13 mth olds not wanting to eat

It seems as if my LOs are on a food strike. They pinch and eat little bits of food but nothing how they were doing. All they want to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner are Gerber Lil Crunchies or Cheerios..This has been going on maybe a day or so. Should I be concerned at this point or just let them eat Crunchies and cheerios?

 

I remember 13-16 mos being a terrible time for eating for us. I remember it vividly - I threw so much food away. They go on these little hunger strikes or have texture issues as they try new things. Then they appear to dislike things I know they love! LOL! Anyway, I would keep trying with the meals first and offer the crunchies/cheerios or whatever during snacks. If you are concerned though, you might try offering "real" food for snacks. We have done banana slices, peas, corn, carrots boiled and cut up, even buttered whole grain bread and shredded cheese. Because we did reach a point where I thought they were going to grow up on puffs, crackers, or cheerios. :headbang: So I limit these now. Their eating patterns are so erratic I have no idea if it helped but I felt good if I got some fruit or veggies in them before snackier items. Costco sells the dehydrated fruit chips - they are like chips but they melt in your mouth and are 100% fruit - of course they have sugar. Good luck.

 

I think everyone goes through this at this one time or another. My girls are 18 months old and will still go on apparent hunger strikes from time to time. I also thought for a couple of monhts that they would never eat anything but puffs and crunchies. It is a phase but I would not do away with real meals. I would not worry about it either. If you are scared that they are not getting enough nutrients you can always add a vitamin. We did that for a while too.

 

I actually even split a can of Pediasure last night just because I felt like they werent eating well. I did get them to eat a few green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy and hamburger steak tonight. I will take it I do try real food for snacks such as bananas and applesauce, etc but they are just hooked on those darn Cheerios and crunchies

 

Mine still do this at 16 months. The thing to remember is that the average food intake over a week or so is much more important than daily intake. This week mine had a few days where all they ate was goldfish crackers and other days where they ate full meals. Also, could they be teething? Mine always eat worse when they are getting teeth. On those days, sometimes they will only eat things like yogurt.

 

I think they are getting their molars and I have thought about that too. DO you think maybe Tylenol an hour prior to eating would help?

 

It definitely could help. We use motrin for teething but I often give some before meals and it seems to help my two.