Help! 10 month old just not interested

[Theperenniallaunderess]

I love cooking, but I feel like I’ve gone terribly wrong somewhere with my 10 month old. Since we started solids, she’s shown very little interest in food. She doesn’t seem to want to eat from a spoon, and clamps her mouth shut. Finger food is inspected and usually thrown straight on the floor. Without being too gross, I can see she’s eating some, but it doesn’t look like much at all.

I sit with her, model eating, don’t react when food is thrown or not eaten, and try and make mealtime fun with music and being a bit silly… but it’s really getting me down. Not to mention it’s just awful to see so much food wasted.

Tell me it gets better and she won’t be drinking milk until she’s at school!?

Babies learn and develop at different rates. You do need to make certain she’s hungry first. But I’m sure you do. It sounds as tho you are adopting all the tactics people can suggest. Try textures as smooth as possible and begin with very ‘thin’ mixtures. I had twins. One wolfed down everything. The other, even to this day( aged 41) is suspicious of lumps that surprise her-think fruit in yogurt. Just keep trying.

How much milk are they having @Theperenniallaunderess? I suspect that they may be filling up on milk so aren't that bothered about food?

What happens if you go straight to breakfast in the morning without offering food first?

@TinyMouseTheatre I’ve tried offering breakfast before milk and after milk and it hasn’t made any difference. I will keep trying food first though as that’s definitely the way to go.

Are you FFing or BFing?

If you're FFing, how much are they having in a day?

@TinyMouseTheatre - FF about 700ml per day

Ok so the recommended amount between 10 and 12 months is 450 ml.

Can you drop a bottle?

Just stick with it and keep going, you are doing all the right things and it will click eventually. Some babies take to it straight away, others need a bit more support and encouragement.

I have a 2yo and also love cooking, she doesn’t always eat my home cooked (really nice!) food. I hate throwing it away, but I take the small wins when she tries new things or remembers she used to like something!

My eldest was just like this and I wish I had known that it can be totally normal! Some babies are ready for solids as early as 4 months and some take much longer. I just kept offering bits off my plate with no pressure and eventually he did get into it. He’s a great eater now - once he got going it was a really fast ramp up. Keep going & good luck!

Thank you @BlueScrunchies and @HangryHandful! Just got to keep persevering and hopefully it’ll click soon.

Patience and time. My daughter barely ate a few mouthfuls a day at 10 months. Ate her first meal at 13 months and we couldn't reduce her formula until 20 months as she needed both food and formula to gain weight. She only put on 200g between 7 and 13 months due to breastmilk/formula and no food.
We were under paediatrics and dieticians for food allergies and reflux and it did help to have their support and oversight.

She's 4 now and can still have periods of not eating at all. Around 2.5 -3 she went back to eating one meal over the entire weekend. We just had to ride it out. Allergic reactions and reflux both send her off her food. As did colds and teething when she was younger. It might be worth just checking they aren't feeling a bit unwell and whether that's a factor

Her weight mostly has been ok aside from the time mentioned above but she tumbled down the charts for length/height between 1 and 2 going from the 25th to 1st percentile. In the last 6 months with more consistent good eating she's managed to climb up to the 4th percentile! She bounces between the 25th and 50th for weight.

@Superscientist thank you! Yes she’s just getting over croup and the latest round of teeth coming through, so I’m sure that hasn’t helped. No allergies/reflux and she’s tracked the 75th since birth. I should speak to the health visitor but have never found ours terribly helpful.

Yeah in the early days things like that would put us back way more than I would have expected.
She was slow to even take one mouthful, we started trying at 5.5 months but it was after 6 months that she first put something in her mouth. Then she was ok as long as it contained spinach. At 7/8 months I accidentally add one of her allergens back into my diet, she wouldn't breastfeed so we got some formula to try but the GP didn't do a very good job of checking the ingredients and it had the very same allergen in and that caused a full stop to any food and a bottle aversion. We found she did better on big food like half an apple rather than slices but then we got a throat infection and both ended up on antibiotics. She got thrush as a result back to no food. Then teeth she always cut 4-6 at a time. It just seemed relentless! Illness and teeth calmed down at 13 months and life generally settled down and one day I had her sat on my knee at dinner time and tucked into my dinner! She started eating but that led to a growth spurt and a return of reflux at 15 months! It took a while to settle but that was when things started to have longer periods of good eating between poor eating! That year was a slog but we got through it!

I had a weaning session with one of the nursery nurses that work with the HV. It might still be worth a call, they might have someone similar who can come out to you. I know HV are very varied in how helpful they can be. I've been incredibly fortunate that they have all been great with me.