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Not eating - please help!
My son just turned 2 and recently we have had major problems getting him to eat. He has always refused to eat any kind of meat (unless it is fish sticks or very finely ground beef in my homemade spaghetti). He has also always refused to eat just about anything that we eat. All he ever eats are the Gerber meals for toddlers and preschoolers (and only certain ones even then). Just recently he has started refusing to eat almost everything. He will eat fruit and certain vegetables, though the vegetables almost always have to be from the Gerber meals. He now refuses to put any other food in his mouth and if I do get a bite in his mouth he will refuse to swallow it. He has even kept the same bite of food in his mouth for at least 45 minutes and still refuses to swallow it. This afternoon he kept a bite of food in his mouth for 45 minutes so I gave up on feeding him and put him down for a nap. I had to wake him up as soon as he fell asleep so he could spit out the bite and wouldn't choke on it while he slept. I am getting very frustrated and stressed over this and don't know what to do. He recently had his check up with his regular pediatrician and also a check up with his ENT so I know there is nothing medically wrong. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them. At this point I will try just about anything.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rachel Burnett on -
My now 4yr did this and I talked to a doc about it. They set me up with a healthy meal plan and explained to me that I cant and shouldn't force him to eat. That instead I should make it "fun". He started dipping his own plate with help. I was told to put one or two items he would eat along with something new to him. Just keep offering him new foods/ snacks. They said not to give. in and give him what he wanted cause that's what I would do. Just provide him with 3meals &two snacks throughout the day. He would eventally get hungry and eat. Now my oldest is 4 and he'll eat almost anything, my 15month is now starting that stage. Just keep strong, meal times are a challenge for most families.
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Permalink Reply by EastTexasMommy on -
He knows your frusterated, he can see he gets a rise out of you and will continue as long as he knows he's getting a reaction.
My daugter hit this stage and I just put some kind of dipping sauce with almost every meal. I am a fan of pedisure. My lo would eat but burn the food so fast she was losing weight. But pedisure can get expensive drinking 3/day (Dr's orders) with food. We founf Carnation Good Start (on cereal isle) is almost the same. You mix it with their milk. Comes in chocolate and vanilla. I watch her eating and if she slows back down I always try to get in a glass that day so she can get the extra vitamins. You might want to pick up a box or container of the powdered stuff (comes premixed also) and keep it for a 'treat' Chocolate Milk. But definitely try the dip. Any kind will do, just don't put very much, nickle size at first. It becomes instabt art if they have a lot to work with.
Good Luck and don't stress, it's just a stage.
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Permalink Reply by Megan Ramirez on -
Thank you so much. We've continue to offer new foods despite him refusing anything new. We have also tried the dips, but he doesn't like those either and will refuse to eat anything with any kind of sauce on it. I will definitely get some of the Carnation though since he loves chocolate milk. Thanks for all the ideas and support.
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Permalink Reply by EastTexasMommy on
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I don't put the sauce ON anything. I give my daugter a nickle size drop on her plate. At one point she wouldn't eat mac-n-cheese. But she'd dip it in ranch on day, mustard the next. The Carnation is great but keep offering foods. Don't force him to eat. Good luck. Let me know how he does with the carnation. I haven't met kids that don't like it and you can even find coupons for it.
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Permalink Reply by Megan Ramirez on
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I don't put the sauce ON the food either, but he doesn't even like the food to be next to the sauce. If the food accidentally touches the sauce he has a fit. He doesn't even want to see the sauce near his plate. Going grocery shopping tomorrow so I'll pick up some Carnation and try it.
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Permalink Reply by 411mom on -
My son was starting to do this as well. Usual foods that he loved to eat, he just had no desire. Usually we play and sing while we eat, but the other day... I let him do his own thing. He was playing with his food a lot, but he was eating it too. He went on to eat a piece of chicken that was almost as big as mine, ate 6 cubes of cut-up zuchinni and quite a few helpings of red peppers. He usually spits the pepper out, but he didn't. I let him move the food off and on his plate, and I just sat quitely and ate my dinner while he did his thing. I was SHOCKED! Usually he is throwing a fit or spitting everything out.
At first he spit out the zuchinni, but I didn't take it away I left it on his plate and he would mash it, then try putting it into his sippy cup, then back onto the plate, but eventually it made it to his mouth! It worked again at breakfast, so lets hope it holds!
Now, once I got up to move that distracted him and it was mostly over... so it does kinda stink to sit there for 45-60 minutes, but he ate a lot, so it is worth it! :)
He was eating, just not a lot... so I used 1 pedilite a day too. Good Luck Mama!
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