9mo doesn’t want solids & less interested in milk. Can anyone offer a little reassurance or have you been through similar?

[TryingToFigureLifeOut]

Sorry if it’s the wrong section to post.

A little backstory. Baby will be 9 months in a few days. Was born at 36 weeks due to me being type 1 diabetic and other complications. She was born weighing 9pound 2 ounces. Spent 3 days in neonatal and then was admitted to the children’s ward at 5 days old for a week stay.

She started showing a slight interest in solids- fruit puree and yoghurt however this was short lived and it took a lot to get her to eat these when being offered. She absolutely hated anything dinner wise, it had to be fruit or yoghurt.

For the last 2 months she has completely gone off all foods including yoghurt which I would say was her favourite. The food had to be completely smooth without any lumps or texture at all. Anything with texture she gags to the point you would think she is choking and then projectile vomits what seems her entire stomach content. This was every single time without fail. I have offered her things she can hold like the baby puffs, baby biscuits, holding a strawberry for her ect but if any slight piece even the size of a grain of rice comes off in her mouth then she does the gagging and projectile vomits. The whole offering her solids has become a situation where I know she doesn’t want it, she turns her head, tries pushing the spoon/ food away and if anything goes in her mouth she gags and vomits.

She was also showing less interest in her milk too so I have now tried her with a couple other brands to see if she preferred that and have now switched her over which she seems to be enjoying.

Anyway I took her to the gp and discussed all the above. It wasn’t that I was looking for weaning advice or tips, more the point of I’m now concerned especially as she was losing interest in milk too. I raised a few other concerns with the gp and I asked to be referred to the paediatricians. The gp agreed and sent the referral but it’s now been sent back as a rejection as they won’t see her until she’s 1.

Shes always been a milk lover. She still wakes for night feeds even if it’s just a few ounces.

She was on the 99th centile during my pregnancy and all the way through up until now and she’s now fallen to the 91st.

The gp weighed her and she’s now 9.3kg which equates to around 20.2 something pounds so she’s only just over doubled her birth weight.

The gp said if she begins losing weight then she’d be referred to the hospital paediatrics.

She’s my 4th baby by the way & not that I’m veering towards this but I will admit it’s a thought but neurodivergence runs high in my family. Her dad also has a brother who is autistic. She’s a very mum and dad only type baby which I know is pretty normal for this age. Absolutely will not even be held by grandparents, aunts ect. She gets overwhelmed when her older sister starts being overly loud, holding her/ bouncing her too much.

My question is, has anyone had a baby similar and then they did by 1 years for example start showing interest in food again?

She also has no teeth either yet which some of my family were completely shocked by.

Because of the way she gags it absolutely terries me to give her anything she can hold and eat. I know babies gag and it’s part of their reflex and a learning curve for them but hers is nothing how my other kids were. It’s like she’s silently choking and can’t breathe and then comes along the projectile vomiting.

What did your GP say about the vomiting, specifically? I would be worried that even a tiny piece of food would cause her to projectile vomit. Can you get them to check if her tonsils are enlarged, or something like that? It could also be that she has an oral-motor delay, which causes trouble knowing how to manage the food in the mouth - you could ask your GP about that?

My DD was very much aversed to foods when trying to wean her at 6 months, but she didnt have an aversion to milk. She was similar in that anytime I gave her food she would spit it back out or vomit, but the vomiting wasn't projectile. I just let her go at her own pace, she didnt start eating solids properly until around 10-11months old I would say. HV at the time said it was fine as her weight was healthy.

I would honestly go back to your GP and challenge the rejected referral. They should take the projectile vomiting seriously given that its every time a little bit of food is in her mouth. You mentioned neurodivergence which yes it could be, but its far too early to jump to that conclusion.

Go back to GP and say you are still concerned, and dont want to wait for her to lose weight and make matters worse before being taken seriously. This all sounds so stressful for you and I hope you're able to get it sorted.

So sorry OP this must be so tough on you, and worrying.

Similar to what the other poster said, my son had the projectile vomiting textured food issue, and it turned out to be due to very enlarged tonsils. He had multiple bouts of tonsillitis too so we had expected something to be off. He had them out at 16 months and hasn’t vomited on food since. We were referred to speech and language when he was 1 to see if there was an issue with his chewing, but once that was confirmed as fine we went down the ENT route

Thankyou both for replying. The gp didn’t say anything actually. I was the one who asked to be referred to the paediatricians and he just made the referral and agreed food aversions can be a sign of neurodivergence. I know it’s too early to tell but I thought I should still mention it to the doctor. He didn’t say anything about there being a concern regarding the vomiting and said although she’s dropped of her centile she’s still a good weight. I messaged the doctors and asked to be referred to the hospital paediatricians now instead of waiting for her to get worse or lose weight and I haven’t heard anything back. I was going to monitor her weight myself over the next 2 weeks and get an urgent referral if she’s lost weight. It is stressful.