She Wont Eat and Very Picky

A thought that you might consider. My son and my nephews all had enlarged tonsils. What does that have to do with anything you ask? Well, all of them had a very hard time eating. My son in particular would drool constantly and my youngest nephew had only a 1/4in. space for the food to pass his tonsils. NO, pediatricians don't catch it. It took an ENT to find out for all of us. Just something to consider.

My son slobbered so much I was worried he would get dehydrated! It is normal. Does she have her two year molars? Those were a source of aggrevation for my son.
If you are really concerned ask her Pediatrician.

She will not go hungry, you show her what is for the meal and leave it for a while, then remove it, if she comes back around hungry present it again. Teaching her right now that she needs to eat what is served and get her over being picky will save you a lot of stress as being picky starts young and gets worse with age!
If she is hungry she will eat, period. She won't starve herself and realizes now you are worried about her starving and will cater to her.
she should have three meals a day and two snacks. Leave them out for at least five minutes to give her time to eat if she is hungry, then say "well I have to put this away, if you are hungry it is waiting for you"...then put it up. Do not just give her just what she likes but continue to present different things over and over. My son HATED fish or so he thought. I would cook it, serve side dishes, my daughter and I ate it and then he would just eat the side dishes. After three attempts now all of a sudden he likes it....just takes consistency and representing something. Our rule is you at least have to take a bite of everything for every age you are..hee hee..opps that wouldn't work for me though, I AM OLD! :)

Hi H.,
You might take her to a pediatric dentist (they specialize in working with children)just in case she has a sensitive place in a tooth or in her mouth. One of my friends had a tooth problem when she was a little girl, her mom had thought she was just being a picky eater and ended up taking her to a dentist... who found the problem. Hopefully its just a stage your little one is going through. Good luck!

T. S.

Have you tried playing airplane? I know at this age she can feed herself, but sometimes my 2 year old doesn't eat...and then we start playing airplane...I fly the food with sound effects into her mouth. Choo-choo train works, too. If your daughter is teething, try some tylenol. If she is in discomfort and needs to chew, some relief might help.

With my first child, she was very picky also, I was told that children if presented with enough food, will not starve themselves. Offer her the sippy instead of the bottle, she is old enough to off her bottle. I agree with before mentioned that she may be breaking her 2 year molars...this is very painful. If your concerned about her loosing weight because she is not eating, then offer her a pediasure every once in a while. This will give her the nutrients she needs until this time passes, and it will pass! Good luck!

If she hasn't been to the dentist yet she needs to go regardless. Some kids are just drooly and will ourgrow it probably before she starts school.
If she does have a full set she needs to go to the dentist just to make sure everything is on track. Now is a good time to start her checkups!

She's reade to be off bottles. If she still carries around a bottle, she probabally isn't hungry enough to eat. I had to limit bottles/milk between meals to get my daughter to eat. I also took her off bottles as soon as she bit through one (18 months, has all her teeth). If she has all her teeth, she doesn't need teethers. Remember she's stil really little and may not completely understand hungry.

Hi H.,

She may not begin to eat better until she is off the bottle. Everyone does things differently and it's hard for me to give someone else advice about their children, even after dealing with all the differences in my 8, but all of mine were weaned at a year old and I never had problems with them being picky after that. Sure they all have their likes and dislikes, but I really think that once your little one is off the bottle she will better. Hope that helps:o)

J. - Mother of eight, and five away from having an empty nest:o)

As many moms have said, she needs to be off the bottle. A 2 year old should be using a cup.

Also, being a picky eater, to a certain extent, a learned behavior in children. If we don't serve foods to our children several times, if we allow them to say "no I won't eat that", and we cater to their desires at a very young age, we don't teach them to enjoy a wide variety of food.

The best thing to do is to serve her what you have made, tell her "this is dinner, we are eating now. If you do not eat you will be hungry." If she doesn't eat it she doesn't eat DO the same thing the next meal. Then the next meal. Two year olds WILL NOT starve themselves. They WILL NOT. two year olds WILL EAT when they are hungry.

You have to teach her now to start eating different foods or she will just get worse as she gets older.

The cheap sippy cups have a harder plastic that she can't bite off & choke on. A 2 year old with all of her teeth is past the bottle stage, especially if it is really just a chew toy.(o:~
If She is still getting teeth that can cause the drooling, and make her gums sensitive enough that she may not want to eat much. Try giving her fun foods, like cutting her cheese & toast slices with cookie cutters so they are animal shapes, or hearts or what ever you have. Give her lots of fruits & vegies to choose from, like bannanas, raisins, dried cherries, papaya, zuccini, cauliflower, oh, and Crackers, things she can hold in her little hand & keep on going. 2 Year olds often don't eat as much as they did at 18 months or so. And they are less likely to eat at the table than "on the Run" because their minds are so active & interested in everything. Praise her for being a big girl, mention to her all of the cool things she can do now that she is 2, like drink from a sippy cup, eat bannanas, hold a popsicle (a good way to keep them hydrated in the summer).
~"Abuelita" Ramos

I agree with Deb K. "If she is hungry she will eat, period. She won't starve herself and realizes now you are worried about her starving and will cater to her."
Also I would wean her off the bottle. Sippy cups are harder to chew on and she may be getting full off liquids and then have no desire for food.