Author Topic: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater  (Read 16544 times)

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Offline peacefulwarrior

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18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« on: December 19, 2010, 13:24:43 pm »
My "angel/textbook" daughter seems to be pushing into toddlerhood.
She's started screaming NO constantly and throwing tantrums.
Compared to my friends kids, her tantrums are really mild but they're different for her none the less.
In regards to eating, she used to like EVERYTHING but today she wouldn't even eat eggs for breakfast.
She kept saying "yogurt". 
My question is - how do we deal with this?
Do we give her the yogurt that she wants?
To we let her get down from her high chair without eating?
What about a few hours from now when she screams for a snack because she hasn't had breakfast?
We have used a lot of BW sleeping tactics and want to be consistent, but not sure how to be.
Thanks
Monica

Offline Colin Macs Mom

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Re: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2010, 17:13:25 pm »
bumping up for you
Jessica
Mom to Colin Ronald, August 18, 2005
Spirited + Reflux =  :o


Offline peacefulwarrior

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Re: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2010, 19:35:35 pm »
hello
just wondering where you "bumped" this too
i have not seen any responses
thanks!
monica

Offline Colin Macs Mom

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Re: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2010, 20:57:43 pm »
bumping it up on the list for you to get responses :)
Jessica
Mom to Colin Ronald, August 18, 2005
Spirited + Reflux =  :o


Offline anna*

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Re: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2010, 21:14:21 pm »
Hi! and ((hugs)). Welcome to the toddler years. Sometime between 1 and 2 years old, they all seem to hit the picky eater stage. Unfortunately, it can hang around for a while.  I've heard that their tastebuds do actually change (so things like green vegetables taste bitter), but no doubt a big part of it is about testing the boundaries, seeing what happens when they say 'no', and the power of expressing a preference!

The first thing to keep in mind is that she will not starve herself. So with that in mind, I would definitely not just give her what she wants. Youv'e seen the 'supernanny' type shows where they have kids who will eat nothing but icecream? When you're dealing with a picky toddler, it's easy to understand how they end up there. With us, it would have been (still could become, I guess) bananas and yoghurt. If you're so desperate that they eat SOMETHING, you'll give them what you know they'll eat, and then next time they hold out for bananas and yoghurt because they know it's coming.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you can have to expose a toddler to a new food 25, 50, 100 times before they will accept it. So if it is really important to you that she eats (for example) rice, because it's a staple that your family eats regularly, keep giving it to her, even if she rejects it 100% of the time. That goes for all foods really. Keep giving them. Even if she's not tasting them, she's still staying familiar with the look of them, the smell of them, the touch and the texture.

Make meals with one thing that you know she likes, or at least suspect she will eat. If she doesn't, no big deal. She won't starve between then and the next meal. We also had to cut down on snacks at this age. Keep your patience, and your sense of humour. It was also around this age I started doing 'steps to tasting' with Stan. We would do the steps together. First touch the food. Then sniff it. Then kiss it. Then touch it with a tongue. Then put it in the mouth and take it right out again. Then bite it. By then, he was usually familiar enough with it that he would go ahead and eat it, but if he didn't, even if he just kissed it and wouldn't do any more, I still considered it a victory.

Oh, one last point because I am rambling here. If she tries something new (or accepts again an old favourite), put it back into heavy rotation right away, so that it stays familiar.





Offline nelliestar

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Re: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2010, 13:06:10 pm »
Anna that post has really helped me! Thank you so much xxx

Monica  - good luck and keep us posted. We are going through the same thing! xxxxx
Bram Robert Reilly Con Fitzsimmons...Born 22/12/08
Angel/textbook....now with added spirit!
Our Happy Little Monkey xxxxx

Offline Noahsmama09

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Re: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2011, 00:44:22 am »
This is awesome! My DS just turned 18 months, and basically eats bread, plain yogurt, bananas, any fruit really, pasta and cheese! ugh!!! SUCH a battle. I am trying to introduce him more to hummus, avocados, rice, beans...but it's just not happening yet! And when it comes to meat... well thats thrown out the window! lol!
Here we go with trying different foods 100x over! :) lol! Thanks for the post...VERY helpful! Cheers!
xx Noah's mommy!

Offline my3girlsjde

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Re: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2011, 02:46:34 am »
Like pp's said: keep offering but put something familiar out there.
My girls went through a 'hot dog' phase where they demanded hot dogs (tantrums included) for about a week. So for breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks they had hot dogs with apples, toast, cheese, yogurt etc. They eventually started to pick at the other foods and it was over within two weeks total. And I have spirited, determined twins who gang up on me lol. For new foods, keep offering. It literally took months to get them to eat meat. Small portions seem far less threatening and it's easier to sneak a new food on the plate without a meltdown.
We've also had great success with letting them choose their own placemats, cup (they have no problem drinking water out of a teacup like mummy but refuse it in their plastic cups), fork or spoon etc.
We also implemented multi vitamins when the pickiness started. It made it much easier to be comfortable with the fact that there were days where they seemed to be surviving on 'air' :)

Vicki - nursing student and proud mother to three refluxers in two years





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Offline BeasMommy

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Re: 18 month old is suddenly a picky eater
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2011, 04:02:48 am »
Just another thought is could it be teeth? My daughter is an angel baby/toddler and just all of a sudden stopped eating anything. We had screaming and she only wanted yogurt and banana. A few days later she got a sore butt and then a temperature and was chomping on her finger. This lasted about a week and now we are back to normal.

I just kept making normal dinners for her and she would pick at them. It was really frustrating in the beginning as there was nothing else to go on, and she was eating so little she got the ketones smell on her breath, but when the other symptoms started I realized and hoped it would pass quickly.

Poor girl, I think its her 2 year molars - shes only 15 1/2 months but already has 16 teeth, so they would be the next ones.

J