17 month old not talking or eating properly, still using bottle. Help please!

[EverybodyLovesAShow]

Hi
I'm really struggling with my DS at the moment (well since birth really but that's too long a post). He's nearly 17 months and has absolutely no words yet. He only started babbling at about 13 months and still does that but as you can imagine there's a lot of frustration on both our parts with not being able to communicate. He's seen a paediatrician for a follow up on his reflux and paed referred to SLT (still waiting on letter) but I'm really starting to stress about it. Has anyone else had late talkers that have ended up being fine and catching up?

Also... his feeding is a nightmare. He's only just started to eat solids at around 14 months.. but these are the cow and gate baby jars of food. He refuses anything else but I know he can chew and swallow other things as on occasion he's eaten a breadstick or toast ect.
My problem is I don't think these jars are nutritious enough for him and aren't filling him up so I have to feed him literally every hour! How do I get him to wean fully?! Everything I try fails, he just chucks all cooked food on the floor and screams.

He will only drink water and milk from a bottle still. He refuses a sippy cup and beaker or even a small child's cup. And by refuses I mean bangs his head repeatedly on his highchair and screams until you take it away. I've heard using a bottle after 1 year can cause tooth decay so really want him off it but I just don't know how.

His behaviour is really challenging. Tantrums started at 11 months and have only gotten worse as time has gone on. Every task is a battle, he has hysterical meltdowns over everything like changing his nappy, putting his clothes on, brushing his teeth etc. I'm completely burnt out from it now and dread getting up in the mornings .

I feel like a rubbish mum as I have no idea what to do with him and must have gone wrong somewhere.

Any advice welcomed.

Have you had his hearing checked recently? What about tongue tie? Looked for that?

He's been booked in for a hearing test the same time as the SLT referral was made, I'm just waiting on the letters to come through to let me know when.

Bump?

How does he sleep at night? Does he have sleep apnea or loud snoring?

Doesn't snore that I hear, and sleeps well, having a bit of separation anxiety when put down these days but once settled he sleeps through. Normally 6.30pm to 6am.

I'm not sure about the weaning for food but the talking is something I have experience with, my little boy only babbled until 18 months, then from there til 23 months he only had about 5 words such as mama dada dog etc then the week before his 2nd birthday out of nowhere gained about 20 new words and started putting those words into sentences in the space of one week. I'd heard of this happening with other children and just could not believe it would happen to my child, found it almost unbelievable but it really did happen for us. The bottle I also understand as my boy had a bed time bottle of milk until his 3rd birthday, the other bottles during the day I slowly had to swap and he didn't transition to sippy cups well at all, would always choke on the gulps and it really put him off but all you can do is persevere with that and go slowly with it, just leave sippy cups lying around the house when he's playing without making it a bit deal that he has to use it at meal times in high chair, play games with him where his teddies or dolls etc are drinking from the sippy cup at a "picnic" and then praise the Teddy loads for using the sippy cup, they learn an awful lot from play time without realising it and putting pressure on it. I hope that helps xx