How much food does your 12 month old eat?

[Marfs10]

DS was brilliant with food when we started BLW at 6 months. Massive appetite, ate loads and he at least tried whatever I put in front of him.

About 5 weeks ago, he started to get really selective, and it feels like at this point he’ll only eat porridge, toast, fruit or snacky things like breadsticks (he doesn’t have these often, usually as a distraction whilst in the car because he hates being in there!)

It seems to have coincided with a run of colds/teething/covid, followed this week by vaccines but at what point should I be concerned? And what can I do to help him eat again? He’s breastfed and does still feed pretty regularly but he’s always been like this and I have no intention of stopping that anytime soon.

How much does your 12 month old eat?

[Marfs10]

Bump

[OnceUponAThread]

I wouldn't worry, I find these things go in phases. My DD (now 20 months) is generally a huge eater, but when she's unwell / has vaccines / teeths - she tends to go completely off food and survives on breast milk and the odd biscuit.

In fact, the first sign I get she's not well is going off her food, usually.

OTOH, when she's having a growth spurt, she puts away a - frankly - alarming amount of food, eating nonstop from dawn till dusk.

I'd say keep offering a wide variety of healthy stuff. Give lots of picky bits, offering veggies and fruit first when he's really hungry, and then toast etc after if he refuses that.

Don't react if he says no to stuff, and keep it all very light and calm. Try and eat together and model good eating. I find that my daughter will eat literally anything if she's nicking it off my plate, including things she wouldn't touch with a bargepole if I served it directly to her.

And don't panic, perfectly normal for them to go off their food periodically (particularly when unwell).

[CadyEastman]

Have you thought of night weaning to see if that improves his appetite?

[Marfs10]

Thank you for the responses!

@OnceUponAThread thats reassuring. I think im probably making the situation worse, I currently wouldn’t describe our meal times as ‘light and calm’ so I’ll work on that! Thank you.

@CadyEastman i’m not opposed to the idea of night weaning, but given that we currently cosleep I’m not sure how realistic night weaning would be (I’m not looking to change that set up just yet - we’re moving later in the year so he’ll go into his own bed/room then). I also don’t really know how we’d go about night weaning? Is there a method that involves no crying?

[CadyEastman]

Have a look at the method I linked to, it is very gentle

[Marfs10]

@CadyEastman thank you. Sorry, in my sleep deprived state I hadn’t even noticed the link 🤦🏻‍♀️😂