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18 Month Old Not Interested In Solid Food. Any Suggestion?
Question: Hi, my child is 18mos old generally healthy and active. His amount and variety of foods he will eat is very limited. Seems breakfasts his best meal of the day. His fluid intake is good, but he just won't eat very much solid food. He used to eat baby food jars just fine. He also would eat yogurt, but now he will only eat half. Do you have any suggestions or questions? He likes fresh fruit but not best. His favorite food is pizza. He does like tomatoes.
Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic
It is said that the only consistent thing about a toddler's eating is that it will be inconsistent.
At 18 months he should generally be eating from the family pot, if he is still using alot of milk what may happen is that he may fill himself with milk and not have the urge to use the food that is offered.Offer food first and milk when he has finished eating.
If possible his meal times should correspond with the rest of the family, often parents may feed their toddlers separately to concentrate solely on them when they are eating, which is natural but counterproductive. He should have his meals with everyone else because it encourages eating.
You can possibly make different types of pizza, since he likes it, add different meats and vegetables to introduce them in a way that he would use them.
Also since he likes tomatoes, cut them in small bits (so he can't just take them out) and add them to his food.
Make his food as colourful as possible with different colour vegetables so that he would be interested in it.
I know that it may be difficult to get children to eat, my son just passed his age and he would take something one day and not the next, but you have to be persistent and it should change.
I hope this is helpful to you, feel free to ask any other questions
It is said that the only consistent thing about a toddler's eating is that it will be inconsistent.
At 18 months he should generally be eating from the family pot, if he is still using alot of milk what may happen is that he may fill himself with milk and not have the urge to use the food that is offered.Offer food first and milk when he has finished eating.
If possible his meal times should correspond with the rest of the family, often parents may feed their toddlers separately to concentrate solely on them when they are eating, which is natural but counterproductive. He should have his meals with everyone else because it encourages eating.
You can possibly make different types of pizza, since he likes it, add different meats and vegetables to introduce them in a way that he would use them.
Also since he likes tomatoes, cut them in small bits (so he can't just take them out) and add them to his food.
Make his food as colourful as possible with different colour vegetables so that he would be interested in it.
I know that it may be difficult to get children to eat, my son just passed his age and he would take something one day and not the next, but you have to be persistent and it should change.
I hope this is helpful to you, feel free to ask any other questions
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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