well it looks like ava's joining the fussy eater brigade, She'll eat dairy but is refusing to eat any fish/meat, I can get her to eat most veggies but no fruit at all now apart from raisins. I'm worried she's not getting enough calories and not enough vitamins.


I know a lot of the ladies on here have had similar problems so would appreciate a bit of guidance

same here jo. been to the docs and all they can think is that he's going through the fussy eater stage...benji will not eat food at all...except from yogurt, a few spoonfuls of weetabix and a nibble on toast
no wonder he's always exhausted...dreading going to get him weighed on thursday...bet he's lost weight or not put much on at all
anyone got any advice for me too??

Ellie went through this stage too! But over the last few weeks she's just started to eat anything and everything.

I know its easily said than done but I'd try not to worry about it. Is ava still having her milk?

Does she still take her bottles Jo? If she does she will be getting vitamins/minerals there so try not to worry. Cows milk though doesnt have as much as formula which is fortified. You can buy vitamin drops too if you worried about her general health.

Id say try and stay relaxed about it - easier said than done! Caitlin goes through stages of going off food but in general is a pretty good eater. Meat is still not a hit with her though. She will eat fish fingers, frozen chicken nuggets/dippers, sausages, mince and ham. Iv tried (and keep offering) chicken breast, pork, turky joint, beef strips etc and she refuses them. It is disheartening that she eats the 'crap' meat but its better than none. I think the prob is that proper meat is too chewy for her and she's to bust scoffing to be fecked chewing.

Fruit and veg Caitlin would eat all day and I know im lucky there. You could just keep trying new types - grapes cut in half, mango/pineapple strips, tinned fruit in natural juices, blueberrys are a huge hit with Caitlin though very dear! Could you make a fruity desert with finely diced fruit and yoghurt if she a dairy fan? Or let her dip the fruit in yoghurt to make it fun/get her used to picking it up and having it near her mouth? Their tastes do change - Caitlin detested banana until she was about 13 months and now begs for them every day. banana was one of her 1st words!

Calorie wise I dont know what to suggest. Cheese as snacks? Im sure she is fine, and it may be a stage. I think debs has given some good advice on this matter but in general I think you have to roll with it and fingers crossed she will start eating. Its unlikely that she will starve herself as such xxx

Ellie also snacks on blueberries and babybells

Callums just getting over a fussy stage. Its so stressful and worryingi have to say callum would only eat yogurts n flavoured custards n pick at dinner only eating a bite or two and thats it. Theyres nothing you can do but tyry and be patient till they wanna eat again. In last 2weeks Callum has tripled what he eats in a day all lil uns seem to go through the fussy stage.
I also noticed teeth doesnt help the fussy stage either x

she still has 16oz of milk a day, she'll never refuse cheese so I tend to give her cubes as snacks, I think ive tried every fruit imaginable and she won't touch it, she likes banana but it makes her terribly constipated so I never offer it.

I'm not too worried about her general health snoops, she's full of energy and I'm trying not to make a big deal if she doesn't eat her lunch, I just don't know whether its best to offer her an alternative or not or will that make her more fussy?

My sister had this problem with my nephew as he went through a stage of only eating bread and butter. She took him to the dr and they said give him other food but don't stress if thats all he eats as he will eat other things again when his ready (which he did). They did give her vitamin pills to give to him though

have you tried pureed fruit pots? elijah still isn't interested in anything but playing with sliced/whole fruit but will munch the pots especially if it is with greek yogurt (bit of dairy bribery?!).

i do offer elijah an alternative as i would rather he eats than gets grumpy and hungry - so far that has been fine as for a month he wouldn't eat biscuits or toast, then would only eat biscuits or toast (baby biscuits), then wouldn't eat fruit at brekkie time and now will only eat fruit or bran flakes....basically it doesn't seem to matter if i offer and alternative and whether he eats it or not, he changes his mind as it suits him

some people dont believe in offering alternatives and some do... i think someone on here's HV said to offer one alternative and nothing else. We offer Tyler an alternative and sometimes he has it sometimes not. if not then we move on to "pudding" which for Tyler is normally fruit so not exactly a desert but something else, yogurt if he'll have it and then milk.

Tyler goes through stages every month where for about a week he will hardly eat and then the next he'll eat loads... 2 weeks ago he wouldn't eat and then last week he was having 2 or 3 portions of everything!

My only advise is to not show that it is bothering you... and to try not different foods but feeding in a different way... erm what works with tyler is either sitting him at his own table, when he was younger it was letting him feed himself, now he likes to be left to it, sometimes he wants food in a bowl sometimes just little pieces on his tray, sometimes he only eats food off my plate...
it's all trial and error but I think it's very common!

Jade wrote:

some people dont believe in offering alternatives and some do... i think someone on here's HV said to offer one alternative and nothing else. We offer Tyler an alternative and sometimes he has it sometimes not. if not then we move on to "pudding" which for Tyler is normally fruit so not exactly a desert but something else, yogurt if he'll have it and then milk.

Tyler goes through stages every month where for about a week he will hardly eat and then the next he'll eat loads... 2 weeks ago he wouldn't eat and then last week he was having 2 or 3 portions of everything!

My only advise is to not show that it is bothering you... and to try not different foods but feeding in a different way... erm what works with tyler is either sitting him at his own table, when he was younger it was letting him feed himself, now he likes to be left to it, sometimes he wants food in a bowl sometimes just little pieces on his tray, sometimes he only eats food off my plate...
it's all trial and error but I think it's very common!

I do the same as Jade i let callum have his desert even if he doesnt eat his dinner but its always a yogurt i dont see it as a treat and its healthy for him.
If callum doesnt eat his dinner i dont give him another cooked meal i offer a bit of bread or pitta or something like that. I do still put foods on his plate say at lunch even if hes gone off it and dont touch it x

Its a really common problem to go through at this age - its a way of asserting their independence.
Oliver started at a very similar age and is still kind of going through it even now (although we have had a good couple of weeks)
I (personally) don't believe in offering another option, the way I see it is if they are hungry they will eat, by offering alternatives every time I believe you are feeding into their fussyness - believe me, i've seen it happen. Believe it or not they really don't need as much food as you'd think. It all goes on calories at this age. In their 1st year they are growing so much but from 1yr on their slowing slows down dramatically, as does their eating. One little thing to bare in mind is the caloires can also be gained from juice, so if you notice your toddler suddenly starts drinking more juice this may be why the food intake has dropped.

My tips -
* Offer water at meal times (mid meal or after if poss)
* Offer buffet food, lots and lots of finger foods etc.
* Offer a portion of fruit with each meal (or even a yoghurt) - If they eat that first, so be it..its all good stuff
* Offering foods in/on different pots/plates - makes it more interesting for them
* If they don't eat any meal, just leave it..remove the plate and carry on as normal
* When they do eat, really BIG-UP the praise


Other things like make your own 'dipping sauces'. Oliver loves dipping food in sauces. Make smoothes or bought fruit pots, they always go down well here. Also, you can add veggies to fruit purees too - such as apple and carrot etc.

Try not to worry, it will pass..maybe in a few week maybe in a few years - it will pass
Stay calm and breathe. x x x

oh yeah, the new bowls etc thing is great - elijah will eat more if i put the top bit on his highchair table (take it off normally cos he throws the whole thing on the floor ) because i can put different foods in different compartments which he finds very pleasing!

thanks everyone some great ideas to try. Zee never thought about the smoothies, will try that tomorrow x

Also, another good tip...when you make the smoothie (or what ever) make out its just for you..they always show more interest when they think its someone elses and 'share' it with her

Reverse psychology - works a treat (but only for so long before they get wise )

Hi Jo
Ive bee meaning to post on this for a while. Some very sound advice there. C was a wonderful eater til 14 months then deteriorated and we still havent gotten it all back yet. Shes a terror for fruit and veg. Stuff ive done that works is:

*Fruit pouches, Dole make em but i also use the ellas kitchen 1st stage weaning pouches as a snack as she likes the one with butternut squash in it. She now asks for one with every trip to the shops
*Fruit juice, we give a cup of this evry day
*Organix crisps and snacks like the oaty bars and crisps, made with v little junk and extra goodness like sweetcorn powder impregnated on them
*Ninja veg. We make sauces for pasta etc which have hidden veg eg a tomato pasta sauce with peppers and onions in it. We also buy the tricolour pasta with spinach and tomato in it. Basically any way we can sneak in extra veg we do

Some small breakthroughs we have had is finding the stuff she likes and modifyig it so she loves pasta with sauce as long as its not overly saucy just a thin layer on the pasta so we use the ninja veg techique as above. She also likes risotto so we make that a lot as its a good wayto get extras snuck in like butterut squash or peppers. We have also gotten her eating spaghetti with meals (hoops only) and beans and sketti are both a portion of the one a day. Since she does unfortunately like what id call junk food like waffles and fishfingers i make the best of it with omega 3 fishfingers or salmon fishfingers for a bit of variety and carrot and potato waffles from asda for those days im doing that. We make home made burger and pizza to sneak in good things again and sausage rolls also.

Alongside it we do also keep offering the veg on a plate in the hopes she will try it eventually and she occasioally shows interest so we keep going to see if it turns into anything, we also make a point of sitting eating fruit for pudding every night and the other night she finally ate a whole grape. We are trying a wide range of fruit to see if anything catches her eye including exotics. I tried the smoothies before and it didnt work but am gonna try it again myself

I also highly reccomend the favourite plate. C is buzz obsessed and now has a buzz plate as well as chuggington and buloo cutlery and shes less likely to go into auto meltdown at dinner if she sees them. If she doesnt eat she is allowed fruit or yoghurt but thats it and we do praise her if she eats well but we try not to make abig dealof it generally which is hard after nearly a year of it and neil tends to get upset by it all esp if hes been in kitchen for hours.

Good luck, welcome to the stressed out parents club xxx

thanks for the advice everyone, we've had a mixed few days. I've found she likes to eat at the same time as me so been putting her food on my plate and letting her help herself but I still don't think she's eating enough.

Going to buy some of the fruit pouches today and give them a try.

finlay has always been like this he only eats banana no other fruit i just try to give him plenty of choice too but i get some days where he eats nearly nothing i give him two cups of toddler milk a day to give him some extra vits, i hope she come out of it soon xx