15 Month Old Will NOT Eat!

My BF 13 month old really doesn't have a large appetite for "meals" per se and certainly has no interest in sitting still. I have my best luck with cut up pieces of strawberries and grapes. I feed it to him while he romps around playing with his trucks, etc. My pedi said that it is not at all unusual for babes to have small appetites. I have very little luck with spoon feeding - it takes too long and he is just not interested enough to make it worth the effort. I'll give him mushy bites of whatever we are eating (squash, eggs), but it really is just small bites here and there and no where near a meal size portion.

At this stage, it is something he can control. So he is using this to control you. If you stop worrying about it, he will start trying new things. My daughter did this. The things my daughter ate at that stage was cheese, yogurt, cashews, and those dehydrated apple pieces. I did start giving her Boost Essentials drinks for breakfast in chocolate because of the vitamins in it. That would allow me to relax about the little bit she was eating.

Another thing that helped us is Yo Gabba Gabba... I know this sounds weird, but they have a song on there where they have a party in their tummy. We started telling her the food was sad because it wanted to go to the party in her tummy.

To this day, I only ask that she try everything on her plate. I started this when she was 2. Trying means she puts it in her mouth. If she does not like it, she can spit it out. This has gotten her to realize she likes things she didn't think looked appealing.

As for the drinking thing. You really need to get rid of the bottle. It can cause issues with the way his teeth grow. Try giving him milk in a cup with a straw. It is the same sucking motion.

Good luck! Believe me, he won't starve... it's just another way to spread his wings.

It's so aggravating! My son is a very picky eater. Sometimes I think he lives off just air. I was told to look at it over the course of a week. There are days when he eats a TON, other days, not so much. As long as he is healthy and growing, I wouldn't worry about it. When he gets hungry, he'll eat.

If you have no choking, etc, it is BEHAVORIAL. But that is easy to fix! :-) Try this positive reinforcement training. Our daughter was in the Baylor INPATIENT Feeding program for one solid month to learn it. It works!!
These are STRUCTERED meals without interference from anyone else. So only one feeder/prompter present at a time. If you must feed around other people, instruct them NEVER to make eye contact or engage with the child unless he is eating and they want to be positive. ALL negative behavoir is to be ingnored by EVERYONE, even feeder. At his age, you should be feeding 4-5 times a day. Here are the basics:

1. Gather up some favorite (or new!) toys into a bin. These will be his feeding toys and he can ONLY play with them when he is eating.
2. Sit him down to eat in a chair he can't move out of, and turn on the TV if he likes a certain show. Tell him "It's time to take your bites" and he can pick a toy to play with while he eats, have him choose one.
3. Play with the toy for at least 30 seconds, then Set a timer for 25 minutes (in front of him).
4. Begin to feed. Offer a bite of the food that you have prepared (90g per meal, NOT cheese, at least most of the time, but you can throw some cheese 'meals" in there to show him how a positive meal would go later on), and say in a NEUTRAL TONE (this is key!) to "take your bite". If he complies, you go over the top with positive encouragement, "Yeah!!! You took your bite!!" And play with him and the toy excitedly. He gets to keep playing as long as he eats.
If not, prompt him once more (twice total) and then warn him, "Take your bite or the TV/your toy goes bye-bye." (AGAIN, very NEUTRAL, this is not a punishment, it is a removal of a reward). If he still refuses, immediately, yet gently take the toy away and/or pause the TV.
5. The TV stays paused/Toy gets held by you, until he takes the bite. EVEN if it is ALL 25 minutes. Every 2-3 seconds, prompt him to take his bite, and remind him, "when you take YOUR bite you may have your toy/watch Barney", etc. (NEUTRAL)
6. DO NOT substitute bites of different food or drink until he takes what you originally offered. And you can use foods he likes in place of toys/tv. Like "take your bite and you may have a bite of cheese". In which case you would alternate bites of that meal's food with cheese in between as the reward. I only suggest this after you have done this toy program successfully for several months.
7. If you get a good response at first and then bad all the sudden half-way through a meal, he may be bored with the toy he/you picked, so keep the bin close by and he can pick more toys as the meal goes on. Unlimited toys as long as he is eating. if he stops, try presenting up to 3 more toys (one at a time) and say, "take your bite and you can play with 'new robot!" or whatever. But no more than 3 different toy attempts during a 'stand-off'.
8. Never give in. The meal is only over when a) he finishes all the food or b) the timer goes off.
9. There are only 2 sentences that you end on, a) "You did it! You took all your bites! great job! You can keep playing with your toys/watching TV." This is for either he ate all of the food before the timer, OR he was cooperating when they timer went off (ends on a good note!) :-) b) "All done. The meal is over, you did not take your bites. You may not play with your toys. You can try again at lunch." (NEUTRAL) And you remove all food and toys, etc. and leave him there for exactly 2 minutes. Then he can get down and no mention of the meal is made ever again.
10. NEVER discuss the food being fed. You may identify it, but give no positive or negative descriptors. This is now about the food! Try to do this with all food actually as it builds a healthier relationship with eating as people age.
11. Between meals, he may have NO FOOD but only water. If his last meal ends in a standoff, you MUST be prepared to send him to bed with no more food. He has to learn to eat when offered, there is no later. It took our daughter 2 weeks to learn this, she was 16 lbs and 2 years old and she did not die. Trust me, he won't either.
If he eats well at the last feeding of the day, then he can have whatever he wants until bed time, drink or food. But only if he asks, do not offer. Likewise anytime you are eating in front of him, if he asks, let him sample, without comment from you either way. Again, ALL negative behavoir from him must be ignored.

We have had beyond great success with this and she now eats anything as long as we stick to protocol. She still has many stand-offs and always will, waiting for us to relent, always testing us. It is not her that needed to be retrained, it was us. Email me directly if you want to talk more, or want more details, Good Luck!

OMG i am going through the exact same thing with my 21 month old. he will eat cheese and cheerios. its driving me insane. my older 3 were very good eaters and now he comes along. i give him enfagrow formula so i know he is at least getting some of the vitamins he needs. that is the formula for toddlers. i am thinking of taking him to the doctor maybe just for my piece of mind. i don't know how he keeps going on the little bit he eats. i keep saying he is going to shrink up and blow away, lol.

My first suggestion would be to ditch the bottle and offer a sippy with milk while he is seated at the table at meal/snack times.

he's probably fine, especially b/c he's growing so well and seems healthy overall. however, our 15 month old daughter was just evaluated by an OT for her food refusal issues and was diagnosed with a food aversion and probable GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). she has been on medication (ranitidine) now for over two weeks and it has made a tremendous difference. what a relief to see her willingly eat, even asking for food! i mention this b/c she really did not have many of the other classic symptoms of GERD, did not seem in pain at all, so it was a surprise.

My first was an excellent eater and ate everything. My second refused ALL solids until about 10 months he finally started eating toast. That's it. Toast. Then about 2-3 weeks later it dawned on me I could add new things to the toast and started spreading his pureed veggies (gross I know!) on it but he ate it. Then at 13 months he just started eating more and more and doing really well. He's still a little more picky than my first but lots better. I finally switched him off formula once he was eating solids as meals and now at 15 months he's doing well. So I know your little one will come around, but it WILL be on HIS terms and not yours. Try to just go with him but continue to offer him new things and often. As long as you offer, that's all you can do. One day he will surprise you! Good luck and don't worry unless his weight decreases or something, then talk to your doctor of course...

Hi there mama! I recently posted a very simliar question. Go into my profile and check out the responses. There were a lot of good ones. The bottom line is that as long as your child is healthy, active, and not losing tons of weight, there is no need for concern. I finally stopped stressing over my 16 month olds eating habits and they suddenly got a lot better. I think she knew that food was a hot button for me and it made her stressed about it too. But do go check out my post...it will be helpful to you. :)

it is frustrating isnt it...but dont worry kids wont starve themselves. just keep doing what you are doing and offer foods. if he eats great if not then dont force him. During growth spurts they eat and eat then go on a slow period. He will come around eventually dont beat yourself up.

When kids will only eat one type of food I always wonder about a food allergy. Usually it's to the only thing he'll eat too! You can go to groups.yahoo.com and join foodlab. They are *very* knowledgeable and can help you decide if you want to modify his diet to find out or any other questions you may have. At the least, it's always a good thing to rule allergy/sensitivity out.

It may be a texture thing. My son doesn't like "mushy" things. You could try reverse psychology and tell him he CAN'T have something -- then perhaps he'll want it.

Have you tried to do some fun things with food? Put it in an ice cube tray, or a group of small bowls (ramekins). Pop everything on a pretzel. Have him "make" his meal.

Good luck! Food issues are *F*R*U*S*T*R*A*T*I*N*G because in the end he controls what he eats regardless of how important it is.

I can so relate. My daughter is the same. I have now decided to just not make an issue of it. She will also eat cheese, cheese and cheese and yes, sometimes she has eaten a box of cheese in a sitting. I fully believe, they will eat when they are hungry. As long as his weight is ok and as long as he is drinking, I don't think you should worry. You are doing everything right. Just keep offering him food and if he doesn't want anything, don't stress, just try again the next mealtime. Good luck : )