Stuck

[scorpiot]

Hello all,

I have a gorgeous 18 month old little boy who is being a fussy nightmare and I was wondering if anyone out there has any pearls of wisdom to help me?

He started being fussy when he was around 9 months old. I have succeeded in getting him to eat more now than he did then (variety wise I mean, quantity's increased as per the norm). Well I say 'I' have succeeded - I think it's been more of a case of he's been prepared to try something. Unfortunately my powers of persuasion aren't that great!

What he will eat is as follows;

fish fingers
sausages
burger (sometimes)
chicken nuggets (sometimes)
potato waffles
potato smiles
sweetcorn
beans
bread - any sort; brioche, naan, pitta, tortilla wraps, bread sticks, garlic bread although he doesn't like just ordinary bread so he won't eat sandwiches
cucumber
cheese
raisins
banana
apples
cheese spread
cheese and herb muffins
carrot and apple muffins
cereal (pretty much any sort)
yoghurt

Breakfast I'm pretty safe with and lunch we normally muddle our way through lunch but it's his evening dinner/meal that I'm struggling with. All he'll eat is waffles or smiles with either fish fingers or sausages (or occasionally he'll eat some burger or chicken nuggets) He won't entertain pasta, rice, jacket potatos and believe me it's not for the want of trying! I've tried gradually introducing them, eating together, letting him eat alone, feeding him, letting him feed himself etc but nothing seems to work. He just clamps his mouth shut and turns his head. It's getting to the point where I'm at my wits end! I've had him weighed and he's not underweight which I know is a postive, but I'm really concerned with the amount of junk he's eating. I'm scared he's going to become defecient in vital vitamins and minerals and that he's going to be like this forever!

Please don't think I'm a bad Mum - from when I first weaned him, I was making him my own food (a lot AK's and he used to eat them), have never given him a jar, got him to try plenty of new and different flavours, so it's not like I instilled this into him. I do feel like he has improved slightly - it's only in the last 3 months he's started eating cheese, raisins, apple, beans and sweetcorn. I know he's also eating a lot of junk - but it's either that or nothing!

Any advice would be greatly received.

[Ellie H]

Hi & welcome to AK!

Firstly you're not a bad mum and no-one here would ever say that! You're doing the best you can and your son is thriving!

It sounds like you're trying all sorts but he seems to like the potato smiles and stuff covered in bread crumbs/batter like fishfingers/nuggets? How about trying to make him homemade croquettes. You could add allsorts of goodies to the mixture and coat with breadcrumbs/batter. Maybe worth a try? I know there was another mum struggling similarly a few weekls aga (Kerri-anne I think) and this worked for her. If you have a scan in the recipes section I think there might be some recipes for this kind of thing in there.

I'm sure lots of the other ladies will have some great advice!

Welcome again and happy posting!

Ellie
xxxx

[kerri-anne]

Hiya,

Molly is also very fussy and my recent post was to get some ideas as all she would eat was fish, either fishfingers or fishcakes!!! I realised that she liked things in breadcrumbs and mixed with potato and so found a recipe for mince & potato croquettes (I was particularly worried about Molly not getting enough iron from red meat). She does eat these now and I've also incorporated AK's vegetarian sausages which she seems to like (again covered in breadcrumbs!).

It's a long and difficult battle though trying to introduce new things and as I'm sure you can identify with, the amount of food I end up throwing away is unbelieveable!! If you are making the fishfingers, burgers and chicken nuggets etc yourself I'm sure they have all the goodness he needs. I have a recipe for potato cakes if you need me to post it, I've not tried it yet but it may be a way to get him to eat a healthier version of potato waffles/smiles.

Don't ever think you are a bad mum, there are plenty of us out there with the same problems and sometimes the only way to get them to eat anything is to let them have something that isn't particularly 'good' for them. It sounds like you are doing a brilliant job and I'm sure at some point your LO will begin to enjoy new tastes (that's what I keep telling myself anyway!!!!).

Sorry I've not been of much use but I hope it helps to know that others are going through exactly the same thing, and to be honest I don't think my list of foods that Molly eats would be half as long as yours so try not to worry.

If you need any recipes posting just let me know.

[Bear]

hi and welcome!
your not a bad mum please dont think that - you've done really well to get him to eat what he does do as thomas wont eat half of any of that!
Try making your own chick nuggets and burgers (pm me for recipies if you would like them), these are both yummy and then you know there are no nasties in them. The AK Eat Fussy recp book is brilliant and full of inspiration.. I've found it brilliant for the burgers, home made meatballs and lots and lots of other things Im sure he'll love. Your not alone, thomas wont eat hardly anything and wont eat finger foods still jst clamps his mouth shut and screams, I wont bore you with the rest.
Sorry cant be of any more help if you need recp for any of the above private message me and I can get them to you no probs.
xx

[scorpiot]

Thank you very much for your replies.

The past few days haven't been good - we've all had a bad cold. My elder son (who's 3 and will eat anything apart from whole tomatoes and raisins) even went off his food so it was no real surprise when my younger son did too. But now he's still off his food - he won't even eat his usual stalwarts like fish fingers. Tonight I got down him the princely sum of 1 potato smile. All he's had today apart from that is some dry cheerios - he won't entertain anything else. I'm at my wits end and really, really worried. I now don't know whether he's being fussy, whether it's the cold, whether he just hates food or what. I'm totally at a loss. I've just sat on the kitchen floor and cried for 20 minutes - I'm so worried he's harming himself in some way and I just want him to eat.

I don't even know what the best thing to do is - I've tried reading up on it and get contradictory advice. Some say offer healthy snacks - but then I'm worried he'll fill up on the snacks and not eat his meals. But then mealtime comes along and he's not eating meals either so then it means he's hardly eating at all! I really don't know what to do!

I made sure my elder son was off his bottle by the time he was 12 months old - that was also my intention this time, but he's still waking for milk in the night. It's cows milk I give him but I don't know if he's wanting that because he's still hungry - but then I think if he's hungry why isn't he eating 'proper' food?

What do you all do? Do you still give snacks too? Do you give yoghurt (for eg) after a meal if they haven't eaten it? Part of me says I should so at least he's having something, but then part of me says not to as it's teaching him bad habits!

I'm sad, lost and totally confused and worried.

[noababy]

I would not give him milk in middle of night. Aside from being bad for his teeth, it's a habit. Get rid of it, he may have a few bad nights but then maybe he will eat in the evening. If you really have to give him a drink-give him water.

Lots of luck!

[scorpiot]

Originally Posted by noababy

I would not give him milk in middle of night. Aside from being bad for his teeth, it's a habit. Get rid of it, he may have a few bad nights but then maybe he will eat in the evening. If you really have to give him a drink-give him water.

Lots of luck!

Hi,

I've tried that - for 2 weeks in fact and all it did was kept the whole house up for those 2 weeks. I've tried giving him less, but he cries for more, I've tried watering it down but he'll still just drink it and then wake up again - I've tried everything I can think of. I'm still giving it to him as it's so hard to hear him crying (and it seems to be out of hunger) and I figured at least he's getting some nutrients out of the milk.

[kerri-anne]

I'm sorry to hear you are having such a tough time, I know it can be so difficult sometimes.

Molly sometimes has snacks during the afternoon but only light things like rice cakes, fruit, bread sticks etc otherwise I do think she'd struggle to eat her tea. Your question about giving pudding even if they haven't eaten their dinner:- I do, I probably shouldn't but I would worry too much that she was hungry and if she's at least eaten a bit of yoghurt then I know she's had something.

The recipes I've PM'ed you are from a book called 'Finger Foods' by Jennie Maizels and there are some great ideas in there including meatballs, mini-pizzas, fishcakes, pancakes, burgers etc as well as snack ideas, food to take out with you and sweet treats - I'd highly recommend it.

I really hope things improve for you soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx