2 year old refusing to eat!

4 weeks ago DS had a really bad case of gastro. He was sick for over a week. Prior he was a pretty good eater, just didnt like vegetables. Since he was sick there is only minimal foods he will eat and even then sometimes he refuses them and just screams if we try to help him eat.

Breakfast is fine.. he loves his wheetbix which i put pureed fruit on.

When it comes to lunch he refuses anything except a fruit puree squeezy thing, will have the odd yogurt, maybe a little cheese.. and even all of those he will some times refuse. Ive tried sandwiches, toast, apple, banana, cracker biscuits, cold meats, saltanas, potato chips, even hot chips, chicken nuggets and maccas.. he doesnt want a bar of any of them. All of which he would happily eat.

When it comes to dinner, he will not eat a thing, except mash potato. He use to eat everything we had (bar the vegetables).
With all of this, he is then going to bed hungry and waking all night moaning and crying (i think thats why hes waking). I finally have my newborn sleeping through, but now im up all night with DS.

He wont try anything he doesnt like the look of. No matter what it is. If he doesnt know what it is, he wont touch it.

I just have no idea what to give him. He will drink milk by the gallon and only water. Doesnt like any flavoured drinks. Wont eat lollies or chocolates!

I bought some multivitamins for him today (in the liquid form) which im having to trick into his mouth as he wont take it any other way.

I just have no idea what to do. I know its a common thing for toddlers to be fussy, but he sometimes will just refuse absolutely everything and starve himself, which cant be healthy.

Any ideas or suggests or just reassurance would be really appreciated :(

Kell, I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule, but I've been told that generally toddlers won't starve themselves - if they're hungry enough, they'll eat. If all he'll eat is weetbix, maybe give him weetbix for dinner too? Won't hurt him. It's good that he's happy to drink though! That's important. Would he drink a smoothie do you think?

I've noticed with Riv, on a day where he's super active (like yesterday), he shovels the food in. But when he's not using much energy (rainy days, or when sick), he won't eat what he's given (doesn't stop him trying to reach MY food, guess that's thrill of the chase and all).

Keep offering different stuff to him, but I've noticed Riv eats according to his energy output that day, and if he doesn't eat at night, if he's had a bowl of cereal that morning, and something for lunch, I kinda let it slide. Hopefully he'll move on soon and start eating everything again! :hug:

Hi there ...

My DS goes through this stage everytime he gets sick... With daycare it seems every few weeks its a cold or gastro or something...

I justtell my DS now that if he doesnt eat his food especially his veges that he;ll keep getting sick... Now he's starting t work out that vege's and foods arent that bad and gets back to eating them pretty much straight away now

He was pretty sick a few weeks back like you said, so he's possibly still getting over the sickness. How are his energy levels? Nina is like River, if she's active, she'll eat, if she isn't doing much than she won't eat as much. So if he's still a little lathargic and not 100% then he probably won't be wanting too much. I would just give him whatever he wants to eat at the moment, and keep offering other food as well. He'll be back to normal in no time.

Nelle.. thankyou.. yeh i could do that.. my only worry is he will get sick of weetbix if he has it every meal and then will refuse that too iykwim. I might try the smoothy tomorrow with a banana. I have some wiggles cups with a straw i got months ago from Boost. Anything with Wiggles on he will eat (yogurt and biscuits). So we'll see how that goes. Yeh he wont touch anything im eating either. He looks at it, i offer it and he shakes his head and whinges. Its just anything he doesnt know what it is he doesnt want.. even if i know he will love it.

Jess.. oh im not looking forward to him starting day care next year if gastro is that common! Was the worst week of my life when he was sick like that. Thanks.. but yeh DS wouldnt understand that lol, not enough to eat it. That just makes it even harder that he doesnt completely yet understand alot of what i tell him.

Jodi/Nelle.. yeh he is pretty active.. always has energy.. but doesnt seem to dictate how much he eats unfortunately.
Yeh ill keep trying everything we have in the cupboard i guess. I just wish he would go back to his old self. Its all just doing my head in so much.. :(

Thanks for your replies.

how about some porridge?? we put honey and sultanas in his

DS goes through times like this quite often and Weetbix is our saviour also - ironically he will also down Minestrone soup but then again this monkey is borderline vegetarian - he says no to carbs though and really could live on just vegies and salad - ironically i have to offer him salad last after he finishes the food on his plate otherwise he'll only eat the salad. - not good when you're trying to gain weight

What about something like sustanance?? or vegemite - apparently vegemite increases appetite and is full of goodness - we've been known to put vegemite on saos in this house in desperate times.

Hey you sure he doesn't have a sore throat?? I know this fully puts BJ off his food - just a thought.....

Heath just reminded me that Nina did this about a month ago. She would only eat 2 minute noodles, didn't want anything else. So I gave her 2 minute noodles. Didn't take long for her to get sick of them and want something else! So maybe try that?

Hi Dianna.. yeh i might try the porriage.. he use to always come and eat mine.. might make some for me tomorrow and see if he wants some. Vegemite.. actually he will lick vegemite off whatever i put it on. So thats one thing he will eat.. just not the biscuit it is on. Um.. not sure. He's not complaining really. He is pretty happy otherwise during the day so id kinda think not with the sore throat?

Yep tried 2 minute noodles.. DH had some and he wouldnt eat them either :(

Hey yeah, have you tried porridge? Diane reminded me, Riv's never said no to porridge. You can get the little sachets that you add milk to in the cereal section if you're feeling lazy. ETA: Ah cool, good luck with that.

Is it possible that he's filling up on milk? That's another thought I had.

Thanks Nelle. Yeh will see how he goes with it tomorrow! yeh i have the satchels lol.
Um, i dont think so as he has 1 sippy cup of milk in the morning when he wakes and one before bed. Hes always asking for more which only sometimes ill give him a little bit more.. only drinks water during the day.

Hey Kell - would he be more interested if he helped to make it? My SIL used to get her boys to "help" her make muffin pizzas - half an English muffin, topped with some shaved ham, pineapple pieces & some cheese, then in the oven to melt the cheese. Would he eat sandwiches if he was able to cut them into different shapes with a biscuit cutter? With a 7wo though it might be hard work to juggle. Have to confess I'm really not looking forward to this phase...

Just popped in to say thank you for the smoothy idea!
He had his usual weetbix this morning (gave him an extra half-so 2 1/2 weetbix) and for lunch gave him a few things.. he ate 2 cracker biscuits and that was it. Had banana on his plate which he was refusing to eat so went and put it in the blender and made him a smoothy. Put it in a little Wiggles sippy cup thing from Boost and he's loving it. Keeps saying "mmmmm". Great idea! So will continue to do this! So for him, thats a pretty good lunch, 2 crackers with butter and vegemite and a banana smoothy. Big step up!

Thanks again ladies!

ETA.. thanks for the idea Bhoysgirl. Might give it a go!