refusing foods at lunch and dinner

[*Jo*]

the last couple of days Caleb has been refusing lunch and dinner, or he will take three bites and not want anymore, i know hes teething molars so i try not to give him anything too hard however im confused because he ate fish fingers and chips the other day, he ate chicken nuggets but he wont eat pasta, any kind, spaghetti, penne and these are his usual favourites, nope doesnt want them. so yesterday he had fish fingers and chips for lunch, then dinner was Spag bol, didnt want it, not even a taste, i managed to get him to taste it and then he ate three bites, no more so i got him down from the table and thought "whatever, i wont push it" then today he eats breaky as per usual, but come lunch and i offer penne pasta, nope pushes it away, i give him a little bit of yoghurt and try the penne again, nope, doesnt want much of the yoghurt either. so no snacks then and come dinner time i present the penne again, pushes it away. I give him the rest of the yoghurt because it was a part of his meal anyway...

later on i see him reaching the penne i had left on the table, he takes two peices and eats them (tries to share one with the cat but thats besides the point)

so how much longer is this going to go on for and what do i do? he eats toast, pancakes or oats for breakfast, we have no issues with breakfast, if it was just a teething issue wouldnt he be not wanting to eat the harder stuff too? hes also started refusing his drinks till hes gone hours without it and is literally begging for a drink.

whats going on?

[mrsrobbo]

We have had this with Paige a couple of times now, usually when teething. She wont touch all her usual favourtites, even the childminder was thrown.
It was hit or miss with finger foods too, sometimes she would eat it all others just a few bites, but she liked to snack.

We tried cutting all snacks but she still wouldnt eat a meal, so we let her eat little and often rather than big meals. She still always sat with us all at meal times with something in front of her, so not to exlude her.

She just snaoped out of it, she got her molars, which was the first time it happened.
We had a it a few weeks back too and then she got sick a few days into the refusing meals thing, it only lasted a few weeks with her each time though.

I dont have any advice really, we just kinda went with it!

[deb]

He'd probably reached the point where hunger trumped tooth pain - that's my guess, anyway.

Can you give him some cool/cold stuff to eat? Like cool chunks of melon or frozen grapes cut into chunks or maybe some fruit sorbet? Might feel good on his teeth, even after he's been up and minding them for a few hours.

[*Jo*]

I tried that Deb, he doesnt eat fruit, never really has, i have to hide it in his pancakes or muffins to get him to eat it. the only thing he eats at the moment is yoghurt, roast vegies or junk food, which is amazing seeing as Ive always cooked most of his meals so we havent had heaps of junk food, im not comfortable with it. im amazed that before hes even tasted a new peice of food he will know if its junk food or not and will refuse it if its not.
he absolutely will not eat food bought from the store in a jar, again it seems like he just knows the difference between the food i have cooked and baby jar food before even tasting it.
im kind of running out of ideas and when we go overseas in a couple of days im not gonna be able to make up lots of meals etc

[mrsrobbo]

how long is it since he has been refusing food?
does he eat well at breakfast? that was the only meal Paige would always eat

[deb]

How about yogurt frozen into a popsicle/frozen lolly? My girls are CRAZY about popsicles made with frozen yogurt, some cranberry juice, and a bit of stevia. And the juice gives it color so it looks kinda like the commercial ones w/o the artificial stuff.

[MummyToBen]

Hi Jo

Could you try mixing up what you give him at different meals - so adding some protein into his breakfast if he's more likely to eat at that time.  And then perhaps giving him something more 'breakfasty' at other meals if he is usually eating those foods?  Obviously you wouldn't want to do this for ages but it might help break him out of the cycle a bit.  I think if you suspect it is teething causing the problem then it is fine to be really flexible - giving him healthy snacks throughout the day (min-meals) if he'll eat them, and then at least he's getting some calories.  By the sounds of it, teething is the main culprit with lo's not eating as well as usual. 

xx

[*Jo*]

Deb how do i do the frozen yoghurt thing? ive tried just putting yoghurt into the freezer but it doesnt work, am i doing soemthing wrong? whats stevia??

Claire, i did think about giving him something different at breakfast, but i cant bring myself to give him meat at that time of the morning, he will eat omelette so i can def do that. ive just bought some mushy 6 month old foods to try out on him today, if he eats it im not gonna stress too much about it cos then i will know its just the teeth (hurry up allready, just come through!) i thought with teeth once they have cut through it gets a bit easier?? or is it different with molars?

[deb]

Stevia is an herbal sweetener, sometimes known as Sweetleaf. It's widely used as a sweetener in Japan but the FDA in the States only approves it as a "supplement." You use just a tiny tiny bit of it b/c it's so concentrated. I use a liquid one here b/c the powder doesn't always dissolve enough for Josie,who can feel the powder in a drink. This is the stuff we use: http://greenwoman.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/saving-the-world-on-a-shoe-string/#comments.

Here's the Wikipedia entry on stevia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia

When you freeze yogurt, it does get hard like when you freeze plain milk; ice cream is agitated while it freezes which is what makes it lighter. If you can whiz some in a blender with juice it might be light enough to not be too solid, but my kids don't seem to mind it. When they were little I might have had to eat one myself and then pretend to be reluctant to share it to get it to appeal to the, but I'm not above that kind of mind game.

Molars were different from incisors, and eyeteeth were their own animals for us.

[MummyToBen]

Yes, I know what you mean about the meat!  Other proteiny stuff he could have for breakfast are scrambled egg on toast, eggy bread (french toast) which you could do sweet or savoury (with cinnamon or a bit of ketchup), or you could pop a bit of ham in an omelette?.....so basically, eggs  !!

xxx

[MummyToBen]

i thought with teeth once they have cut through it gets a bit easier?? or is it different with molars?

I'm not sure......Ben's only got 3 teeth so far  !!

[*Jo*]

well we had some success today, he started refusing his lunch before he even saw what it was in the bowl, as the spoon came near him he scrunched up his face and pushed away, he hadnt even looked at it yet! so i put a toy on the highchair and he started playing with that and ate all his lunch! then i gave him sausage rolls for dinner and he ate them all (shared some with the cat as well, dont know why the cat would want sausage rolls but oh well lol)

So im keeping the toy to help with it but hes a miserable moaning mess today, ive played with him till ive been exhausted and he still isnt happy, hes even whining in his bath right now and he LOVES his bath so im presuming these teeth are killing him