11 month old won't eat bloody anything, tearing my hair out.

[ruty]

Ds ate like a horse. Dd has always been fussy, at the breast [better now but not a huge feeder] refuses all formula and bottles, and hates food. At 6 months anything that went in her mouth was met with crying, outrage, gagging. Slowly got better but suddenly the last couple of weeks she has been refusing all breakfast [baby cereal, small pieces of toast and butter] spitting ou the fruit puree sachets she used to have as snacks, refusing supper. She has always rejected the chicken cassroles i make her, she chews small pieces of chicken and roasted carrot then spits them out, gags on mashed potato, and now rejects the little organix chicken baby food she used to accept.

I know she can swallow and chew because i tried her with a piece of chocolate the other day [would never have allowed ds at that age] and she wolfed it down happily. She like ice cream too. And teddy bear crisps, terribly salty, but her brother has given her a few and she loves them

So what the hell do i do? She will only eat high sugar, salty food, and not much at that. She is small for her age, but i haven't had her weighed for ages, now she is rejecting pretty much everything i am going to get her weighed tomorrow. Really really exasperated now. Any ideas?

[ruty]

oh yes and the one healthy thing she'll eat is avocado, but only if it is from a pret a manger chicken and avocado sandwich, refuses all other avocado, even if smothered in mayo.

Aaaaaargh.

[jimblejambles]

Is she teething? Ds2 refuses point blank to eat anything when he is teething.
Its frustrating though. What I tend to do is little bits of finger food so if he is hungry its ready for him.
hth

[ruty]

maybe, i don't know. She only has 4 teeth so far, ds had most of his at this age. I'm baffled.

[MammaPiggy]

it is frustrating, i think some children just have smaller appetites than others, my dd1 has always eaten very well but dd2 is very fussy and sounds a bit like your dd.

remember she is still very young and if she is still having milk then at least she will be getting her goodness from that.

does she like yogurts or cheese on toast, weetabix? just thinking outloud really

i also think that if she is teething that could be a big reason for her being off her food, always seemed to make a massive difference to my twos appetites.

sorry cant think of anything else really except she will grow out of this stage eventually!

[frisbyrat]

Does she eat in the pram? Ds is being a complete bugger about eating at the moment, but will greedily wolf down e.g. a piece torn off a bagel and a banana while being wheeled round the shops. That's his 'real' meal. I think of the 20 minutes he spends sat in his high chair with a bib on, smearing home-cooked stew and veg around his ears as his 'fake' meal. It makes me feel better.

[ruty]

actually yes, she will only eat the avocado pieces [from said expensive sandwich] whilst sitting in the pram. Haven't had much luck with other food tho.

Refuses weetabix, refuses banana, actually must try pizza again, seemed to like that once. Thanks for reminding me re cheese on toast!

[jimblejambles]

Bread sticks might be worth a try to. Have you tried noodles? When all else fails I give ds2 ready brek he thinks its daddys so loves it.

Also with ds2 I put his plate next to mine but pretend his food is coming from my plate. For some reason he will eat more from my plate.

[ruty]

readybrek scorned, breadsticks crumbled!

On the other hand she just stole her brother's mini magnum and scoffed it!

[piximon]

My ds3 12m was a terrible food refuser. He's only really got the hang of eating in the past month or so. I cut down on some of his milk, ditched cutlery and put food direct on his tray/table, it seems to be working for the most part.

They sound very similar, ds3 is on the wee side (on the 9th percentile for weight, 75th for height) he would not eat anything I would slavishly cook but would wolf down choc/yoghurt/crisps etc. Gets a bit disheartening after a while.

If I want to spoon feed ds1 I put some things down for him to self feed (he loves blueberries) which seems to distract him. I also find if I sit him next to me while I'm eating he always wants to share whatever I'm eating.

Tuna mayo sandwiches are now popular with ds3 and pasta twists very successful, pizza bread goes down well and baked beans with cheese.

[piximon]

I can only get ds3 to eat breakfast if I either do the golden nugget type things with very little milk so he can feed himself or porridge with a drizzle of maple syrup as the strong taste flavours the whole bowl. I've found both my bf babies have very sweet tastes, where my ff babies are less picky.

Does she eat much fruit? I use bananas on days when nothing else seems to work, cut up grapes/oranges/strawberries all very popular.

I often struggle to think of "real food" he might actually eat but for us it is getting easier with ds3, dd1 however is another matter and consumes a fairly restricted diet.

[ruty]

thanks piximon. she was until recently eating chopped grapes and blueberries, now she rejects them too.

[ruty]

i've held off putting sugar on her cereal as i'm worried about her teeth but it may be the only thing left to do!

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

Ruty much sympathy

Remember she is rejecting the food not you, yes?

It's v hard

[MammaPiggy]

actually ruty your dd sounds just like my dd2, she always wants to nick her sisters food but then when i give her something of her own she turns her nose up at it! i think it is their way of asserting their independence or something! its a bloomin pain though!

[ruty]

thanks BALD. It does feel a bit like that, dread getting her weighed tomorrow, I haven't been for so long. She is very bright and cheeky at least...

[ruty]

yes MP but when she nicks things it gets chewed and spat out. Unless it is ice cream!

[MammaPiggy]

yes my two are very cheeky
i actually think that it becomes a game to them and the more they can see you getting wound up by it the more they do it because they think its very amusing seeing mummy getting all flustered!
so really you need to try and act as if you are not bothered but of course that is very hard to do!

[MammaPiggy]

i think for my dd2 chewing up food and spitting it out is one of her favourite hobbies
and she also likes tipping bowls of food upside down or grinding food into the carpet - oh the joys! it does worry me but i console myself by telling myself that she will not still be doing this when shes 16 (with any luck)
she does drink quite a lot of milk so i try not to worry too much and just keep offering her food and hoping for the best!

[claireybee]

DD was like this, barely ate until 13 months and only then started to eat very small meals. She didn't eat three meals a day until she was about 2 though, just breakfast and dinner-and very small amounts at both.

She still has a small appetite but isn't really fussy, will eat most things in miniscule portions.

[ruty]

thanks ladies, oh if only she's have a nice cup of formula now and then, i worry about iron. she mostly breastfeeds at night, not bothered in day. i'll see what HV says tomorrow.

[ruty]

had her weighed today. She has dropped to the 9th centile. She was born on the 81st, dropped to just below the 50th a few months ago and now on the 9th. Fuck.
I really don't know what else to do. She rejects everything i put into her mouth except ice cream and the bloody avocado sandwich fillings. Saw a new HV, who asked me if the ice cream was home made and looked a bit shocked that i was giving her ice cream at all. I have only given her ice cream this last week as a last resort when she has eaten nothing else. I asked about iron drops but she said she looks bright and happy so to hold off and get her weighed again in a couple of weeks. Should i go to the doctor and ask for them myself? Still refusing food.

[notoverit]

My dd hardly ate untill she was one. I made loads of lovely purees myself and she ate very little. I then started making other nice meals which she didn't eat.

My health visitor does not seem to be like other health visitors and said I should give her some junk food as I was very careful about not letting her eat rubbish. But I then thought hey I would rather her eat a little junk then nothing. Also she was bf and would not drink from a bottle and I found it very draining as she wanted to bf all day.

I gave her weetabix every moring and she only had a little bit but it kept improving untill she had 2 everyday.

I started letting her eat things like, chips, sausage, pizza and things like that. I still offered the healhy stuff too. She started eating the unhealthy stuff then seemed to get an appitite for food. And then she started eating the healthy food too. Her faviourate meal was veg and mash and when I couldn't get her to eat she would always eat that.

I think it really helped that i chilled out abit and let her try other things so she got used to eating. Now she eats healthy food and a little junk.

She loves veg but not fruit and eats only small bits of banana. I think the key is to keep offering the healthy food. When I first gave her risotto she would not eat it atall. Nowshe will eat it from my plate but not her bowl.

It is hard work but I'm sure she will start eating.

[ruty]

thanks notoverit - just was a bit shocked with the huge drop in centiles.

[Sheeta]

We went through a period like this when DS was 11mo.. he absolutely refused anything that wasn't yoghurt or biscuits. (cost me a fortune in Organix gingerbread men!)

In the end I gave in and that's pretty much all he ate for weeks and weeks. It very slowly improved and now he's eating fairly well (at 16mo).

He still had loads of milk, but virtually nothing to eat some days..

have you tried sweetening the readybrek with fruit purees or yoghurt?

Eggy bread was popular with DS, especially if it came off my plate

[cktwo]

Don't try to feed her, let her do it herself. And don't make a fuss over meals (even if you feel like tearing your hair out), and make sure you sit down and eat with your children even if its only a tiny bit. Small children are like sponges and basically absorb the actions of others by example. So if you eat later, just pretend your eating with her and let her get on with it. If she's like my DD2 she won't be helped with anything