19 month old won't eat

I am very concerned about my daughter. She will not eat more than a few bites. I make all of her favorite food and she pushes it away. She only drinks her special formula she is on (allergic to cow milk) and eats rice checks. I tried force feeding her but she spits the food back out. My mom said this is normal toddler behavior but I am worried she will starve to death.

i can understand were you are comming from our son went through stages like this, make sure she has pleanty of fluids and dont give treats between meals only after, even if she only eats a small meal this is good

i went to doc coz i was worried what son was eating wasnt good for him he survived on cerial, peanut butter , chocolate spread, tin spaghettie, and beans doc told me he would get all the nutraints he needed so bare with son,

son his now 16 yrs and still has very faddy diet but he knows what he likes

hey twirls...as long as your child isn't loosing weight....isn't acting ill....is still active and all......I wouldn't be too concerned. She's getting her nutrients through the special formual she is taking in....thats a good thing!

Most kids go through times like this at different times of their lives. They seem to want only one or two specific foods and will turn everything else away...very very normal.

About all you can do is offer other options through her finicky period....you will see that sooner or later she will begin eating other things....

My oldest daughter....when she was about the same age would only eat hot dogs....I mean massive amounts of hot dogs...breakfast, lunch and dinner....for about 3 weeks. Finally she gave in and got sick of only hot dogs...LOL. I made sure she had a multiple vitamin every day. She was fine

Hang in there mom.....you'll see


sabby

This is a pretty common worry for parents at this age, but your mom is right. She won't starve herself, she will eat when shes hungry. It could be right now she just doesn't need the extra calories. She just might not be hungry! Children are very very good at regulating what they need to eat, and she is still pretty young.

Something you can do is monitor her weight to make sure she is not losing. Right now the average amount of weight for a baby her age to gain is 5.3 - 8 ounces/month. Is she still in diapers? Is she having lots of wets and regular poops?

Heres an excellent link from Dr Sears' Site for feeding picky toddlers.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030800.asp
It may also be worthwhile to see if any new teeth are coming in - if they are and she is teething, she might be having some tooth pain which may make her not want to eat. Also check her mouth for white spots which could indicate a thrush infection. I know breastfed babies can get thrush but I am not sure about formula fed.

Also, I would REALLY caution against the force feeding. Forcefeeding can lead to the child getting negative feelings about food and possibly refusing to eat at all because they equate it with a negative experience.

You could always bring her to your pediatrician for an evaluation to make sure everything looks ok, but her eating will pick up with time.

((((hugs))))

My last child was like this and his pediatrician told me "not to worry" and just make sure that he eats a balanced meal through out the day and not so much meal to meal as adults do.

BTW - this child (my last child of three) the one that was so picky with his food to the point that I was very concerned for his health has turned out to have an above average Genius IQ.

My mother told me that when I was younger, I would refuse to eat much, much like what must be going on with your daughter. My mother let me eat whatever I wanted, since I was so skinny and she thought I'd starve to death, but in retrospect, it created really poor eating habits that were hard to break. A sugar addiction, among other things.

So my advice is to keep her diet as balanced as possible when she eats. Aside from that, you don't need to worry. Kids won't starve themselves.

I have a very small child who has been below the charts since birth. I have constantly worried if I was feeding her enough.

My advice - which I got from others - is to try and relax. Make your child a plate of food, sit it where they can get to it, and then just go about your business. Don't focus on the feeding. Don't make it a stressful thing.

If the child is always stressed-out about eating, then they can't relax enough to just eat!

Also, you can try making a little snack tray with healthy snacks like small cut-up fruit, small pieces of string cheese, cut olives, soft vegetables, crackers, etc. Leave that tray where the child can access it throughout the day. A lot of toddlers can't really eat a big meal, but would rather just "graze" all day long, small bites.

It's also really normal for kids to stop eating around that age. They just don't need as much food! They aren't growing as quickly as they were as a newborn.

Also, I think you mentioned she's on toddler formula? That's great!! Keep that up. That can fill in any gaps if she does go a few days without much food.

Try to relax. That's the biggest advice I have.

She'll be fine. Toddlers do well at regulating their food intake and it will be okay. You're a good mom.

She's so busy learning and loving life right now that food isn't as important to her.

The rice cakes may be too filiing for her and if it was me, I would try cutting those (and all snacks) out of her diet and just offer her regular meals.

She'll come around and the more relaxed you are about it, the better for her becuase it won't become an issue of control.

If it would make you feel better, talk to your pediatrician or do some online research about toddler eating habits. I think you would be reassured that all is well.

I think just about every child has gone through this stage. Remember baby's tummy is only the size of her little fists, so what we think she should eat may really be more than she needs.

If you're concerned, I would definately bring it up with her peds doc, I did. I was SURE my eldest was starving to death, the doc said not even to worry about a balanced diet through the day, but rather on a weekly basis. Offer a variety, but at one point when my son was that age all he'd eat was ham. Another it was peanut butter (you can put peanut butter on a variety of fruits and veggies). Later my father-in-law introduced him to ketchup and that went on EVERYTHING.

If she's getting the vitamins and minerals she needs from her formula, the rest is window dressing at this point. My older two were grazers, they'd stop playing for 10 seconds and eat a couple apples slices or carrots, but they did this several times during the day. They weren't sit down eaters until the twins came along. These days you have all of those wonderful healthy pre-packed finger foods.

Never ever force feed them. Remember your not only nurishing her, your teaching her relationship with food.

foods my 3 year old son will eat:

McDonalds fries and Chicken McNuggets
Arbys french fries
Wendys french fries and Chicken Nuggets
cherry Pop-Tarts
banannas
apples
green, red, and yellow peppers
pears
grapes
spaghetti (occasionally)
plain hamburger (occasionally)
Pringles potato chips
pretzels

thats it.....if it comes in a can forget it

most days he eats one decent meal and thats it

plus he has a milk allergy

you know how many foods contain milk...its amazing

Everyone raises good points - I want to add that my experience (as a child) is similar to Magasanguis'. I was extremely picky at age 2 - jam sandwiches and french fries were all my parents could get down my throat. The pediatrician had the same advice as what everyone said here - don't stress - she'll eat when she's hungry and will get bored with the same old foods. However, my parents gave me too much leeway with it - branching out to becoming a (now) healthy eater was a huge challenge for me, and it was hard to overcome the bad habits. I wish my parents had been more persistent when I was younger.