Hi,

I need help off other mum's on here, about how i can increase my sons appetite. I am really worried, he has lost alot of weight in the last couple of months and in constantly refusing to eat.

My son has had a good balanced diet up untill he was 2yrs old. Suddenly he went off alot of different types of food, i.e. he became very fussy about what he wanted to eat. Unfortunately i gave in to his demands and throught 'as long as he's eating...it doesnt matter'. Gradually,now it has come to the point where i feel it is affecting his health. He started nursery on a part-time basis in September,and seems lively and playfull whilst he's there....when he gets home he's complaing about being tieard and sleeps for a couple of hours. Now i know this could simply be because he is genuinely tieard...but i cant help but feel that not eating is a major contributing factor to him being so tieard.

I've approached my doctor alot of times, but unfortunatley they are next to useless....Im so worried about him. i feel a failure as a mother, i see other children who eat anything and everything....and i feel terrible because my toddler doesnt eat.For exmaple today he has only had half a bottle of milk.... and thats it. That was in the morning. He has asked to eat crisps, but i refuse to give it to him because i know if i do then he's going to be surviving off a diet of crisps and milk.

Help i don't know what to do

What type of foods will he eat and what type of foods won't he eat? Do you eat meals together as a family or does he eat on his own? Does he have any snacks or drinks throughout the day?

Here are a few ideas, not sure if any of them will be helpful.

Get him involved in choosing food when you go shopping by letting him pick between different types of fruit, veg, cheese, etc. each week.

Get him involved in making food, such as muffin pizzas, fruit kebabs, flapjack and jam tarts.

Make food fun by arranging meals in the shape of a face, cutting sandwiches into shapes, using colourful placemats and his own special set of cutlery.

Add other ingredients to his favourite foods to increase the variety of food he is eating. If he likes milk, try adding fruit to make a smoothie. If he likes crisps, try finely slicing vegetables like potatoes, carrots, parnsips and beetroot and roasting them in the oven to make your own healthy crisps.

He enjoys rice, cucumber, cornflakes, toast, chcocolate and crisps. He is reluctant to try new foods and will not eat anything other then the above stuff, but over the last few weeks, he has refused to eat these foods aswell.

Normally I would give him something to eat and then get myself something later on, but for the last couple of weeks I have made an effort to prepare the same food for me and him, and we sit down together, I use an egg timer set at 30 mins and if he doesnt eat I just take the plate away and I tell him that if he doesnt eat now, then he won't get anything until the next meal time. He doesn't snack during the day apart from when he's at nursery they offer fruits and milk at snack time. I've been told he doesnt eat the fruit and only drinks a cup of cold milk. Over the last month I have arranged for him to have lunch with his friends at nursey, his key worker, tells me that he refuses to eat anything at lunch.

I have tried getting him involved in preparing the food, which he really enjoy's, but when he has to eat the food prepared he refuse's. I've also brought all the 'novelty' kiddy foods in different shapes and cartoon characters that he likes. He will play with these foods but does'nt eat them. At times he tells me that his tummy hurts, and that he's hungary, but he just will not eat.....i have reached a point now where i don't know what to do....my family are on my back, because he has lost alot of weight and the Doctor doesnt seem to be too worried. I feel so crappy.