My 11 Month Old Won't Eat Veggies or Fruit Anymore.

There are three things you can't make a child do, eat, sleep, or pee and poop on schedule. (sigh) My son was a picky eater. He only ate white foods from the time he was introduced to solids--only whites. And the way I introduced new foods was to feed them to him morning, noon and night for a week--but they had to be white.

Finally when he was big enough to eat real adult food I put the food on the table, he could choose what he wanted and if he didn't like it so be it, and he went hungry until the next meal. And he was a tall good sized boy. I did this even when he was a teenager. He knew the rule and never complained about it.

Now as an adult he is 6'2" and nice looking.

I firmly believe that as long as the child is moving, active, learning, and happy he or she is probably getting enough food.

My 17 month old son has gone through a couple of different phases in his eating. He stopped eating fruit for a little while, then started again. He stopped eating everything for a week or so, then picked right back up eating like usual. Now he's not eating meat. I can't really seem to tie his "food swings" to anything specific. I think he's just trying to use his decision making skills and hard-headedness!! Maybe teething could be the culprit. Not sure. Good news is that my little one picked back up eating pretty much everything after a week or so. Good luck and try not to worry too much!!

Grind up the fruits or veggies before you mix them in, so that he doesn't even know they're there.

And, my son stopped eating veggies completely on his second birthday and started eating them again at 3.5...but only if we would feed him "like a baby bird" and spoon it into his mouth ourselves. I make him eat 5 bites and I'm satisfied.

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Babies go through so many developmental phases (often very quickly) that it makes us parents feel dizzy :-). What helped me weather the phases in the eating department was nutritionist Ellyn Satter's book "Child of Mine, Feeding With Love and Good Sense". Among other things, she explains how a typical child's developmental stage can be reflected in some rapid and unexpected changes in the eating department (i.e. it's TOTALLY typical for a toddler to almost overnight refuse the same food item he/she was gobbling up the day before - it's just part of their growing sense of independence and the best way to address it is to just continue offering a variety of healthy food and expect that your child *will* come around on his/her own time and that you'll probably have to offer a rejected food item for several occasions before the child will try it)

Also, if the grown-ups in the family make a habit of eating healthy things, chances are good that the child will make those same healthy choices. And IMO it's easier to establish healthy eating habits if your cupboards are stocked with healthy stuff (it's much easier to resist the junk food cravings if you don't have any in the house to begin with :-))

Has anything else changed? Has he recently been vaccinated or sick? It is possible your son has sensory issues. The book Just Take a Bite may be helpful.

My son (now 26 months) has gone through many phases where he likes something then the next day won't touch it. We just kept offering everything in little bits but not forcing anything and now he will eat almost anything and those things he won't eat he will at least try them and tell us that he doesn't like them (which I am ok with - I mean who likes Everything?). Our son did get to the point where he was done with mashed up food and only wanted "bite" type food that he could pick up so maybe try offerining more things he can feed himself. Don't worry too much about it - kids can change every day. Just be patient. Also just a thought - Maybe there is something in him that knows he needs the nutrients in meat right now? Good luck and hang in there! I am sure he will eat fruits and veggies again (and then he will probably start spitting out the meat) : )

Sounds to me like he's just starting to have preferences. I used to get myself all worried about what my son was and wasn't eating. My ped. told me to stop stressing and use charts to track what he ate and I noticed in the end it all balanced out. He would have days and days of only eating cheese, or only eating blueberries or only eating chicken curry or only eating yogurt or only eating pasta - you get the idea but like I said, in the end it turns out to be pretty well balanced.

He'll go back to his old ways in due time. In the meantime, try not to worry about it too much. My veggie hating 2.5 year old now loves to eat salad! Just keep putting it on his plate and he'll come around.

Good luck!
T.

Well of course young kids can be picky eaters - I have had my share of them, my son was not eating balanced at all and was quite thin, the pediatrician told me to supplement with Pediasure drink. Down the road now - he eats me out of house and home and eats anything I offer him.....My youngest child is not a fan of meat and will eat anything but it - but I make her try at least 1-2 bites of everything I make. Let me tell you YOU NEED to make your kids continue to try a variety of healthy foods (fruits/veggies) because if you don't you will have a major problem. My brother's son is now 12 years old and the ONLY foods he eats is pancakes, waffles and pizza. Nothing else ever. The few times I have seen this I shake my head in disgust that this child was not forced to eat a well balanced diet - to be 12 years old eating 3 items, pure carbs and no fruits or veggies is a disgrace. My other brother also has screwed up raising his kid - he is 16 and only drinks milkshakes - nothing else. I know you may find this hard to believe - but its true. The reason I am telling you this, I see parents just cave in and never continue to offer or make the kids try things, and they think 'its just a phase' they will grow out of it - I have 2 real life examples that show - No they never did grow out of it, and are not internally healthy people. Be persistent with your child, try a variety of things. If he only wants meat and nothing else (try NOT giving it to him for a few days) and only give him fruits/veggies (try with dips) apples with peanut butter, carrots with ranch dip, smoothies with fruits and yogurt mixed in, etc. He will eat if he is hungry and only certain options are offered, once he begins eating those things, gradually add back the meat. Keep at it, and don't cave in.....

It's probably a phase. Around that age my child who once ate everything under the sun, ceased to eat! It's pretty normal. Feed him what he will eat and offer him other stuff, even if he won't eat it, it's good for him to see it and know that you're offering it to him. Eventually he will eat more or at least he will switch was he's eating to something else equally exclusive. My daughter is just over 2.5 and she is just now starting to try some other things. We had many months of focussing on a few foods and then moving on. She's the complete opposite though, she's a complete fruititarian and refuses to eat anything else! :)