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My DD has food fads too, and the main thing is to keep mealtimes as fun as possible, offer food a couple of times and if he still turns his nose up I have a bite of whatever it is then offer it once more, if it is still turned down I will take it away and offer a sandwich or something light like an ommelette. I know it seems as though you are backing down but in the long run the more of an issue you make of it the more likely he is to develop food phobias.

Also kids do lose their appetite during the hot weather, I have been offering plenty of drinks and fruit and lots of light snacks rather than heavy meals )

xxx

Hi, Skazcat
I need to ask 2 questions here. How tall is your son? Was he borm premature? Both of these should be taken into account when calculating if his weight is approriate to his age.
20lb 8 oz does seem low for a child of his age (about 21 months, right?)
AS to the vitamins: Is he on vitamin supplements? Some children will also experience an upswing in their appetites when on a good multi-vitamin syrup.
Skim milk? Why was he introduced to skim milk? Children younger than 2 should only be on full fat and over 2 should be on semi-skimmed milk. The other option, if he was a formula fed baby and is used to formula taste is to try him on the "growing child" formulas. THey will cost more than fresh milk but at least they are better nutritionally speaking.

Rene, Lauren is only 22lb and on the 90th centile for her height. She is lively and energetic and has spurts where she will eat alot and days where she is not so hungry. Some children are just naturally slender )

xxx

My friends 2 children were very small in both weight and height and now at 6 the oldest have caught up with her age group.

My DS at 1.5 years wears her sons clothes that he wore at 3

Very few children would starve themselves. If DS doesn't eat then he doesn't get anything else right there and then. I wait 30 minutes and most of the times he eats then.
If you stop giving him the skimmed milk then I am sure he would start drinking the full fat milk.

Is he lively and happy otherwise?

toddlers and food

Have you tried not sitting with him when he eats? that may sound weird but my DD will eat perfectly well if we eat with her and don't make a fuss or distract her or if we leave the room, if I dare to make a fuss or try to encourage her to eat I may aswell throw it in the bin -she just likes to be left!

ditto to what Chilli says. Sometimes DD1 likes to have company for a meal and sometimes she wants to eat alone.

Also heard a paediatric nurse on Radio 4 this week saying that food faddiness at this age is natures way of protecting children from eating something dangerous. They are now completely mobile and so HAVE to be wary of unfamiliar foods for fear of danger. DD1 is 2 in three days and only weighs 23lbs. She is happy, lively and perfectly healthy - there is NO SUCH as a normal.

Please don't fret, he isn't doing anything unusual, I'm absolutely certain of it

We also leave DS to eat on his own when he is playing up.
This morning he didn't want his porrige together with us... then 30 minutes later he was hovering around his chair and I just popped him up and left the porrige almost out of reach. 1 minute later he reached for the bowl and finished it all!

Yes thats a good point actually, because of my shifts we only get to eat together as a family 2-3 times a week, and these are always the days that Lauren will play up

Scaz, Hun - he may not be tall and he may not be chubby but he is close enough to being in proportion on his centiles.

I think my little man must be different from anyone else - despite his size (he is about 95th centile for both height and weight [88cm and almost 14kg which translates as almost 35 inches and almost 31 pounds]) he will only eat when he has company. He point blank will not eat if no-one else is eating at the same time or is at least sitting with him and pretending to eat So we prove, once again, that every child is different. Sorry - there is one time he will eat alone... when he has his snack but for meals he must have company

As for your little man's height - He may just be a young man who is destined to be of no more than average height. Or he may be reserving a lovely huge growth spurt for later. I know several young men who were really small as kids and suddenly at 12 or 13 shot up to be quite tall and conversely I have known some who were really big children but went on to be average to smallish adults.
He is happy, he is healthy and he has energy. Sounds fine to me...

We all do worry about our precious little miracles. Ask me how much I panic cos C's head is so huge... lol
I think we are entitled to - in the end though all we want is for our kids to grow up happy and healthy.
We used to think: If I could just fall pg then I can stop worrying, then it was if I could just reach 12 weeks PG, then if I could just have my baby in my arms, If he could just reach.... it never stops. We will worry to the end...