my husband and i are very concerned about our 3 year old...He does not like to eat...only likes to drink things. This has been a battle his whole 3 years of life.  he prefers for us to feed him baby food or food that is mashed from the blender. we are concerned he is not getting the vitamins or nutrients he needs...so we give him vitamins...but it is still bothering me. He is NOT our fist child..we have 2 older children( 8 and 9) and NEVER experienced this kind of problem. The older kids eat evrything and anything you put in front of them. But our youngest refuses to eat mostly everything. we have only been abl;e to get him to eat things like: spagetti, mac n cheese, cookise, pudding, applesauce, lasaunga, soup, ramen noodles, chicken (to an extent), steak(once in awhile), cake, chips,crackers, muffins, cereal, any kind of liquid to drink and i think that is it. he does not like anything that is cold, only things warm. I figured he wasnt eating because dinner or food would get cold,. So i tried warming the food up as soon as it would get warm. This did NOT work however. I talked to our peditrician and he seems to think this is okay as long as hes eating SOMETHING he says and drinking plenty of fluids and taking vitamins. But i am still concerned. He IS a healthy active 3 year old, but just doesnt eat as much as we would like to see i guess. He also will go 2-3 days with out wanting to eat, granted he still drinks his milk, water, juice, whatever it be. By the 3rd day he wants to eat, but only wants little portions at a time. Then fuses when we try to feed him, til he finally i think get so hungry he just eats. He also does NOT like to feed himself. We still have to do it for him. another problem. He does not like to touch food. We tried many spoons, forks, etc. And nothing. he wants momy n dady to feed him. This is our last child and everyone told us WE spoiled him too much. But honestly they dont know as to the extent we have tried to get him to be more self efficient.... he just doesnt want to be. Or maybe we are just a little rusty...it has been awhile since we had a toddler in the house...his brothers are like 5 and 6 years older than he is. Anyway we just would like some honest suggestions for our toddler. i know you can only give suggestions.. but this is what we are looking for. thank you so much. :) 

You have what I call an "ultra-picky eater" and these children can be very difficult.  First, you should consider if there were some feeding issues in the past that created a child who does not like to eat.  For example, sometimes when i see these children, when they were babies they were spitting up alot and not eating well due to pain with eating.  This then develops into difficult eating habits.  You also need to figure out if this is more his personality type - is he stubborn about many things other than just eating?  If so, this problem may be more of a behavioral issue than an eating issue.  Also, important to know if he is growing adequately on the growth chart - if he is, I would be less concerned that this is affecting him a medical sense.  Figuring out the root of the problem may be helpful in trying to address the issue.

Here are some basic suggestions:

• I would recommend putting him on vitamins.
• Try a healthy smoothie if he likes to drink - soy protein powder, green juice, fruits, some omega-3 fats like flax seed oil and you could crush up a chewable vitamin .... Read More