Man cannot live on bread alone.......

[tory79]

Can my ds (13mo) survive on fruit, yoghurt, ready brek, cheese sandwiches and potato waffles because that is what he has been doing for sometime now!

Is this normal?! He rejects pretty much everything else except for homemade pizza, spinach tart and sweet potato.

I'm so fed up. He just won't try anything

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

What milk is he having and how much tory?

[tory79]

Still breastfed, he has on average 3-5 feeds a day. Apart from his morning feed which is shortly before breakfast (and he consistently eats quite a lot at breakfast anyway) I do try and make sure I am giving food first. Milk during the day is normally before and after his nap and then before bed, and he sometimes still has a feed overnight.

I've tried a couple of times with cows milk but he doesn't seem interested.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I was still bfing at that age too and neither would entertain cows milk until they'd stopped bfing. Just figured that was normal, I don't really like the taste of milk that much and if you are given that instead of your favourite drink and mummy cuddles, I'd refuse it too!

Don't think the fact that he's not eating much is a worry but the fact that it is so limited, he could do with changing that a bit.

I'd stop offering his favourites and just offer what you eat, assuming of course that you eat fairly healthily .

Ignore the tantrums and if he doesn't eat it, wait until you have finished and then clear away. Do you eat with him now? I would really recommend eating with him if you don't.

Mine are a bit older but by that age were more or less eating what we ate. Today we are having whatever they want for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and homemade crispy chicken fajitas for tea cos I'm too tight to buy the kits . Tomorrow we are having breakfast, pasta for lunch and Roast Pork Dinner.

At the moment I'm trying to get them to snack on fruit between meals, which they do like but then I love fruit too.

Whatever you do, if he refuses the food you offer, never, ever, ever offer an alternative. He is getting lots of lovely nutrition from you and the food is only complimentary. If he refuses it he won't starve .

You might like this book and Nutrition for Breastfeeding Toddlers.

[tory79]

Yes I always eat with him and he always gets offered what we're having. I don't offer an alternate main, but eg for dinner which is usually the meal he eats least at, he always gets yoghurt and fruit. I could stop that but I hate the thought of him going to bed not having eaten anything.

When we first started blw he tried everything! But over the last 3 months or so he has gone totally the other way, just throws everything on the floor and cries. It's such hard work these days.

[tory79]

Oh and I read my child won't eat - I think it's brilliant! Like you say, I don't worry so much about the quantity, but I do worry about the quality and variety he gets.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Well he's bf so he won't be going to bed hungry will he? This is more about control. He has realised that he has the power to refuse things and gets his favourite fruit and yogurt instead. I'd stop that straight away.

He'll soon realise its the food in front of him or nothing. Usually it takes about 3 days for them to figure it out.

[tory79]

Eep, I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and drop the yogurts and fruit, perhaps I should start giving those as his snacks instead of as 'dessert?' normally he has something like a muffin of some variety.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I would, just try to remember that giving solids is called complimentary feeding and he won't starve if he misses his tea for a couple of nights.

When our dd was being fussy we started assuming she wasnt hungry and not offering anything else she did get it. We also give her really small portions, she gets over faced easily and we can always give her more if she wants it.

If he's having a good breakfast, a muffin as a snack and those lovely bfs he probably doesn't need that much tea anyway

[tory79]

I think the thing that confuses me is both blw and my child won't eat say essentially to offer your child healthy food and they'll take what they need....

[tory79]

Or us that really only true under 1 year or something?!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I think that it doesn't apply to under ones but all children, know I was brought up that way and my Mum worked in care homes from the mid fifties and they always did that too.

Some children (including our dd) realise that if they refuse what's on offer they get something different instead. They have such little control over there little lives, and I, like you was anxious about Lo going to bed hungry. Once I got over that its been pretty much plain sailing.

I also try to look at what dd eats over a week. About three times she has refused to even try a meal and has gone to bed without. She gets up and wolfs down her food all the next day so it averages out and strangely she doesn't wake on the refusing nights or get up any earlier. I know that for a long while that was a concern for me.

[tory79]

Well not a single mouthful of dinner has passed ds' lips. We had pasta bake with chicken, peppers, courgette and sweetcorn. He didn't eat anything. He wouldn't even take a lick of sauce off my finger. He's not been offered anything else, so the last thing he's eaten was a yogurt at about 3.

I can't believe I didn't notice how bad he'd got. I feel thoroughly depressed and like I've basically cocked up weaning.

[tory79]

I'm also terrified he's going to start waking for more milk at night !

[DinosaursOnASpaceship]

My 16 month old is strange.

He will only eat spicy or strongly flavoured food.

He loves curry, chilli, fajitas, onion, anything garlicky, and tonight polished off spicy rice and enchiladas!

He won't touch potato, bread, most veggies, plain chicken, eggs etc

He will eat porridge for breakfast or cereal but every other meal needs to be rich, spicy or strongly flavoured. I don't worry about it, he eat what he needs too and it's probably a phase he will grow out of.

[Iggly]

Normal normal.

Might not be hungry, might be getting ill, might be teething,ought want a change (mine liked food in components ie separated so they could see what's what, not mixed up). Put it in front of them, eat as well and OT will be fine.

It's hard not to take it personally but please don't.

[Iggly]

I also offer healthy snacks through the day - mini meals as it were. So things like avocado, hummus, bananas and the odd sip of water.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Has he eaten any of his evening meal?

Also agree with Iggly, he might not be eating for any number of reasons as she says.

You haven't cocked up weaning either. Where I was brought up its common to start offering solids at a very early age and to start replacing milk feeds early too. It seems that everyone wanted me to ram as much food as I could into mine, especially DS who was a really poor sleeper.

So it's no wonder that when they started refusing meals I, like you naturally panicked and assumed they wouldn't sleep.

Once we stopped offering alternatives it's all gone pretty smoothly and with no sleep disturbance.

Stay firm, don't cajole, tempt or even comment on what he does or does eat and he'll soon realise that he gets offered good food, and its up to him just how much of it he eats, even if that's nothing.

[tory79]

No, he didn't eat any dinner.

Today he has eaten a decent size bowl of ready brek with a bit of prune juice and a crumpet for breakfast, some grapes, a carrot muffin and a cheese and spinach muffin for lunch (lunch was out and about hence the muffins), a yoghurt in the afternoon, and then no dinner. He's had 4 bf's over the day.

He does have a couple more teeth on their way through at present, and had 1 little red cheek this evening (always looks so cute!) although he doesn't seem to be in any pain.

[Iggly]

That's loads of food!! Maybe he's too tired to eat come tea time. Mine do, hence the mid afternoon snack being important.

Honestly, don't worry at all. I'd worry if he ate nothing at all for several days.

[tory79]

Do you think that's a lot of food? I feel like he's practically missed 2 meals as he had muffins for lunch which would normally be a snack, and no dinner.

I find it so hard to judge!

[tory79]

And yes I often think he's too tired to eat in the evening. I suspect I might be better off making lunch his main meal, but I'm not sure I'm organised enough for that as we are busy most mornings so I just do a quick lunch when we get in! I might try it tomorrow though as we just have swimming in the afternoon.

[Iggly]

You can have stuff in the freezer like casserole, fish cakes etc etc, defrost in the morning and be home in enough time to cook/reheat? Try a baby cookbook like gina ford or annabel k for ideas (get from your library first).

Yes seems a lot to me. Try not to get into the mindset that he should eat x amount every day or should finish a meal. Just male sure he has a balance. Portion sizes are quite small for babies I find anyway.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Agree again that he is eating loads! Really, really don't worry.

[tory79]

Wow, that does make me feel a bit better, as to be honest I didn't think he was eating that much either.

If he's in the mood and it's something he likes he will eat a lot - the last time I made the spinach and onion tart he likes he ate half of it! Plus almost an entire sweet potato!

I didn't get round to doing a main meal for lunch, but he did at least have a slight change, and ate a Philly and avocado sandwich as opposed to cheese, and some crackers with peanut butter (and the ever present grapes - I think he'd get through the whole bunch if I let him!)

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Sounds like he is eating really well then .