9 Month Old DD Refusing To Eat

[Shhhdonttell]

Hi All!!

My previously amazing eater who would try anything and finish off a whole meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner has suddenly decided that she doesn't want to eat more than a few spoonfuls of food per meal. We have tried offering different foods, keeping her very active and waiting until she is really hungry and nothing seems to get her appetite going. Meal times go a little like this at the moment, DD eats 3 or 4 spoonfuls of food then closes mouth and refuses to open, then turns face away from spoon, pushed spoon away if we can get the spoon into her mouth she gags and spits everything back out again. We have tried letting her feed herself but that doesn't get any more down her (unless it is marmite on toast, which she seems to eat with gusto!) does anybody know if this is just a phase or if DH and I are doing something wrong?! Any help appreciated!

They do that, at least mine did! Kids rarely starve themselves. Just feed her what she will eat without argument, then take it away. Offer nothing in its place but continue to make no fuss as she is loving the attention. Take her down from her high chair and leave it. Eventually the penny will drop but it may take a while!

How long has it been going on for? Are you sure she isn't teething? Or coming down with something?

At 9 months it's really not about getting big meals into her - it's way more important that she learns that food is fun. Once she makes it clear she's had enough then stop - these are important lessons about appetite and also confidence with food. Pushing it too much will put her off, and she knows much better than you how much she needs.

I bet if you back off about it she'll be eating with gusto again in a few weeks. It seems common that everything goes tits up at 9 months! :)

Thanks for all the replies! I thought that this might be a common thing but my HV seems to get me into a bit of a tizz about everything because DD is on the small side (she was on the 9th Centile, I have managed to get her up to 25th and don't want her dropping down again, she was born on the 98th hence the stress about weight loss). Albrecht she has had her first tooth come up in the last two weeks and this has been going on for a month now so maybe it is teething related?

I will leave my stress at the door and just concentrate on making meal times fun, I never had a massive appetite as a child so maybe she is just going to take after me! Thank You everyone :)

DD barely ate at all until she was over a year, and now eats all the time! I massively regret how much energy I wasted worrying about it, and making meal times stressful for all of us. As long as she is weeing, pooing, sleeping and growing etc, try to accept it as a phase. (IMHE, HV tend to get you in tizz, I always came away more rather than less anxious, so stopped going to them for advice, but obviously if there is a weight problem with your DD you need to keep seeing them)