Almost 12 month old has no interest in food...

[Becs77]

I have posted on here before about my DS's tricky eating phases. The problem is, (and this has been the problem since he was born and I was breast feeding) that he just doesn't seem interested or motivated by food. When I spoon feed him he has to have all sorts of toys and kitchen utensils to entertain him while I cram in as many spoon fulls as I can. Once he's bored of the toy he'll no longer eat any more even if he's only eaten 2 or 3 spoon fulls. It's not that he's fussy because he eats a fairly wide range of foods and doesn't spit them out or pull a face it just seems like he thinks that he hasn't got "time" for eating. I offer him lots of different finger foods too but the majority of them get chucked without him eating or even trying anything.....the exception is fruit and toast. He is a lively but happy baby and his eating is the only obstacle I have with him, I just really want to be able to feed him without all the cabaret! Amazingly he has remained in the 75th percentile through all these strange phases so that's one good thing I guess
The strange thing is he will always eat well and more easily when we're on holiday!? Please tell me this is just a phase.....any advice gratefully accepted!! Sorry for the long post......

Ah then I think you have answered your own post! You are probably more relaxed on holiday and then so is he.

I would suggest removing all toys and props from meal times - they just distract them and food is fun to play with anyway!

Have you tried just putting out a few finger foods on a plate and then just leaving him to it? You could also try just leaving out a plate of healthy snacks (big cucumber fingers / cubes of cheese / rice cakes etc) near where he's playing and see if he's happier grazing. Don't pick the bits up and hand them to him, just show him where the plate is and then just leave him to it. If he's hungry he will eat and if not, he won't.

Is he having too much milk? Mine is just having milk on waking and at bed time and he's 12 months.

Thanks for that - good idea to leave a plate of stuff where he is playing, I think that may work! And yes you're right I think we should remove the toys when he's eating in order to teach him that eating is fun too.... Funny about the holiday thing, I like to think i'm relaxed all the time around him but sometimes I do feel the dread of having to feed him which must rub off on him....I think on holiday there is less of this anxiety as there are other people ie my DH around to help etc. I have just cut out his afternoon milk so he just has 150mls x 2 am and pm, hopefully this will help too. Thank you for your advice, fingers crossed! x

I agree with removing the toys etc. My DS didn't really take to solid food until well over 1 and only really when he went to nursery and didn't have access to me (and my boobs) anymore.

I do believe they will regulate their own intake and I am not one for bribing with desserts or force feeding etc to get him to eat (as some of my friends have done).

He eats loads better at nursery still and pretty much stops eating any meals when we are on holiday, so we end up feeding him on bits of bread, cereal, cheese etc etc when we are away. He tends to prefer to graze rather than big meals in general I think.

If he refuses his tea I will quite often leave it out on the table or somewhere else and he generally comes back to it and will eat it much later.

It can be quite stressful though, I know. I always feel like the day has been more of a 'success' if he eats well for me, because of all the problems I had with weaning early on. It did get much better for both of us though once I just chilled out about it all and let him get on with it.

Try.... Ditch the spoon for a bit. At 12 months old he'd possibly rather do it himself. The spoon will come back later - when he can (awkwardly at first) hold it and get it in himself. When that time comes, leave a few filled spoons on his plate, then re-fill them as he empties them. For finger foods, try bite-sized lumps. Mine has never really liked the 'sticks of xxxx' approach.
Have fun!

Just try to relax - my DS didn't eat almost any solid food until around 12 months (now 18months) and is now great at eating allsorts of food mostly managing by himself with fingers and now a little fork too.

He mostly survived on milk until then but was growing fine, despite me being told by everyone he "should" be being fed solids. I firmly believe that children will start (anything) when they are ready and not before so just try to keep the meals relaxed and fun (agree without toys though) so there are not bad experiences associated with eating. His own body should regulate when he needs to eat and it will make sure he does.

I bought the baby led weaning book when I was feeling bad about DS being behind his little friends in eating terms and it was fantastic to make me relax about it and to understand why it is nothing to worry about. Some useful ideas in there too so you might find that interesting.

This is a link to it:

www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-led-Weaning-Helping-Your-Baby/dp/0091923808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s =books&qid=1250889985&sr=1-1