I've just started looking after a 2 yo and i'm slightly worried about some aspects of their heath.
They come to me for lunch and the only things i've found they eat are beans on toast, scrambled egg and anything sweet. Their mum said when we first met that they weren't a fussy eater, but did love fruit. I started off doing things like finger sandwiches or rolls with lots of different nibbly things like cheese, veggies, crackers etc. They really didn't seem interested in this and would just eat the fruit or yoghurt i provided at the end. I tried lots of different combinations, cutting them into lovely shapes etc, but the they would end up eating something like 1 tomato and half a finger sandwich. I asked the mum and she said this was all stuff they would have at home.
I decided to start hot 'snacky' lunches, and they eat a little more of these, but if they see the fruit bowl before they've finished, then thats it, theres no persuading them to eat any more of the lunch. They also bluntly refuse to drink water, and as i don't offer juice or squash, milk is the only thing they drink. Fine, but not varied.
This in itself i wouldn't find particularly worrying as a fussy toddler is nothing new, but there are some other aspects of their health that i find concerning along side this. Their stools are liquid (not soft, actually liquid) and particularly foul smelling and their teeth are fairly extensively stained with brown marks. I'm worried that the child's diet is in fact a lot more sugar-filled than the mum is making out.
The teeth were one of the first things i noticed and have arranged a meeting for Thursday to discuss this issue. I was thinking something along the line of keeping a tooth brush here, reward charts and me taking the child to the dentist if the mum is struggling to find time.
Are the other things something i need to be worried about?
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