Name: Chanta

Oklahoma City

Number of kids: 1

Ages of kids: Almost 3

Problem: My problem is that my scrawny skin-n-bone two year old son he's almost three) won't eat. At all. It's not that he's really picky. It's that he just doesn't eat. For example, the last couple of days he wouldn't eat any breakfast. He barely ate any lunch (about two bites of a burger) and barely any dinner (a few bites of mashed potatoes and a bite or two of roast). He doesn't snack between meals, mainly because he won't. And it's not because of too much candy or juice, because he doesn't eat that either (although he would eat the candy if I gave it to him). And he may have a couple of cups of strawberry milk a day, but that's all. I don't know if I should worry or not. Most magazines say that they will eat when they are hungry. But what if they are never hungry? He has to eat sometime, doesn't he?

Solution submitted by Jan from Jenison, MI: I've had trouble with both my boys not wanting to eat. In fact, my 2 year old still doesn't each much. My mother gave me a good tip that helped. She told me to try giving them vitamins to see if appetites improved. Now I give them a child's multiple vitamin plus a vitamin C. The ones I give are chewable so I have to make sure they brush their teeth afterward.

Another solution submitted by Julia from Boynton, OK: When I was a little girl my parents had the same problem. I stopped eating, when I was about a year old and all the doctor said was that I would eat, if I was hungry. But I think my parents "force fed" me until I was eight. I still believe that I would have figured it out by myself but I can understand my parents for what they did. I get concerned when my kids don't eat, you just can't help it. My Dad used to have three toothpicks or matches(with the heads broken off) in his hand, one would be shorter than the others and I would have to choose one. If it was the short one, I had to take a bite. Later I found out that sometimes he had three short ones in there, because I was too lucky.:} I think a good solution is also, if your kid has a relatively healthy favorite, to let them indulge on that for a while. Fruits are also a healthy candy-like food. We decided to call it god-candy and now when my toddler asks for candy and I hand her a banana she doesn't argue!!! I can hardly keep her out of my strawberry patch. Sometimes I cut faces in the food and then she won't eat it unless there is a face. Just be creative I bet you will find a trick that works for your son. Peace and good luck!

Another solution submitted by Lea from Fredericton, New Brunswick, CAN: Have you had your child checked out by a doctor? Just to be sure he is growing ok? He should be gaining weight (even if just slightly) or maintaining it, he should not be losing. If his weight and height are ok, then it is just a waiting game. My son is not a very big eater, he never was, there were months at a time that he didn't eat enough to keep a bird alive and we were very concerned but our doctor told us that it was ok, and that someday he would be eating us out of house and home. We are not quite to that point yet but his eating has improved, not by anything we have done really, he just decided to eat. We do tell him that if he doesn't eat all his supper there will be no bed time snack, and we stick to that. He doesn't eat a wide variety of foods, but he does eat enough of what he likes to be growing nicely. It is scary when you think that they are not getting enough nutrition in these critical years. When my son wasn't eating and he would get a cold or flu we would buy boost for him (a nutritional drink that a lot of seniors drink, they are a meal supplement with loads of vitamins in them), we did that just to be sure he was getting enough nutrition when he was sick. I think if your doctor says that he is growing well and is healthy just be patient and keep offering him good meals, that's what your responsibility is, you can't force him to eat, he will when he is hungry.