Feeding difficulties

Question

Hello, my daughter is 22 months and she is in full opposition to food. If we listened to her, she would eat only yogurt, stewed fruit or bottles of milk. What should I do? Let her eat what she wants? Go to bed without eating, is it dangerous for her? We are quite worried. In addition, she has to take Creon with the food and she refuses to swallow it. I do not know what to do. Cordially.

Answer

Hello,
The situation of feeding difficulty that you describe is a relatively common concern for parents of young children.
The attitude to adopt depends of course on the weight of your daughter. If her weight is good, we can allow a temporary diet of milk products and stewed fruit, because dairy products cover most of the nutritional needs of children of this age. However, it must follow some rules: keep 4 to 5 meals a day, avoid frequent snacking, propose a main dish before the milk product, do not prepare a second dish if she refuses the first one. It may be beneficial to put your daughter around the family table for meals, so she can see that the meal is a pleasant moment for all. The key is to maintain a quiet and serene atmosphere around the food, without forcing, and not let the mealtime last too long in case of refusal.
If she takes a bottle of milk at dinner, do not worry, she can go to bed safely.
Concerning the difficulty of taking Creon, you can try to give the granules at the beginning of meals in a spoonful of apple compote that she seems to enjoy a lot.
I hope that these advices will be helpful for you.
You can also get help from the CF team which follows and knows your daughter, they will be able to adapt the advices to her own situation and her nutritional status.
Sincerely
Dr Michèle Gérardin

25.09.2012