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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

1yr old DS won't eat!

6 replies

Gwegowygwiggs · 27/03/2022 14:22

I can't believe I'm back here again asking for help, but here we are.

My first son was a nightmare to wean. Wouldn't be spoon fed so we did exclusively self feeding, he was 1yo before he ate anything in any sort of volume but he did at least used to show a small amount of interest Eg poking it up, picking it up, small bites. I came on here at the time and everyone just said the only thing they can say - keep offering, he will eat eventually. Which of course he did, at around a year old. But wow it was stressful. Now he's a fantastic eater (go figure), for example at lunch today he had vegetable gyoza, salmon sushi rolls, some steak and his own huge bowl of edamame beans.

My second son turned 1 at the beginning of the month. He too won't eat, but he is 10000x worse than my first. He won't touch things. He sometimes pokes it, and will SOMETIMES pick up and nibble toast. But I really do mean nibble. He will eat the melty sticks and baby crisps and sometimes he'll have a go at a ritz cracker. But 99% of the time he will either ignore it completely or just cry and want to get out.

We have even contacted a private paediatric dietician who's great and really helpful but even she's a bit stumped!

I guess my only question is - how many others have been through this. Is there anything in particular you her helped? It's a source of incredible stress for me as I am at a loss at what else I can do. I offer 3 meals a day and we have reduced his milk intake on advice from dietician to ensure he's definitely coming to the table hungry enough.

OP posts:
Cormoran · 27/03/2022 19:03

What about the behaviour, how do you prepare the food, the settings, your approach...
Have you tried having him/them with you, from beginning to end, from browsing a cooking book together - I know at 1 he doesn't know what that it is, just glossy pages - but look at pictures, even if not the one you will cook. Go together to the shops, and pick food together, than go home, have him with eye levels on kitchen tops, and give him a wooden spoon and a plastic bowl, and other safe bits and pieces, while you chop a carrot, add onion to a sizzling pan, and prepare whatever you are cooking. Have him watch you tasting something, adding fresh herbs to it, give him a big chunk of vegetable to play with while you finish and move together towards oven and let him see you from far away put something in it.
Do not offer anything .
Then when it is ready, close by again, and adjust herbs, spices, and take a fork for you , a baby fork for him, and let him see you tasting, and then hand him his fork while you turn your back at him.

Eating is multi senses , you see, hear, smell, touch as much as taste.
Human behaviour is also a lot of copying, so his big brother can be a model, but without pointing it at any of them.

I know you are super stressed and just happy he eats something, but real food can't compete with baby junk food, the melty sticks (it is corn flour and oil , just like Doritos or Cheetos minus the salt, with some dried veggie powder so they can put a veggie on packet) , crips, and ritz cracker . Could you not give them for two three days? They are your antagonists here.

You need to be able to offer something that tastes palatable and comes close to those artificial combinations. Have you tried a buttery risotto with real parmesan cheese? It will offer the same ratio of carb+fat he is now used to with the same soft texture that melts in mouth. Or some roasted pumpkin in the oven with olive oil, and a bit of salt now that he is older. If you leave the pumpkin long enough, it will caramelised.

Careful with drinks or snacks just before meals. Juice, squash, ... will kill appetite. Only water 2 hours prior a solid meal.

Do you all eat together at the table, the four of you, no tv, no screens? WIth the food in a main dish at the centre and you serve it from there into plates, your DS1, DH, yourself and then wait for DS 2 to react to food being served and you make the gesture towards him, so that the requests comes from him

Have you tried using preloaded baby forks?

Hold off the melty puff and crips if you can and similar ultra processed food such as baby rusks, baby rice cakes , baby wafers,... just for a couple of days and increase milk if you need to. Ultra-processed food are totally different sensorial food, they have nothing with hunger but pleasure centre, they mess up everything.

Can you make your own focaccia at home? or other herbed flatbread? You will need some saltiness, because powdered veggies, having lost all water, have higher mineral content per weight, and those minerals include sodium, magnesium, .... that give a saltiness without added salt. Use dry thyme, dry oregano, dry rosemary or premixed herbs but watch out, some brand add sugar. Dry fruit on the other hand is a way of adding sugar without adding sugar, so the food becomes a biscuit.

It is very complicated to unwean from artificial food toward fresh, but you still have a window of opportunity. You have to find the food that clicks for him, my guess would be something close to the macros ratio from the baby junk, so carbs+fat+salt/sugar. Have you tried to make crêpes, which don't have sugar in recipe (250 flour, 3 eggs, 1 tbls oil, pinch of salt, 500 ml milk) , and then you can on a tiny piece, put a very thin layer of jam or your own apple sauce.

It is so hard when they don't eat. I hope at least one of my suggestions will help.

JustWonderingIfYou · 27/03/2022 19:12

Do you all eat as a family together at the table for all meals? Do you and their dad model good eating? Seems odd they both are slow weaners.

Yahyahs22 · 27/03/2022 19:31

Does he still have formula ?

Gwegowygwiggs · 27/03/2022 19:56

@JustWonderingIfYou

Do you all eat as a family together at the table for all meals? Do you and their dad model good eating? Seems odd they both are slow weaners.
What a stupid useless comment.
OP posts:
Gwegowygwiggs · 27/03/2022 19:56

@Yahyahs22

Does he still have formula ?
He has about 12oz a day, 5oz at midday before his nap and 7oz before bed.
OP posts:
Yahyahs22 · 28/03/2022 16:15

I would cut out the formula and switch to a softer milk in smaller amounts like an oat based milk. Hes filling up on formula

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