Reassure me that this is just a phase

[bigcatmaniac]

Hi

DD2 eats less and less real food - she just wants snacks or breakfast cereal but anything real is point blank refused or chucked across the room. She won't eat lunch or tea and it's getting worse not better. I continue to offer her a meal but I eventually end up giving her something snacky - crackers, fruit, or some yoghurt or rice pudding just to make sure she eats something. I try to wait a gap so she doesn't associate it with the refusing food but I still feel like I am rewarding her behaviour. Even the list of guaranteed foods she'll eat I'd dwindling - peas and or sweet corn and pasta used to be a safe bet but they get chucked too. I know she is probably bored of the same stuff - I do still offer small amounts of other non-guaranteed stuff - tonight - salmon, broccoli, courgette, noodles and a cherry tomato - all chucked without tasting, shaking her head, saying , no, no, no and then asking immediately for a snack. She hardly eats any protein things (bar yoghurt and sometimes milk). She is growing and charges around like a normal 20 month toddler as she is getting calories from the snacks she does eat but I am worried that she never tries anything new and now barely eats anything real or unprocessed apart from fruit. If it doesn't come out of a packet, she is not interested. Her diet is so limited though and I'm starting to get a bit worried about her overall nutrition and general health.

Reassure me this is normal and she will start eating other stuff. DD1 eats the best she has ever done - but she was no way as limited at dd2 is.

Thanks

Big cat

[mamapup]

Phase. It's a phase. Just a bloody long one.
Little Croc used to eat everything but for the last six months or so she's been far less easy to provide for. She's very vocal about what she does and doesn't like. She doesn't chuck but she does just take anything she doesn't like off her plate.

She's weird too as she doesn't care for pancakes or a lot of the sweeter end of savoury stuff.

I'm.pretty sure it's just a phase because suddenly, the puppy eats more and is willing to try more so I am expecting little Croc to follow suit.

I don't have any tips cos I just ignore the fussy most of the time. Sometimes we offer fruit and yoghurt regardless and sometimes we don't. I figure if she's hungry she'll soon tell me.

[Kitcameron]

It's just a phSe, it's just a phase, it's just a phase.

Your dd2 is the same age as my dd2, I think/hope we're sort of coming out of this phase a bit, although when asking for food CM uses the word snack first, but yes. It is depressing and aggravating in equal measure. Especially when you cooked a meal theyve previously dived into with gusto because you want them to get a good meal for once and they still just push it away.

SM eats better now than she ever has so I'm hoping CM will eventually follow suit too. Every now and then I suddenly find she'll eat something she didnt before, like porridge the other day.

[StJuniper]

R isn't *too* bad but he's definitely more fussy than he was, and like the others, having seen P come out the other side, I'm not too bothered by it.

Honestly, I'd be focusing more on the table manner side of things. If R doesn't want to eat, fine, but throwing food isn't allowed-- he has to keep unwanted food on his plate, and stay with us at the table. He's also old enough now that we'll require him to have a few brave tastes of everything before having dessert with us.

Recently we've found that making a family fuss over things helps the boys eat things they might not otherwise. One meal P had nearly eaten his whole plate, which is still quite a rarity, and he decided he'd finish everything on his plate, so DH and I cheered him on for his last bites, and R then wanted to finish his, too. We've done that a few times, and tonight DH hit on the idea of all of us taking bites of the same food at the same time-- Everybody take a bite on the count of three, etc. R are a lot more bean and potato than he would've, and same for P with chicken...

[bigcatmaniac]

Like that idea SJ - especially for my eldest - she is very competitive - but food wise she is not too bad. Had a good look in dd2's mouth tonight at bath time as she was moaning in her sleep pretty much constantly last night and has had a slight temp. Bit of bulging on her molars so that might explain recent food throwing and just wanting cereal or yoghurt. Who knows? Glad to hear it could just be a phase. She chucked her dinner again tonight. Aaagggh. I hate picking up peas from the floor! I'm bothered about the manners too - trying to give attention to the older one instead of reacting but it is soooo hard not to. Thanks.

Big cat