2 YO Not Eating

[Anonymous]

My 2 YO has decided to go on a hunger strike. She'll only take a few bites out of any food we put in front of her. I know this is common among 2 yo's, but as she is already in the 10% for weight I want her to eat more than a couple bites from every meal!

We do give her Carnation Instant Breakfast which she enjoys.

Any advice on getting her to eat more?

[Anonymous]

Limit juice if she drinks it- empty calories.

If she snacks throughout the day- try to get mini meals into her. Pasta, veggies, fruits.

Try letting her dip her foods into things- melted cheeee, ranch dressing. fruit with whipped cream, etc.

Let her help you plan what to eat, and prepare/cook it when possible.

A toddlers serving size is really a lot smaller than a lot of parents think- do a search and be sure you know. It might make you feel better about the amount she is eating!

Don't fall into the trap of making 10 different meals each night if she won't eat what you're having just to get her to eat. You'd be setting yourself up for a worse problem. Almost all children (if not all!) will eat when they are hungry.

[Anonymous]

yeah, limit juice. my son was low on the weight charts for awhile and the doctors said to add olive oil/butter to veggies/potatoes. dips like another poster said. i started to let him have "dessert" at meals...although my version of dessert was yogurt or a smoothie. not sure you want to bribe kids into eating, but it did seem to work (except when he started asking for dessert at breakfast!) i also realized my son needed to eat more frequent smaller meals, which is what we do now.

also the eating just varies...some weeks my son eats alot and other days i feel like he barely eats anything.

[Anonymous]

I think my 2 and a half year old survives on yogurt and goldfish crackers. But he completely surprised me tonight by eating more leftover Christmas ham than his 4 year old brother. I agree with the PP, sometimes they eat a lot and then the next week, not so much. I read that you need to consider how they eat on a weekly basis, not day to day. My son has always been low percentiles in weight too. Hang in there.