We've done BLS with DD ever since she started solids, and I've always been really keen on the ideas behind it, as it fits in well with my ethos. But recently I feel that we're going off track.

First a bit of history; DD has always struggled to gain weight, she was labelled FTT as a young baby and although I questioned what we were doing after further investigation and thought i decided that she would get there in her own time, and maybe she was just this way naturally.

A few weeks ago DD was hospitalised with dehydration and a virus. She then caught gastro from the hospital so was sick with that when we got home too. When she went back for her checks she still had issues with her lungs, so was referred onto a paed. When we saw him he was concerned by her low weight (which was even lower after a few weeks of very little eating while sick). He prescribed her losec for silent reflux, which worked amazingly, and also told me to keep encouraging her to eat etc.

She's gained over 600g in about 6 weeks - I'm guessing through regaining a lot of what she lost when she was sick plus the fact that the losec allows her to feel more comfortable with eating.

He was also concerned about her iron levels and said it was important she had meat - which she's generally not keen to have.

She was also diagnosed with a peanut allergy a few weeks ago, and I am starting to suspect a dairy intolerance, which fills me with dread as her favourite foods are cheese, sour cream etc. So all in all there's a lot going on food-wise!

Since this appointment we've been watching what she eats and piling the pressure on a bit. When she won't even try things or touches them to her lips only we tell her to 'show the birds how to eat...' etc. She's also become really really fussy and very limited in what she'll eat, and there I am telling her 'you must eat some meat before you can have some more pasta etc. These are things I never wanted to do, and don't really believe in, yet we're doing them.

I think DH and i are worried, and finding that mealtimes are becoming stressful, and of course some of that stress is being reflected onto DD. I don't want to have a battlefield at the dinner table every night, that's why we did BLS. But i don't know how to make sure that my daughter is nutritionally sound without guiding her through her meals.

I'm not really sure what I'm looking for in this post, part vent, part advice, and I think i just needed to offload this too. Sorry it's turned into a bit of a rambling thread (I'm not very goods at keeping it short....) but if you have any advice or just a perspective on it I'd love to hear what you have to say.