Afraid he is turning into a fussy eater

[Motmom]

Any ideas what I can do ........
My situation is this, my 21 month old son has decided he doesnt want to eat anything that resembles dinner!
Up until now he has ALWAYS eaten ANYTHING that has been given to him.
I have tried dicing his food, mashing it, slicing it, leaving him feed himself, leaving it and coming back to it. He goes to a wonderful child minder everyday and the same is happening here. She prepares wonderfully nutritious tasty meals for him, which he wont eat.
He will eat fruit, and yogurts but not dinner. I have a desperate fear that he is turning into a soft food only eater....
He is cutting eye teeth both on top and bottom at the moment, 4 in all, he willl have most of his teeth then.
I really dont know what to do, has anyone been through this and come out the other end smiling!!!

Thanks mommies xx

[Colin Macs Mom]

He is cutting eye teeth both on top and bottom at the moment, 4 in all,

I would not worry about him becoming a fussy eater - the teething is likely your problem   It's very common to have eating issues while teething. And the eye teeth were by far the worst for us!

[Motmom]

I really hope so.....this eve he refused his dinner, I had to try and get something into him before bed time so a while later I offered him some fruit. He peered into the bowl and whe he saw what it was he opened his mouth saying "yummie"!!!
Teeth eh!!!

[Colin Macs Mom]

LOL!

[speechie]

I too have a kid that will eat most anything, and I always panicked if he went off his food-
Teething/illness has thrown him for a loop before, but he's always reverted back to his usual appetite/eating after a week or two
Just keep offering things you normally would and try to stay relaxed- he'll probably go back to his usual self after those teeth pop through!
I sometimes gave pancakes/softer foods at dinner/supper time when he was having a rough time.

[Motmom]

7 weeks in and my little man's appetite  really hasn't improved. He has his breakfast and 5 oz milk. A mid morning snack of some fruit or a yogurt and a slice of brown bread or banana bread or a scone, and 5 oz milk. After his sleep his minder offers him dinner which he will more than likely refuse on a daily basis. he will sometimes eat a fish finger, a sausage, a waffle, a bite of this or that but its really only bites. At home we give him whatever we are having for our dinner usually at 6pm and again he only has a few mouthfulls, he has 5 oz of milk here too.
Incidently, I should add that at one point I thought I was offering too much milk so I cut out the mid morning bottle to see if it would improve his afternoon dinner time and it had zero results!!
While he is actually eating I just have it in my brain that if he does not eat a normal healthy dinner he is not getting enough food or nutrition. this 7 week "dinner strike" has not impacted on his temperment, his sleep or his weight. He does look a little leaner than he did but has grown taller in the past few weeks. I am trying not to let it bother me but it is bothering me!!
I have always made his meals from scratch, offered him a wide variety of dinners etc. He was a wonderful eater, he would wolf down a big bowl of anything you put in front of him and now all I get is a funny look as he moves his bowl to one side.......where has my dream eater gone!!!!!! and how will I get him back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[~inbalance~]

Is he still teething?  My DS was always a good eater, then I was worried that the 'toddler pickiness' was kicking in when for months he really didn't much at all.  I finally resigned myself to the fact that he just didn't want that much food and accepted that toddlers really don't need much to get by anyway.  Finally after months of teething, molars and canines, he started eating anything and everything again and I knew it was just because of the teething.  And I am talking MONTHS, so don't be discouraged!  It's very very normal for todders to get pickier, afterall they are learning what they like and don't like.  But if he was a good eater before then I'm sure he will be again.  Now that DS is through with teething for the moment, DH and I are worried he is going to eat us out of the house! 

[Motmom]

Hi thanks for the reassuring message....Yes he is still teething, he has had a hard tome of it fr the past few months, he will be two in may and is cutting the last of his bottom teeth, as well as eye teeth, he will then have all his teeth except for the big double teeth at the back, upper and lower. I guess I wasnt inclined to put it down to teeth as it was going onfor so long. Funnily enough, yesterday evening and this evening he ate a good dinner, I just gave it to him and let him off as I had my own, I kinda thought he would just play with it but surprisingly he ate well on bith occasions, so maybe if I back off and just let him at ......??!!!!!

xx

[anna*]

Just another observation, that seems like a pretty big mid morning snack? I stopped giving snacks at around 20 months old because my LO just wasn't eating his lunch and dinner. Now he's reliably eating again, I've started giving very light snacks - ie just a piece of fruit or some cucumber sticks, no carbs or proteins.

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

DD is 13 months and we're having the same issues all of a sudden.  She went from a little skinny peanut that ate like a horse to eating a few bites and then shaking her head even to things she usually likes.  She has 4 teeth (bottom 2 and the left front & eye tooth) and right now, her right front tooth and eye tooth are working their way down so after reading the previous posts, I feel like that is to blame for us too.