Terrible twos

We are going through not eating as well..🫠 he used to eat anything and everything now we can hardly get him to eat even things he loves like yogurt and goldfish! Our little one is sick right now so he is really not eating but he has been on this food strike for a couple weeks now. We have a almost 3 year old too and he went through this same thing and evenually he will now eat good most days but he still sometimes refuses to eat certain things. I think its pretty normal for this age to go through these phases sadly..😕

It will vary from kid to kid but I have read at this age they don't need as much because they don't grow or gain as much 🤷‍♀️ mine will still devour some foods if she really likes it. But yes, the terrible twos flipped on at about 18 months over here. Being told no is a full on tantrum anymore. We just roll with it and let her do it. I'm too tired to deal with a miniature version of myself.

My 20 month hasn’t got into this phase yet but when my 3 year old was 2 he barely ate. I just continued to offer him foods during meals, avoided too many snacks and saved milk for after meals. He eventually snapped out of it and it a really good eater, not picky at all. I did start him on vitamins at that time though for peace of mind.

@Amber My husband was saying that maybe it was because he isnt growing and gaining much right now so his body doesnt need that much! Yes we have some pretty rough tantrums over here as well🤪

@Haley 💚 that's smart for saving the milk until after meals! I hadn't thought of that! Usually if it's a meal my little doesn't like she'll just chug her milk 😂 we'll over a pouch and/or yogurt bites if that happens.

He usually only ever drinks milk after his Meals, he drinks water the rest of the day. He’s starting to worry me because he doesn’t eat but it could just be my mad anxiety

@Nicole oh and I also use to serve something I knew he’d eat with food I wanted him to try. That way I knew he had something on his tummy but he was still exposed to other foods.

@Amber yes my son was a milk lover. He would just live off of milk.

@Haley 💚 I do this too but it doesn’t matter. The boy turned down a cookie on treat night which he never ever does

@Nicole ugh so stubborn. A nutritionist made a post about how many calories a toddler needs and what that looked like. That gave me peace. It’s not a lot. She also said that they won’t starve themselves. Get him some gummies. Does he like pasta or rice? That’s always a hit at my house. You can hide veggies in a sauce.

@Haley 💚 he loves Mac and cheese, but that’s about it. He’ll eat spaghetti IF I don’t put meat in it🫠

Just wait till terrible 3s lol. I’m a preschool teacher and mom of two under two… I can confidently confirm that 3 is harder lol. Also they call if terrible twos because supposedly it last for 2 years… so mentally prepare yourself haha! The not eating is very very common at this age because this is when developmentally they start to understand that they have their own bodily autonomy and want to test the limits of just how much they have. It will get better, just hang in there! He will eat when he’s hungry. If he doesn’t want to eat just put it back in the fridge and offer it every hour, he will eventually eat it when he gets hungry! Best of luck girly!

@Faith ughh don’t tell me that lol😫 I also have two under two. I got him to eat popcorn today. I let him pick what he wanted and he actually wanted to eat so I think I’m going to start to give him the option on what to choose out of three different things and see how that goes!

@Nicole options are always a good idea! Just don’t do to many or they get overwhelmed! Give two options and state it not as a question but a statement. like “you have two options, you may have eggs or yogurt for breakfast” you want them to feel like they have an option, but also know you have boundaries and rules to follow

@Faith I’ve also learned that he’d rather eat sitting on one of our bar stools so we took away the highchair. It took me FOREVER to find a booster seat that would fit our chairs but i finally did lol.

@Nicole oh good! I’m glad he likes it!