please help me figure out what's going on.....???

[sazza]

hi everyone

my tiny toddler is 9 months old, and took his first solo steps and cut his first tooth on the same day just last week. since then he's been very fussy about his food but in a peculiar way - he doesn't want to eat dinner any more. breakfast he's eating fine (although this morning he only ate half of it before wanting to get down and explore), morning tea is usually fine, lunch is ok but he's not as interested, afternoon tea is getting to be a bit of a struggle, and the last 3 nights he's just point blank refused anything more than perhaps one or two mouthfuls of dinner.

i don't think it's because he's not hungry any more, because i didn't give him a snack in the afternoon yesterday and he still didn't want dinner. he could still be teething, as he's chewing his fingers a lot, but he didn't fuss over his food like this with the first tooth - it was mostly just wakeful nights. i've tried new foods just in case he's bored with what i've been giving him, and he's not interested in those either. he's still having milk before solids, as i switched to solids first when he was 8 months old and his milk intake plummeted to half of what's recommended within 3 weeks, so i was told to switch back.  his milk intake stabilised after that to nearly 600ml (about right), but has since dropped again (he's doing about 420 per day at the moment).

i know that toddlers stop eating as much when they stop growing as much, but i thought that was around a year or so. is he just early, or is something else going on?

thanks!!!

[tylersmommy]

You're right, toddlers do eat less as they get older, but you'll find that younger toddlers (like your LO) start expressing food preferences and eating less (and more!) at times as well. If he isn't waking hungry during the night, losing weight, and seems otherwise content, he may just not be hungry. And that's okay! You might find that if you offer him food and he doesn't want to eat, he'll get over it in a few days if you don't push the issue and calmly end the meal after a couple of tries.

Another thought...have you started finger foods with him yet? That can be another reason why babies that age start getting fussy about their food. They really like the independence of trying to do it themselves, so giving finger foods or their own spoon to bang around can sometimes help too.

[sazza]

he IS generally content, actually - it just seems like such a sudden departure from usual. he's not waking during the night, although it's a bit hard to tell about the weight loss as i don't have any scales and he's quite a small boy anyway. i do give him finger foods but more usually for snacks rather than meals. perhaps i should be a bit more organised and give him something at mealtime too (i keep meaning to).

thanks so much for your thoughts, that's really helped 

[sazza]

hi again

i think he has lost some weight - i was looking at some photos from about 6 weeks ago and he's definitely looking thinner now. but, still in good spirits so i guess he's doing ok (ish?). watching a bit more closely, there's definitely some preference-indicating going on. thing is, if he doesn't like what i've given him - what do i do then? he sometimes has a bit of  whatever i offer him next (usually custard or yoghurt - easy, i know he likes them, but i can tell he's getting bored of them) but sometimes decides that's all. should i have a plan b lined up? or just leave it at that and offer him something later on (though i'm not sure how this would go as he seems to have a limited tolerance for being in his highchair)? how do other people deal with food refusal?

thanks again!

[Mum to cool dude]

We've going through a warm summer here in the UK and my LO (21 MO) has gone off his food since May. He will or will not have afternoon tea at 3 pm in nursery depending on his mood but I offer him food at 5 pm, with the offer of sharing my dinner or not at 7 pm and milk before bed.  I remember however not being as relaxed when he was younger and peculiar about his food, so I understand your concern. At least your LO has a decent appetite at breakfast so perhaps you can try varying the diet then (scrambled egg, fruit, porridge,  etc.) if you want to introduce a bit of variety

[sazza]

thanks - we've had a bit of a battle over breakfast for the last couple of days too, but i think that's because we've always had it sitting on my lap in his room, and he figured out that i couldn't keep him there if he wanted to go walkabout. in the highchair was fairly successful this morning, though, so we might be onto something there. still interested in suggestions for dealing with meal refusal from others ....?