I need help my daughter will not eat!

Terina - posted on 05/10/2012

and i also agree with gladys, i almost forgot , strangley my son too went through this awkward stage of wanting to eat certain meals i sat in him in front of the telly ( back then we didnt have a seperate dining room or even a table !) and a toy to distract him and yes people frowned on that as it was another problem i was creating but you know it got him to eat enough beofre he realsied he was being fed ! lol , hes now 5 and im satisfied with his variety of food and tends to make up for what my daughter dosent eat.they will not starve themselves nature wouldt allow it with babies, theres me giving this advice yet i need it for my 2 year old! funny how when its someone else you can see through it . all the best

Terina - posted on 05/10/2012

they say it takes roughly 13 attemps to really know if a baby / toddler likes a certain food or not specially if its new texture/ colour taste etc . frustrating i know !.
have you tried pretending its your dinner as some kids love the idea of nicking mummy or daddies dinner ! have you tried foods that really need a spoon to eat so it becomes fun for her ? mking smiley faces out of her dinners? i have a similar issue with my daughter and shes 2 , she will eat so many varities but so very little of it it drives me crazy, she perefers finger foods as i think she gets bored , its easier to pick the food up rather than use a fork or spoon ! but as your daughter is only 13 months theres only so much she will understnad,,oh yes and the funny mouth open wide look copy me face and open wide hear comes the aeroplane trick worked for a little while ubtil that became a game and my daughter thought it was funny to close the tunnel when the spoon touched her lips making the food go everywhere but her mouth good luck i could do with some tips too to increase my daughters appetite not nescesarily variety but in quantity

Gladys - posted on 05/10/2012

Well, I guess most toddlers will, at certain period of times, want to demonstrate their ability to choose. Perhaps you can try what I did, but it was certainly not very good. However, most Asian parents I talked to practice these type of feeding habits especially when the toddler is still young and could not communicate well with their parents.

If you are really worried and want her to eat something else you can:

Let her play with her favourite toy while you feed her. This will distract her attention from the food (that is not her choice) but she will eventually eat it cos she is hungry.

If you don't mind letting her watch videos...
What I did was, there was this time when my son, about 14 months during that time, he did not want to eat at all. I introduced YouTube to him. But of course, I let him watch nursery rhymes and other videos for toddlers. He watched and opened his mouth while I fed him.

Of course these, I agree, are not good meal time habits but if you think you need your daughter to eat a variety of food instead of just what she wants, you can have a try.

Anyway, all toddlers will eventually grow up and be more willing to feed themselves a variety of food.

All the best!

Louise - posted on 05/08/2012

Try and eat as a family it really does help if she can see everybody eating the same foods. Chicken nuggets are not the best thing to give her because normally they are made up of chickens lips and feet parts rather than breast of chicken. They also contain a lot of fat and salt. If you try to feed her other foods she will eventually eat them, a child will not starve themselves deliberately, I know as a mum it is hard to watch but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

If you are going to give her chicken nuggets make sure they are made up of 100% breast meat and contain a low salt count. Serve with peas or sweetcorn and mashed potato or baked sweet potato peices.

Katherine - posted on 05/04/2012

Here are some recipes:
http://www.food.com/recipes/lactose