15 mo old - Suddenly a VERY picky eater... HELP!

DS has always been a good eater - even daycare is amazed at how much he'll eat of ANYTHING you put in front of him. But in the past week, he's eaten almost nothing at all and it's driving me crazy!

He'll show interest in eating, go over to the highchair and "ask" for food, but then won't eat it. ???? He'll literally take two bites and that's it. I'll prepare his "favorite" meals, nothing. Try new foods, nothing. Cheerios and goldfish crackers will satisfy him, but the volume of what he's eating is significantly less. He is drinking normal amounts of milk/water as before, but the food intake is probably down 75% or more....

(One thing to add: last week he did throw up all of his breakfast and hasn't really had much of an appetite since then, but he's definitely NOT sick, and has normal wet and BM diapers as before. I'm just all confused.)

I know toddlers slow down their eating compared to late infancy, but this is insane!!!! Any advice welcome here. Do I just leave it be?

Re: 15 mo old - Suddenly a VERY picky eater... HELP!

I went through the same thing around 14 or 15 months. DS went from a great eater to a super picky eater. He started rejecting milk and many of his favorite foods. He's 2 now and a little better. He still has his moments though where he suddenly stops liking things that he used to want every day.

I didn't feel like having a battle with each meal so I tend to stock up on things I know he likes. I attempt to get him to try new food, but if he won't eat it, I have food that I know he'll eat on hand.

Re: 15 mo old - Suddenly a VERY picky eater... HELP!

That's the problem... the ONLY food he'll eat are cheerios and goldfish crackers. He normally LOVES fresh cut fruit, veggies (especially peas) and a whole bunch of things including eggs, chicken, pizza, you name it. He eats NONE of these now.

I REFUSE to become a short order cook and bend over backwards to get him to eat stuff, but I don't know what to do. Let him eat Cheerios all day? Deprive him from those in an effort to make him hungry enough to eat real food? WWYD?

Re: 15 mo old - Suddenly a VERY picky eater... HELP!

totally normal! I can remember telling the ped about this and DS is an amazing eater - I mean the kid was 30lbs at 1year old!) Then suddenly it ended. His faves were no longer good enough etc.

The ped said, dont push it, our job is to supply them with food, put it out for them, if they dont want to eat it, its a battle we as parents will not win.

I realized that DS was exerting his abilty to choose and I didnt push it, but I also never made multiple lunches or dinners either.

I make the food, if he ate it great if not it stayed on the table for later and sometimes he woudl pick at it later other times the dog got it.

But I will say eventually life went back to normal, his eating habits at 3yo are not hte same as at 1yo but he eats 2-2.5 (breafast is always iffy now) meals per day and we dont ever fight over it!

ETA: A friend of mine once told me her ped said, if a toddler is getting 1 solid meal every 2 days dont worry, they will eat when they are hungry.

Personally I would stop supplying cheerios or goldfish all together. Leave the fruit or chicken out and let him pick on those.

use the Cheerios as a reward.

Message edited 1/12/2011 1:41:19 PM.

Re: 15 mo old - Suddenly a VERY picky eater... HELP!

Thanks! We go for his 15 month visit next week, so I'm hoping to hear the same advice. It just drives me crazy to think he might not be getting the right nutrients! I guess DS knows what he wants just like he did when he was a newborn!

I'll put the cheerios and goldfish away for now and leave out the fruit and other "real" food like you suggest. Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to toddlerhood!

Re: 15 mo old - Suddenly a VERY picky eater... HELP!

One of the things that DS has always liked is sliced turkey. He goes through phases of liking and then not liking cheese. These are two things I tend to offer a lot. I will go through a list of things I have on hand, none of which really requires any cooking. He'll usually agree to something on the list. If he wants something like snacks, I usually ask him to eat a few bites of something more substantial first.

There are definitely times when he skips a meal or eats much later than usual b/c he doesn't want anything I offer. If he's really hungry, he'll eat something. If not, he'll make up for it at the next meal.