help my child won't eat

[oldgrape]

my son is 2 years old and i can't get him to eat more than a few mouth fulls of food i have tried praising him for eating and ignoring any bad behaviour as adviced.

have tried making food more fun i.e smiley faces etc.

also eating at the table with him

today he had 2 bites of toast for breakfast, 4 hula hoops, a bite of a banana and a grape for lunch, and 5 tea spoons of beans and sausage for tea.

He always has loads of energy and has is not under weight but he is 10cm shorter than the average 2 year old how on earth can he manage on such little amounts of food

Any advice of ways to encourage him to eat

[dot.hawkes]

2 year olds have a tiny tummy and if he is drinking juice before or during his meal it will be filling his tummy up .

[lorri24601]

i had same with my daughter when she was a toddler,so rather than make meal times a battlefield, for a couple of weeks i just used to randomly through the day leave healthy snacks,grapes,cheese,strawberries,bite sized pieces of pitta bread, bread with cheese spread etc dotted round the room then let her see me just pick the odd thing up and eat it with no fuss or attention drawn to it, within a couple of days she was doing the same, once she was happily eating more i just put one plate of food out, then slowly adjusted it to fit in with mealtimes and giving it ho her when we had meals.Its not the ideal way to feed a todler,but i was just happy she was eating lol.She is 17 now and still has a very small appetite,but she is health and happy,i often wonder why i worried so much,but hey thats called being a mum i guess :-) good luck,im sure he will grow up to be the same x

[petal54]

many minnies are like this,baby power games ,nephew ate less,but now a fully fledged member of the 'eat anything'club,

[lozzylou]

my son is 3 and i asked for advice on the a while ago as i had the same problem. my son went through a astage where he would only eat jam on toast. he would have 1 slice in the morning and 1 slice about 6pm and that was it all day sometimes he would have nothing at all. i tried all sorts of things. i made him and his brother a reward chart and if they ate there 3 meals a day they got a present out the box ( i just filled it with little cars and things from the pound shop ). this didnt work though he didnt care that his brother was having a present and he wasnt.
my mom said he will eat when he is ready and it is so true. i just stopped all the snacks in the day. f he ate some breakfast he could have something after, ie yoghurt fruit. if he didnt i would not give him anything till lunch time and done the same again. eventually h started to eat a sandwich at lunchtime.
evening meals are still a problem but he noe eats breakfast and lunch. although the fruit you are giving him are good for him, stop them. if he wont eat some breakfast dont offer him other things untill lunch time cause he knows that if he dont et his breakfast so what he can have some fruit or crisp after.
i hope you work things out as it is frustratin at times just be patient try not to make a fuss, if he wont eat it take it away and dont offer him anything else.

[lozzylou]

another thing that worked for me was to give him water with his meals. my son hates water so i say if you eat all your dinner i will swap it for pop.
works a treat!

[PatriciaH]

Excellent advice from lorri , try a teddy bear / dolls picnic in the house and see if he eats anything : )

[Solarjunkie]

Your son is eating more than my 2 year old did at times. One day I remember 6 cornflakes and half a Ryvita - in a whole day!
Like your son, he was happy & healthy and full of energy, so I followed the advice of more experienced mothers and ignored it as much as I could. Food was offered, 3 or 4 times a day, no snacks. He ate what he wanted and we had to trust that he was getting what he needed. It seemed a waste of time and energy to spend all our waking hours trying to make him eat more, when he was obviously doing well.
It was nearly 2 years later that his appetite improved a bit, I have to warn you! As an adult he still does not have much interest in food.
TRY not to worry, hard as it sounds!
Good luck.

[upsydaisy]

Hi, We have much the same problem with our little fella who is nearly 2 and has been a fussy eater pretty much from the start. I have noticed that he only eats when hungry - sometimes that coincides with what we think of as a mealtime - but for him can be every other day!! It seems strange to programme him to eat at set times - when surely its better to eat when you're hungry - so I just try to go with the flow.
I went thro the whole frustration/worry/panic n it just wound him and me up. So now I try to chill out - I read its a good idea to write down what they eat over a week to get a better picture of their diet. I hope this helps - I bet when our boys are teenagers n eating everything in the fridge we will be worrying they are eating too much. He he - the joys of parenting eh?? Take care xx

[lucy1manship]

I hear your frustration!!!

My daughter is 4. She has always eaten like this in fact we now call her a hamster due to the fact that she can eat non stop all day one day and then the next eat literally nothing!

I have asked our family doctor about it and like many other posters he has said dont worry undully about it unless it is effecting their health. They will eat when they want to,

Whilst it is frustrating for you try not to get worked up about it.

Good luck x