My 8 month old is the fussiest and slowest eater! please help

[JOK]

my DD is on 3 food meals and 3 milk feeds a day.
she has never really been interested in food and every meal takes about an hour! she is just not overly interested and sucks her fingers after every mouthful for a minute or so. if it it something she likes ( yoghurt, banana, fruit) she will eat quicker so we tend to mix this with other foods. She is very fussy too. she eventually eats a decent amount but is quite small anyway and would like her to increase the amounts she eats.

we are trying to be very patient but it is really hard. we have tried funger foods but she throws them on the floor. we have tried letting her feed herself but she doesnt liek the touch.

please can anyone offer any suggestions, our patience is running out??

she is very, very young and i wouldn't be stressed about it in the slightest

offer her the things she likes and plenty of milk

also offer a range - avocado, pear, carrot sticks etc and let her gnaw on them

she will get there

she sounds like she is eating loads! maybe she just isnt that hungry and is eating to please you? are you worried she is too small?

dont make a big fuss and relax a bit - it sounds like you are doing really well

8 months is very young. Just continue to offer a range of age-appropriate foods, even stuff she has shown a dislike to previously. I wouldn't force her to eat stuff she doesn't like, but show her that you both eat it and make it available.

Apparently you have to offer some foods about 15 times before some children will try them, they are naturally neophobic (it's thought to be a protection mechanism, although my somehow my LO is guaranteed to try and snack on gravel or leaves or stuff that isn't particularly good for him and spits out the scrambled egg!)

Remember that sweet puddings are a cultural thing, rather than a necessity. if you are worried that she is developing a sweet tooth (which again is quite natural, esp. if your LO has been breastfed - it's quite sweet), you don't have to offer fruit/yoghurt at each meal, or you could offer natural yoghurt, or unsweetened rice pudding (dead easy to make) which is less sugary than the flavoured variety.

Above all, remain chilled out. It's a long and messy business, but by next summer she should be eating lots of different things and your kitchen floor won't end up looking looking like a Jackson Pollock after every meal.

thanks loads!! am i right in doing 3 meals and 3 milks a day. she also wont take the bottle and trying to gewt her on one formula feed a day!!

good job she's cute!!!

JOK - you have my sympathy, DD was like this at around same age. It is SO time consuming, I felt like I spent all day feeding her.

At 2 now DD is still a slow and picky eater - but has days where she wolfs down loads, so can eat when she is truely hungry (which is lovely to see).

Hang in there - it gets better really quickly with hindsight. Before you know it she will be on the same kinds of food as you and it will all be much easier.

im not sure about the 3 milks with 3 meals - i think at that time i was bfeeding in the am and at bedtime with perhaps water with food, and the odd bfeed if it seemed like a good idea at the time rather than every day - see what your dd prefers

and it may vary day to day as she has growth spurts or is active or busy one day so you need to be fairly flexible i think

hi JOK, my DD was never that crazy for food, and suddenly at 12 months started eating loads. i think 3 milks and 3 meals is high expectation... i wouldnt count down the milk, but not to expect your dd to eat 3 meals. up to 12 months their main source for nutrients is still milk.

i meant "cut". what im trying to say is dont reduce the milk, and if you dont want to reduce the number of meals, just expect her sometimes to skip one.

wise words from caprica.

she sound perfectly normal. my dd was a little and often which is the best way i think.

i always compared it to when she played - attention span of a gnat why should it be any different when she eats.

Until 11 months she had 4bf a day and 3 solid meals. she is small so had small meals. at 11 months i started to drop milk feeds during the day (and i know this is late compared to some) but her attention span for food was longer and her ability to eat was much better so she ate more solids more easily and more naturally.

don't worry it will get better very very quickly.

Poor you, the advice about not getting stressed on here is really good.
My DS was a nightmare, slow, disinterested, etc as you describe, but his sister (he is a twin) gobbled up anything and everything at double quick speed. Which just made things worse.
Fast forward 9 mths and he is a lovely, thoughtful, if messy eater who will try anything and loves his food. She just screams to continue playing!!

Like Caprica I really wish I had not stressed so much about his eating, as it ruined all those months of feeding for no real purpose, he got there in the end.

I only dropped the third milk feed about 11 mths, one they were both properly interested in solids and getting less interested in the afternoon bottle. Now they have breakfast, milk, lunch, dinner, milk. (at 17 mo)

I know as you live them, these things seem horrible and stressful, but it really does get better. Now, can someone remind me that when I am in a 'why don't they sleep' strop?!?!