usually eats 6-7 of at nannas house.he is pale and I am so upset that he is losing the weight he had finally caught up on after being little from being born early and not putting on weight to getting sick as a baby and keeping nothing down for months.
Has anyone been prescribed meds to help?i was thinking maybe a child's dose of anti inflammatories may help his tubes open up a bit and let more in.hes had prednisone.no help what so ever.also any natural cough remedies since its dangerous to give cough meds to kids?i am getting desperate!!