2 Yr Old Won't Eat!!! - Irving,TX

When she is hungry she will eat. I would give her a bit of time to finish her lunch then take it away when that time is up. When it is "snack time" I would offer her the lunch that she would not eat or finish eating. If she still does not want to eat that then set it aside and give it to her for dinner but not offer anything else. This way you are letting her have control to eat when it is in front of her but not giving her all of the control where you are getting frustrated or being a short order cook. If it is something that she tries but really does not like then I would offer her something else to eat and do the same thing as above. If she still won't eat the second choice then don't worry, she will when she is hungry enough. My nephew was very much like this and would only eat 4 different foods for years. We did this and now he is willing to try different foods and even likes sushi. GOod luck.

i have a you don't eat if you don't want to policy in my house. for breakfast they can pick what they want to eat. cereal, bananas, yogurt, pancakes. if they don't eat it then they wait until lunch NO SNACKS!! at lunch they can pick: sandwich, hotdogs, mac n cheese, usually cheese and fruit ect. (my kids could live off of cheese.) if they don't eat that's fine too. but we all sit together at the table until everyone is done eating at every lunch and dinner. I usually give them one package of fruit snacks and juice after their nap around 3. at dinner everyone gets a little of what is served on their plates but you only have to eat what you want. i usually plan something in the meal that i know they will eat like mandarin oranges, texas toast, tortilla with honey, or corn on the cob. i don't let them get more of what they want to eat unless they have at least tried something else on their plate. after dinner if they have not eaten i will keep their plates out and reheat them if they get hungry. other than that no food until the morning. my girls are 3 and 2 and picky eaters. don't force them to eat. just don't give them anything else :) they will figure it out. my 3 year old eats pretty good now but i remember how i couldn't believe that was all she was going to eat for the day. also NO desserts unless they have eaten a reasonable amount of food. good luck

R.,
I wouldn't stress over this situation. If you have consulted your pediatrician about both of your children, which I would do first, and ask him/her about them being on vitamins if they are not already. After you have consulted with them, I would say they will eat when they are hungry and I would just try and keep light nutritious snacks available like fruits and raisins are a good too. My 2 1/2 year old granddaughter isn't real hungry in the mornings so I just give her a little snack box of raisins and she will eat some of them and be fine until lunch. Again, they'll eat when they get hungry.
Good luck!

Children can control very few things in their lives, and food is one of them. The more we fuss about it, the more control they take.

What's worked for us is the following:

First we have an "age-bite" policy at our house. You have to take the number of bites equal to your age (2 bites if 2, 5 bites if 5, etc.) That's the only requirement. Otherwise, the food can sit.

The other thing is that food is only available for 45 minutes (my kids are slow eaters and like to dally). Once it's off the table, food is no longer available until the next scheduled meal. When the kids whine that they are hungry, I tell them that it's too bad they didn't choose to eat when the food was available and that now they have to wait until the next time food is on the table. (And I've been known to serve the same exact thing the next time.) No lectures, just "I'm so sorry you made that choice."

I don't make a big deal out of it and I noticed that the less I focus on the food, the better choices they make.

I hope that helps!

R.,
Please don't force your child to eat or punish a child for not eating. Not only can this provoke eating disorders, but it will make meal time about control instead of fulfilling an essential need of sustenance. More than likely you become angry with your child because you are worried about nutrition, but your anger may do more harm than good.

Here is an article I found online: http://www.familyresource.com/parenting/behavior-issues/w...
cut and paste that into your browser so that you can read it. There are good ideas there.

Lots of children are picky eaters. Most grow up just fine. Search the internet for ideas that sound right for your family. If you have not already I would suggest you offer vitamins to your child to help her nutritional needs. Let me know if you would like suggestions.

All My Best,
P.

Sounds like you need to talk to your pedi. The throwing up part is what takes me back. It may be allergies, or an intolerance.
Not sure what you're feeding her, but I have a picky 2 year old girl, and right now, all she'll eat is yogurt, chips, cheese and crackers. She goes through stages of "what foods are acceptable" Also consider her two year molars if they havn't come in yet. They may be bothering her mouth. If you don't know, the 2 years are #s 17-20.

This sounds like my son who is now almost 6. He had sensory integration delays or issues. When he was nearly 2 I got him into speach therapy since he wasn't talking and through that therapy it was discovered he had sensory issues. He wouldn't touch certain things like shaving cream or anything he wasn't familiar with etc. When then they asked questions about food. My son would throw up too, really sensitive gag reflex.
Now I was in California and there they provide free therapy for children under 3 that displayed any sort of delay. I'm sure Texas has something like that. I would talk to your pediatrition about it and be very specific about wanting to look into state provided sensory integration therapy.
There are certain steps to take to introduce foods and will make all the difference in the world. My son now will at least try new foods and the foods he will eat have expanded a lot since therapy. Its still a daily issue but I have the tools now so it doesn't seem as much of a challenge.
If your peidatrition isn't supportive of the therapy I would on your own look for a state provided program to have your child evaluated through asap. I'm sure moms here have info. This is a great resource :)

When she's hungry, she'll eat. DO NOT FORCE food to a child...ESPECIALLY a girl...she could grow up with SERIOUS eating issues. Girls have it hard as it is. It doesn't really make sense to punish (time-out) a child for not eating. If they're not hungry OR if they're just not in the mood, it's just that simple.
I would worry about dehydration, so make sure she's drinking fluids throughout the day if nothing else. Other than that, if she doesn't eat, she just doesn't eat. Try again at the next meal.

Don't baby it, don't get mad, don't force it, don't punish...especially, don't worry.

There could be a lot of things going on here. I would talk to your pedi and ask for a referral to a nutritionist. She could have reflux (sometimes the kids swallow it, so you may not even know!), a sensitive gag reflex, sensory issues, etc. My oldest had eating issues and fell off the chart for weight, turned out he had a sensory disorder, and once we addressed that, the eating took care of itself. He still has issues with some foods (won't eat "mushy" foods, can't handle too much flavor, food temp must be room temp or below) He would not eat even if he was hungry, because his brain wasn't interpreting his body's signals correctly, and he didn't understand he was hungry. There are so many things it could be, so get a referral asap (it can take months to get an appointment!). In the meantime, supplement with Pediasure, and keep track of what foods she likes. Is there a common thread? Soft food only? Cold food only? Keep offering other types of food, but make sure you give her at least one favorite at each meal so she's eating something without a fight. For the food she does eat, try to increase the calories - add butter, salad dressing, use whole milk, use a dip (ketchup, ranch, bbq sauce, whatever). Our society is so focused on addressing obesity and there are many tips to cut calories - take those and reverse them =) Also, make sure you put just a little bit of food on your daughter's plate at a time - less than you think she will eat. This will help her have "success" at eating and may take some of the pressure off. I can't emphasize enough to get a referral. The nutritionist is the first step (not because you don't know how to feed your child, but because they can give you ideas on how to get her to eat, increase her calorie intake, and also provide further referrals if there's an underlying issue). Hang in there!

My daughter was the fussiest eater on the planet and finally I just stopped feeding her if she wasn't interested. I gave her the few foods she liked, and if she didn't want them, we put it all away. It made for much less confrontation and she finally caught on that if she wasn't going to eat, she was going to be hungry. I created an eating schedule of 3 meals a day with a possible snack if she asked for food between lunch and dinner. If she didn't want anything for breakfast, there was no opportunity to eat until lunch and if she didn't want it then, she waited until supper. It took about two weeks and she was eating 2 out of 3 meals. After about 2 months, we all ate together with no whining or complaining. I also made sure that food was not an issue fro my children, and let them decide if they are hungry. We allowed them to choose what they wanted from what was prepared, but the rule was if you chose it, you ate it, there were no "special on the side menu items". On special occasions like birthdays they got to plan their menu and their cake.

If you are force feeding children, they never really understanding the concept of eating when one is hungry. In the long run, eating because someone thinks they should will often lead to issues with food as an adult. You want to teach children that food is about sustaining life, not replacing bad feelings.

Today, my daughter has to go on Weight Watchers periodically, so it didn't seem to adversely affect her development.

I found that my children needed to know that I meant what I said. They also needed to know that they could not control my reactions to things. If I didn't take the leadership role, my children would. We didn't argue, I did not tolerate whining and crying unless they were ill or hurt. I had one very strong willed child and one compliant child, so I had to adjust my actions for both, but in the long run I tried to make reasonably easy boundaries to follow, but I never could show them I didn't know what I was doing. Hope that helps.

I totally agree with Valeta!

Sweety, I raised a very picky eater who was very healthy and happy and always underweight. Never make not eating a punishable offense! It will lead to eating disorders later. Find a very nutritious food you child likes, luckily my daughter loved cereal, and when she wouldn't eat what I served I alway told her, "You can eat this or cereal." She often picked cereal. I never bothered about amounts, my doctor told me, 'a child will not starve himself, she will eat when she's hungry' and it is true!
My siblings and i are all overweight because we were raised with a clean your plate philosophy. My daughter is heathy and fit because she still, at 32, eats when she's hungry, and quits when she is full! I hope this helps you out!
T. W

R., I can certainly identify with your situation. When my son was about the age of yours, he would not either. The doctor told me to leave him alone and he would eat when he got hungry. Once he went for 3 days without eating a bite of ANYTHING. I never tried to force feed him but I did try to find something that he might like the taste of and tried to bump up the calories. For example, he got to where he would eat a little scrambled egg. So I cut up some cream cheese and folded it in and he got to where he would eat that . a little bit. It was several years and after he started school that it seemed to get better. The good news is that by the time he was in high school, he was eating everything, no eating problems and no weight problems. I still fix him cream cheese eggs sometimes when he visits -- he's 46 now.

Don't force her to eat it won't work. Try giving her pediasure so she at least gets all her nutrients and may gain weight. I agree with the other moms don't make it a huge issue or you will be battling this a long time. I think eventually it will get better

Definately talk to your ped regarding this. She could also have feeding issues or sensory issues -- either of which can be worked around. Try not to turn this into a power struggle and reinforce her pickiness if you're not careful I think. If she doesn't eat, it's highly doubtful she'll starve. They rarely do.