13.5 month old DD refused dinner for the third night in a row!

[jenniferr]

Hi.
I'm starting to get stressed as my DD has barely eaten a thing for dinner for the past few nights. TOnight, for instance, she are THREE kernels of corn, and about 4 slices of strawberry, with 8 ounces of milk. She's extremely picky and has a very limited repetoire of foods. She still consumes alot of milk, which I know I need to reduce, but we're dealing with NWs and wanting a bottle during the night as well. Once we get those issues resolved, her milk intake should go back down to around 18-20 ounces. This is what she ate today for breakfast and lunch:

Breakfast - 1/4 bowl dried cereal with dried fruit and 1/3 yogurt, 6 oz milk
Lunch - remainder of yogurt, half a jar of turkey/veg puree and a few raisins, 4 oz milk
Dinner - as above

Does this seem like enough for one day?? I've tried numerous foods and we have success with very few. She will rarely try something new. Her usuals are waffles, yogurt, dry cereal, dry fruit, cheese, crackers and peanut butter, purees, corn, peas, raisins - that's about it! She has never tried meat (and I've offerred more than 15 times!). If she's not into dinner, do I just assume she's not hungry? I think she's hungry though b/c 1 hour after dinner attempt, she asked for her bottle. I tried to offer her solids instead but all she wanted was her milk. Should I be concerned with her intake?

[Colin Macs Mom]

Jennifer, is she teething? Food intake normally goes down during teething. But otherwise, I really wouldn't worry. LOs don't starve themselves.

[jess, lukeys_mom]

LOs don't starve themselves.

Smart lady  I was about to come on here and say that exact thing.

Jennifer, I think that if I were in your shoes I would try to offer her a meal of a few things she likes (i.e. a puree, a little bread and some peas, for example) and then a new thing or two at each sitting. Don't go too big on the portions as it can overwhelm her. If she doesn't eat that, then the meal is over.  However, try to be relaxed about it. Don't end the mealtime as though it is a punishment (ex:" Fine then - no more food for you!" is a little too soup-nazi, try instead a relaxed "ok sweetie, dinner's over then. Let's take off your bib.").  Force yourself to be very non-chalant about it. You've also got to let her know that she's the eater but you're the mom    She will sense if you are anxious about her mealtimes, and you also might start hard to break habits if you get too nervous and then start to continuously give her yoghurt and milk.

And you said she won't try meat, but she's eating turkey, right? I wouldn't worry about much more meat...my ds has never had red meat or pork but i think that is totally fine.

One thing I was wondering, does she go to day care? Just curious, my ds hardly eats dinner on his day care days so perhaps that is it. Another thing I would suggest is to trust that it is a phase. There will unfortunately probably be many where she refuses food, and hopefully also many where she experiments and likes eating again. At her age she is probably right in the phase of realizing she has some control and can say no.

Oh, and one last thing - can you and dh eat with her, and concentrate mostly on YOUR meals, after you place a little on her tray? She might be interested in her food when she sees mom and dad eating theirs (even if the meals are different - she might be interested in yours more, in which case give her some).