Does your toddler spit out food?

[Pogo0685]

A week ago my DS (15 months) would eat anything we put in front of him, within the last week he has started spitting out everything we try to feed him except for grapes and strawberries. He still nurses a lot but he was eating SO MUCH FOOD and now he barely eats anything unless its strawberries or grapes. Is this normal? Did anyone else go through this? I figure this is just a phase but it worries be because I think he needs to eat more.

[julesdsm]

My ds did the same thing at 15 monthes, stopped eating anything but crackers and cereal, and nursed a lot. Lasted for about a month, just in the last week he's been eating everything again, all day long. It seems I can't feed him enough.

[SallyN]

normal.
toddlers are amazingly in tune with what their bodies need. we're the ones that tend to interfere with it.

he might have just come off a growth spurt? perhaps he has some teeth moving up? (they can hurt while they come through the jaw, well before they are noticeable beneath the gums) or maybe he's feeling under the weather now?

continue offering a variety of healthy foods, different colors, tastes and textures. just like you can't force a baby to breastfeed, you can't really force a toddler to eat. (well, not without some majorly negative and long-reaching consequences!)

[LDSmomma]

DS did this. His has lasted for months now. I talked to the ped about it, and she said so long as he's nursing on demand, he's getting all of his nutrition, so not to worry about only eating fruit. She suggested making sure he only eats 2-3 servings of fruit a day. I worried about him getting too much sugar from all that fruit.

[daniturtle]

Yup, normal. My now-19 month old went from eating EVERYthing to a much shorter list of things, around 13 months or so. It's kind of a bummer, moving into this picky phase. But it is a phase- as long as they are nursing as well as eating some solid food it's all good. They know what they need and will eat when they need to. Like the pp said, continue offering good stuff and they'll get back there. It's a bit hard as a parent to trust your little toddler but the alternative is trying to force them to eat what you want them to (ha!) or to worry all the time. Not great alternatives!

[Baby_Cakes]

Happened here too. It took a few weeks -- maybe a month -- and she gradually went back to eating pretty much everything. Hang in there!

[Astraia]

Comes and goes, comes and goes. Some days she's ravenous and then a couple of weeks later it's all I can do to get her to eat a grape or two, a bite of bread, whatever.

Usually when she's eating a lot she's putting on lbs, and then she stops eating and suddenly all her pants are too short as she puts on inches.

Also tied to teeth- when she stops eating, I know to expect another tooth within a week or two.

[lunarlady]

DD does this too. She actaully will grab my hand and then very carefully spit her half chewed food into the palm of my hand. Then she says "I don't like it. You eat it." Lovely. We've been working on the idea of not eating something you don't want in the first place, swallowing and washing down something you don't like the taste of, or spitting onto your plate something you accidently put in your mouth but shouldn't eat (like a chicken bone). It's a slow process, but I think she's learning.

[Pogo0685]

Thank you everyone, he did just have a growth spurt and has 3 teeth coming in at the moment so that's probably the reason for it all. I just hope this doesn't last because I liked it when he ate dinner with us now he just fusses and spits out his food and wants out of his chair. Oh well. Thanks again!

[Birdie B.]

HA! We just went through this a month or so back, and I was wondering what it was about! At first I was proud that she had learned how to spit, because up until then if she didn't like the food she would just pocket it in her cheek and cry about it! Now she can spit it out if she doesn't want it. She's also getting her molars (4 or 6 at a time!) and that might have something to do with it.

[ellemenope]

Originally Posted by SallyN

toddlers are amazingly in tune with what their bodies need. we're the ones that tend to interfere with it.

This is something I so want to believe and hope is true.

[swd12422]

My son did the same thing when he first started solids. It was annoying as anything, but I think it was just experimentation. It didn't last very long, maybe a few months?