daughter is on hunger strike

[boosty]

another thing i forgot to add is her schedule, if by miracle, she eats breakfast (like two spoons of cottage cheese and orange juice), then she wont eat until 4pm. what do i do?

i dont know what to do. my daughter is 26mos. she is not a picky eater. she likes al foods. her favorite is greens . or vegetables. the only thing she doesnt like is milk, but i mix it in her cerael and stuff and make her have it. my problem is that she WILL NOT EAT ANYTHING. she prefers to drink all day. i dont give her too much juices or water cause i dont want her to fill up and not be able to eat. when it comes to food time, she starts crying and saying no! sometimes, i get so mad, i threaten her just to make her eat. like i would say, if you dont eat, youre going to bed. or if you dont eat, you will sit in the corner. i hate myself for that. cause i should just leave her alone until she gets hungry, but i dont want to sit home all day just waiting for her to get hungry. she makes eating a battle and she ends up not eating anything. shes a smart girl and talks in complete sentences. but eating, i have always fed her unless its finger foods. for example if i am feeding her soup, i gotta spoon feed her cause she will just spill and wont eat. she was never excited about food time, but i always fed her one way or another, but lately its been three or four days that shes not eating anything. she isnt sick or anything. so i dont knwo what the problem is. what is your best advice? i am losing my cool and i am creating a mad, and angry house just because of food time. please tell me how to deal with this. thank you so much

[Cleveland Mom]

I have been a very similar situation with my son who just turned 5 years old.  First of all, bootsy, you need to relax.  Often times feeding problems with young children are caused to some extent by parental anxiety. Very young children can be adversely affected by our anixiety, they are able to pick up on this. You have most of the power to turn this feeding problem around.  Decide to change your attitude and approach.  It is not healthy to over-react to this problem.  I realize that you do know this and that you are likely quite level-headed. It is absolutely necessary that you relax and remember a child will not starve herself.  It is very common for children your dtr.'s age to exist on next to nothing and/or to exist on a very limited diet i.e. only macaroni and cheese and milk.

You need to develop a relaxed, non-chalant manner about feeding your dtr.  Serve her three nutritious meals and 2 snacks per day.  Have a mealtime routine, feed her the meals and snacks at roughly the same time everyday.  Try to serve her the foods she does like and slip in some new foods.  Allow her to eat what she wants to eat.  Make NO comment positive or negative regarding what she eats or doesn't eat.  You do not want to make mealtimes and feed a battle ground.  If you adopt this approach over time, likely things will improve.

Additionally, you may consider asking your pediatrician for a referral to a nutritionist.  I did this with my son and she provided me with much of the information that I have given to you as well as some additional information about nutrition.  Also, check with a good child care book, at your local library or book store, you may also find some helpful information in print as well.

Best wishes and keep us posted!

[Cleveland Mom]

Additonally, my son was about 20 months when we went thru this similar issue.  

[Trialanderror]

My son was about the same age when he suddenly had no more interest in eating the whole variety he loved before. Initially I was worried, too but after a few weeks I realized that he quite well had days during which he ate either tons of vegetables or fruit to catch up on nutrients or pasta and bread to stock up on calories as if his body was aware of what was missing. The whole phase lasted about a year. During that time and after I always had a picture of the foods he used to eat hanging on the wall beside the table and I continued to brag about how yummy all the food on my plate tasted. Eventually he dropped his narrow-mindedness without any intervention. I need to add though -at that age toddlers are getting molars and if they go to daycare, they catch all kinds of colds that reduce appetite. I also noticed over the years that many toddlers are "drowning" themselves in liquids which leaves no room for solids. It could be one of those fctors as well with your daughter. It will not last forever.

[wolf lady30]

If you make it a battle than she will think its a battle too.I have the same problem with my son too that he doesn't want to eat sometimes too but i make sure he eats something at least.and if she is old enough to eat with her hands than let her because she has to have that hand coordination,feeding her yourself all the time will only make her not want to eat unless your doing it she has to learn that hand movements.all kids are messy until they get older (smiles). and she has to eat more than just a couple spoon fulls,set aside a few things and portions and then when she has ate good enough then give her liquids.

[boosty]

my problem is not that shes being picky. because she isnt. my problem is that DOESNT eat ANYTHING. yesterday, she had one bottle of juice, four grapes, and one lolypop all day. the day before she had fresh vegetable juice (one cup) and one banana all day. thats not enough.

[Cleveland Mom]

My son wasn't necessarily picky at your dtr.'s age, he just didn't eat very much.  I remember one day when he was about 22 months, he ate 5 blueberries and a crust of bread, drank 2 cups of milk and that was it!  He had a very small, appetite.  In fact around the time I am speaking of he was at about the 5th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height.  As I posted, we took him the pediatrician, who had us do some lab work, which did not reveal any physical problems and then we were referred to a nutritionist.

We just learned to relax and not to worry about his eating by the time he was 3 his appetitie increased and he moved up the charts in weight and height.  Today, his appetite isn't huge but he weighs in around the 30th percentile for weight and the 70th percentile for height.   His eating is not a problems at all.  Truly, you need to relax and develop a low-key approach.  Worrying and over-reacting will make it worse.  It may ease your mind to talk with your pediatrician and to get a referral to a nutrionist.  If this will ease your mind, then set an appointment with your pediatrician.  Again, Best wishes...

[Liza55]

As long as her MD assures you she is a proper weight for her height, then I'd take this stressor out of your day!  Offer the food once, let her know it's there when she's hungry (she needs to ask you for it) and leave it at that. I don't think there's ever been a kid who starved themselves to death. Keep giving her water, though, to stay hydrated.
I know it's frustrating when all you want to do is get some nutrition in them. Only other thing I can think of is protein type drinks or nutritional drinks ( search wisely for these as the Pediasure's full of processed sugar).

[boosty]

thank you so much