completely OT but I'm in a panic!!

[Quincy]

I used to babysit a little girl who also pulled out her hair. I think she was stressed out. Her mom bought her baby dolls with similar hair to her own, and she started pulling out the dolls hair instead of her own. Just a thought. I hope she starts eating again. I know it's stressful, I have a 7 year old that weighs 37 pounds. She is such a picky eater and there are days when I think she barely eats anything. I go to bed at night worrying that she is starving. I always have the few things on hand that she likes in case she's ready to eat. Everytime we go to a family meal I have to hear about how she doesn't eat and how small she is ...blah, blah. I hope this passes soon.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

You have gotten lots of great advice so far I wanted to offer one other suggestion.

Try a toddler nibble tray. Use a ice cube tray or a muffin pan and place different items in it. Put in cheese cubes, plain cooked pasta, hard boiled egg wedges, pretzals, fruit pieces or blueberries. Give them cute names like cooked brocoli could be little trees.

Also offer some nutritous dip, toddlers love to dip. Try mashed avocado, hummus, or peanut butter. My daughter liked to dip chicken nuggets in applesauce. Aim for a balanced day instead of a balanced meal, sometimes all my son will eat for lunch is meat, then for dinner all he will eat is mashed potatoes and green peas.

My DS had a lot of problems learning to eat. He had sensory integration disorder. Baby food made him gag and he became anemic. We had to get a Occupational therapist come to help us for a year.

Hang in there hopefully it will get better.

 

[rt2dz]

I’m right there with you. I haven't read the responses, but I have a 3yo who also isn’t fond of eating. He’s a whopping 26 lbs (his 19-month-old brother is 23 lbs!) We, too, have to give the daily vitamin and a pediatric drink every day just to make sure he’s getting his nutrition (Pedi orders). We do give ours at night to make sure he has a full tummy at bedtime and to try to encourage actual consumption of real food during the day. Between refusing, playing with his food & what he tosses to the dogs, we’re not sure if he eats some days at all. And guess what? That’s just the way it is.

He is growing. He does gain weight albeit very, very slowly and while he does have health issues galore, he isn’t exactly unhealthy. I know that sounds weird, it’s complicated.

All I can say is, I feel for you. But the more of a push you make, the harder they push back. Do not make it a power struggle—you will lose. And that makes it harder to win other battles. You can’t force eating and you can’t force potty training.

What we do to encourage eating:

Offer food throughout the day v. at meals only. It’s actually a much better eating habit anyhow—people who graze are thinner and healthier. They only eat until full and not an extra bite and they are only taking in what they need at the moment.

Make sure you offer good foods. Don’t worry about calories so much as the nutritional content, but don’t totally deny treats either. Again, a very good eating habit. Don’t push what they eat, just offer the food. If it’s snubbed, fine. Try again later.

Don’t offer drinks constantly. Never with food, but only after food. I’ll frequently say that I’d love to get you a drink, but you need to eat first. I don’t require a clean plate, just a few bites. I then limit milk to the need 24 oz a day and juice to 8 oz a day. I never serve straight juice, and I do serve v-8 fusion (to get in a veg serving in addition to fruit serving). Other than that, it’s water only. Oh, and that end of the day Pedisure.

We offer new things and old things. We serve favorites with new foods. We try to give the one bite rule to all food (with him though, I can’t force a swallowing). I also try to get him to help pick out the foods and prepare the foods. Doesn’t always work, but I will always try.

Take heart—just when I’m convinced that he is going to starve, he’ll eat like a horse.

 

[PiperPizzaz]

I feel your stress. I have an 18 month old and the few times he hasn't wanted to eat (for days) has been either getting sick or teething. I would give her her favorite foods. Ds will always eat a banana. Poor guy had stomache flu and hadn't vomited yet I didn't know and was upset he wouldn't eat. I finally gave him a banana. Which he did eat and of course threw up. Anyway my point is to pick out her favorite things it won't hurt for a while to just eat the same things. Ds loves bananas and yogurt the best he will always eat these.

I also agree to try giving a doll with lifelike hair or maybe a taggie blanket.

GL, and hang in there.

 

[larklynn]

My oldest ds started having eating problems at 2 months. Didn't want his bottle tried other formulas... ended up feeding him more often. He started baby food ate it for about a week and started the refusing thing again. Every meal was a struggle till he was three. He started occupational therapy at 9 months old because of his reactions to food. The dr. said make him eat or feeding tube. The nutrionalst said don't force him he will eat when he is hungry (not true in his case). He got his tonsils out at 3 and kept going to his therapy. He got better as the years have gone on. He will be 13 in June and likes to be teased about being a bottemless pit. My dd went through the phase of not wanting to eat alot but isn't to bad now just what you would consider a picky eater. My yds litteraly gets sick over the different tectures his food problems have lasted longer then the other two he is six. I don't worry as much about him though because he is a big boy where my other two were tiny like your dd. My 12 yearold is only 75 lbs and dd9 is just around 63 to put in persepective ds6 is 65. It is a worry the older two were on pediasure. We tried distracting older ds and singing to him anything to get him to eat and not through up. You may want to talk to an occupational therapist or a speech therapist.

 

[Georgia]

My DD has gone through phrases...sometimes it seems she is eating well and then all of a sudden everything is "yucky, gross and disgusting."

A good friend of mine has a DS (5) who has NEVER been a good eater. She has taken him to the pedi. Pedi basically told her, he would eat when he was hungary. Also, he said if kids drink milk regularly, they can survive on about one small meal every other day!

I seems crazy but it did put our mind at ease. Both my DD and her DS are out of the toddler years and doing fine!

 

[karenTX]

OMG!!! You all are so wonderful!!! Hugs to all of you!!!

To fill you all in...DD is 2 (just turned), was born at 29 wks at 1lb10oz. She was on a GI tube and vent while in the NICU. Once home, she'd take a bottle fine and used to eat pretty well. Then we started the self-feeding and it downhill from there! She really doesn't have any texture issues, never had reflux or GERD or food allergies. We've got an appt. with a Gastroenterolgist later this month to see if there are any problems with her swallowing or GI track. She has a speech delay, so that might have something to do with it too, along with adding more fustration to the situation! We're going to start speech therapy next month.

Right now, her allergies are really bad (like everyone else in Texas! ) So I'm really wondering if it's the drainage/coughing/ runny nose that's making her feel like not eating. Usually, when she's not sick, I can get her to eat her favorites (Peanut Butter/bananas/veggie soup) but she won't even touch those right now. I can't get her to even eat Cheetos or an Oreo, her most favorite once-in-awhile treats!

Due to her being so underweight, she was "prescribed" the Pediasure by her dietitican. She gets 1 in the morning and 1 around dinnertime or bedtime. She HATES juice and loves water, but I will have to try the V-8 fusion, great idea!
I feel like I have to continue the Pediasure so I know she's getting some nutrition! I'm going to try leaving a snack bowl/nibble tray out. Hopefully, she'll get something that way.

As for the hair pulling, I gave her a soft bodied Barbie so maybe she can pull her hair out instead! She does have many stuffed animals she loves on but not 1 in particular, except maybe her Disney Bear. I'll just try to keep her stress level as low as I can and pray for the best! I guess I can go to mittens at night if it gets really bad.

Again, thanks for all the advice!!! You guys are the best!!

 

[HelenePA]

this might sound silly... but have you ever checked to see if she was tounge tied? dd1 had problems with food since she was born.. she was on 24hr nj tube feeds for the first few months of her life.. we had NO idea why she wouldn't eat.. seems she couldn't really eat well because she was severly tounge tied! I only found this out at 3.5 she was speech delayed, trouble with solids (until they snipped it!) just a thought!

 

[hsmamato2]

Ds13 has allergies, and he has a 'body sense' about foods he shouldn't eat. He always has,sometimes it's tingly mouth,or itchy skin,or some other funny feeling. But usually,after many years,I've come to accept that his body is telling him something that the rest of us don't understand.
As a toddler, she's young to understand these things, so she may be trying to tell you the only way she can,through behaviors.
I recommend a book called "Is this your Child?" by Dr Doris Rapp...
Also, try 'strewing' healthy snacks around,24 hours a day. if she hates the ped. drink,why bother? You could try making a smoothy,with any fruits,etc that she likes, you can sneak in tofu,or yogurt,bananas,etc for health-works with my own picky kids!
I'd think a small child needs extra calories,so dry cereal, anything semi healthy that she'll eat,let her eat!

And all kids go through phases too-where they want only one thing,and it isn't always the healthiest,but usually it balances out over a week or two.
I like the idea of a pp, maybe a super soft toy to squeeze for stressful times, trying to ignore the scary behaviors(to a point) distracting her with fun things,and not overly stressing yourself if she doesn't eat much, if she's holding steady,or growing,she's probably doing ok.....
Ds's doc used to say not to worry about his growth cmpared to other kids,if his growth is steady,(he was small) and normal for HIM, then it's ok!

 

[Katiebell]

Your daughter is so cute in that picture, what a sweet smile, make ya want to just cuddle her

I loved Dreamer & Wisher's suggestion of a nibble tray, putting out tiny little bits of her favorite foods in an ice cube tray or a muffin tin. I used to do that for my boys, had forgotten about that... If you left it where she can reach it, she might be tempted by some of her favorites, not overwhelmed by too much on one plate. Just try not to stress, keep things as peaceful as you can, and it will get better soon...