How to Get My Son to Eat More Help!!!!!!!

How is he doing on whole milk? Sometimes you have to mix formula & milk little by little until it's 100% milk.

Kids do sometimes eat like snakes...a lot O. day and very little the next. Look at what he eats overall...not just that day.

Does he like any of the chunkier baby foods? Like the Stage 3 or toddler meals?

How about teeth? Does he have teeth yet?

Depending on his age, I'm assuming he's toddler age?? If that's the case, they can be picky, picky, picky ones. They will eat when they feel up to it, and other times not at all. Sometimes they'll want to eat then sit down and barely take 3 little bites before saying they are all done. Just keep with it, I find that not giving them an overwhelming portion, just a few bites at a time helps. Sometimes even just letting them graze throughout the day gets them what they need. Your child won't starve, they know what they need even when we are shocked that they have refused to eat for 6 hours;)

my son would sometimes eat and then sometimes not, doctor told me he will eat when he is hungry - that was when he was one - it used to drive my mom crazy - he would not even take a cookie - now 7 he still does the same thing, I dont push him to eat when he says no, I have a weight problem - he does not - doctor said he has stayed on same growth pattern since birth. I would talk to doctor - and see what they say - but my DS eats when he is hungry

How old is your child?

Why is he off formula?

Really depends on his age.

How old is he?

How many teeth does he have?

Have you introduced any solids yet? If so, what kinds (cereals, stage 1/2/3, any table foods, fruits, vegetables, purees, regular food)?

If he is showing signs of being satisfied, don't push it. No need to "fill the tank and top him off" when he's clearly not hungry, because that could lead to obesity.

Read the book "How to get your child to eat (but not too much)." Excellent, detailed advice about normal eating patterns in children.

How old is he? Did you replace his formula with milk?

Kids are pretty good at self regulating so if one day they don't eat much the next day they will. My pediatrician said not to worry unless he is not continuing on his growth curve.

I think we need more information. How old is your son? What kinds of food will he eat? Will he go all day without eating? Some children are more food driven than others. My friend's son eats anything you put in front of him, even as a toddler. My son just recently is open to trying thing but still will not feed himself unless is grazing type food or something he really likes. Is your son underweight or has fallen suddenly to a lower percentile? If that is the case then just be patient and try different foods at different times. A year ago my son gagged and choked over pasta and now he eats it. If he is underweight then make the foods he likes as fatty as you can with butter, cream, and healthy oil like olive. But if he is in the normal weight range, then don't stress and just keep offering!

STOP trying to make him eat more! You don't say how old your son is - but this is a fact ... our stomachs (unless they have been "stretched" by years of overeating) are only the size of our fist!! Look at your son's fist and look at the amount you're expecting him to eat. Is it realistic? Here's another fact - if food is regularly available (and there is no underlying disease) a child will NEVER EVER starve himself! Fact 3: An experiment was done with toddlers. For 1 week, they were allowed to eat anything they wanted from a variety of "finger foods" (while the adults looked on from the other side of a one-way mirror). The food on offer included both "healthy" and "unhealthy" snacks. The adults thought that the kids would only eat the sweets, marshmallows etc instead of the carrot sticks and cheese etc. To everybody's surprise, once they analized what every child ate over the course of 7 days, they found that ALL the kids actually ate at least as much "healthy" food as "unhealthy" food! Also, even if (on any given day) the child's diet appeared to be totally "unbalanced" - in the long run, they ALL got enough vitamins, minerals, protein etc that their bodies needed. So, to recap, stop stressing; keep offering a good variety of food to your son and let him eat what he wants and as little as he wants. My kids are now 18 and 15 years old. They are the only kids I know who BEG ME to make broccoli for them! They prefer good homemade food to take-aways. Why? Because my hubby and I NEVER forced them to eat veg or anything else so they don't associate "healthy" as not nice and things like chocolate or ice-cream as "reward"! Good luck! :)

Many children are difficult when it comes to eating. There are questions galore on this site about eating issues. I have had my own issues where my daughter refused solids until I got her into an occupational therapy group at 18 months. This group was invaluable to me and I learned things I wished I had learned when I had my oldest. Regardless, below are bullets of some of the things I learned through OT (I copied and pasted from a previous response I made). The schedule is the most important. If you stick to the schedule, then your son will eat when he's hungry. Don't worry. His eating is very normal at this age! However, I wouldn't force him to eat because then you may be developing overeating habits that can create issues later in life. Good luck!

- Experts say you can introduce a food to a child as many as 17 times before they will eat it. In OT we practiced this introduction in steps...touch the food, kiss the food, lick the food, bite the food (teeth marks were only required), eat (swallow) the food. We only encouraged one step at a time and celebrated each little accomplishment. For example, if I was introducing green beans for the first time, I would encourage her to just pick it up and if she did that, I would praise her and do nothing more with the green beans.

- Set a schedule. It's recommended that you have breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. These should be scheduled and consistent each day. You set a timer and give the child that amount of time to eat. I think a 2yo can sit at the table for 10-15 minutes. When the timer goes off, remove the food and there is no other food until the next scheduled time. Even if your child refuses to eat, the expectation is to sit at the table for the designated amount of time. My daughter used to scream and throw food on the floor she didn't want to eat affecting the entire family's meal time. The OT had us move her high chair away from the table, but she was still expected to sit in the chair until she acted appropriately or until the timer went off. My daughter did not like being by herself and learned quickly what the meal time expectations were.

- Be patient. If you get frustrated, bribe, etc., your child has more power than you and will learn to use it. Your child knows and is entering the age to test his boundries and power. Don't stress.

- Check out a book called, "How to Get Your Child to Eat But Not Too Much" by Ellen Satyr. The book was originally recommended by my lactation consultant when I first started identifying the feeding issues with my daughter and was later recommended by my OT.

Children eat what they need to survive, we on the other hand survive just to eat. Don't make an issue of eating because it can cause a life long problem. Make food available through out the day for him to nibble on and then have your family meals with him at the table. Offer the food and THAT'S IT! The rest of the family eats their meals and he what he wants to eat. When the meal if over just go about your routine. don't worry he will NOT starve himself; but, again, making it an issue can hurt him in the future.

Penny Amic CEO/Clinical Director
Special Beginnings, Inc.
An Early Intervention Network

How old is he????

My son, even if on solids, was very not into eating and picky.
Per our Pediatrician, we had him on Toddler Formula still.
Even at 1 year old.
He was already self-weaned from my breast. He didn't want that either.
But he would take Formula.
And gradually over time, mixing it with whole milk. Which he then transitioned to, over time. It took awhile.