My baby is 15 months old and teething, I refuses to eat his dinner, but he will eat sweet things, how do I get

Question

How do I get him to eat.

Answer 1

all babies go through the non-eating thing. just make sure you don't give in to letting him have nothing but junk all the time. if you keep only healthy stuff around (like applesauce in oatmeal- sweet but nutritious) he'll come around to eating again. no baby has every starved itself out of stubbornness

Answer 2

When I went through this with my first son, my health visitor advised me to look at what he ate over a weekly period rather than how much he had taken during each day. I made sure he had three milk feeds per day (am, 2:30pm and bedtime) and with food I offered little and often. He would only have a couple of spoonfulls at a time but he was ok. It's quite normal - all of my three children have been through the same. Try using formula milk as it tastes sweeter than cow's milk. Use it to mix breakfast cereal or a cheese sauce to go with his dinner. Don't offer sweets etc, for snacks, offer him some dried fruit which is quite sweet - when they are hungry they will eat - just make sure they eat the right thing. If he refuses what you offer, take it away without any fuss and try again later. Make it fun with planes and trains 'delivering' the food. Good luck it won't last long!

Answer 3

Try different combinations freeze grapes the texture and cold might feel good on the gums. You can sweeten applesauce with a tiny bit of flavored Jello gelatin powder. But do not give him sweets because that could be why he is not eating the good stuff. Babies are smart and can manipulate easily. If his experience is that you will break down and give him sweets just to get him to eat. Then you are conditioning him to wait for the sweet. If the sweet is no longer available he will turn to the healthy foods again. But if they are freely offered, teething or not, he will turn to the junk food.

Answer 4

Don't give him sweet things. If you are giving him calpol or teething granules, do it about 1/2 an hour before he is due to have a meal and then his mouth shouldn't hurt. if he is having one good meal a day and his bottles/milk, that is enough. He will get over the teething and start eating again. Don't let him know you are stressed over it, it will become in issue and battle of wills if you do. If he doesn't eat, take away the plate after about 5 mins and try again later. He might like to have finger foods as well, something for him to chew on.

Answer 5

Don't worry! Give him plenty to drink, that's the most important thing. what he eats at this age is no indication of what he'll like when he's older-I gave both my children the same foods, and the eldest one eats anything, while my youngest is very picky. Your baby will eat when he's hungry, just don't make a big deal of it. Maybe his gums are sore? Rub on some teething gel or powders, or give some ibuprofen syrup. Personally, I would let him eat what he wants if he's not too well-it really won't do him any long-term harm. take him to the dentist as soon as he gets a tooth and they will reassure you and give you tips on dental care.Make the most of his time as a baby-time flies! :)

Answer 6

He may be teething. Have you noticed a lot of excess gnawing, drooling, crankiness? Then it's teething. My baby won't eat when she is teething. But toddlers are notoriously fussy eaters, and sometimes they just aren't very hungry. I've read that you need to focus more on what a toddler eats during a week, rather than a day. As long as he is taking lots of fluids, he should be fine. But talk to your pediatrician if you are worried or if it continues for a few more days.

Answer 7

My son was like this. Don't offer sweet things just to get him to eat, offer what you actually want him to eat and if he doesn't eat it then just let it go. He won't starve himself.

My son is now 2 and will eat anything offered to him.

It's hard, but you will get there.

Look on yahoo groups for the Baby Led Weaning group, there is a lot of support there from other parents who have been there, done that.

Answer 8

If your son is anything like my son, he only wants to eat what you eat. I can sit down and try to feed him his dinner and he all but throws it across the room. But as soon as I sit down with a plate of food it takes everything I have to get him off my plate. If you are not already doing so, try feeding him the same dinner as yourself . Then if that fails I resort back to the trusty old bottle. Atleast then I know he has some milk in his stomach.

Answer 9

put some teething gel on him and try any fun game like the airoplane game. eg. 'Make way for the airoplane!!! its coming into land.' or try bribing him by saying if you eat this little bit of tea for mummy/daddy and she'll give you a nice sweetie later. try rubbing a lolly over his food before trying to get him to eat it. if nothing works take him to the doctors. Here's a link that has good answers to problems like this. Hope it works out xx oh yeah and try making poridge and put a sweet flavour sauce over it or make smoothies,(milk ice cubes, apple, orange watever fruit you can find) then its healthy but sweet . hope this helps ! xxx

Answer 10

My son is going through the same thing. But he loves breakfast food, so when I can't get him to eat what I have fixed for dinner then I make him breakfast. Eggs, Bacon, waffles that kind of thing. I know people say u shouldn't give in and accomadate their pickiness but, I just want him to eat.