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Toddler not eating! Help! Anemia!

My son is going to be 2 in Feb. and I am worried about him. He doesnt eat regular food. His ped. said that I should just stick with my guns and only feed him what I eat and not make special meals for him. He said if he doesnt eat meat and veggies this could lead to anemia. My son is perfectly healthy but I am worried about what he eats. I have tried what the doc said but every night i feed my son what I eat he refuses it over and over and goes to bed without dinner. This has actually been for 1 month of sticking with it. The only things I am CERTAIN my son wont turn down is:

Toast
PB
Crackers
Cheese
Rice Cakes
Yogurt
Juice and Milk
breaded fish
French fries
These are the only things he ever eats. its my fault cause I never tried to introduce him to solids, as i was terrified of him chocking. So, I would only give him the soft foods mentioned. WHen he stopped eating baby foods, I only fed these things and now I messed things up. What should I do? Toddler never ever eats meat or veggies. He wont drink V8 or even eat veggie soup. Help!
20 Responses
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Avatar universal
What an idiot doctor. You cant send them to bed hungry. Hed definently become ill. If your child isnt eating and is getting weak and loosing weight feed them what ever they want. Give them anything just something is better than nothing.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My daughter is 4 an she wot eat anything we eat as a family. All she will eat is her peanut cereal. Chicken nuggets. French fries. Peanuts. Chips. Candy. Junk food. Eggs plain no salt. All she wants to drink is pop or milk. I hate it I try to tell her she needs to eat what we eat to be strong an grow bif but it don't work. She can go for days just eateating her cereal, for 4 times a day. I have tooken her to the doctorsame more than 3 times tElling them I'm so worried about her cause she don't eat right an all they tell me is she is going threw a stage I told them it can't be right this has een going on for more than 2yrs now. An we just went to her check up last week an I said something about her eating an they say she just fine as long as she eats. But she don't look healthy at all she looks like she so weak an she is skinny my 2 yr old is almost her size an weights more than her. I'm so scared an don't know what to do.. she don't sleep at night she falls asleep about 3,4 am. An sleeps til noon or 2pm. She just dont act like a normal 4yr old. My family an friends say she looKS really ill cause she got eat right or sleep but doc says she is fine. I give her vitamins an she will take them..I just think some of these docs are a Joke. Can u plz help me out if u know anything I can try or do. Thanks
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
This is me Shannon replying again cause I found the board lol my son today eats so much now! He eats veggies, meats everything. There are only a few things now that he wont eat. Phew and Finally!!
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
How did you get him to start eating again . I have an almost three year old thats been battling anemia for a year and half and was recently taken off iron suppliments , he refuses to eat anything...desperate for any helpful advice .
Avatar universal
I HAVE A 3 YR OLD SON WHO USE TO EAT MEATLOAF AND MEATBALLS OR SPAGHETTI WITH MEAT SAUCE NOW HE WONT TOUCH IT AT ALL. ALL HE EATS AND WANTS FOR BREAKFAST,LUCH AND DINNER IS OATMEAL. AND MAC & CHEESE. SOMETIMES HE WONT EVEN EAT HIS MAC & CH3EESE, HE DOES NOT DRINK MILK ANYMORE EITHER SO THE PEDIASURE THING WONT WORK FOR ME. HE DOES EAT GUMMY VITAMINS THOUGH. BUT IM AFRAID TO MIX ANYTHING DIFFERNT INTO HIS FOOD BECAUSE IF HE DOESNT LIKE IT HE MAY NOT EAT HIS OATMEAL AGAIN
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
same problem with my 2year son but i think we have more attansion with our kids it's big issue......
you try to make him/her fell hungery.......
don't give attansion to ur toddler
if ur toddler fell hungery give some meal to front of them
don't feed .......try to eat him or her self
Helpful - 0
603946 tn?1333941839
Could it be your dentist does not want the child having milk before going to bed?

I served  milk with meals til my boys quit playing football- age 16 at least. They NEED the calcium/
Helpful - 0
603946 tn?1333941839
Any time they eat a handful of cereal or pc of toast - enough to halfway fill that little tummy- offer a chewable multivitamin with iron and a few ounces of milk. If there is no food on their tummy it may make them nauseous.

Also try leaving out little edibles, dry cereal, pcs of fruit on the table low enough for them to come by and snack throughout the day.

Then don't make a battle out of food whatever you do. Tomorrow will be another day. I despise food battles. That pediatrician misspoke. Kiddos do not eat everything we eat.  Their tastebuds are not like adults yet.

Good luck
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
anyone with advise cause my toddler is anemic and only wants milk,milk and milk she is not a big eater..www.***@****
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
omg my daughter is 19 months and just became anemic last week its very stressfull cause she doesnt want 2 eat the only thing she wants is milk,milk,milk and milk she will only eat like 2 spoons of something all day and cry 4 her milk the doctor said i have 2 b firm with her and only give her 1 or 2 bottles a day but its so hard cause if she doesnt eat or drink milk what will she have?nothing so that has me worried i know its 4 her own good so i have 2 stand by it and b conistante with the food and less milk..my question is what food can i give her that will capture her interest plus have iron?she loves lucky charms but only the marshmellows,dounuts,milk,banana,icecream,smoothies,basically junk i dont know what 2 do my baby has 2 get better cause the doc wants 2 c her in 1 month and im affraid of what he will tell me if she doesnt get better...please help... my email is ***@****
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I am going trough the same thing with  my 23 month old daughter she will not eat her tea and yes it does come down to what they are eating through the day. I have tryed not to feed her food after a time and it still is not working but im sticking to it. She will also only eat nuggets, chips, toast, biscuites and just know weet-bix with milk.
I know how frustrating it is when you cook this nice tea and they won't even touch it. It is hard but they will come around my son did who is 4.
Thanks heaps i hope i helped a little and good luck
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
(in fact I meant)
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have had the same issues with all 3 of my children at that age. This is a very common concern I see in my practice often; I’m  actually am surprised the doctor has not told you, that this is a very common issue particularly with the age. Add up everything he has eaten all day, and go by that... He is not going to starve; it is just the age :)

P.S.
It has been proven that a child will swear he or she does not like a particular food, but infect, it takes 30 times before they become accustom to the food, and most likely will change their mind.    If he likes animals, giraffes and dinosaurs eat trees, and broccoli is a little tree, and he can make pretend he is the animal... also as your ped. Recommended, STICK TO YOUR GUNS!!!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My son is the same way however I didnt just not feed him certain stuff he flat out wouldnt eat it.  most the things on that list she has listed are what my child will eat as well he will eat toast, yogurt, french toast, patty melt (recently),  I cannot for life of me get him to eat any veggies or hardly meat.  he will eat chicken nuggets, bologna and cheese and miracle whip but our meals are out of the question I sat this child down long ago at our table with a plate of our foods LOL ya right he wouldnt have nothing to do with it gagged and puked at the site of it.  Mind you my child can puke on his own demand.  

HOT DOGS DEPENDING ON YOUR CHILDS AGE HOT DOGS ARE A BIG NO NO!
Hot dogs are one of the top few things that cause choking in children.  

Well i stuck a website up for my son its www.little-leo.com u can send me an email from there I'll prolly never find this board again LOL

thanks
shannon
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
im having the same problem with my 2 year old daughter. alll she will ask for is cake or cookies but we dont keep them in the house.shes had them at her grandmothers and ifi do buy them she will eat them lol. all she will eat is
french fries
chicken
fish if they are in hte shape of chicken nuggets but thats really rare
hot dogs
toast
apple slices
crackers
cereal occasionally

she rarely watns milk which her dentist doesnt wanther to have becouse she has bad teeth (4 have already had to be pulled) she drinks only water with the occasional orange juice

whenever i try to feed her new foods she takes the plate and hands it back with a screaming fit of no,no no. she takes a vitamin but im worried beocuse she used to eat anything you gave her.now its nothing and i really hate giving her hot dogs so much. i heard that they are hard to digest for children but sometimes its all she will eat.
people say keep reintroducing but it doesnt work for her at all.
im hoping as she gets older she will start to eat healthier again like she used to. anyone else have advice id love to hear it
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My son is just two and some days only eats a bread roll.I did everything the way you should when i weaned him but still it made no difference he just isn't that keen on food.So i plod on and i'm hoping things will change but it's a big nono to food battles thats when the problems will really start.I give small amounts of encouragement that somethings nice and sometimes he'll try a tiny amount but the main thing is he's tried it.It is very slow going but there's little amounts of progress.He mustn't see any emotion attached to his food or they'll pick up on it and react.Stay relaxed,easier said than done eh!
Helpful - 0
112359 tn?1226867083
I agree that his diet isn't awful for his age. Lots of young kids only eat 4 or 5 things for months at a time. It's not ideal but neither is fighting over meals and knowing he's not getting enough to eat.

RockRose is right, some kids have a very difficult time with textures and that may be what's going on, it may have happened regardless of how you introduced foods. My son is turning 5 and he still can gag easily if something doesn't feel right in his throat. He didn't start eating a variety of foods until after he turned 4, I just kept offering new things and let him try and finally he started to do it. As a toddler he would spit up his food all the time during meals, at least once a day. I had to keep track of the things most likely to make him gag and reduced how often he got them (and made sure he didn't get them when we were away from home!) I also made sure I chopped everything he could handle into very small pieces. He still can't eat apple peels or big pieces of orange. He at least has always liked some fruits, but veggies are still a struggle.

Your son is still so young, if I were you I'd think back to some of the flavors he liked as a baby in babyfood and chop them up small. For instance my son loved the jars of carrots so I cooked carrots til soft and made tiny bites and he ate them. (Raw ones still make him gag even now) And I know I've heard that a child must sometimes taste something new more than 10 times before they "like" the flavor, so just give him lots of opportunities to try the foods that are on your plate. Try not to let it make you worry, let him enjoy the foods you know he likes, they are healthy ones!
Helpful - 0
13167 tn?1327194124
I've never understood people,  and doctors,  who recommend getting into food battles with children.

Your child looks like he eats a nice variety of foods right now,  with some exceptions.  I agree with getting a juicer or maybe you could get "Naked Juice" or other very high quality juices from the produce section.  They're really tasty,  and if he'll drink juice,  that's a great way to get vegetables.

Some kids really have an aversion to texture,  and making them eat things that are repulsive to them will just cause them to vomit.

Best wishes,  I bet his diet will improve as he gets a little older.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
oh and as far as meat, as long as he is getting other sources of protein, I would think that would be ok

Have you tried eggs?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
try veggies in peanutbutter and jelly sandwich or buy a juicer (Jack Lalanes is a good one)  juice raw veggies and mix in with fruit juice.

this is pretty normal toddler behavior, just make sure you give him a good mutlivitamin and he should be ok

if he likes baby food veggies, mabye try giving that to him still, nothing wrong with that there just pureed veggies
Helpful - 0
154929 tn?1196187738
Have you put melted cheese on the veggies--that may get him to eat them--my four year old would not eat meat (except chicken) until he turned three.  I just kept offering to him like to bite fulls so not to waste it.  I alwsys tried to make him try it--we still do this with certain foods.  He now eats meat but there are still days he wants nothing to do withit and wants mac & cheese.  If I know he had a good day eating at grandmas-I may tell no on the mac & cheese--if not I will make themocrowave bowl for him.  but both my boys love eggs and milk-good protein.  So I think as long as he is healthy just keep offering your meals to him with something you know he will eat--most kids love corn and green beans.
Helpful - 0
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