Has anyone let their little go on food strike and did it work?

[Guest]

My 2.5 son is at the point where all he wants is sweets and I’m at my wits end.

[Tianna]

My little one was on a food strike for a few months before his growth spurt, when they're hungry they'll eat.

[Vasiliki]

We tried it with my three year old for three days she for the first time ate a whole toast with cheese and a different type of pasta.

[Kimberly]

I would just stop offering sweets for a few days, offer him everything else normal and if he asks for somethiny just say were out of those right now.

[Belinda]

I tried that with my 4yr old who only eats 2 things... she literally starved herself until she vomited and passed out and we ended up in hospital... It doesn't work for some children and I wouldn't recommend it.

[Lindz]

No, children need food whether it’s “healthy” or not. You mentioned them liking muffins and pancakes and other foods that might have sugar, but they also have a ton of nutrients and calories.

To deny a child or adult or anyone food is absolutely not okay.

[Ashley]

This is literally my 3.5 year old. He is currently in therapy, and this is one of the reasons why. We’ve been told to not to starve. Food chaining is the answer.

Once you starve, your child will lose trust in you with food. But I will say, we started to buy sugar free options of food. Which has helped in behavior problems.

Cut out red dye 40. And we have had success of him trying new foods with all of these different methods.

Good luck!!

I have been in this battle for over a year.

[Andrea]

We had the battle around sweets for a while. We started reading more books about how our body functions and what it needs to stay healthy. It’s been a slow process but it did help in understanding that sweets are only good in moderation.

I know that doesn’t help right in the moment, but something I would still recommend.

[Dominique]

Yes. My son sometimes goes days without eating/eating much. And it’s always harder to get him to eat well after. By day 2 of offering him food (including his safe food) and him saying no, I allow him to eat whatever he wants and he has gotten better each time. For instance he want from eating 7 foods to idk how many foods but he ate dinner WITH us. Spare ribs (I cut into chunks for him), pasta salad, and green beans.

When I tried the stick to your guns and they won’t starve themselves stuff, he would of. And he got worse and worse.

[Misty]

We have a 1:1 rule so one healthy thing to each unhealthy thing.

We taught what is healthy and what isn’t. She still tried to push back a lot but we just stood firm. Now she will chose a salad over a cheeseburger at a restaurant.

Now that she’s in school and I have to pack her lunch it’s gotten so much better cuz she doesn’t have the opportunity to snack all between meals and I only pack one sugary treat in her lunch but she eats everything in it most days.