Small 18 month old picky and I think hungry

amother

OP ↓

Mon, Dec 30 2024, 7:20 pm

My 18 month old morphed into a very picky eater these days. Literally eats nothing normal or nutritious. Wants snacks allll day. Has a lot of older siblings so is very exposed to snack bags etc. I am having such a hard time feeding her! She wakes up a lot at night and doesn’t sleep well and I’m pretty sure she’s hungry. Real foods that she will eat she eats tiny quantities of. Snack bags and bars etc she happily eats an entire bag. Also she’s small and officially tiny percentile although she doesn’t looks scrawny or skinny. My babies are just small in general. She won’t drink milk, she never took to it no matter how many ways I tried. It was kind of my fault bec she exclusively nursed so she never took a bottle and therefore there was no way to transition to regular milk. All my other kids always had a bottle of milk before bed and I really think she’s missing this. I feel bad that she’s maybe waking up from hunger. I’ve tried so many foods but she shakes her head no or throws it in the floor.

amother

Fuchsia

Mon, Dec 30 2024, 7:44 pm

Hi! We have a very similar story and I feel for you! What we do every single evening, before bed and after an official dinner (that he has close to none) is spoon feeding the toddler with cereal and milk. We'll give him cherios and red milk and read a book or show a toy , so that he’s focused on it and just keep on opening the mouth to eat and be full for the night. It takes time but at least I know his tummy is full. (They will grow out of the habit to be entertained during feeding, we had it with a previous child). Good luck!

amother

Cherry

Mon, Dec 30 2024, 7:51 pm

I just fed my 18 month old soup from Shabbos. She ate dinner before but is always so hungry before bed. Cries from hunger and also loves to snack all day

amother

↑ OP

Mon, Dec 30 2024, 8:23 pm

amother Cherry wrote:

I just fed my 18 month old soup from Shabbos. She ate dinner before but is always so hungry before bed. Cries from hunger and also loves to snack all day

thank you! Will not touch soup or yogurt although yogurt she used to…

amother

Purple

Mon, Dec 30 2024, 9:15 pm

There are so many healthy bar recipes. Try to incorporate as many calories as you can. You can also make homemade bamba, homemade frozen yogurt - we call it ice cream, muffins, peanut butter cookies...