10mnth old getting very stressed about eating

[ArtichokeTagine]

My 10 month old DD has always had a good appetite. Although I didn't do pure BLW she never had purees, mainly self fed and was happy. 6 weeks ago she started nursery where they spoon feed her (which I do occassionally but not often). She seemed happy.

However over the past couple of weeks she has started to behave strangely at meal times. She shouts when put in her high chair. If we leave her to self feed she just plays about, or gets cross (unless it is toast with jam which she seems to know she will get if she makes enough fuss). If we try and feed her she grumbles and we can only get food in with alot of persuasion. It is worse in the evening when she is tired. Tonight she refused all attempts to feed her pasta and sauce (which she normally loves) and refused to self feed pasta or toast (I refused to give in and give her jam). As a result she has gone to bed with no food.

She is BF and still loves her milk.

Has anyone else had experience of a baby suddenly taking against meal times? Has anyone got any tips about how to make her enjoy food again?

[alexw]

I found dd ate less in the evening once she started nursery and so I tried to be cool about it - she'll eat if she's hungry type idea (and didn't increase milk even if she'd not eaten much)... cruel mummy!! Try repeating the matra "it's just a phase" . Starting nursery is a big deal for littlies. HTH

[ArtichokeTagine]

Thanks. If the evening meals after nursery were the only problem then I would try and be cool. But while it is true that she is worst when tired she is getting stressed at every meal. Even breakfast. And even days when she is not at nursery.

We put her in her highchair and she starts makeing really angry noises. We get the food on the spoon and she squeals and grumbles and often refuses to open her mouth. We put the food in front of her to self feed and she either laughs and plays with it or gets cross. The only food she will consistently eat happily is the jam on toast. I just don't understand why her attitude has changed and I really need to know what to do about it .

[ruth2007]

Hi AT

Came in here with the same question really so am hijacking your thread a bit if you don't mind.

My DD is 10m next week and she is doing the same without the Nursery thing
I assume the Nursery can't let her feed herself? (Worrying as DD is due to start soon - note to self, check this out asap!)

Went to our baby group today and it seems they are all doing similar things. (6 or 7 babies the same age) We thought it was an independance thing as most are puree babies and now want to self feed (lots of panicking Mums!) DD has done both quite happily from 6m and most of her food is finger food. She just seems to want a spoon to herself which she has not mastered yet. She was trying to put fusili on a spoon - v funny!

She seemed to eat with her hands when I nipped to the kitchen for some banana (bad Mummy) then when she realised I was back started throwing it around and crying again

Obviously we can't leave them alone to eat but I thought if I shared the problem more people might help us both and reassure you that we are in it together

[ArtichokeTagine]

Maybe. It is so hard to know what happens when you're not there. I will ask them what she is like at meal times there.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to get her to enjoy food again. At the moment every meal time turns into a battle (which she usually wins as I end up letting her have the toast and jam). She needs to eat. She is 98th centile for length and just over 50th for weight...

[ArtichokeTagine]

Sorry Ruth X-posted!

V interesting to know your 10 monther is doing the same. Its funny about the spoon as DD can be bribed into a few minutes of calm if I let her have her own spoon but then she gets frustrated as she can't get food on it.

Did others find this was a phase at 10 months. What did you do????

[greenpearl]

Artichoketagine, I think its normal, normal, all normal.
She is 10 months old and one minute they love their food, the next they act like you are trying to poison them. One day they llike their highchair next they scream !
I think feed her what you want her to eat, dont worry if she refuses. Try to distract her maybe let her pick at grated cheese/bits of banana off the highchair tray if she wants to be independent.
Above all its all a phase.

[greenpearl]

p.s I mean let her pick up the bits of food AND spoon feed her in between.

[Aitch]

at about 10 months both dd and her wee pal decided that they wanted to cruise and eat at the same time, thankyou very much and wouldn't eat if they were in their high chairs. it wa just a phase. ruinous for our carpet but just a phase...

[ruddynorah]

why won't the nursery do blw? mine does with no problem. better for them.. less work

she started there at 7 months, they went straight to giving her toddler food rather than the puree then blended food like the other babies. it might be easier for her if meal times were more consistent.

[ruth2007]

Artichoke - tried letting DD put her spoon in my mouth (she thought it was v funny) while she was distracted I gave her some cous cous and then carried on playing with her while she ate her veggies by hand. I did have to eat cold carrots tho!
Still a bit of a struggle and she panicked when she saw the food at first but at least she ate something other than the dreaded crumpets/toast/cereal!

[fattongirl]

its not just me! My 10month old son is doing the same, loved his food now performs a 'death roll' when i try and get him in his highchair and screams & spits his food out. He too used to love food, I have to give him some finger food as a distraction and try and get the odd spoonful in. I thought maybe I was giving too much milk and this was effecting his interest in food but maybe not (still has 4 bottles). How many milk feeds is anyone else giving at this age? Sorry for butting in but this battlefield at mealtimes really worries me!

[Aitch]

fatton, if he's eating finger food have you thought about just giving him finger food. it might take a bit longer for a short while when he gets up to speed, but it would end the battle.

[fattongirl]

Aitch, too be honest I'd just stress that he wasn't getting a balance diet from just finger food. I'd struggle for enough ideas what to give him, I'm terrible in the kitchen. Maybe worth a go though to end the
trauma of meal times!

[gegs73]

DS1 did this for a good 2/3 months at round about this age. I was really worried but it really was a phase and most of my friends babies went through the same thing. What I used to do was give him finger food he liked to eat (bread sticks, jam toast etc) then spoon in chopped foods/soup/savoury etc inbetween - he was only happy to voluntarily eat sweet things. He was quite happy with me spooning in other stuff inbetween.

There was many a night when he went to bed without much at all as I wasn't happy for him to eat yoghurt all the time and he was refusing everything else. Good news is that it got better over time, he didn't starve and as a 3 YO he is still fussy but eats well. He did also have a stomach bug which I didn't know about when he first started doing this. Maybe your dd is under the weather and it will get better soon?

[ruth2007]

Fatton Girl - DD has 4 BF a day, not sure of volume though. Tea was a disaster so just gave finger foods, she picked through all the veg and trew the Cauliflower away! Must be an independance thing as she usually eats it.

Hows it going Artichoke tagine?

[Aitch]

well, without wishing to cause accusations of rampant self-publicising... there are quite a few recipes on the blog at www.babyledweaning.com. although to be honest by ten months and because he's been having finger food for a while, you should be fine to give him what you're having. it does mean looking at your own diet, though...

[ArtichokeTagine]

Gosh I do find it reassuring that this seems to be common in 10 monthers. This morning DD was happy to go in the highchair and happy to smear her banana on the wall but less than happy to actually eat anything. I asked the nursery if there were problems there and was told she is happy to be spoon fed by them. They cannot do BLW as she can't use a spoon yet and most of the meals prepared there are too sloppy for self feeding.

Tonight DH picked her up and fed her. He got a whole tuna and avodaco sandwich down her by letting her crawl as she ate (we followed Aitch's tip - thanks Aitch). So some progress but I am not sure I am ready for the carnage that DD creates when left to roam with food...

Souds like you made some progress too Ruth. Eating carrots isn't too bad a deal.

Fatton - I still BF DD so not sure how much milk she gets. When at nursery she just has 2 BFs. On others days she has much more.

[Aitch]

sandwich-wise, i hvae found that if you roll them with a rolling pin (oh, okay i just squash 'em with the heel of my hand) then cut them up into small pieces, say no more than a couple of inches across AND cut the crusts off, the carnage is less because theystay together better. this is my one concession to fussiness, although it's my fussiness.

PS are there no toddlers in her nursery?

[ArtichokeTagine]

Squahing sounds the way to go.

There are toddlers at her nursery and she is on the toddler menu but it is often stuff like chicken curry or vegtable chilli. I guess the toddlers are all proficient with spoons. Do most nurseries have finger food menus for toddlers?

[Mercy]

10 months is still pretty young to be in the habit of 3 (or however many) meals a day, I really really wouldn;t worry about it.

My dd used to eat about 5 mini meals a day until she was a fair bit older than your dd. I know it's harder as she's at nursery some days but as you say she's getting plenty of bfeeds so she'll be fine.

[Bloodydamnedmarvellous]

Try not to worry so much. Besides, too much stressing at this stage is counterproductive for the baby. At 10 months dd will still be getting most of her nutrition from her milk.

Could it be that she is teething? DD (now 13 months) went through days of loving her food and others of eating next to nothing. I just had faith that my milk was feeding her what she needed. As long as she's growing.

Although it might be interesting to know exactly what's going on at nursery...it would be good to know she wasn't bing forcefed!!

[Aitch]

see, there's no reason why she shouldn't be able to eat those meals with her hands, so long as the nursery can tolerate a bit of mess. but therein lies the problem, i'm guessing.
also dd went completely off food when sickening for something or teething. i never bothered about it tbh. [lazy]