13 month old and food!

[rebeccaroskellthomas]

Hi, I think this is probably totally normal but I thought I'd see if anyone else has dealt with similar issues. My 13 month old LG has been exclusively breastfed since birth, wouldn't take a bottle at all. She has always preferred milk to food. I think even now if I didn't give her solids and just let her feed from me all day she'd not be bothered!

She doesn't like breakfast unless it is yoghurt. She refuses weetabix and porridge and if I give her anything she can feed herself she just chucks it on the floor. I then try her with toast a while later and she might eat a tiny piece or two but then either ignores it or chucks it about.

For lunch and tea she will have jarred 10+ food but refuses anything I make. It has to be tomato based otherwise she won't eat it. She'll have jelly, rice pudding or yoghurt for pudding. If I'm around in the day she will want BF a few times still. She generally only wakes once in the night though for a feed.

I feel like a bit of a failure and wish I'd done babyled weaning and she might be a bit more adventurous!

[LittleSausageFingers]

Hi rebecca, don't feel bad, I did BLW with my EBF DD and she's not adventurous in the slightest chucks most things on the floor, maybe has a tiny taste of chicken or broccoli, but it's a struggle to get her to eat more than that! I'm sure they'll get it eventually, but I think some babies are just like this

[rebeccaroskellthomas]

Thanks for replying. I just hope at some point I can get her off the boob!

[CarrotLegsWanted]

If you're happy Bf then donut as long as it works for you both.

Re food. I think the key is to just relax and not make a big fuss or a big deal of it. She will not starve herself.

Some dc aren't that much in to breakfast. Offer her toast, banana, yogurt, flapjack, sliced apple, quartered scotch pancake-that sort of stuff. Things she can pick at and try if she wants. But small amounts. And to start with I'd say while she's playing rather than at the table/high chair.

Very gradually increase the variety and portions if she starts to eat.

Literally a spoonful/a handful (her size) of each type of food.

So if you were me I would offer her a half of a scotch pancake, a small square of flapjack, couple slices of banana (maybe a quarter of a small banana) , 6-8 raisens and just leave it on a plate for her to eat at leisure.

Same with lunch/dinner. A cracker, a couple of cubes of cheese, slices of cucumber, raisens. Dinner-chopped pasta with passata/bolognese sauce, peas, sweet corn.

It will happen but it will take longer if you rush her or make a fuss. I would drop the jars of food though. It's not getting her used to textures.

[CarrotLegsWanted]

Do that-not donut!! even my thumbs have gained weight over the festive period!!

[CobsAhoy]

I did BLW and my DD sounds exactly the same as yours, hates breakfast (apart from yoghurt), hardly eates solids, prefers breast milk etc.... but in the past week her appetite has suddenly shot up and she is now (at 15m) eating lots more and nursing less. I was worried that I should have been doing more to ween her, and that a mostly milk diet might not be enough for her at this age, but she seems to be getting there now. It's a cliche but I guess they all get there in their own time, my feeling was that it was better to just go with the flow rather than turn food into some sort of battle ground.