18 Month Old Teething and Now Very Picky Eater

It's perfectly normal. If you look in her mouth, you can see where the teeth are coming in. The gums will be swollen and either reddish or whitish. Either way .. it hurts. If the gums are white, that means the teeth are puching hard against the skin and working to push through. If they are red, it means that the teeth are pushing through and thus *cutting* the skin. You know how it feels when you are eating and a piece of chip or other hard, sharp food cuts your gum or the roof of your mouth? That's what teething feels like.

Give her time. Allow her to eat the softer foods. You can also go to Babies R Us and find a teething bag. It's a mesh bag with a ring on it ... you put a piece of raw carrot or other rounded, cold fruit / veggie in it. The little one can chew on it to get the soothing cold on the sopt that hurts, and they also get the benefit of something hard, yummy but not pointy to chomp on until it hurts too much.

Do *not* force it though. The more you push, the more she's going to fight it. Also ... Infant Motrin and your fave teething pointment is helpful. It's a topical anethetic like we use in the Dentist's office. It doesn't take the pain away ... but it numbs it a bit so baby can get a bit of a break. Give lots of water too. Assuming that baby is off of the bottle ... offer whatever sooths her. Sucking on a sippy cup or straw might hurt, so offer her drink in a regular cup. remember to brush her teeth (especially after dinner) and only offer water at night. YOU brushing her teeth will give you the chance to see what's goin on inside her mouth while teaching her to take care of herself. Offering water teaches her to take care of herself more, and reduces the chance of tooth decay.

These are the things we tell our patients every time we see them. I hope it helps.

My daughter did the exact same thing, down to the choice of foods. I ended up just giving her vitamins and continuing to offer her food before falling back to strawberries, bananas, and yogurt. It lasted about 3 weeks and she went back to eating normally like nothing had happened and was perfectly healthy. Don't worry too much. A couple of things I found that she would eat sometimes were toasted whole wheat bagels with honey, broccoli, carrots cooked in butter and cinnamon, and pickled beets- weird I know. I think I tried every type of food in the planet and those stuck. Oh and apple slices with no skin and peanut butter. Everything had to be cool or cold i guess hot hurt her gums. Totally strange phase b/c she never did that when she was getting her first round of teeth. Good luck, there is always pedia sure as well if you get really concerned :)

That happened to my son when he was 4 months old. He was not wanting to nurse at all and I coulodn't figure out what was going on. Then the tooth came out. But, at 18 months I'm not sure. Either her teeth coming through are really hurting and that is why she is only eating soft foods or she is just hitting a picky time. My kids are 19 months and 4 years and we continuously have different food preferences. I would just continue to feed her what she is liking right now and serve her something else that you are eating. If she eats it, great! If not, and just eats her food she at least has food in her tummy. Also, at least it's all super healthy and she's not stuck on cheetoe's and hotdogs :-)

My 20 month old is doing the same thing and has her back teeth coming in as well! I try everything and nothing seems to work :( I have seen it happen with other kids and it seems normal enough to me, but I am calling her pedi on tuesday to see if I can try any tricks... I tried everything yesterday and she refused until supper where she ate like crazy and had spegetti, so I tried that today and she didnt want that! BTW my little one has all her front teeth in as well and never did this when they came in! It is so frustrating bc she wont eat for anyone and it does worry me... I would call if I were you just to see what he/she says. Good luck

yes that is normal... give the child tylenol or motrin about 1/2 an hour before a meal and they will be ok eating everything like normal (I do daycare and this happens regularly with the teething kids)