Sudden Dislike for Eating/drinking Anything

My oldest daughter was a fussy eater at that age. I would keep healthy snacks in an area she could reach. Also, having a child help prepare a meal makes them want to try it. Good luck.

Is he going through some kind of stressful life event right now? New sibling, new home, etc. Sounds like he is starving for your attention (no pun intended).

I have to agree with the concensus that if you offer it and he doesn't want it, let it go until he decides that he is hungry. My son is 2 and 1/2 and eats far less than his 12 year old sister did at that age. It seems to be from the responses that its more boys than girls doing the same thing. I've chalked up Brady's lack of appetite to the fact that he'd rather be outside, running around or into everything rather than sitting still. Give him a little more time and keep in contact with doctor. Good luck!

Hi. My name is C.. I have been married for almost 9 years. My husband and I have two boys, Blaine will be 7 shortly and Devin is 4.

Such a dramatic behavior change like that is uncommon. My advice would be to take him to a behavioralist or a child psychologist. Has there been any other quirky changes? If there is no physical reason for him not to eat, it must be something else. Please don't listen to your doctor telling you to wait. Sometimes, waiting is the worst thing you can do. I speak from much experience with that because Devin was diagnosed with Moderate Autism at the age of 2 1/2 years old. For an entire year, my pediatrician told me Devin was just slow and we should wait. Thank god we didn't wait. Devin is doing very well these days and I strongly believe it's because we put him into therapy right when we began worrying about autism when he was 1 1/2 years old. I'm not saying that your child has an issue like that but I know a lot about behavior issues because Autism is a behavior-related disorder. A drastic change in eating habits sends a red flag up and should at least be looked into.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you need to talk further!

Good Luck! Parenting is the hardest job in life!

C.

my sister have the same probelm with her 3 year old boy.let everyone eat together at mealtime at the table.it is a big help.

It sounds like he's exerting his power over you by refusing to eat. The more worried and upset you get, the more likely he will be to keep doing this. I would fix him his meal (something he has liked to eat in the past) and sit down with him to eat. If he says he doesn't want it, just say, 'O.K., but no snacks or juice today, until after you eat your lunch' Then, don't bring it up again. I would leave the meal out for a short period of time after mealtime is over,and then put it away if he doesn't eat it. Don't keep asking him if he's hungry, etc. and don't give him any snacks or juice between meals, just water. I think it's likely that if you can ignore the behavior, he will start eating again. I know that's really hard to do when you can see that he's not eating anything, but it's worth a try.
Good luck!

You know, my three year old has taken to barely eating anything, too, but I'm not all that worried about it. Kids eat when they are hungry. As far as I'm concerned, as long as what he eats (when he does eat) is healthy, he's getting what he needs.

He has also just gone through a phase of eating everything in sight. Now he's sleeping more. Seems like a growth spurt to me, and his clothes are indicating that too.

Other things to consider would be a)has he had a cold or sore throat lately? The memory of eating something painful when he had a sore throat could make him wary of eating too many things now. b) Is he at a busy stage? too busy to bother with eating...maybe scheduling a time where you sit at the table to do things together (like a game of memory) would help...you could put some healthy finger foods on the table to appeal to his appetite while he's still being busy.

Regardless of why, my advice would be similar to those above, but for different reasons. I'd say don't worry about it, just offer a variety healthy foods regularly throughout the day and continue to make sure he's drinking enough. It's far more important to stay well hydrated, I think. Good luck!

good morning, i would not worry. i have a 3 year old that only eats certain things. he has gone almost a month without really eating anything. i dont give him snacks or anything special because nicholas has to learn that if you are hungry then you should eat dinner and so forth. he does come around eventually. even i go thru those bits where i am not hungry. dont force it and dont make a big deal out of it. just tell him that he has to sit with the family even if he does not eat. just give it time. B. sahm of 10,3,2,2, 2 boys and twin girls.

Well my two year old has always been picky about foods. Some days shell eat so little if anything at all it scares me. But I have a trick. I look for tons of different dinners or spagettis or kids cuisines and I try them all on her. Somewhere in the middle she finds something she likes . The only thing with her is that she gets bored easily so The following week Im looking for new stuff again. BUt somewhere in the middle she is eating. Also she likes smukers uncrustables grilled cheese and or peanut butter and jelly (grape or strawberry) she calls them pie. As far as the weight thing goes I was really worried about that with her too. She hadnt gain the amount of weight that she should have for her age . She was only off by an ounce but you know as a mom you want to raise the healthiest child possible. NOne the less on the days I would see that she really didnt want to eat or is being extra picky I had back up supplies of pediasure snack bars (strawberry and chocolate flavors) and I had the pedisure chocolate milk or vanilla milk. The milks serve as a supplemental meal . Im so thankful that my daughter really likes it and so that helped keep her wait to where it should be.

My 11 month old has started turning her nose up to just about everything as well!

My son hardly ever eats. I asked my ped about and he said "have you ever heard the saying- some people eat to live and some people live to eat." My son did lose a few pounds in the beginning of his not eating stage, however he's evened out and as long as he's progressing the way he should, he is fine. I feel your concern though because we are going through the same thing. My son is 18 months old and I can barely get him to eat anything and there are days that he just doesn't want to eat. They would rather explore.

I'm Glad you found out what is was good luck!!

B.,

I agree with Lynne, the more that you respond to his behavior, the more that he's going to refuse to eat. Perhaps he does it because he has realized that you pay more attention now that he isn't eating. Not that you didn't before, but now it's like he's an infant all over again...he has your attention 24/7. I would just follow Lynne's advice, give him the option of eating what you've put on his plate, if he refuses, don't give in. Don't give him snacks or juice or any treats. His healthy food comes before any kind of treat that he may want. I know it's hard not to give in, because you start thinking, well if he'll eat this rice krispy treat(or whatever it is) at least he's eating something, but you need to be firm about it, or he'll learn that he can do this later on in life as well.

Good luck!

My son used to be (sometimes still is) that way. He might have a food allergy. My pediatrician did a test for celiac disease. Mention this to your doctor, its when someone has difficulty digesting gluten. My son tested positive for this, but further testing showed that his gluten levels weren't high enough to be diagnosed with the disease.

My son is going to turn two next week, and his weight gain was good while I was nursing, but after I weaned him his weight dropped. My ped didn't show concern until he dropped below the 10th percentile (my son is still below that). That's when they did all the testing.

As long as he's producing stool, and urine and acting like a happy active kid, I wouldn't worry too much.

My son was losing weight but he was still making poop, peeing and being happy and active. To me that's all that matters.

HTHs