Picky eaters support club - circa 12/13 months but all welcome especially those with survival stories!

[Zimm]

I need a support group. DD is 13 months and only eats:

wheatabix
Yoghurts
Bananas
Raisins
Broccoli
Oat cakes
All organix/plum snack foods
Pureed fruit
All Ella's kitchen
Very limited amount of homemade puree if alternated with yoghurt!
Bread and related products
All bran
She once ate a grape and an olive!
Lentils and rice when hidden in puree
Sometimes pasta.


She loathes lumpy foods. She will only self-feed from the above list - all other food has to be tricked into her. Which I hate. I wanted to BLW. I wanted her to enjoy food and eat family meals. It just has not happened and now i'm starting to worry.

She also BF 2-5 times a day. Officially it's 2.
I'm feeling something of a failure about this.

[Zimm]

There must be others? Come and list your DC's limited range and trials and tribulations!

[lollipoppet]

don't feel a failure! i am in the same boat, dd will eat a bit more variety but what is frustrating is that one day she'll want something and eat it and the next she hates it and is spitting it out!

what do you do when she won't eat something? do you offer something else? i end up offering her a hipp jar or mac&cheese (she loves!) or just phidelphia on bread - guarenteed to be eaten as i would hate the thought of her going hungry (or waking up hungry in the night!!) i am just worried that we are getting stuck in a rut with baby food and i was trying to steer away from that...

[Zimm]

Hi - yes I usually offer something I know she will eat as I won't let her go to bed hungry. We are totally stuck in a baby food rut here, it is so depressing.What else does your DC eat?

[JoinTheDots]

Hello

can I join?

DD isn't really eating anything... we are BWL-ing, but she is maybe eating about 2 teaspoons of solids a day from the offerings of 3 meals with us as a family. When she does eat, its pasta, bread (of any variety, wraps, naan, white, brown, toast, crumpet, hot cross bun, bread stick etc), yoghurt, apple, orange, and sometimes other bits and bobs like raisins, carrot, broccoli, cheese, ham, whatever we are having. She only bothers to nibble at things though and sees food as another object to play with for a while, not as nutrition or something to fill her up.

I am breastfeeding her on demand about 5 times a day and throughout the night (unsurprisingly since she is one, and not really taking solids)

I assume she will eat more at some point?!

[choceyes]

Hi!

My DD is nearly 13 months old and not a very good eater either.

OP your lists of food sounds pretty good actually. I'd be happy if my DD ate all that!

Mine eats mainly, porridge, pasta, rice, meat, fish, omelette (sometimes) and the occasional bit of fruit and veg.

She hates yoghurt, pureed food, etc, so it's been mainly BLW with her. But until recently she ate very very little, maybe a couple of tablespoons of food a day, but she has been going to nursery in the last couple of week, so goign without milk while she is there (I BF and she takes no milk from a bottle or cup), she seems to have improved her appetite for food. Although her range of food is still limited, she is eating more in quantity.

She LOVES pasta, so I try and make the pasta coated with as much goodness as I can so she will eat it then. Like today I mashed up avocadoes and stirred it into homemade pesto which I then stirred into pasta.

When I am at work she BF a lot (including the night!) when I am around, but will happily go without BM when I am not there.

Today she had:
Breakfast - a spoonful of porridge with nut butter mixed in.
Lunch - half a dozen pasta pieces with above mentioned sauce
snack - piece of pear and a piece of mango
Dinner - quite a bit of chicken, and some rice, and a couple of black eyes beans, and sucked on some pineapple

today she is not feelign that well, with a heavy cold and conjuctivitis, so ate a bit less than normal, although still quite a bit more than she did a couple of weeks ago.

[lollipoppet]

Zimm she will eat quite a lot some days and other days nothing but baby food!

here's what she might eat
usually weetabix or readybrek for breakfast
toast, bread, wraps, crumpets, pastries(!)
pasta, though i have found it has to be way overcooked so it is supersoft, like of tinned spaghetti softness
most sauces i've tried, carbonara, med veg, cheese (mac and cheese is a fave!)
meat
cheese; mild cheddar and soft cheese (loves that) and dairylea triangle things, baby bell
fish, we've tried tinned tuna and fresh salmon
baked beans
potato in all forms
loves tomatoes
berries
will only eat veg now if it is "disguised" in a sauce
rice, cous cous (with a saucy sauce)
sweet and sour chicken(!!)

HOWEVER.....

she will go on and off ALL these things completely- e.g one day she can't eat enough banana and the next day she'll spit it out and throw it on the floor. It's frustrating and means i'm wasting a lot of food which I really hate. and i really feel i'm giving in when i give her baby food, it worries me as it's so samey- the texture and the taste is not particularly strong and I don't want her growing up a fussy eater

[Zimm]

Welcome all - am working tonight but will try and respond more later. I feel better already!

[Paschaelina]

We have good days and bad days here. Today was a good day:

About 8 blueberry wheats dipped in soya yoghurt mixed with some fruit puree
A pate sandwich (1 slice of bread, pate and olive oil spread)
A whole banana !! (normally its about an inch)
2 and a half grapes
Mackerel kedgeree with peas and beans

Yesterday was 2 fingers of toast, a rice cake with mashed banana and several spoons of mashed potato and carrot sticks.

Doesn't help that he gets urticaria with dairy products still. It cuts out so many options. I think if he could have cheese he would live on the stuff.

[Zimm]

Work done. So today she ate:

Breakfast - wheatabix with milk
Lunch - naff all. Few bits of pitta, a third of a bannana
Dinner - spoon fed risooto rice with an ella's kitchen as a sauce and grated cheese.

Snacks: Baby sweetcorn, oat bar, biscuit, raisins. Actually not a bad day but the lack of variety really kills me.

Join the dots - maximum respect for sticking with the BLW - I just did not have paitence. I also BF DD waaaay more than most one year olds. It's the iron content I worry about - is anybody supplementing?

[Paschaelina]

I'm BFing about 4 times a day with a bottle of EBM still at bedtime. I haven't considered supplements. Boy eats a good variety, just not very much at a time. I don't know, maybe I ought to be offering them but I just can't shake the idea that its not really necessary.

I am a bit of those children who eat snacks though. Mine just looks in disgust and throws it away...

[JoinTheDots]

I have been seriously considering iron drops due to dd just not eating anything much. Not taken the plunge yet but may see what boots has next time.

Not sure I deserve respect for blw as she refuses to be spoon fed and always has, and I mean mouth clamped shut head turned away arms pushing the spoon away refusing. It's like she thinks I am going to attack her with it!

[Zimm]

join thedots I am thinking the same - worried will lead to constipation. Also not sure how much they actually absorb?

[Zimm]

Paschaelina - DD does eat snacks but only organix stuff, nothing first generation!

[Nordicmom]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to pop in as a " survivor" of the whole weening thing... My son is now 6,5 y old and it does feel like ages ago but he was a difficult baby to feed . I do remember thinking in that first year if he would ever actually start to eat properly but just kept on going trying different foods ( I also kept a list of every single thing he had tried) . He also had the thing of having a problem with any lumps and when older (2-3) with any offending bits ( peas, sweetcorn etc) in his food . As I was weening I did reduce his milk intake a lot and from 1 I think I went to cows milk or followup milk but not too much of it . When he was 2 he ate so little for about a year and was so stubborn to change that he went from 50 centile to about 9 on the charts . I was worried but the health visitor advised not to give him snacks if he hadn't eaten his meal until the next meal (you can only do this with an older toddler not a 1 y old!) For a whole year he didn't eat with the other kids at nursery except rice cakes or something on the two aft he went there and I had to give him a dinner home after. Between 3 and 4 y something changed and he finally started trying things and eating properly ( I never gave in to the pickiness, he always had breakfast and I served 1 meal of something I knew he liked and the other something different and new !Tried to keep it varied) . He grew and got back to 50 centile and is now 6 y who is the opposite of a picky eater . Will eat things like sashimi and olives etc. Almost anything really . We can take him out to eat to normal restaurants and don't need to just stick to kids menus . When we eat as a family we all eat the same food. I don't force him to clear his plate but at least half and finish his vegetables if he expects anything else for pudding except fruit. I think it's important of having a rule of trying the food before deciding not to like it. Food is not an issue anymore but I remember the years of frustration and despair and angry mealtimes. Thought it would never end and I would end up with a picky teenagers. The only advice I can give is to stick with it and not to give in there is light in the end of the tunnel :)
Well now we are expecting our second so I bet it'll be a whole different experience with this one ....
Sorry about the long message but the subject still stirs up emotions !
P.s. Almost everyone of my friends has struggled somewhat with mealtimes ...

[JoinTheDots]

So good to hear about someone who has come out the other side!

Zimm I was also worried about the constipation issue. Had not thought about how much would be absorbed though - I might do some reading about the idea before I fork out on some expensive vitamin thing she also refuses to have anything to do with. At least she does not seem to have any health issues, she is full of life and happy as larry.

[Nordicmom]

Ps started a kids multivitamin at 1 y since my son wasn't a good eater.

[JoinTheDots]

Feeling rather despondent today after breakfast (toast) was sucked on and abandoned, lunch (sushi rice, french bread with cheese and apple chunks) was ignored, and dinner (roasted squash, carrot, parsnip and baked fish) was carefully and deliberately picked up piece by piece and dropped from the highchair with distain. She did eat some yoghurt with fruit purée at the end though (and also rubbed it in her hair )

Depressed me further to read an article by Jo Frost saying fussy eaters are caused by breast feeding too long and not being persistent or firm enough at mealtimes

Hope y'all have had better days!

[Zimm]

Jointhedots - Your post has made me really angry on your behalf. Jo frost knows absolutely nothing at all about breastfeeding. The woman is a public helth risk as her bad advice is leading women to curtail breastfeeding too early. Usually breastfeeding is assocaited with less picky eaters as breastmilk comes in lots of different flavours (based on what the mother has eatern) whereas formula is one flavour only. But of course you will still get picky eaters who were breastfed. Please can you post a link to that article so i can report Jo frost to the WHO/NHS? She must be stopped!

DD ate her usual wheatabix for breakfast, toast and bannana for lunch and plum's meal for dinner. All foods not from the approved list were thrown on the floor. Going to the doc's Monday as she has had loose nappie for a week (but no other symptoms) and will ask about vitamins then.

[lollipoppet]

jointhedots - hi, just wondering what you do when your dd doesn't eat what you've made? (dropping from the highchair with distain sounds familiar! :)) do you give her something else or think she mustn't be hungry and leave it? it's so frustrating how much food i am wasting!

though we did have an excellent breakfast this morning :)

[JoinTheDots]

Hi Zimm the article is here:

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/disaster-struck-when-i-finally-clocked-william-he-was-scoffing-the-contents-of-the-dogs-bowl-2351304.html

The baby in question is 15 months, but the statement "Jo listened to our woes for 45 minutes. Then she issued a series of pronouncements. Picky eating, she said, was a mere surface problem; the root cause of William's current dietary difficulties was that he was still being breastfed. In fact, she argued, my wife's breasts had become a sort of substitute pacifier for him. And his obsession with their milk prevented him from being interested in 'proper' food. As soon as possible, we should therefore wean him, she advised."

I have been thinking if I was feeding less, she might have to eat more solids, but when I try this she just cries for milk and gets frustrated.

I hope there is nothing wrong with your DD, and that the GP visit goes well :)

Lollopoppet I usually have a plastic sheet under the chair area which is clean, so I pick up food without comment and place it back on her tray if she has nothing left to throw off. Sometimes this means she will try it (yesterday, not the case!) and might eat some, other times I give in and it stays on the floor and I present her with pudding. As she has no real preference for the pudding course over the main, I do not feel that giving her pudding (or trying to) when the main has been rejected is giving her the wrong signals or teaching her she will get what she wants if she ignores what she doesn't. Might change in the future if she gets a taste for sweet things, but to be honest I would be pleased if she was into eating -anything- sweet or not.

Here is hoping DD will eat a little more today. We are going to a Christening so she will likely have a chew on a mini sausage and a crust of bread from one of the buffet sarnies if I am lucky!

[Zimm]

The irony of that article is the phrase 'substitute pacifier' - is she too thick too realise Dummy's are in fact substitute nipples? What a moron she is.
What shocking advice...but not ground to report her sadly. Today DD ate her first chip and bite of burger. So hurrah! 2 new foods added to her list. But Booooo - junk food :-( She won't be having them again - she just nicked some of my GBK lunch.

[DeepDeepFlavours]

I feel everyone's pain! I started a thread further down the page ('Hit a brick wall at 12 months'). DS is now 13 months and eats:

Weetabix
Rice Krispies
A few mouthfuls of 4-5 Annabel Karmel recipes before spitting out in disgust
Apple and pear puree
Banana (only if I put each tiny piece into his mouth with fingers and not spoon)
Baby biscuits
Yoghurt and fromage frais (the latter only if he can attempt to feed himself)
Toast with Philadelphia
Some Ella's kitchen sachets but often spits them out
HIP Organic range (unless he is poorly or teething)
Begs for titbits from my cereal bowl (usually muesli or Bran Flakes but won't eat if I put some in his bowl for him)

DH and I eat anything and have good appetites so I find it really frustrating. Plus we live abroad - local baby food is full of salt so we have to go to special English supermarket (v. expensive) to get Ella's Kitchen and HIP so I really resent the waste

[Zimm]

*Deepdeep - sounds bad re the waste and expensivefood. It is just so frustrating.

Maybe we should all pick a food together - say carrots and pledge to get our DC eating them by the end of the week?

[choceyes]

Gah, how ridiculous is that article by Jo Frost.

If infact she thinks that breastfed babies are not very good eaters of solid food, I can only assume that babies this age don't actually NEED to eat that much, and breastmilk (or formula) should be still their preffered source of nutrition, as babies are meant to be breastfed till they self wean, as that is the biological norm.....so in a way I find that reassuring...not what Jo Frost had in mind no doubt!
I read a book called Complementary weaning by Gabrielle Palmer, in it says that (if i remember right) that babies this age still should get most of their calories by milk and BM is only lacking in iron and zinc from around about 1yr.
So i always try and get as much meat and nuts into her as possible, well as much as she will eat.

today for breaskfast, DD had a very small amount of cashewnut butter on toast.
Lunch was about 3 or 4 pieces of pasta in a veg sauce then a bit of ricecake also with nut butter. Dinner was more successful and she ate some spaghetti bolognese. Not a lot but a good quantity for her.

[cantmakecarrotcake]

I can't decide if I find this thread reassuring or worrying. DD is nearly 8 monoths and is a very reluctant weaner so I expect we'll be exactly here at 12 months. I shall be reading to see how things improve for you and if there are any tricks to getting a baby to eat more than a handful of things (and even then only sometimes and morsels at that).