Refusing to eat!

Have you tried at different times? He looks tired in this video which could be why he doesn’t want to eat?

Is he still having bottles? Our sleep consultant said all bottles can be dropped from 12 months as long as you pack dairy and iron into their diet. It’s makes them so much more interested in food when their bellies aren’t full of milk x

@Kirsten @Rachaelhe wasn't tired, every time he refuses food he rubs his face and closes his eyes.. if he doesn't see it he doesn't eat it. He eats and sleeps at the same times and we stick to the same routine everyday. I've tried different textures, distractions, different times and making it colourful but absolutely nothing! X

@Abigail he only has 1 bottle and that's at 8:30pm for bed time x

He is also potential autistic

Maybe try different environments like out him in the floor

@Hayley he flaps his arms when he's excited, tip toe walking, texture aversion, swinging himself side to side on the floor, non verbal, I could go on. Autism runs in our family x

Have you tried not eating in the high chair, like eating on the floor together like a picnic, or sat on your lap at a dinner table etc? Tried taking the pressure off and not giving him a plate but eating your own meal and seeing if he wants to pick things off of your plate. Sensory trays with food so that he can play and explore without the expectation of eating. What happens if you leave food and spoons and leave him to it, rather than trying to feed him/hovering over him? How long has he been doing it for? If he’s always like this, I assume he’s then losing weight?

And if there is potentially neurodivergence, there can be sensory difficulties with food- I would reach out for support via HV or GP.

@Chloe I have tried putting his plate on the floor on a mat where he is free to come and go from it. All he does is through it around the house. We both eat at the same time. He loves spinning toys and he has them everywhere. He's always losing weight barely gains. When he does gain he burns it off x

@Chloe @Rebecca I've already spoken to our HV and he was meant to have a dietitian but still waiting and he's "too young" to be tested for autism but he has to be 18 months.

Maybe you could feed yourself and make a big fuss about it like really happy and then see if he’ll try some for the same reaction? Try handing him the spoon as well and see if that helps x

@Kirsten tried both of them haha. He has none of it x

I have this with my son, he’s 22 months and also possibly autistic. Awaiting a paediatrician appointment. He has a few foods that he will consistently eat, pasta is a big one and unfortunately we just have to alternate the few foods he does eat just to get him to eat something 😢

Could he be teething

My son was doing that and I was super lost because he was an absolute foodie until then! Turned out he just wanted to eat himself. But you're saying he is the same with finger food? Anyway, toddlers from 12-24 months all go through some picky stage when it comes to food, some of them not too picky, some extremely picky. But he doesn't look like he is too skinny and it's something to worry about xx

@Elizabeth Yes, exactly! Also teething would always be the reason why my LO would refuse to eat

My daughter did this at 12 months. She stopped gaining weight. I started pressuring her to eat, which made everything worse, it made eating stressful and she would cry any time we put her in her high chair. I learned to stop pressuring her, let her be done eating if she says she’s done. Increase the number of scheduled feedings so if she doesn’t eat, at least there’s another feeding coming soon. Offer feedings in different settings (on an outing, at a restaurant, eat outside or on the floor) in case he associates the table with stress. It got better after a few weeks once she realized I wasn’t going to pressure her anymore If you suspect autism, get evaluated by a nutritionist and occupational therapist sooner rather than later

You don’t need to have autism testing to see a nutritionist and occupational therapist regarding concerns about feeding aversion!

@Rebecca as I said before. We are still waiting for a dietitian

Mine gets super motivated to eat if I’m eating something. It might help to eat the thing him while holding him, and he’s going to naturally want to take whatever it is that you have.

If you suspect autism then I’d go with routine; same time everyday put him high chair and put food in front of him for 10 minutes (if he eats obviously leave him until he stops eating) try 3 different foods at each meal, and leave them in front of him where he can reach them himself. Don’t spoon feed, but you can pre-load spoons. If he throws the food, ignore the behaviour. Sit and eat your food at the same time and talk about anything other than food. Keep offering different foods, if he eats something write it down and treat that as a ‘safe food’ and hopefully the list of safe foods will grow… I hope it gets easier soon for you

@Kayla this would be a great idea but my son never stops moving.. like ever unless he's sleeping 😂😂 but even then he moves in his sleep

Omg girl!! So my son does this EVERYTIME & everyday!! Here’s what I do.. get some toys to distract him. Legos work for my 16 month old. Then put a bit of food on his lips whilst he wiggling, once the food has touched his lips, he usually calms down and accepts the next spoonful. I do this everyday for breakfast and dinner but for lunch, I’ll usually create a picnic area in the living room so that he can have finger foods whenever he likes. Good luck and hopefully some of other women’s advice will also come in handy ☺️

maybe try to not ask him to eat, leave him comfortably somewhere that he’s happy and with a plate of familiar foods x

Will he drink smoothies? I know eating food is ideal, but if he is losing weight, maybe drinking his food would work? You can add veggies, nuts, seeds, etc to them. You can also freeze them into ice pops too.

Is he hungry enough?

If you suspect he is autistic look up ARFID in google. There’s an Instagram account called toren.wolf who has it and he talks about it a lot. Is there any food at all he likes? If there is, I would focus on always making sure that food is available just to get some food into him. If you’re introducing new food, or food you know he doesn’t like, try to make sure there’s a “safe food” available with it just to help with the exposure to it.

I just used to leave the food in front of my little one to do it himself, even if it made the worst mess. Sometimes they just wanna do it themselves

That looks so funny because that was exactly what my child used to do, she doesn't do it anymore though

In this situation I would: - have set meal times, offer the food as finger food, preloaded spoons, very small portions, you eat the same. No pressure, no feeding him. - give him some choices of what he eats - for example you eat the family meal of spag bol, give him a spoon of preloaded spag bol, a couple of pieces of plain pasta, a slice of cheese, some grated carrot (or some veg out of the sauce). - get him playing with food away from the highchair - spaghetti ‘worms’ in mud (flour and coco I think - recipes online). Jelly, cereal in tuff trays or Tupperware. Get him used to different textures and allow him to explore. - get some calories into him - calorie dense smoothies - add nut butters etc, add another bottle of milk away from meal times

Autistic mom here. Autistic people have safe foods . It may be something to do with the texture. Sometimes certain textures are a dislike to us... Or flavors .... Long term or short term dislike.

The main things he will eat without any fussed is snacks that are meltable, such as melty sticks, wotsits, rice cakes and wafers but I know he can't have them all the time but it's the only thing he will have.

Maybe you could still offer the wotsits and things that you know he eats but also sneak some pasta on there and build up the new things along side the things he’s used to as a bit of a safety net x

@KirstenI always try him with a hot main meal before anytime I give him them and admittingly sometimes he does have a few mouthfuls but that's rare in itself haha. I'm just trying to pick my battles now and I've lost this one for the time being x

Try oats