2Yr Old Not Eating

She won't starve.
Put an assortment of small choices on her plate.
Give her (maybe) 10 minutes to help herself
to whatever ones she wants to eat.
Don't push.
Ignore.
If she seems to enjoy/appreciate any particular thing,
give her more of that.
Next meal, different choices.
Etc.
Back off on the fruit cups.
Definitely no sweets.
Veggies, fresh/raw fruit, cheese, chicken, fish.
Let us know what happens.

Oh boy did we have this! :) Our daughter is 3.5 and sometimes we still battle this. Here is what we did in steps:

1) Explained to her that since dessert and/or sweets was becoming a problem for the family (was causing she and mommy to get cross) we were no longer having them. Then we had to follow through. No desserts, no sweets (at least nowhere visible in the house).

2) She eats what we eat for dinner. We don't make her anything special. If she doesn't want it - we tell her "ok" in a nonchalant voice. (This shocks her more than anything - sometimes they just want the interaction of an argument). We explain "Ok. You don't have to eat your dinner. Just understand that there will be nothing else tonight if you don't." And we go on with the dinner conversation.

3) Quite often we find that she soon starts poking around at her plate. If she doesn't then so be it. IF she comes to us later and says she's hungry, I offer to re-warm her dinner plate. Period. That's it.

4) Consistency. You cannot, cannot deviate or give in. Even one time. That teaches them there is room for negotiation.

Well that's what worked for us! Hope you find what works for you!!

She will not starve. She may complain of being hungry, but she will not starve. I agree to an attractive choice of items, but take away the sweets entirely. She will manipulate you to get them and it actually positions the sweets as the desirable food. Give small quantities of a variety of foods, colors, textures. Make as much finger food as you can - pasta shapes she can pick up, peas, cut up chicken, chunks of melon, etc. Disguise as much food as you can - get one of those books on hiding nutrition in other things. If she doesn't eat what's on her plate, take it away, and put her down from the table. Don't fight/argue, but do not offer any food again for an hour. Then give her the same food or some slight variations, but do not throw food away.

And take away sugary juices. You can add a liquid children's supplement to her milk (NOT VITAMINS! - they are just "expensive urine" in the words of many pediatricians and most are not absorbed). I can give you more info on that. If you give her "natural" sweets like beets, squash and fruits, fine. You can let her have a little real maple syrup (not the corn syrup stuff) with a whole grain waffle or whole wheat pancake. But no cookies or candy or sugary cerals. Just don't have it in your house. Then it's not a choice.

A child in my family is only into sweets and white bread - he thinks dinner is a plain bagel! He's had 4 teeth pulled already due to heavy cavities, and he has a weight problem at 7. So you'll be glad you stopped this before it got started.

We ran into that same problem, and are still dealing with it. My son is 2 and for a while he wouldn't eat anything except for snacks (bananas, apples, etc) between meals. When we would sit down as a family to eat, he would throw a fit or just not eat. I would throw his food away, but two hours later, when my 10 year old would pop some popcorn for a movie, my 2 year old would want to eat all of it!

My living situation isn't ideal at this time, so restricting treats and snacks is very difficult (read 7th circle of hell post if you like), but if I can keep them out of the house, and replace the cookies with things like fresh fruit, he won't have a choice. Fruit cups have lots of preservatives and sugar in them, and are more of a treat than a serving of fruit.

I'm not sure if your daughter is testing you and her boundaries, or maybe she just isn't hungry. Be consistent in whatever you choose to do because at this age, they are looking for a point of weakness to get what they want. Kids are smart!!! Stay strong! And if it gets to a point where your daughter simply refuses to eat for more than a day or two (I mean absolutely nothing by mouth in her stomach), then I would give a call to the doctor, just to see if there is something else going on. Hope this helps!

You have to be firm. Your child will not starve to death. Make sure she isnt eating too many inbetween meal snacks so she is good and hungry. Offer what you offer and if she doesnt accept it right then put it in the fridge and offer it again later. If she is being picky make sure you offer healthy things, like an apple or banana with a little pnut butter on it. Steer her away from sweets..... once they get a hold of those "addictive foods" like sugar and grease you really start having problems. We all acquire a taste for what we are being served... if we only get feed junk that is what we will crave forever.... so keep that in mind. You are forming her pallet for her right now.
She's at that age where she will try to control you, she's seeing what she can and cannot control. Remember you are the alpha dog.

Kristi H's answer is dead on!! Follow it to the T and you'll be OK :)

I've found that this is typical for her age. My daughter just turned 3 and is getting somewhat better. When she turned 2 the same thing happened to us. I used to get worried but once her doctor said all they need is one good meal a day, I stopped getting so worked up. Our biggest issue was that b/c she was hungry & not eating, she'd have meltdowns & temper tantrums or was just horrible to be around, which made it that much more difficult not to give her even healthy snacks. Plus, we made her sit with us while we ate. We knew if we stuck to our guns, she'd just be terrible & cranky until the next day (yes, she was starving- we could hear her stomach growl, but refused to eat days at a time). Obviously it was a power struggle that lasted almost a YEAR! But I simply gave up caring, which might sound so mean but it was her choice not to eat. Even now, she might eat a large breakfast, small lunch & no dinner but as long as she ate one good meal, I don't feel like there's a problem. She's skinny & tall (so she is growing) but doesn't look abnormal in any way. So far I've learned, you can't make a kid eat or sleep so don't worry unless you see other issues popping up. Look at it this way: might as well try that exotic recipe you've always wanted to try now that you don't need to worry about a picky eater.

I do think they go through eating phases - sometimes they're little piggies, and sometimes they're birds. At least in my experience, anyway. My little guy turned into a really picky eater around age 2 1/2. We still have family meals, and he "eats" what the family eats (I don't make him anything special), but I always make sure there is something on his plate that I KNOW he likes (fruit cup, yogurt, veggies with dip - I'm lucky on that one). Usually with him, I put veggies with dip amidst all the other stuff we're eating, then say, "If you eat all your veggies, you can have yogurt!" He gets pretty excited about that, and usually eats them, along with a few bits of other things.

Good luck! She won't allow herself to starve, I promise. :)

I would put her meal in front of her and not say another word about it. If she doesn't eat then, cover it up and have it ready to offer to her when she is hungry later. Don't give her something different just to fill her up; she'll eat when she's hungry. She probably can tell you stress about it, so by not making it a big deal to you, you've made it not a big deal to her. It might be a control thing, it might be a phase, it might be that she's truly not hungry. You may never know. Just offer her healthy food and she'll be fine.