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Oh man feeding in general is soooooo stressful! Hugs!

Keep a food log then come back to it at the end of the week. I know it's hard not to worry, but you might be surprised at how much he's eating over the course of the week (a nutritonist gave me this homework after a session with my son).

We are going through almost exactly the same thing at 18 months old! We actually had our checkup at the pediatrician yesterday and he reminded us that LO's relationship with food has changed significantly, and that food is just not his priority right now. He reminded me that LO will let me know when he is hungry and that I should not get too upset if LO is just not interested in eating for a day or a few in a row. He made a great point that LO is much more interested in the things going on around him and that sitting in the high chair for a meal is just not that "exciting" to him right now-- of course I understand that, but I also worry about how hungry he must be getting!

My advice (and I am trying to follow this too) is to make less of an issue around food. I find that when I am eating, LO wants to eat too-- he likes to eat socially! It's so hard not to worry, though.

@hilsy85: I give her chicken noodle soup with lots of chicken and noodles. I'll actually puree the cooked veggies into the soup so she's getting more bang per spoonful. I also give her lots of broth + rice, dumplings, very mild curry, fish + broccoli, pasta (with veggies pureed into the tomato sauce) - i stick with mini cheese tortellini and mini raviolis so she's also getting cheese. I don't have to give her a lot so I will make a small amount and pack half into a container for the next day or if it's soup I'll freeze it to use some other day so she's getting variety since she's eating a lot of small meals during the day. I'd say on average, she eats about 4-6 oz of food per meal with dinner being the largest meal of the day. But i purposely make her wait for dinner so she can get a bigger portion down. her snacks are usually yogurt, fruit or if she's being particularly fussy, cereal snacks. Again, I'm not too concerned with the amount she eats per sitting since she's snacking/eating about 5-6 times a day during the week and about 4-5 times during the weekends. Plus she drinks 8 oz of milk and water. So even if she's eating 4 4oz meals a day, that's a pound of food she's consuming! That's a lot for someone who weighs 26 pounds.

@hilsy85: if it's helpful to look at it from this angle.. if he's been doing this for a month and is still healthy and happy, I wouldn't worry about it, ya know? You can only do so much. LO does this for a day or two (but then always switches back to eating like he's starving -- so not the same). I try not to panic, either way, and offer him consistent food at reliable times. If he asks to eat in between a meal & a snack, I generally tell him no unless it's a special treat/instance. My Mom was HORRIFIED when she saw me deny him but... he survived until dinner, and ate a good dinner. I think it's totally normal for a toddler to do this - you can only control what & when you offer (although I did just hear someone at a playdate give the advice that she just gives her kid ice cream for dinner because that's all he will eat... so you could try that too

I used to stress so much about LOs eating as well. And then, I realized I was changing 3-4 poopy diapers a day, so she must have been getting plenty to eat. I just figure she will eat when she's hungry. Also, if she is not in a growth spurt, she must not need a lot of calories. I hear ya though, I always wonder how they can survive on basically just air!

I think you may just have to accept that he's not a big eater. We have never had a day where we've been like, "holy shit, our kid is eating like a horse!" There have been a handful of meals where he's eaten like a champ, but that's relative to his normal eating habits. He's also a regular pooper (like yours!) and he sure as heck would tell us if he is starving!! Kids may be too busy playing to eat but they won't starve themselves.

I don't want to tell you not to worry because it's a valid concern, but maybe just give you a different perspective.

@hilsy85: wow! that sounds exhausting. isn't he starting some form of preschool soon, I thought? there's no way they're going to do that! can you do something else while he eats, like clean the kitchen? you might find that he eats more with the pressure and your watchful eyes off. I know I've said this other places, can't remember if to you, but I've seen firsthand picky eater toddlers grow into picky eater tweens. Still healthy and happy, and skinny. That's just how some kids are! It doesn't help that everyone talks about kids who eat a lot as "good eaters" which is ridiculous..

L is getting much pickier these days. i find that if she actually sees her food on her plate, she is more easy to refuse it than if i feed it to her. so...sometimes i feed it to her. i know i am enabling bad habits but sometimes i just want to get some food in her! but i keep telling myself that she won't starve and she'll eat when she is hungry, and i try to let it go. its tough though!

I didn't read through all the other responses, but this is what we did. If DD decided she was "done", we would let her get down from her chair. But, before she got down, we would explain that if she was hungry later, she would only get to eat what was left on her plate - no snacks. If she did ask for a snack, we would reminder her that she could have the rest of her lunch/dinner, and that was it. It took a little while, but she learned.

I also had to come to grips with the fact that toddlers eat a lot less than babies... and it seems to happen over night.

Oh, yep. This was (and sometimes still is) us with our son. He just doesn't get hungry. And he's veeererryyyy picky too. I got a lot of reassurance and practical advice from raisehealthyeaters.com which is a mom who is a dietician. She has a book called fearless feeding which is GOLD. She's just really spot on about feeding issues but also totally normal. My son is now 4. He is the tallest kid in his class by a good two inches, although quite thin. I've learnt to really relax about what he's eating (no pressure, no praise) and it was the one thing that improved his eating, apart from time (sorry, I know you don't want to hear that! Bit time helps). He was worst around your LO's age.

@mrs.cookie: I love, love, love that book and recommend it all over the place.