2yr old below 20lbs. eating problems. sorry long question. pls bear with me.?

hmm... with the chunky food she may not like the chunky sensation in her mouth, which is why she wont eat it, my daughter has a variety of sensory issues and chunky stuff is one thing she does not like either. So for the time being just try to avoid chunky foods if possible, as she gets older she may grow out of it and be fine with chunky stuff. With the meat.. both of my kids(i have 3 yr old twins btw) hate meat. My one absolutely will not eat any kind of meat. I substitute his diet with a few things... peanut butter, beans (i use vegetarian refried beans to make burritos and they love it... a tortilla, refried beans, cheese and some sour cream), trying to hide some meats in soups. One thing is to make sure you know what a toddler serving is, toddlers only need 2-3 meat servings a day and a meat serving is only 1-2 tablespoons, a lot smaller than what we eat.

As for the weight issue... I really feel you on this one. My daughter had health issues as an infant and has always been underweight, she wasnt even on the dr's growth chart until she was about 2 yrs old she weighed about 18 pounds. Here are some things I have done over the past year that have helped get some weight on her, she is 3 and a half and has just now hit 30 pounds....

1. Carnation instant breakfast powder mix- mix about a quarter cup of the breakfast mix with 8 oz milk in the morning, the mix will add about 150 calories to the milk so it will total about 260 calories with the milk alone. It seems to disolve and taste best when the milk is warmed a bit too. This not only has calories, but it also has protein and other nutrients she might be lacking in if she doesnt eat much. at night I add a couple tablespoons of hershey syrup to her milk, just because the carnation has so much added protein and stuff I didnt want to overload her on it, 2 tbsp of the choc syrup adds 100 calories to the milk.

2. Butter. not margerine but real butter. If she eats like mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, or anything you use margerine in, make it with butter, it has a higher fat content and is 25 calories per tablespoon.

3. I said before I used peanut butter to substitute for not eating meat, its also great for adding calories, use it on pb & j, put some on crackers, toast, apples, celery, Ive make the kids 'milkshakes' with vanilla icecream, milk, choc syrup, and some peanut butter mixed well in a blender... 2 tbsp of peanut butter is 190 calories.

4. cheese and yougurt. Since my daughter didnt like chunky stuff too, I always buy the yoplait thick and creamy yogurt, she loves it and it has like 160 calories a container too, cheese as well is great(real cheese though, like colby jack or mild chedder, not american), I would cut up strips of cheese, put cheese in potatoes, on top of spagetti, on crackers. Cheese is good for protein too. Just have to watch how much cheese and yogurt, because it can cause constipation if she eats it non stop.

with the spitting... I dealt with this a little but not to your extent if she does it all the time. Since she is 2 she should be able to understand what you say to her somewhat. When she spits out the food you can try to do a couple things, when she goes to spit it out at first try catching her before she does it, and ask her to close her mouth and remind her to chew her food, this way she may just chew it up and swallow it, even use your hand to close her mouth some if you need to and it may distract her enough she will swallow whats in her mouth and then move on to other food, it wont be an overnight solution but will take a lot of repitition and reminding her she will eventually get it on her own.

Hope any of this helps, if I think of anything else I will post it, feel free to email me if you have any questions or want to talk :)

A lot of children her age don't eat meat, and many dislike it. Some has to do with the texture, a lot has to do with the time it takes to eat. It's difficult and time consuming to chew meat. Some children also have sensory issues with some food, and just do not like the texture.

Try tofu for protein, mixed in yogurt. Calories are not an issue with not eating meat, protein is. Make sure she gets lots of sources of protein. Milk, yogurt, cheese, tofu (they make dessert tofu that kids really like mixed in their yogurt)

On one hand it may be a blessing that she dislikes chunky food right now. Being that she likes mushy food, you can hide a lot more in it. for upping calories, try adding olive oil to veggies and pastas and anything else. Mix avacado into a lot meals. If she's not allergic to nuts, add peanut butter. Make her smoothies with milk, fruit, veggies.

Since she does not eat much - you need to make sure every bite she is taking has a nutritional bang. Loaded with nutrients and calories.

As for the spitting deal - do what you're doing. Offer a few bites of one or two foods, when she's done those introduce the other foods. Some children are just unable to make those choices.

As for the textures - offer the textures often along with things she will eat. Kids sometimes need to try things 12+ times before they develop a taste and tolerance for the texture. Keep offering them - but do not force her or make it an ordeal, and make sure you're also offering something she will eat.

also try 'mixed' meals like you have been, to avoid the spitting. Children will often eat ground meat before they'll eat whole meat - so try making a shepherds pie type meal, but puree the veggies so she can't see the separate foods. Mix it all together so she is getting all her food groups in the same food.

Allow her to make choices too, if she will. Children are often more willing to eat if they have had a choice or a hand in making the meal themselves.

My niece is a picky eater and she is also a small build, she did not get over 20 lbs until she was well over 24 months - as long as your girl is growing, has lots of energy and is developing properly, she is OK but keep working on it, without making it stressful for the both of you.

Also, inquire with the doctors about toddler formulas to drink instead of milk. If she is not getting calories through food, she may need to get them through a liquid diet while you work on the food issues.

1: Offer her foods one at a time and start with the food you want her to eat the most. Since you are worried about her weight I would start with the main course and hold off on the fruit and veggies next. As she eats a good amount of one thing move to the next. I had to do this with my son and still do because if i gave him an entire meal at once. He would eat all his fruit first and then hardly anything else. He was 24lbs at 2 years and I had one doctor saying he was to small and wanting to diagnose him FTT. We changes docs and they diagnosed him with acid reflux. He is on meds and now weights 27.5lbs at 2 1/2.

#2 More calories. Full fat everything. Milk,cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt, sour cream and butter. Butter on her veggies and in her potato's along with sour cream. Put extra stuff in everything. You could also do pediasure or boost after every meal to supplement what she eats.

#3 I would start making her food a little thicker and chunkier everyday. Keep trying.

I would suggest you get in touch with a nutritionist so they can help you get in touch with someone who can help more.

well 1st i want to say that i completely understand. my son is almost 2 (22 months) and he is 19lbs. He is not picky, just doesn't eat a lot. I have started giving him toddler formula and putting protein powder in his yogurt because HE won't at any kind of meat either. He likes bacon on occasion but not enough to make a difference. Whenever we go out we always have snacks with us. My other children are on the small side too so i just try and make healthy balanced meals.

(4 1/2 yr old is 36lbs, 4yr old 38lbs,2yr old 29lbs, 22 month old 19lbs, 8 month old 11lbs and my 1 month old twins are 6lbs 4oz and 6lbs 1oz.( SOme of these kids are my adopted children, all my children were born under 5lbs, the 8 month old is adopted and was 3lbs at birth so this is good weight gain)

Every cell has DNA and it is consisted of two strands tightly woven around each other. The thing that prevents the two strands from breaking apart is called a telomeric cap (which is random nucleotide sequences called nonsense codons. Codon is a 3 sequence of nucleotides that codes for amino acids eg. CUU is a amino acid called proline . A nonsense codon is one that doesnt code for any amino acid production) Every time your cells divide a small sequence is lost there by reducing the stability of the cell's DNA (in layman's terms). This will eventually lead do most of Ur cells' DNA becoming unstable. And usually when a mistake occurs in DNA the cell will perform auto cytolysis (cell suicide) to prevent problems. So when you are old most of ur cells telomeric caps will be low and they are prone to die when they try to divide.. Whats really interesting about this theory is the impact it has on evolution (because this happens on both meiotic as well as mitotic divisions. which means that a species grows old too before it mutates.. but thats a different story)

My daughter does the EXACT same thing its like she sees something she wants more so she just spits what's in her mouth. I just remind her to eat it then ill give you another. take it one bite at a time and offer one option at a time.

Pediasure or Nutrasure strawberry flavor is good my daughter drinks this in place of milk (she refuses to drink milk im hoping its just a phase). If you dughter likes milk make sure it's whole milk.

arrange the food to look appetizing. http://www.flickr.com/photos/riblet/3589816581/ OR http://www.flickr.com/photos/imelda/2698261872/

Hope this helps

Two- year olds are recommended by doctors that they eat soupy, or soft foods. Rather have your child eating than not eating at all. If your baby is short, it's okay for them to weigh less than other children do. If your todd is pooping and peeing normally, it means that they're getting enough food. And its normal for todds to forget that they're eating and nibble on their foods.

I'm sorry dude for leaving that long comment and asking for your help. ..... I have problems eating pinto and black beans because I have IBS. ...... other exercise so i should lose weight fast right? pls i need an answer….. thx ...... It is helping me keep up with my active 2 yr old (I am as energetic as my son now