Picky eater - Refusing to eat much

[kbaby]

What should I do.
DD is 2.5 and over the last 3 months has started to refuse food she used to eat and seems to be surviving on mouthfuls of food a day unless its what she really wants(which is junk food)
Wednesday she ate;
No breakfast
Dinner was chicken sandwhiches and yougurt in nursery(not sure how much she ate)
tea was cooked dinner but she only ate the roast potato

Yesterday
2 mouthfuls of weetabix
no dinner
tea - small amount of pasta and sauce and yougurt

Surely eating this amount isnt healthy for her. She has 1 mouthful and then says its all gone unless I offer macaroni cheese where she will eat the whole tin. I dont want to give in and let her eat rubbish all day but then I do want her to eat something.

Should I just continue giving her meals even if she doesnt eat them? or give her what she will eat?

shes 3ft and 2 stone 4lbs(looks really skinny)

[Peridot30]

No advice for you as in the same boat. My daughter usually eats her breakfast, no lunch and a couple of mouthfuls at dinner maybe a piece of fruit and nothing else. Most days i give her what we are eating and 2/3 nights i give her what i know she likes. Only gets a dessert if eats everything.

She is just 3 and weighs 2st 6lbs and is 3ft 2.5inches ( only know cause just weighed and measured her after reading your post)

[jabberwocky]

I think many children go through this stage. Ds certainly did. He is 3.3 and only just starting to eat normal amounts of food. As long as she is active and seems healthy I wouldn't be too concerned. The bigger deal you make of it, the more she will probably do it.

Do continue to offer. I am one of the ones who would make something different if that's what ds would eat.

[wishingchair]

My DD is similar (nearly 4) and her friend is more extreme. We had a melt down the other weekend with a massive screaming fit over us asking her to drink half a glass of water.

Talked to mother of her friend and now have a plan:

• she gets whatever I've cooked for her but she helps herself to whatever she thinks she can eat (and I won't coax her into having more even if the portion is really small)
• if she eats it (or a good amount of it), she gets pudding
• if she doesn't eat it, then no fuss is made and it just gets put in the bin then nothing till next meal time
• no nagging from me
• I've stopped stressing about water drinking and give her juice or ribena (diluted!!) with her meal (which she drinks no problem)
• biggest meal is lunch time, tea is just something like cheese on toast or picnic tea (chopped up ham, cheese, cucumber, bread etc)
• tea is nearer to 4.30 than 5

So far this seems to be working really well. I explained all of it to her in a "look, you're a big girl and you know you've got to eat and drink to be healthy so this is what we're going to do" kind of way and she responds well to that. The last 2 were important as I realised she was often just too tired to eat and I was more tired so we tended to clash over this.

Hope this helps ... also important to remember that although they might eat v.little one day, over a few days it might not be that bad. In that Toddler Taming book it says that children eat like birds, some eat like vultures, others like sparrows. I think as long as your DD is healthy and has lots of energy and a twinkle in her eye, she's probably ok.

[Philos]

I can see it's a long time since nyon posted on this, but I just read it because I'm new here. I know exactly where you are all coming from. I have a 14 yr old d. who was just the worst eater. Now she is ok and on the 50th centile. She is doing very well at school and I look back and wonder why I worried. My 6 yr old son is just as bad though I am one of those who feed what they will eat, up to a point, and try to find my way through by feeding the few healthy things they like over and over, but also high caloie things like chocolate or fromage frais over and over too, or they will not grow.