1 year old horrible eater

So in short my son is driving me nuts with the food. He is the worst eater...I truly think he takes after my husband lol. Anyone have any tricks to getting your toddlers to eat...I feel like I've tried everything? And how long do u sit there with him because I am ready to tear my hair out!

1 year old horrible eater

I would LOVE to hear suggestions because I am having the same exact problem with my 1 year old. And I am getting so tired of wasting money and food.

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

Message edited 12/8/2013 9:55:34 AM.

1 year old horrible eater

I don't sit there with my ds. I find he eats better when I am not right on top if him.

1 year old horrible eater

Can I suggest two books? Child of mine and how to get your kid to eat but not to much by ellyn satter.

Basically the idea is let your child feel like he's n control but not really. So give him food and he eats or not, eventually he'll be hungry and eat. Your not doing him or you and long term favors by making them special meals or doing a song and dance routine to get him it eat,

Also remeber that a toddlers stomach is the size of their fist, they don't need as much food as you think they do

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

The issue is that he's still getting his bottle so when people say he will eat when he's hungry he won't because he knows he's getting his bottle later...but if I minimize the milk...he won't take more solids...then he's up all night crying because he's hungry...it's a no win situation. Plus getting him to eat anything is a full production...if he isn't focused on some type of toy or cell phone...he won't eat at all. He is also extremely picky so table food is mostly cheese sandwiches and snacks like Cheerios and crunches..god forbid he eats a piece of chicken..the whole thing just stinks!

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

DD did not eat until just about 2 weeks ago. She was even rapidly losing weight, and percentiles low off the charts. Something just recently clicked with her. I do find that she eats more when I feed her from my fingers (I.e. vs. spoon). And she is more apt to eat soft finger food over purees. Good luck!

1 year old horrible eater

DD is only difficult when it comes to dinner time. It's especially bad if she has an afternoon snack so I try to limit that to something small and keep it early. She has lunch at noon, then naps till 3 or 4 and we have dinner at 6. Depending on how big her lunch was, I may or may not offer a small snack no later than 4 so by dinner time she is hungry. She doesn't get milk until closer to 8. Maybe try to space things out so that he's not relying on the milk as much. I don't rely on distractions but I do sometimes offer extra choices if she doesn't eat what I serve first. I do only give her protein first and get her to eat as much as I can before offering the veggies and carbs which she eats more easily. I try to not even let her see the sides bc she'll start asking for them and refuse the meat.

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

your dc and my dc must have gotten together and talked cause I am having the EXACT same issues.

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

Re: 1 year old horrible eater

My DS is the SAME way... He actually lost a pound between 12 and 15 months and went form like 60% percentile weight till barely making the cart. He is like 21 pounds now at 18 months (was also 21 pounds at 13 months then lost a pound after that. Most days i have just come to accept that he is isn't going to waste away and die and he is meeting all of his typical milestones. He may just be a petite kid. I am only 5 feet tall. Other days I have a harder time with it and just want him to eat something, anything (even hotdogs every day would be fine if he would actually eat it). He has done it all from not eating anything to putting it into his mouth and spitting it out (literally like 10 minutes later). He will drink his soy milk reliably (in a bottle mind you) but that is about it. Every other day is hit or miss. I think with all of us having this same issue it is more of the norm then anything but we have this drive to make sure are kids are eating because we associate big babies with healthy babies though its not always the case. I do find the less I obsess about him eating the more he often eats, when I get frustrated he eats even less.

1 year old horrible eater

My DD is 17 months and its still hit or miss for me too. Some days she eats GREAT! Other days I am fighting her at every meal and it ends up on the floor.

I have tried spoon feeding her, feeding her from my hands, letting her feed herself... 1 day 1 thing works and the next another works... IF shes not entertained with a toy or watching a video she will eat about 10% of her food and then start spitting it out of her mouth or playing with her food until she starts throwing it on the floor and then starts throwing everything on the floor.

Im sorry but the she'll get hungry eventually method does not work for me. I have tried stopping meal time when she starts throwing things. And I end up with a child who gets sooo hungry that shes a crying cranky disaster who will cry for 20 min straight... I mean completely inconsolable.

My dd is still attached to her bottle too. So on really bad days she ends up with a bottle if she wont eat.

My peds said do whateva you have to do to get her to eat... So if it means you need to play videos then I don't see why you shouldn't. I do it and she eats EVERYTHING on her plate! So I started doing it more often. Not every single meal just the times or days I can sense its a bad one...

I mean I have to say overall shes a great eater in the sense that shes willing to try anything and likes a range of flavors. Shes not picky.

Im sorry I don't have better advice, like I said Im still trying to figure this out too... but just know your not alone! Just knowing that (cause Ive had a few food posts myself) made me feel a little better!