Enough is enough... when will my 1yr old DD eat some proper food?

[MammyShirl]

I breast fed her until 8 months and she only started eating round that time as all she wanted was breast milk as soon as i start weaning her off she slowly accepted food... still slowly... she only like a few jars of the pureed 4 MONTH Heinz bloody "Mums Own". She turned one last week and is looks very healthy with lovely chubby legs etc so people always say not to worry.

Daily Intake:
Breakfast: Cereal, toast juice/water
5 ozs of formula milk at 10.30am and sleeps for two hours
Lunch: Jar of food, banana mashed with natural yogurt, 5 ozs of formula milk
Snack: chedder cheese stick and raisins or farleys biscuit/satsuma
Dinner: Jar of food and pureed fruit
Bedtime: 7 ozs milk

I have been on here before complaining about her and I know they can get by on small amounts, I just want those small amounts to be healthy and nutritional as possible and those jars are not. They have something stupid like 8% meat and are so watery. I wish she would eat some mash potatoe,fresh veg and meat. I have tried to copy the jars she likes, mix in my my food in the jars or just not give them to her but each time she just refuses to eat anything else.
Also I know I have become lazy as I wasted so much time and money trying out different recipes, steaming, pureeing, freezing... then forgetting to defrost the bloody ice cubes that she is not going to eat anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So in the end I give into the watery crappy jars. My dh gets in late from work too so she cant eat with us. I know she has not been eating as long as most babies her age but surely this cant go on for much longer.
Is there any mothers out there who have been in similar situation? Any advice?
She hates the consistency of potatoe even if i make it runny or mix sauce into it.
I've tried, butternut squash, sweet potatoe, cottage cheese etc... she spits it out.
She does like finger food like cheese, fruit, bread. I have tried giving her lumps of fish, chicken... Did not work, she likes everything to be sweet.
Any suggestions are very welcome.

Thank you !

[Jezebel]

Hello dear firemd, I have a 13 month dd. She was a really good bfer- on 50th centile. She was never a good eater and still isn't. I understand how disheartening it is since I too made loads of stuff only to throw it away. Anyway everyone says not to worry. She did drop to between 9th and 25th centil when I stopped bfing at 6 months but is EXTREMELY active and alert.

My top tip is to feed in the bath. I know it sounds crazy but she seems to take it beter and I am not stressed at the mess. I also find she eats better at nursery than she does with me (!!). I think she likes the distraction of the other children.

All I would say is it sounds like you are doing a great job. the quantities sound OK. Is your dd alert, happy and active? I would just say persist in what you are doing. Best wishes, J XXX

[LIZS]

imho her diet sounds fine in principle but understand you want to ditch the jars. Would she dip into a puree. You could start with giving her some jar food to use and gradually change it by mixing home cooked in with it. Or offer pasta shapes or potato wedges as finger food. tbh with ds I used to reheat whatever we had eaten the night before for his lunch or dinner some of the time. His favourite was sunday roast! dd was more particular and I was more careful to avoid lumps for longer because she had reflux. We were able to eat with her more often so she used top eat a version of our meal - be it mushed or some mushed/finger food. By 15 months she ate pretty much whatever we were and fed herself.

If you are consistent with your dd and don't offer her alternatives when she is overly fussy then she will soon learn to eat when hungry. She really won't starve if you offer a variety of things you know she will eat and introduce variations slowly. However I always felt that they were entitled to their preferences so ds, for example, doesn't eat egg, so very much trial and error to establish this too.

[Jezebel]

I read your post again. Your baby sounds just like mine. Mine too has taken really well to finger food. Another tip: have you tried baked beans? My little one loves them and if I mix them into other stuff I find she will eat that even though she has refused it before.

[CP3]

Oh Dear, it is dishearteneing when they refuse food especialy the home cooked variety. My ds stopped eating at 13 months and started again at 20 months. She lived on milk, marmite on toast, bananas and fromage frais.

Every day i offered her meals but there was no way she was eating them so i gave up and then one day i offered her spag bol and she gobbled it up, so im back to home cooking.

This is such a common problem that im sure youll be bombarded with advice. I cant offer any except be patient, shell get there one day.

BTW my ds hates potatos too, its a funny texture for them

[kiwisbird]

Mammy you have my DS1 reincarnated!!!
I won him over to protein with
homemade pate... on toast
Can you use eggs? neither of my kids can eat them but they are marvellous source of protein and can be made to many recipes, most kids adore scrambled aggs?
Also chicken baked with apricot jam and plain yohurt was a hit.
Also psychology, put your homemade food into jars and let dd see it., some kids (and I had one) are just conditioned!!
And you would be amazed what you can hide in cheese sauce
Good luck, my son was bloody nightmare too, although he would chew steak strips... with mustard, eat lemons and onions raw... Go figure
And try not to get too worked up, issues around food are not worth it. I ended up with DS at age 18 mths taking away what he wouldn't eat and not replacing it with any substitute, he only held out for 4 days - your dd is too young for that but bear it in mind

xx

[MammyShirl]

hello - thank you everyone. i was just thinking to myself about it and thought "i know the best people to ask... Mumsnet"

kiwisbird - your chicken dish sounds interesting as she loved yogurt and fruit, how do you make it?

I am crap but how do you make cheese sauce?

Liz - potatoe wedjes i never tried, did you leave the skin on and did you cook them in olive oil?

I know I should try her with eggs - just a bit frightened that she may be allergic as she went through a short phase of being allergic to formula milk but thankfully outgrew it. Should I start with the egg yok first or the white?

She is very alert and active, she loves books and ive read to her from birth, from four months she could turn pages and 7 months would turn the book around the right way if you gave it to her upside down and when asked she points to objects in books so i know her funny diet is not effecting her development - i just want her to enjoy nice food.

Who said breastfed babies are open to more flavours?

Thanks

[tinyganghq]

Oh boy, do you ever have my sympathy with this!!
My dd (now 5.5 yrs) was like this. I used to worry and WORRY about the fact that she hardly ate. Like you, I was cooking and preparing everything I could think of then chucking it all in the bin. All I can say is, I stuck to regular mealtimes and didn't give in to snacks etc. She'll never be a big eater, but now she will eat her meals reasonably well and has suffered no ill effects from this whatsoever.

I thought I was probably more wound up about it as she was my first. Then I had twins (now 2.5yrs) and they started off just great with their food. Hooray! Well - it was for a while - now they're doing the same too!! Just binned yet another lovingly prepared Sunday dinner x2. And yet - like your dd, they bounce about the picture of health. My little boy twin would live on 'cakey' as he calls it, given the slightest opportunity. No chance!

The milk, fruit, cheese and yogurt are all good sources of the things your dd needs. Also, keep the things you do make for her as simple as possible - even now I find the length of preparation time directly propotional to the level of my despair when it doesn't get eaten.

One thing that 'sometimes' encourages mine to eat is to have a favourite dolly or teddy (with bib) sharing too. Lots of praise for dolly and teddy when they eat theirs and they can try and feed them too...just an idea - you'll probably think we're mad but I've resorted to all sorts in my time!

[MammyShirl]

Beleive me I dont think your mad, she has a fav teddy called paddy thats stinks of as he has had every food, milk, dribble and god knows what rubbed into him. i think i will try the bib on him though - you never know!


i remember when i was 5, all i would eat was mash potatoes and peas - thats it! so i know kids are great at being picky... i try to not get wound up but when she has friends over, all the mums open their lovely tubbaware boxes with their lovely homemade food with lumps and my dd has her watery jar of mush for a 4 month old. i always fel myself apologising. i would not be so bothered if it was a jar for a 7 month old. she is one after all. moan moan moan

[MammyShirl]

i can spell really - mumsnet is the only place i am slack with spelling/grammer.

my fingers seem to hit all buttons when im tired.

[kiwisbird]

mammy
chicken thigh fillet (tastier much more than breasts)
Apricot jam 1tsp for every thigh
Yoghurt or sour cream/creme fraiche 1Tablespoon per thigh
You can add mango chutney too (see Annabel Karmel stole MY recipe)
Bake for 35 mins and mince/puree/chop for whatever stage baby is at.
HTH
xx J

[kiwisbird]

cheese sauce - pre grate 50 gms cheese ready
butter (unsalted ie better if you have it)- melt 25 gms in pan
white flour add 2 Tablespoons to butter and stir til thick mix
IMPORTANT BIT
Add milk slowly stirring all the time (use a whisk if needed to avoid lumps)
When sauce appears creamy and thick add grated cheese til melted
There it is!!!!!!
Hope that makes sense petal.

[samwifewithkid]

I have found this thread very interesting, as I was reading the pros and cons of breastfeeding till 6 months exclusively. Is this the other side to the flip coin? If you breast feed for too long can this happen as a result?

Good luck mammyshirl, hope it all works itself out in the end. I'm sure it's just a phase. Have you tried other ways of giving her potato? as suggested wedges, lightly coated in olive oil and baked with skins on for 45 mins, new potatos etc...

Also just let her have the same as you do for your meals. Put extra on your plate and see if she will take it from you. Give her well cooked broccoli and carrot sticks. Give her the finger foods now and let her decide when she wants to eat "meals". Give her the bowl of food and a spoon and let her get on with it. Maybe shes trying to be independant. Don't let her fill up too much on milk, it fills small tummies very quickly. If she's hungery she will eat.

[kiwisbird]

Not so sure Sam, I b/f both mine til 6 mths exclusively, older one (DS I was talking about) refused most solids except banana and yoghurt) til 8 mths, then very picky...
On other hand DD was b/f til 6 mths and has eaten everything placed in front of her and more.
Oddly she is pint sized and DS is mammoth
Very bizarre with kids I tell you.....
Both finished b/f at 15 mths too!

[Chelle]

Hi MammySHirl,

My Ds was the same, he would eat anything that came out of a jar but wouldn't touch anything I had cooked. In fact, he would have eaten less "real" food than your little one.

All the suggetions made have been good ones. Don't worry too much about the meat thing, my ds refused any meat until 18 months and is still a picky eater at nearly 5 but is healthy, alert and bright. He also would not eat potato ( in any form, even chips/wedges) until about 2.5 years. Now his favourite meal (the only thing he is happy to eat, actually) is lamb chops with mashed potato/pumpkin/sweet potato, peas and corn on the cob!

DD (baby number 2, now nearly 2 year sold) on the other hand has always been a good eater but does tend to the more exotic (such as smoked salmon, camembert, olives and chargrilled mushrooms!)

[toddlerbob]

I don't think it's anything to do with bfing sam. I exc. bf ds until 6 months and he is still bf at 13 months. He eats anything and everything in industrial strength quantities. I don't want to depress Mammyshirl, but I think bfing (or not bfing for that matter)gets blamed for lots and it simply depends on the child.

Mammyshirl, do you think that your dd could be picking up on your own worries about food, first the formula and the allergy thing and now the jar thing. My ds has just had a cold and was off his food because he couldn't breathe so everything had to be runny with no lumps. As soon as he started eating like his normal self I went back to the normal food and for the first two days he cried for his "special food" and gagging on lumps. I ignored this and today he started eating normally again.

[freewheeler]

So good to read all your messages. My 10 month old ds seems to gag whenever I attempt to feed him something new... I am keen he should develop more wideranging tastes (he also much prefers jars to anything I make him, which is really depressing...) but I worry in case the textures and lumps are too much for him. Sometimes it's hard to know whether to persevere.

[MammyShirl]

thank you all - going to try make her some real food again today... not giving up yet.

had to take her to docs this morning as she had a temp all night and had to give clapol every four hours, doc said she has a sore throat. she is not herself and just wants to hug bless her (very unlike her, normally v independent) she still ate her breakfast and drank milk so she cant be feeling that bad!!!

re: the b/fing things, i do think it is to do with her picky eating as she did have a bit of a traumatic time, first she had an allergic reaction twice when i tried her on a bottle at nealry 6 mths, then from then on i tried every bottle and teeth with expressed milk but all she wanted was boobies!!! so i guess anything foreign was yucky to her. next time i will introduce one bottle of expressed milk a day and hopefully will not have the same problem. if it had been a smoother ride for her weaning off the breast im sure she would have been more open to food.

[LIZS]

Hi mammyshirl,

Just caught up with this again. Sorry your dd isn't well - that won't help her eating.

I now do the wedges with skin on - par boiled them for about 10 minutes, drain and dry, then put in oven in dish preheated with olive oil - shake them around from time to time and leave until golden on outside -about 20 mins in hot oven. Younger tots would probably prefer skin off. You can do it with other veg too -such as parsnips and sweet potato. You will probably find it will be easier for her to eat "funny" textured foods once she can handle a spoon.

Another thought, even if you can't regularly eat a main meal together as a family could she sit at the table for a "supper" while you eat occasionally and offer her bits to nibble on. It would take the pressure off you both if she is not ragingly hungry but show her a variety of food to try and the sociable side of meals.

[MammyShirl]

thanks liz - good idea!

i want to try the baked chicken dish (see down) does that mean i just put the chicken and mixture in a heated oven dish and cook or should i wrap the chicken in foil?

[Blu]

MammyShirl - when you feed her from a jar, is it straight from the jar? (that's what I did). I wonder whether she would eat homecooked food from a jar? Mad thought probably, but if she is used to seeing it come from a jar, she might not realise that other food is her dinner! Also, do you serve it at exactly the same temperature as jar food? They are such creatures of habit...

[goodkate]

my first 2 were great eaters until about 2. then became dead picky and I worried. At 4/5 they started eating most things again. I just suppose they are like us, sometimes off food. I hope the third will be better. Also, try warming jars of food, we wouldn't eat our dinner cold would we?

[MammyShirl]

hello again
i always serve her jar food in a feeding bowl warm. she is so clever and knows exactly whats in the bowl, i think she smells it. she turns her head sometimes before she can even see what is in the bowl

[goodkate]

Isn't it amazing how they know exactly whats coming!!! I reread your original message and she seems like a very happy healthy bunny. I wouldn't worry. My eldest stopped taking savoury food for a while at about 1 so we used to hide it under the yoghurt or pudding. Sounds disgusting I know but she had a good diet!!! She cottoned on after a while but was then happy to eat her greens Sometimes I feed my baby dd the sweet first and then the dessert. Seems to work too.

[oliveoil]

My dd is nearly 18 months and I used the Gina Ford book and one by Lorraine Kelly to test her on lots of different foods. She now eats nearly everything I give her, not sure if this is my doing or a fluke. The recipes are not too fussy (like Annabel Karmel, found her time consuming) so if dd occasionally has a strop I am not tooooo bothered about it going in the bin and making some toast.

She has jars as well, I found the Boots own aren't as watery as the Heinz or Cow&Gate ones, look (and smell) like proper food.

One tip in the GF book was to mix 'proper' food with jar, increasing the percentages each time so you trick your little one into eating it all eventually, not sure if someone has already posted this.

[goodkate]

Has anyone tried HIPP organic? I know its more expensive but they really are quite good and at 7 months they have a foreign food range including thai curry and korma! Great for introducing new flavours.