My Child Ate Everything Then Suddenly Refused All Food: What I Wish I Knew About Picky Eating Sooner

The one they used to love.
The one they suddenly push away.

For me, it was chicken. It was one of his favourite foods to eat.

Until one day I gave him chicken curry, and he spat out every single piece. That was the last time he ever put chicken in his mouth. From then on, even the sight of it would reduce him to tears.

I was left speechless. Confused. Blindsided. In disbelief.

How could something he once ate happily, willingly now trigger such a strong emotional reaction?

I hear it all the time from other parents. And now it was my reality too:
“My child ate everything. Weaning felt easy. Then suddenly, it all changed.”

I had followed all the advice that’s meant to reduce the chances of your baby developing picky eating, even before they’re born.

Eat a varied healthy diet during pregnancy to expose them to flavours in the womb? Tick.
Breastfeed to help develop their taste for variety? Tick.
Make all food from scratch and introduce a wide range of tastes and textures when weaning? Tick.

I genuinely believed I had this nailed.

As someone working professionally in the food industry, introducing my child to food was the part of motherhood I was most excited about.
I had the knowledge, the skills, the confidence.

But I came crashing back to earth with a massive reality check.

Getting kids to eat isn’t as easy as I thought.
Everything I knew, even with my expertise, meant nothing when it came to feeding my own child.
It simply didn’t translate to feeding a toddler.

At 20 months, my son began refusing food.

It started small. First chicken, then he rejected the rice.
Soon, just the sight of that curry made him visibly distressed.

Fruit, vegetables, meat, fish one by one, they all disappeared from his plate.
His diet dwindled to just ten foods.

It was baffling.
Eating is meant to be one of the most natural things in the world.
So why had my son stopped?

If you’re nodding along, if the variety on your child’s plate is slowly shrinking, you may be wondering the same thing.

Fussy eating is a pattern where a child becomes highly selective about the foods they accept, leading to a restricted diet and reduced variety.

Children may reject foods based on:

Picky eaters usually tolerate some new foods on their plate and may try them, even if reluctantly.
They often eat something from each food and texture group and can join in with family meals even if they stick to their preferred foods.

Problem feeders, on the other hand, have a more extreme pattern. They may:
• Eat fewer than 20 foods
• Drop foods without replacing them
• Refuse entire food groups
• Experience stress or anxiety at mealtimes

When mealtimes become battles and the variety of accepted foods continues to shrink, it can feel overwhelming.

We all want our children to eat the rainbow.
But the reality? It often looks more like a bleached-out rainbow—beige, bland and tanned food choices.

In my home, the only hint of colour on the plate came from the bottle of bright red tomato ketchup served with every meal.

I had listened to, tried and busted every feeding myth out there:

“They’ll eat if they’re hungry enough” – Some kids might. But many, especially extreme picky eaters, would rather go hungry than eat something that feels unsafe.

“Just take one bite” – Even gentle pressure can backfire. It creates stress and often reduces appetite.

“They’ll grow out of it” – Maybe. But many won’t without the right help.

“Bribing them with dessert” – doesn’t work. If it did, picky eating wouldn’t exist. It creates a value split, where ‘real food’ becomes the punishment and dessert the reward.

None of these approaches helped.
If anything, they made things worse and left me feeling like my son’s refusal to eat was somehow my fault.

I felt like a food fraud, which left me riddled with a massive helping of mommy guilt.

If you’ve ever thought, “My child is just being stubborn,”
It’s time to shift that mindset.

Picky eating is rarely about willpower.
It’s about ability.
Eating is a learnt skill young children have to master.

I needed to understand why my son was struggling and how could I help him eat again.
This was the million-dollar question for me. That search led me to board a flight to America and train with one of the world’s leading specialists in paediatric feeding disorders.

I never knew, as I stepped on that plane, that this would become not only a journey to help my son, but the beginning of a whole new direction in my professional life.

Here are just a few of the reasons:

• Developmental Stages: Picky eating often emerges between 18 months and 3 years—a time when children start asserting independence.
• Sensory Sensitivities: Eating involves all eight sensory systems—not just taste. How food feels, smells, looks, or even sounds when chewed can overwhelm some children.
• Oral Motor Skills: Some children struggle with the physical skills required to chew and swallow certain foods.
• Food Neophobia: A fear of new foods, an evolutionary trait that makes children instinctively wary of new foods.
• Medical Issues: Reflux, constipation, allergies and other discomforts can cause food refusal.
• The Eating Environment: Pressure, distractions, even the wrong chair can contribute.

When I learned what was really going on for my son, everything changed.

I stopped blaming myself.
I started piecing together the puzzle.
And slowly my son began rebuilding his eating confidence.

It wasn’t quick.
It wasn’t easy.
But it was possible.

I never imagined a bite of chicken could bring me to tears.
But that’s exactly what happened.

My son’s refusal to eat chicken had been the first sign that something was wrong.
Two years later, I watched him chew that same food again.

It was a full-circle moment—one I’d waited years to reach, and one I’ll never forget.
I didn’t want to draw attention to my bright red face or the happy tears streaming down my cheeks.
I had cried so many times out of fear and frustration.
But now, for the first time, that release of emotion came from relief—because he was eating again.
And for the first time in a long time, I finally felt hope.

It was a signal of an ending and a beginning.
Ending the limited diet.
Beginning the journey of learning how to eat and love food again.

I felt the energy shift in our home. My husband, my son and me.
Mealtimes became calmer.
My son became more confident, more curious, more willing and genuinely happier to sit at the table.
We both were.

I also found my love of cooking again, something I’d lost, like a piece of my identity had disappeared.
I’d studied culinary arts in college and worked as a chef in high-end restaurants, so food had always been more than just fuel to me.
When my son stopped eating, it didn’t just affect me as a mother, it felt like I’d lost my connection to a part of who I’d once been.

It was never about force.
It was about understanding, support, and giving him the tools to succeed.
We both needed those tools.

In that moment, I began to forgive myself, for the blame I’d carried, for feeling responsible.
As his eating improved with each small step, I slowly started releasing the guilt that had gripped me tightly for so long.

That guilt had strangled me.
Every breath I took felt heavy with worry: his weight loss, his tears, his refusal to eat.

That voice inside me said:
“I can’t believe you of all people can’t get your child to eat.”
“This is your fault.”
“You’ve caused his health to decline.”

This inner voice crushed my confidence and stole a part of my joy.
It spoke to me in a way I would never talk to another person on the inside or out.
There was no understanding, no care, no compassion. Only cold, hard judgement.

But as his variety of foods grew, and his overall wellbeing improved, something shifted in me.

A lightness I hadn’t felt in years.

That inner voice changed.
It began to acknowledge my journey.
I forgave myself for all the blame.
It finally saw the mom who loved her son so deeply, and who had tried everything in her power to help him eat better.

It became my cheerleader.
Doing cartwheels and high kicks every time he learned to explore a new food.

You are not alone.
Fussy eating is not your fault. It isn’t a parenting failure.
It’s a complex challenge with real solutions.

You don’t have to pressure, bribe or trick your child into eating.
There is a better way—one that feels right for both of you.

It was in that quiet moment, watching my son chew a piece of chicken, that it hit me.
Not long ago, he was refusing everything.
Now, here he was at the table, calm, curious, even enjoying food again.

Our relationship grew stronger in a way I didn’t expect—because food was no longer a daily battle.

If you’re in the thick of it, please know this:
There is hope. There is help. And mealtimes don’t have to feel like battles anymore.