r/toddlerfood

At this point I've read every Reddit posts and tried every trick in the book. So, unless it's really novel, I'm not looking for advice.

I was wondering if anyone can explain to me how a toddler can eat barely anything and still have so much energy/survive. It's like magic to me.

People go on about toddlers not needing many calories and look at food eaten over a week or month, not a day. That STILL boggles my mind about my kid. 17months old and over the course of a week she might eat 2 cups of food. She has a good appetite for one meal maybe three times every 2nd month. She hasn't got neophobia at all. Readily tries ANYTHING. Just... simple doesn't eat much. A 1/4 cup food in am then maybe a tablespoon at lunch and at dinner.

I really just don't get it. How can kids just NOT eat and be okay for extended periods?

My son has always been a fussy eater, but he seems to be getting worse and worse with not eating what feels like, anything! He has certain things he loves, porridge, bran flakes and bananas, and goes through phases of obsessions that last a few weeks, soup, beans, potato waffles. But on the whole, he just doesn’t eat! He’s not fussy in the traditional sense, he won’t touch a ham sandwich, chicken nuggets or pizza, but he’ll sometimes eat a Thai red curry or paella? But equally could offer him that a day later and would straight up refuse so you truly never know!

We’re trying to wean him off breastfeeding and it’s been made so much harder by the fact he’s clearly hungry from not eating properly.

I feel at such a loss, and it stresses me out beyond belief and I don’t know what to do? You can’t force feed a 2yr old but equally he definitely needs to eat more!

Advise would be appreciated, thank you .

Hi everyone,

I'm really hoping for some advice from parents who have experienced something similar.

My daughter is 19 months old and for approximately the last two weeks, she has been refusing almost all her meals apart from breakfast.

She used to absolutely love her food, had a great appetite and would happily finish her plate. Now it's almost impossible to get her to eat anything.

She still eats breakfast at home, usually cereal, fruit and toast, and then has some more cereal at nursery. However, she barely touches her morning snack, lunch or pudding at nursery.

At home, it's exactly the same. I offer her lunch and dinner, but she barely touches either. I've tried all her favourite meals, completely new foods and even ordered different meals from Lune & Wild, hoping something might interest her. But most of the time, she refuses to even open her mouth or try the food.

She still drinks milk and will sometimes accept a banana or smoothie, but proper meals have become an absolute struggle.

We previously allowed her to watch TV during meals because it was sometimes the only way to get her to eat, but I've now removed the TV as I don't want her to become dependent on it.

I'm honestly feeling incredibly frustrated and worried. I just don't understand how a child who genuinely loved eating can suddenly lose almost all interest in food.

Has anyone experienced such a sudden change in their toddler's eating habits?

Did it eventually resolve on its own? How long did it last, and what helped?

I'd really appreciate any advice or reassurance from parents who have been through something similar. ❤️

My 18MO is a happy well developing boy, but one thing that has a recently started happening is basically ruining every evening and meal time. Food he used to like he completely refuses. I used to give him bread or Ryvita if he doesn’t eat, but he stopped eating that as well. He loves having his milk and he eats well at breakfast and he’ll have some snack throughout the day, but definitely not enough for him to sustain himself.
My husband thinks that it’s not good that any time he doesn’t eat his food, I offer more and more and I just let him not eat a few times so he figures out if he doesn’t eat he’s not going to be given 1 million options.
I’m at a complete loss of what to do. He’s been getting worse and worse and this weekend, especially Sunday was the worst. This was his meal today:
Breakfast: 2 Weetabix with warm milk
Snack: mini leak muffin
Milk 1
Lunch - 1 slice of toast (offered fish pie which he usually loves)
Milk 2
Dinner - 2 mini leek muffins and a stick puff (offered him the beef casserole which he absolutely loved yesterday)
Milk 3

My son struggled with breastfeeding and even bottle feeding he would only take a few ounces at a time. He was extremely colic as a baby and used to cry all day and night. The GP diagnosed him with silent reflux and he was on the highest dose of omeprazole. He struggled with weaning and used to gag a lot on purée.

He’s now 14 months old, he can manage pureed food and we always offer solids alongside his purees but he cannot manage to swallow the food. He is happy to put most things in his mouth, he chews them for ages then eventually they either fall out his mouth or he spits them out.

He also has a constant cough sounds really chesty 😔

I’ve been to the GP multiple times but they just tell me this is normal he will grow out of it but my gut tells me something is wrong and it’s heartbreaking when I can see he wants to eat but he can’t.

His sleep is also awful and always has been, he still wakes roughly 10 times a night screaming and only settles when he has water.

Has anyone been through anything similar or has any advice?

I’ve tried all the things, but girlfriend has such little interest in solids. She’ll pick, take a few bites. Sometimes she’ll do pretty well with the proteins. Even with the expensive and delicious Little Spoon meals. Milk? Takes sips. But pouches? She’ll suck three down in a row. I’m still even giving her a bottle of half formula at night because I stress about her intake. Maybe it’s because she has four molars coming in? But she’s been like this for way longer than that, I just didn’t worry as much before because she was still getting formula.

I mean she can’t be the only one like this, right? 🙃

I need somebody with older children to tell me that my toddlers will not always be this picky when it comes to food.

I offer every food imaginable. We eat really healthy. And yet my children (2&4) only eat about 4 different things.

I’m losing my mind.

My almost 4 year old is a very sweet, anxious, overall good boy. But when it comes to food I’m living a nightmare. Ever since he was an infant he was never particularly food driven like his little sister has proven to be, but he did eat better than he does now. Year after year it has gotten progressively worse. I have tried everything, short of starving him until he cooperates because I’m really not willing to do that. He will gladly skip meals and fill up on water rather than eat something he doesn’t want to. Here are some strategies I’ve tried:

Help me make food
Smell touch play with the food
Rewards (over the top crazy incentives)
Consequences (no snacks later if you don’t eat this meal)
Serving a meal with one safe food on his plate (he only eats what he likes and is done)
Serving a new food over and over

It does not work. Recently he got sick and our one source of fruits and veggies (pouches) is no longer tolerated by him. So now it’s just carbs carbs carbs. There are 10 foods he will eat. I feel the judgement of others but I truly don’t know what else I can do at this point. We are seeing an OT in November to get their opinion and some help but I can’t help but feel I’ve failed him.

Here are the foods he will usually eat
Chicken nuggets (only Dino nuggets or McDonald’s)
Popcorn
Teddy grahams
Red Doritos
Toast
Sausage occasionally
Pizza but only from certain places and sometimes cheese needs to be removed
Goldfish
Granola bars sometimes
Sometimes garlic bread
And of course chocolate chip cookies or brownies but very specific kinds

He would happily live off milk if I would let him but I limit him to 24 ounces a day. It breaks my heart to see him hungry all day and ask for food but I have to tell him no unless he eats x,y, z and he says “no thank you I’m fine” but I know he’s not.

He has never had a weight issue because dad and I let him fill up on foods he will actually eat but lately his weight has started to stall a bit especially because we have cut down on milk so I wonder if we will start to encounter weight issues.

He really is such a sweet boy. He’s well behaved and overall a good listener but he just will not budge on the food and it makes me wonder if something really is wrong because this seems like more than average toddler pickiness. Please be kind.

My daughter is 3 years old and is a TERRIBLE eater. She is always hungry but finishes nothing of what she if given. On a good day she will eat ¼-½ of whatever is on her plate.

She ISNT picky tho. She eats/likes just about any food from simple things like McDonald's to steamed clams! She just never finishes it and then complains about being hungry. We have the same problem with drinking too, always thirsty but never finishes her cup.

Shes still gaining weight but slowly and as of recently is starting to have deficiencies in a few vitamins.

At this point I let her eat and drink whatever and whenever while still pushing the best options I can. ( id rather her eat SOMETHING then nothing)

Im scared this is more then just picky eating and might be something more.

This is just out of curiosity. My pediatrician said they shouldn't be eating eggs more than twice a week.

Hi everyone! Can someone reassure me that it’s not too late to change this terrible habit I’ve allowed my son to get comfortable with? Or give me advice on how to move forward and install better table manners?

My son is 23 months old and has always been a very low body weight, high energy and very physically active boy. Food and meals has been the biggest struggle thus far in raising a child which is the farthest from what I excepted for us, my husband and I love cooking and eating clean healthy food and are so excited to cook for him and most of the time he could actually care less about food regardless of what it is. Now it’s like okay we know he will probably eat buttered noddles or mac and cheese (maybe) and the veggie and meat eater in us feels so guilty. He eats so little it’s concerning on some days and other days he eats massive quantities and either way he’s a happy giggly extremely active boy that sleeps 11-12 hours solid every night since 14 months ish. We had a good run of him getting into his high chair and eating some of his plate while we would cook the rest of dinner for us but in the last month or two or three he refuses to be strapped into the chair and happily gets into his counter height step stool tower thing and will eat there which I felt was fine as long as he’s eating. But now I have so much mom guilt that he’s not sitting down to eat and that I’m not being consistent making him sit to eat.

Any help is much appreciated and I’d be grateful for!