My Kid's Too Skinny Already!

When my older son was a toddler, my husband made fish sticks a lot for him. They were fast when we got home from work and he was famished. Then we realized that he only wanted the fried foods and starches and fruits that tasted sweet, and that's when I realized that we screwed up.

I talked to the doc about it and he told me that if he didn't eat what we offered, to let him go hungry. He promised that he wouldn't starve, and he was right. We started preparing for dinner on the weekends, and no more fried foods, mac 'n cheese, stuff like that. We offered healthy foods. Yes, he balked. I didn't make a big deal out of it, I just said, "Well, you must be done" and took him out of his high chair and ignored him.

It took a while, but he came around and was eating a really good array of foods, including vegetables. I didn't try to hide them.

I know this sounds hard, but you just need to give him breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. That's all. Stop trying to make him eat. This is the best way to change his habits.

Dawn

Try offering teeny tiny servings throughout the day. If I hand my son one baby carrot while he is playing he will usually eat it but If I put out a small plate with four carrots he will respond "I dont want carrots!" Put out a bowl of four strawberries and four grapes and walk away, say nothing, dont implore him to eat. For snacks throughout the day give only One peanut butter cracker, OR one slice of cheddar cheese. Give no sweets, no cookies, no ice cream, no french fries, no juice. At meal times keep the servings small as well. For desserts give fruit with a little whipped cream and a little yogurt. If he is within the normal range of weight for his height do not worry at all! He has a tiny stomach and a serving for his age it very small.

i absolutely agree with sandy. you don't mention if his dr has actually said this or it's just your opinion. unless his dr is concerned, don't worry about it. don't supply junk and he won't eat junk. offer healthy foods and make it his choice to eat it or not. don't let it scare you if he refuses healthy food for a little while - when he is hungry he will eat it. take heart. he'll be fine! :)

You need to stop trying to cater to his wants. Offer a healthy amount and array of foods for every meal and snack. He can take it or leave it.
I would also complete back off from giving him ANY treats until he has started eating normal foods.
If he knows that you will finally cave and give him cake or french fries he will hold out.
Give him child appropriate utensils and put on his plate exactly what you are having. If he only eats one item - don't worry about it. If he uses his fingers, don't worry about it. You will cross that bridge later! But no more junk food!

I also call it ok if DD gets her fruit and veggies from snack (she would rather eat carrot slices at snack than cooked carrots for dinner... fine, but I will still offer).

Sometimes being a parent means you have to be no-nonsense, even if that is hard. And remember that at that age their servings are still tiny: a 1/4 cup of something is pretty much a meal.
Good luck!

Wow, you're in a tough spot. My biggest idea would be to completely do away with french fries, chocolate cake and ice cream. His favored foods have no nutritional value, but he's developed a taste for them at 2 and he's going to reject other foods as long as they're available.

I know it's a scary idea... but he WON'T starve himself if you remove the junk.

Second, there is a cookbook out there about hiding veggies in food etc. Have you tried purreed squash in his mac cheese (there won't be anything to pick out). I do a similar thing with burgers. I finely chop for grown-ups or even puree for kids, carrots, bell peppers, and apples to mix in with the ground turkey (we don't eat red meat, but you could use beef if you want). Then use a egg to help it bind together, pepper and garlic to taste. Again, if there are no chunks to see and pick out, and it tastes good, he'll eat it.

What about letting him help you maker personal pizza on english muffins. Be sure to use a healthy sauce, and fresh cheese and let him put it on by himself. He may be more interested in eating it if he made it.

Slice up yummy, sweet fresh fruit and make a yogurt frosting (not quite as healthy as yogurt, but still better than pure sugar) and let him dip. Even better if you can take him to a farm or farmers market and let him pick out the fruit himself.

Make a smoothie or milkshake with frozen fruit and protein powder and let him drink it with a fun straw.

Let him keep practicing on his own with the spoon. He should get it pretty soon (not to say he won't still make a mess).

Love Sandy's answer. On top of that - as a sweet treat let him DIP a strawberry in yogurt. YUM!

My only other idea to try would be for you to make the food look FUN. Get a plate and make blueberry eyes, raspberry nose, strawberry mouth, and banana hair. Or make the design look like his favorite character (a robot, Buzz lightyear, etc). Say "What's that Buzz? (pretend like the food is talking). You want me to eat your nose?? Oh you want Joey to try your nose? Okay I will try your helmet while he trys your nose." Be silly. Use cute plastic colored toothpicks ($1 store!).

One time for my son (now 4) I mixed peas and hot dog and Toy Story noodles. We said that Buzz and Woody were playing ball. I would "hide" a green ball (pea) or a basketball (hot dog bite) under the noodles and pretend ilke Buzz and Woddy didn't want my son to eat their toys. My son giggled and wanted to eat them more!

All I'm sayin is try to not stress. Try to make it fun.

Oh and also - have you tried allowing him to dip/taste-test some raw veggies? Honey mustard, ranch, italian, raspberry vinagrette, catalina, ketchup, yellow mustard, bbq sauce ...... have a fun 'taste test' day where you taste different combos of veggies and sauce.

trying hiding veggies that he CAN"T pick out. Like pureed pumpkin in pancakes, or mix pureed califlower in home made mac and cheese. Its how I got my son to eat veggies. Now he loves veggies and requests them as a snack. How we got him to eat apples is by getting some in a happy meal, and since happy meals are treats he started thinking apples were treats. Also when he was that age (only a year ago lol) he would eat veggies that were in soup but not veggies plain. Like he loved my homemade vegatarian lentil soup (we strained it for him) he also loves tomatoes juice, or spegetti sauce on pasta. All have servings of veggies. But FYI eating fruits and veggies will be healthier for him but it won't make him gain weight if you are considered about him being to skinny.

Sandy had great suggestions! 2 is a really hard age, you really can't reason with them and they certainly can carry on. Don't create battles that you can not win BUT he needs to eat healthier food, at least some fruit. Start out small and give him little bites when he is busy playing. Take him to the supermarket and allow him to help pick out food and even help in cooking if he likes. Allow him to dip his fruit or veggies in something yummy. Make it fun. You could go fruit picking and it is fun to try the fruit you have picked. Does he like applesauce or yogurt? It's ok if he doesn't have the spoon thing down perfectly, maybe some jarred fruit, which is sweet to get him interested in the idea of fruit. In the meantime, make sure to give him a multivitamin. When he is a bit older you can do a sticker chart for trying new food. It works well with my son but he is 4.

Have you tried protein smoothies made with whey protein? You put milk, ice, whey protein and some Who Nu (healthier oreo type cookies) in a blender with a little sugar and it tastes like a milkshake. My dd is VERY picky too and liked it. Lots of protein and calcium in it.

You can mash up cauliflower with zucchini and serve it like mashed potatoes. You can also cut up different veggies and mix them into spaghetti sauce. Cut up bananas, apples, strawberries and other fruits so he can have them as finger foods.

I never gave my daughter any sweets or junk food until she was almost 2.5. I didn’t want her getting a taste for those things and not eat healthy foods.

Keep offering them to him and don’t give in to letting him have junk. He will start eating them eventually.

My son is also a picky eater and I have found that cheese works wonders. I also make him Mac n cheese and I put broccoli and chicken in it. If there is something he doesn't like I put a small amount of melted cheese on top and that seems to do the trick. I have been cutting back on the cheese and have had him try stuff without it. Sometimes he will smother his food in ketchup but who cares the important healthy stuff is going in too. He is not allowed to have any dessert type foods unless he finishes his lunch and dinner. I have discussed his weight issues with his Dr and she isn't concerned. My son is 4 and weighs about 35 pounds. He wears a size 5t or 4 boys with an adjustable waist so I can adjust it as small as it can go to fit his skinny waist. Have you tried yogurt and fruit cups too. That's my sons favorite. Good luck. Hang in there!

Do you allow him the 'junk' like cake and french fries? I agree with the others below who say: don't give them options and do not give them any dessert if they haven't finished their 'healthy food' first. Kids WILL eat when they are hungry. It's basic human instinct. Of course they want the cookies and cake. But when I used to baby sit for my nephew he would refuse to eat 'good food' in favor of cookies. I would sit him down and just say "healthy food first or NO cookies". Eventually he would eat what I wanted him to then he would get 1 or 2 cookies. Nothing crazy. He was about 2.5 years old then.

I had this very same problem! My son would not touch vegetables at all, and rarely would eat fruit. Luckily, I had a pediatrician who was reassuring. He said this is very common for boys, and told me there are usually five foods parents of toddler boys can count on them eating--those foods usually include pizza, chicken nuggets, and mac and cheese! He helped me to relax, and convinced me to NOT make it a struggle--he said if I did, I would only make things worse for both of us. So my best advice to you is to ride it out, and keep offering different foods. Did I ever bribe? Sure. I would give my son a quarter for trying a new food, just one bite. (Especially if I knew he'd end up liking it!) Did I make him eat before he could have dessert? Yes. But I did not do Pediasure--that stuff is loaded with junk. And I did not add cream to his food (as my first and former pediatrician suggested). As my current pediatrician said, what good is adding calories and fat if they are not healthy calories and fats? I'm happy to report my son did grow, and he's now a healthy 5 year old--he's not the greatest eater, but he's not bad--he even eats salmon. And he's not the biggest kid, but he's average, and no longer falling off the chart. Good luck to you.

I can really relate to the "How in the world are they surviving day to day?" sentiment. We've been there with a couple of ours. What we realized is that our two bad appetite children would fill up on drinks--and it didn't take much; they were almost exclusively sustaining themselves on a liquid diet. I don't know if this is something you're dealing with, but the way we had to handle it was by having them eat something solid before they were allowed to have a drink. They still got plenty of fluid during the day, but their appetites improved dramatically when we changed the timing of their drinks.

I really don't have an answer for you, but wanted to let you know that my 2 yr old is EXACTLY like yours and I'm looking forward to reading the answers you get to help myself. Mine eats some fruit, but no veggies and his menu consists of milk, yogurt, some fruit and fish crackers. He likes spaghetti and meat sauce and tuna pasta salad but only once; he will not repeat eating it for a few days.
When he asks for chicken and fries, he’ll eat one nugget and some fries. Everything I give him he smells and rejects.
Anyway, good luck to us!!!