18 Mth old...Eating Battle

Never make food a battle. The adult job is to provide healthy food, the kid job is to decide if and how much to eat.

I have the 10 commandments from Sparkpeople on my fridge. I'm a LONG way from living up to them but they are my goals! You can find them at http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/articles.asp?id=549

I used to get SO frustrated-- I'd take Isaac to a Chinese Buffet, he'd eat garlic toast. My step mom would take him and he'd eat one of EVERYTHING. But as long as when you look at it weekly or so it all balances out and they're healthy and growing good it's all good!

don't say another word to her about it. offer healthy choices, and healthy snacks, so that when she does eat you don't have to worry about her. don't give her any junk food at all. and leave her alone. my SIL and brother do this to my neice, now 4 1/2, and it is a nightmare. AS SOON AS the meal starts they are harping on her about it, it has been 3 years now and it is so ingrained in them, this horrible habit, they don't even know how to stop. it's awful to watch. and my neice digs in and doesn't eat a thing. stop fighting her now or you will have much bigger problems later.

My daughter really was the same way. I worried about her, but her pediatrician assured me that her body would tell her to eat and not let her starve, even if it was less than a teaspoon of food! He said as long as she was healthy and maintained her normal activities she was fine. She actually was this way from about 18 months to 3 1/2, then started eating better and although she is a picky eater, she has never gone back to not eating. For her I think it may have been a part of her "terrible twos" which coincidentally were at the exact same time, she started early and ended late :-/

My advice is to just place her food in front of her, using smaller plates (I sometimes use saucers for my little guy) let her see the rest of the family eating and enjoying their food, and she may or may not try it. Just pick up her plate at the end of the meal with everyone else's. Don't let her fill up on liquids before or during meals, but make sure to offer her milk if she doesn't eat a meal, at least that will get some nutrition into her. Don't offer junk food between or at meals, concentrate on offering healthy whole foods. Ask her day care what exactly she's eating if you don't know, and try that at home. If she doesn't eat it when you prepare it then it is a control thing, and I would just continue to offer but not try to get her to eat, no coaxing or bribing (NOT that I think you do) so she feels she's in control when she does eat.

Right now I'm having difficulty with my guy who's 27 months. He's working on getting molars in and along with the hot weather he sometimes will only drink cold milk and water. But he's doing everything he normally does even when he's not eating, so he's OK.

Hang in there, mom : )

They eat differently each day. Some days my son barely ate a thing. Some days it seemed he ate more than DH and me combined. As long as you are offering only healthy choices (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, dairy, no processed foods, chicken nuggets, fries, hot dogs, etc) I would leave her alone. Offer her the food at mealtimes and snack without any pressure. After all, you want her to learn to eat when she is hungry and NOT when she is not hungry.

I am assuming her weight and rate of weight gain are normal.

There is some recent evidence, that if you bribe toddlers to eat, that decreases their acceptance of the item. It does increase their desire for the bribe. So if you bribe them with a cookie to eat broccoli, they like the cookie more and the broccoli less.

Every one of my kids went through this at that age. It won't last forever- just try to patiently wait it out. Listen to the pedi on this one because if you try to push eating, it becomes a control issue and the toddler will win that battle every time. She'll be ok :)

We have the same issue with our 18 month old. We hide a lot of the foods he does not care for in smoothies. We make a smoothie every morning with five raw fruits and veggies and he happily sips it down.
Additionally we hide a lot of veggies in his favorite foods such as: cauliflower in his mac and cheese, and zucchini, cauliflower, etc in his spaghetti sauce.
The only two meats he will eat are bacon and hamburger. So, we substitute other forms of protein in to be sure he's getting enough. We use almonds in a homemade protein bar and sunflower butter in his PBJ.
Finally, do not force your child to eat something. We prepare one meal for the family and he has the chance to eat what we eat. If he chooses not to eat, we give him a few crackers and then meal time is done. When this happens he is usually ravenous the next meal, but he eats well. Also, do not allow your child to fill up on snacks and/or milk. This will definitely impede getting your child to eat what you want her to eat at meal time. Your 18 month old is definitely a sharp little cookie and she has learned how to push buttons. :)

Fact - a healthy child will not starve him/herself. Fact - your baby / toddler / child's stomach is only the size of her / his fist. Fact - most adult weight problems and / or eating disorders stem from childhood food "battles of will". Please, do yourself and your child a huge favour and listen to your pediatrician! Offer food at regular times and simply remove it (without comment) if she doesn't want it. Do not keep trying to "tempt her" to eat by continuing to offer different foods when she doesn't want to eat. Believe me (my kids are healthy teens now - perfect height to weight ratio for their age group) she WILL eat when she's hungry! My husband and I never forced our kids to eat nor did we ever offer food as "reward". If they did not want to eat what I had cooked, I would not offer to make them anything else. As a result my daughter was the only child in grade 1 to announce in front of her class that her favourite food was broccoli! Trust her instinct as you should trust yours - she will eat what she needs in order to grow. Unless your pediatriacian tells you that she's not growing as she should, relax! Best wishes to you and your precious child.

My daughter is almost three and we still are having a battle. try to make as fun as possible. I have just learned to let it go and remember that she will eventually learned to like new foods. Just keep introducing new things and one day she will try it. being frustrated wont help.. I know,,, ive been there ;)
Good luck
S

Don't force her to eat. Offer her healthy food in small amounts at regular intervals and feed her until she stops when she wants to eat. She WILL eat if she is hungry. Growth has slowed down at this age so she may truly not be hungry!