Son Not Eating

My 2 year old does that from time to time.Her Dr. says as long as she is drinking and staying hydrated she'll eat when she wants too. To make me feel better I give her the liquid yogart. She thinks she drinking but really she getting something more. Hope I could help you.

maybe he has a sore throat? strep? I would rule out the medical first...

I think he's fine. My daughter went through this phase (she has them periodically). My doc says as long she's happy, functioning and healthy let her be. She'll eat what/when she wants. My friends kids have all gone through this as well. The last thing you want to do is make food an "issue" for your son. You're doing fine :-)

I agree with all posts, but also, offer LESS food! I'd rather refill their plates than throw stuff away! when going through this phase i would offer the same foods, but a much smaller amount. sometimes its less overwhelming, also like the others say, dont stress them on it. They'll eat when their ready.

Kids get what their bodies need and will eat when they are hungry. In the meantime, continue to offer healthy foods so he doesn't fill up on unhealthy snacks, and be sure to cut back on juice, too

K.,

My son is a very good eater too. But he also goes through phases like this. Don't sweat it. His appetite will return once he hits another growth spurt. Also remember that this age is all about control. Does he feed himself? Try offering him small pieces of food and a safety fork and let him go! He wants to have control and deciding when he's done eating is just one more way to exercise his autonomy. If you're concerned about his nutrition, try giving him a Pediasure or something like it. Make sure he takes a toddler multivitamin every day.

Good luck!

-T.

Yeah, my son is now two and just RECENTLY began to have an appetite.

Also he started daycare, so that probably has a hand in it also.

Weight wise my son is below the 10th percentile for his weight in comparison to his height on the charts. But besides his weight, he is a happy active child, that happens to be on the slim side. He always managed also produce stool and urine too no matter how little he ate.

Actually he has his 2nd gastric appt in two weeks, he had his first many months ago.

My son got a blood test and it tested positive for celiac, but he didn't have high enough gluten counts to have celiac disease (confusing). Its kinda like a sensitivity/allergy to gluten. share this with your pediatrician. Ask if you can get a blood test for celiac disease. There's a lot of resources online for the disease and its symptoms. Do a google search. Or it could just be the standard "picky eater".

Good Luck.

My kids are exactly a year and a week apart.. so I feel your pain.

I took my oldest to the doctor around that time and the doc said he will eat when he is hungry. She advised that I don't give in to the milk only routine as that was something we went through as well.. he's try and replace milk for meals.

Anyhow, doc says, he'll eat when he's hungry, and for the most part he does, even though I still worry.. he hasn't lost any weight yet and has gone many a nights without food.

J.

You can try this it might work, when my children were small they were very picky eaters, and the only way i could get them to eat was by telling them stories while they were eating, find a subject that he likes, (mine were gory stories that left them mesmerised) and make up the story as you go, they were so intense into my stories that their mouths would open for food instinctively, and sometimes they finished and wanted to finsh the story anyway, it's worth a try! I also made food for them with all the stuff they normalyy wouldn't eat and put it through the blender. Good luck!

I have three children and each of them went through phases like this. I always went by the concept that children will eat what their bodies need. My children are all healthy. My son, he was the pickiest eater, had an allergy that may have affected his eating. You may want to look into that if his lack of eating is severe.

Hi K.!

Do you think Sam may be cutting his 2-year molars? They can be very painful so he may just not to eat as a result.

I also have a 20-month old and we just went through this same thing...she has always been a good eater, but the week before last just stopped eating. I was concerned, but since her behavior hadn't changed and she was still drinking and producing lots of wet diapers, I didn't call the DR. She is now back to eating like a horse. It's a mystery, but she's fine now.

As long as Sam is producing wet diapers and is still drinking his normal amount, I wouldn't worry about it. My policy is usually to wait stuff out a few days and if there's no improvement, then call the DR and talk to the nurse. With something like this, I wouldn't push food on him...there are too many overweight kids in this country.

My mom just gave me an article about tastebuds for toddlers. Apparently the bitter tastebuds begin at 1 or 2 and many things that the children ate before will be ignored or disliked. Hannah, my 28th month old drives me batty with her likes and dislikes. We try all different cultures, as I grew with influences towards european foods, and my husband towards middle eastern. My husband thinks its funny that she loves humus, foul (beans mashed), and pickles, and mostly all the other things toddlers love. Just have him try things. Yogart is filling, but more importantly put his two hands together in one fist...that is the size of his tummy. Also, Hannah is now wanting salty foods, so I give her a choice when she goes to the fridge. (Not at dinner, as that would be a headache, but durring the day.) I've read that toddlers just are more interested in what is happening than food. So when he's cranky, see if he's hungry. I was so worried about her not eating veggies that I forgot fruits are rated up there at the same time. I could also be teething or not his time to grow. I was a nanny for two boys, Skyler at 1 1/2 and Landon at 6 months...I had them until Sky was preschool age, and one thing I seem to remember they were different with eating habbits. Don't worry about how much goes in his body, just what does go in his body. Good Luck Jen

Hi K., I'm going threw the same problem the diffrence is that my daughter (20 month also) dosn't like to eat ANYTHING but she drinks lots of juice and milk I've tried EVERYTHING I Talk to her Pediatrician she advice me not to force her to eat she also told me that they sell Infant vitamins drops that I give to her in her juice and milk.. So I've took her advice but when she wants to eat she will eat like you won't believe. So I really wouldn't stress it unless he is losing weight.... Then I will worry... Hope this helps.