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Houston Babies
My kid still won't eat
He is 18 months next week and isn't even 21 lbs yet. I just don't know what to do anymore.....
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Re: My kid still won't eat
I'm in the same boat and the doctors have told me she just isn't an eater/has fast metabolism. She's picky and demanding with her food, but she's always been that way. I know it's terribly frustrating, just keep trying new things. I got a pointer from someone the other day to put cheese on DD's veggies...I'm going to try it in hopes that she'll eat some darn veggies.
Do you know what Pho is? It's like the Vietnamese flat noodle soup. I have NEVER met a kid that didn't like Pho. Just get the chicken on and don't add any extra sauce or anything. Not sure where you live to point out where they would have a restaurant near you for it.
I know this advice is out of the blue, but it wouldn't hurt to try!
I'm sorry. ?I have a peanut, too ~ she's 16 months and just hit 21 pounds (barely) and is 31 inches tall, so she's a complete string bean. ?She has no fat rolls on her at all ~ literally. ?My child is still wearing 9 month old clothes, and some pants that are 6 month old size still don't fit her tiny little waist. So, I can empathize. ?
She's a pretty good eater, but doesn't eat a lot and refuses to eat vegetables. ?I have tried the covering them in cheese trick and she just looks at me like I'm nuts. ?I feel boring giving her the same types of things every day, but hey, why fix it if it ain't broken? ?
What will he eat? ?The one comfort I find in this is that EVERY other child seems to go thru the same not eating phase at one point or another (or more than once!) in toddlerhood. ?Like Bpaullo said, they won't starve (assuming nothing else is medically wrong). ?If all he'll eat is yogurt and cottage cheese, I would give him that. ?Just go with what he'll eat and maybe don't pressure yourself into trying new things right now. ?He'll grow out of it ~ he's a boy! ?Boys will eat almost anything, so he'll probably start eating your family out of house and home soon enough
Sorry
E went through a long phase where she would eat, but only veggies and tofu for about 6mo. She dropped 30 percentiles (percentage points?). Yeah, I guess we'd all lose weight if we ate nothing but tofu and veggies. And because she's so tall and skinny, and completely addicted to milk, her pedi even told me to keep her on whole milk for another year.
I had to start sneaking fats in her diet. She will NOT eat veggies with butter on them. All sauces and dips are eaten seperately, not on what they are intended for... on Sunday she ate her ketchup with a spoon instead of on her hot dog. I let her eat butter and sour cream straight. It's kind of gross, but it's calories and fat that she needs. Avocados are another good one if he'll eat them. If he'll drink a fruit smoothie you can make one with banana, strawberries, whole milk/cream/ice cream, 1 T of oil, and some soft tofu. I've read several places that you can also add spinach to a banana smoothie and it will make it bright green, but raw spinach adds no flavor to it - I keep meaning to try this one.
another mom to a peanut here... at 18mos, maddy was still under 20 lbs. then she went through a food strike and probably lost some weight. i try not to stress about it, but i do... a lot... so i can empathize!
i will feed her pretty much whatever she is willing to eat. if that meant cheerios with milk for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so be it. at least she ate. like jen, i am guilty of letting her eat butter straight up (she loves to do this with the little butter packets at cheesecake factory). also, she loves pasta/noodles, etc. but plain, no sauces. she is not a big meat fan, so if i find she's willing to eat something, i will grind the meat up as fine as possible and sneak it in. another trick i've recently started is making her yogurt pops. i buy vanilla yogurt and mash up some berries, mix them, and make popsicles. she will eat thos bc it's "ice cream", but separately she won't touch them!
finally, i've also found that letting her think eating was her idea works wonders. if i tell her it's time to eat, or ask her to eat, she'll respond with "no". but if i sit down and eat w/o inviting her, she will almost always come over to see what i'm eating, and ask for some.
good luck!
I just had this convo with Natalie's pedi this afternoon. N literally eats ONLY the following things: yogurt, applesauce, crackers, chips, pretzels and bacon. That's it. She won't even drink milk.
So tonight begins "Battle: Eat." Natalie will be presented with a meal. If she chooses not to eat it, then so be it. She won't starve to death. Her pedi thinks that within a week, she'll realize that she has to eat, and will eat what is given to her.
N is tiny too -- 16+ months and still under 20 pounds. Hang in there, I know how frustrating it can be.
This is what we do with Jackson. Sometimes he pushes his plate away in protest. But within 5 minutes, he asks for his plate back and starts eating.
MGR - I just thought of some things you could try (if you haven't already). Make sure his food is on a plate and give him utensils. If DS sees us eating off of a plate with a fork, he won't eat until we put his on a plate and give him a toddler fork. He also prefers to sit up to the table with us rather than just in his high chair off to the side.
We also keep him in the highchair the entire time we are eating. If he is on a food strike, he will just sit there. But eventually, he usually caves and starts eating when he sees us eat.
The only interaction we have with him at the table is talking to him about day to day things (like we do as a family) or asking if he wants more food. I never give him attention if he fusses or starts throwing food. He gets one chance to throw food. If he does it again, all food is taken away. I let him ask for it back one time and if any more food goes on the floor (or given to the dog), meal time is over for him. He has learned pretty quickly that mommy means business at meal time.
I don't give him options as to what he can eat. He eats what we eat or he doesn't eat. He is no longer a picky eater at all. I just recently started to give him sauces (ketchup, syrup, bbq sauce) on rare occassions but am really strict with them. If he dips his food in it, then he can have it. Once the fingers start going in it, then it is taken away. It only took 1 time to teach him to keep his fingers out of it!
I have heard that too much at a time or too much variety can back fire. Try only givng him a couple of bites of each food at once.
And I wouldn't worry so much about the weight issue. DS is only 21 lbs and is a very good eater. He is just a mover and a shaker with a high metabolism.