no interest in food these days.. Just throwing it!

[Chloevalentine]

My good eater is no longer very interested. He's become the typical picky eating toddler. He only wants pb&j sandwiches and pasta! Lol. And the new problem we have is throwing food off high chair and waiting for my reaction! Fun! Any suggestions? Thanks

[Lana]

well in our house if food was thrown we took that as a sign they were finished.  we took the food away and neutrally said " I can see you are all done now, food is for eating". 

[anna*]

I'd just continue to serve balanced meals and he can eat or not eat. It's our job as parents to provide healthy food at regular times - it's his job manage what and how much of it he eats. I wouldn't start serving up endless pasta and/or pbj!

[Chloevalentine]

Ha I agree! I still try to offer other things. I do take food away when he starts throwing it but sometimes it's at the beginning of the meal. Then I worry he will be hungry later.

[Lolly]

Toddlers won't starve themselves, if they aren't interested they really aren't hungry. They very rarely wake due to hunger at this age too, my DD has gone to bed plenty of times with no evening meal as she has refused it and not once woken through hunger!

It could be the molars moving about putting him off his food, that happens a lot. The other thing could be that he's just too tired to be bothered eating, that was definitely the case for my DD at that age. If he eats better earlier you can make sure you offer a good balanced meal earlier in the day and then if he eats at the end of the day great, if he doesn't he's more than likely had at least one good meal.

Laura

[Chloevalentine]

Good advice! Thank you

[Katet]

I'd just continue to serve balanced meals and he can eat or not eat. It's our job as parents to provide healthy food at regular times - it's his job manage what and how much of it he eats. I wouldn't start serving up endless pasta and/or pbj!

This ^^^

In terms of hungry, honestly we in the western world have quite a "big" idea on what what is a normal amount of food... I saw recently when visiting a friend who'd had a baby that the size of a "normal" stomach should be the size of a person's fist, so total food for the day really should be about 3 fists worth

Also it is really worth looking at milk consumption... I came across this yesterday when I was reading up on the nutritional needs for my boys.

"Just small amounts of energy-dense milk can fill a little tummy quickly. Feeling sated, your little one might turn away from other foods and meals, thereby causing them to become deficient in other nutrients. For example, toddlers and young children require between 1200 and 1500 calories a day. If a two-year-old drinks just 300ml of milk, they’ve consumed 20% of all their calories for that day – from just one food source.
Too much calcium – which can add up quickly in a child’s case – can interfere with iron absorption, which in turn has been linked to fussy eating.
Incidentally, the above explanations might shed new light on your fussy eater: perhaps your child has been overfilling on cows’ milk and/or is low in iron from too much calcium?

[Chloevalentine]

That's a good read. We don't do milk in between meals though for that reason. He has some in morning some at night before bath. Tonight we sat done to eat he took two bites and started throwing food. I told him food is not for throwing he must not be hungry and removed him. He didn't eat a thing it feels awful going to bed hungry

[Haribo2012]

He won't go to bed hungry Hun, kids regulate very well. My DS will often have a huge breakfast (I mean 3 weetabix) and a large lunch but then a small dinner maybe just a little omelette or toast. If you think when we've had large meals in the day we don't often want a lot in the evening.
I find with food phases the least fuss you make the quicker it passes, also DS had phases of liking to choose how much he wanted for dinner. So if it was say pizza and veggies I'd put it in the middle of the table and offer him each plate...he thought it was fun to choose. x

[anna*]

I also found mine were less prone to throw when I served tiny portions. They'd eat the two bites on their plate then I'd serve another two bites.

[Eva's Mummy]

Mine was a terrible fussy eater and food thrower. The throwing lasted for months but 1 day she just stopped. As for going hungry, I've just realised she is a small eater for example yesterday she ate fir breakfast 1/2 slice toast. Lunch refused her sandwich and ate 4 grapes, 3 augers nap peas, 5 cucumber sticks.  Yoghurt for snack and refused dinner. That was her all day and that can be quite normal forher

[Chloevalentine]

Thanks everyone! I'm sure it's just a phase. I do notice he now prefers to eat at the kitchen island on his booster seat as opposed to his high chair. So maybe I'll stick with that and see it's just so much easier to clean up the high hair after he's painted on his yogurt lol

[4 under 5]

Following. My 23mth old loves to throw food too. Eats a few bites then throws it on the floor. I find it frustrating as she used to eat great dinners. I think I be afraid they wake up hungry during th night or something.

[creations]

I'd be very very surprised if a 23 month old woke due to hunger. I wouldn't even expect that of a 12 month old unless there was illness or recovery involved.

[4 under 5]

Yes your probably right. X