To be Soo fed up with weaning my nearly 1 year old

[Hippydippydoo]

It just feels like torture! She is nearly 1 and I feel like we have still barely made any progress.

This morning she has eaten 1 quarter of a piece of toast, and that was a struggle (she hasn't eaten since a couple of Oz of milk at midnight so should be hungry!). Lunch is diabolical, it hardly worth even trying as she won't open her mouth, iv tried wraps, ommellets, the only thing she will entertain is a bloody melty puff which I hate giving her.

The only way I can get her to eat a "decent" dinner is Ella kitchen 10 month pouches, because she is sick on everything else because she doesn't really chew.

Argh! I thought by this age of trying 3 times a day, every day we would have made some progress at least! I feel like she is going to be in bottles forever!

We used to have mixed veg, the ones pea sized, I used to say do you want some sweeties before dinner, and would cook a handful, put 4 or 5 in a dish and leave it in a dish on her tray.
Letting a child feel and feed themselves often helps, and it's less stress for you.

Oh OP, you just have a Velcro baby. I've had two - they're hard work, but it gets easier. They are now delightful 3 and 5 year olds who adore each other, are mad on cuddles but are also very independent. They both now sleep brilliantly.

WRT sleep - don't view it as a steady trajectory of 'improvement' or you'll drive yourself mad. The easiest way manage a non-sleeping Velcro baby is to have low to no expectations! Assume that sleep will be a rollercoaster for at least the first two, if not three years of her life. It has very little (I would say nothing) to do with how much she eats so don't connect the two. She's 'mastered' naps in her cot? No, she hasn't. She's doing it for now - enjoy it while it lasts. If it does carry on, bonus, but don't feel you or she have failed or done something wrong if she decides she can only nap on you or in the car in a few months time. Neither of mine reliably slept through until they were past 18mo (and DS2 ate like a horse, just to further emphasise my point above). If she does do a one-off sleep through, don't wind yourself up in knots with the old, 'but I know she can do it!' argument, again thinking you need to do something to re-create it or that you've done something wrong. Just ride the mo fo out. It does get better.

Hippy let her sleep, and go to bed yourself, your tired due to being 7 months gone.
Let the afternoon nap slide and let your child go to be earlier in the evenings, this way if she has a good morning or midday nap, you can as well.
I am sorry you have no help, maybe find ways to change things.
Give your daughter a bottle in the morning, but not as much as normal, so while she has had something, her little tummy still wants more and will be willing to eat something else you offer.
We did finger foods pretty much as soon as we could, 1/4 of grape and bananas, things you can snatch one of as you go past, and eat so she thinks she is having the same as mummy...

I wonder with the messing about with the bottle teats thing if she is teething. My first son went off his food every time he teethed or was ill. And had phases of only eating bananas or bread at other times for days. My third child is my slowest eater and has only really picked up the pace at 14 months.

Obviously keep an eye on it but try not to worry too much. I do think every child is different.

My ds just wanted milk and im sure he didn't eat a single thing until 8 months and then he got ill and stopped eating again. I was so stressed but because he was having so much milk he remained on 99th centile. I did baby led though as he always refused to be fed with a spoon so just had to be patient. He is almost 2 now and eats loads and self weaned at 14 months. I'm determined to be more laidback with baby no 2.

This sounds like my DD, who was very reluctant to wean (only yours is slightly keener on food; it can be even worse!). My DD would properly vomit to get food out of her mouth if she couldn't spit it out; the low point was where she vomitted to get rid of yoghurt!

DD is now 5. She still drinks a lot of milk, and is very fussy about food. However she does eat 3 meals a day, and gets the majority of her calories from food (I think the switch to getting more calories from food was at about 3.5; it's been a long haul) - if I compare her to her peers, her eating isn't normal. However if I compare her to your DD, she's come a long way.

We tried reducing milk - she just screamed a lot, and still didn't eat. So we gave up on that. We kept offering food, but didn't force feed her.

The thing that really helped me was accepting that DD was different, and choosing to be less stressed about it. She still drinks some formula milk which has added vitamins so her diet is OK from that point of view (she doesn't need specialist formula, which makes that easier). Her eating is progressing slowly. Having spoken to adults who were very picky eaters as children, they often recall huge battles over food, and those aren't good memories. Most of those adults eat a wide range of food now, and I try to remind myself that eating disorders aside, if what DD is eating is my biggest concern when she's a teenager, I'll have been very lucky.

You know what, me and friends relatives who have similar aged babies have decided that they all pick one thing they decide they are going to mess with you over. Your DD has chosen food, mine has decided not to say anything.

I'm in awe your DD can name her teddies, mine won't even say mama or dada.

your DD will get there with the eating. Does she eat on her own or do you try and eat at the same time as her? My DD got very interested in food whenever we ate at the same time as her and then took it from there. Also, bizarrely she never really enjoyed plainer baby food, she always preferred the stronger tasting tomatoey stuff if we gave her pouches. I give her curries and all sorts now and she wolfs them down, if I try and give her something plain and baby appropriate she throws it in the floor.

Oh yes and while he wasnt eating much giving vitamin syrup helped to put my mind at rest that he was getting some vitamins. (Might not be an issue with you as formula has added vits). Also my ds was (still is) very clingy and a terrible sleeper like yours. I'm trying to be more relaxed about it and doing what works for us all (at the moment that means he spends half the night in our bed but at least we're all sleeping).

My nearly 2 year old is a sodding nightmare. He will eat:

• crisps
• bread and butter (sometimes)
• toast (sometimes)
• ham
• plain rice
• plain pasta (v occasionally)
• anything chocolate, not that he gets that often
• yoghurt
• bananas
• grapes (v occasionally)
• Orange
• chips. No other form of potato.

He will not eat a single vegetable. I really do mean that. Not raw, not mashed, not hidden, not stolen from my plate, not anything.

I worry constantly he's not getting the right nutrition but I can't force feed him, I just continue to offer him a wide range of foods in the hope that one day he'll try them!

He was never the best eater but he's got steadily worse since the age of one.

I'm in awe your DD can name her teddies, mine won't even say mama or dada.

I wouldn't worry, that's pretty normal for this age group. Speech has got the most enormous range. My brother literally said not a single word until he was 2, at which point he started talking in full sentences.

My 14mo is exactly like this. Not fussed at all by food and follows me round all day with her arms up shrieking "booo'. The moment she sees me if i've been out of the room she bursts into tears and runs at me. I hold her almost all the time as when i put her down she arches her back and screams. When i hold her she pulls at my top saying 'booo' more and more insistently. We even co sleep and she feeds all night.

I am worried she isn't getting what she needs as she hardly eats a thing. But the HV say she's doing really well. In fact they say she's showing off as she is quite ahead. But it's still concerning and also really hard work. We've just done dinner and she had 3 mouthfuls and then is saying 'booooo' at me.

mrskoala sounds like she is getting a exactly what she needs for now

Very common in breastfed babies and toddlers MrsKoala:

https://themilkmeg.com/my-kid-wont-eat/

My first one barely ate a thing until past 1year old, it can be normal, food until one should be fun, the nutrition is the milk! I do BLW so no stress and let the kids decide if they want the food or not, simples :) unless you are worried for other reasons I'd say you need to relax and take her lead :)

That all sounds really tough. My DD lived entirely on milk & those horrendous potato smiley faces while I loving prepared homemade casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, homemade nuggets etcetc. Whoch were not even tried. With the benefit of hindsight I wish I hadn't tried so hard. Be kind to yourself. Put the TV on, lie on the sofa & chuck some shop bought snacks on the table. Perhaps don't even put her in a high chair or try formal meals for a couple of weeks.

DGS (and a few other babies at the playgroup we went to) got most of his calories from milk till he was over 2 years old. He’d eat something at meal times, albeit sooo slowly, but not enough so we just kept up with the milk. Out of a baby bottle too. He’s 10 now. Eats normally. His teeth are fine.

She should stay on the formula until 2 - check out the nice guidelines if the doctor refuses. Alternative milks aren't sufficient.

My twins are 16mo and only really started eating proper amounts and choosing to drink less milk at around 14 months. If I tried giving them less milk in the day they'd just demand it at night instead so it was a false economy.

They have a good amount of weetabix with oat milk in the morning - it's the one thing I can guarantee they'll eat and it's good for them so that makes me feel better. Lunch is usually either a sandwich and fruit or an EK pouch, dinner varies (their favourite thing is beans on toast sadly). Don't stress too much, she will get there. I think the hydrolysed formulas are digested quicker and don't fill them up as much so they need more - seems to be a common theme

Try pesto, every baby I know has loved it. My Dd was a lot like yours it sounds. I even made omelette with pesto. She still loves that now at 2.5.

None of mine have liked pesto

Yep my toddler also hates pesto

What!? PESTO!! i've had 3 and none would go near it. I love it when people say things like that.I've been told ALL children loves pasta - nope - none of mine, ALL children love grapes - er no again. In fact I defy anyone to think of a food any of mine will eat apart from sausages.

Thanks Lurking and Elphaba - that is reassuring. But still doesn't make life any easier when i have a 14mo strapped to my boob all day and my other 2 crying for my attention. I wish she'd just eat something and free me to move about.

No, sympathies MrsKoala. Does biscuit distraction not work? When mine got 'that look', a digestive between their mouth and my boob would fend them off for a while, giving me time to organise an activity more engrossing than boob. Are you fed up of BFing altogether? If so, jack it in. You need to both be in agreement for it to continue.

Ds didn't eat anything by himself till he was 18 months old. Finger foods never went near his mouth. He was happy to be fed purees that we gradually made thicker. He is 10 now and eats almost everything.

I'm another one where pesto is a definite go-to food if everything else fails. Both my fussy and not-so-fussy eaters will always eat it, get excited about eating it, and it's the only green thing they let past their lips with any enthusiasm (so I substitute some basil with spinach, rocket, broccoli etc when they aren't looking).

It's clearly baby/toddler marmite

I have a photo of toddler DS1 standing in the kitchen in his cloth nappy licking homemade pesto off a spatula. My Socialist Worker-selling student self would cry at what a middle class sell-out I have become!