9 month old barely eating solids

[EastEndGal]

I’ve tried everything! Purées, blw and combined. Timed meals between bottles and testing different spoons, feeding in different high chairs or on the floor, using different bibs. And nothing seems to be working for feeding my 9 month solids. The only guaranteed think he’ll eat is cucumber but I can’t give him that 3 times a day every day.

But then randomly he will wolf food down usually when we’re in public and not necessarily when other people are eating.

Recently especially at home he refuses food off me but will accept food off my husband or grandparents. I’m at the point when it’s just easier to stick with the bottle during the day and wait for my husband to come back from work and he feeds him solids.

I’m just concerned as I keep hearing he should be dropping bottles but I’m still giving 7oz 5 times a day. Just worried whether I am the problem or if he has an issue.

Weaning has been such a struggle and I’m getting so upset about it. I just worry as he’s starting nursery in 3 weeks and if he’s not eating, I worry the nursery will flag it .

Help!

Is it possible that you breastfeed more indoors and is wanting breastmilk as a preference due to habit?

Have you tried simple broths. The Italians do this as a first food, could put a totally liquid broth in a baby bottle like chicken bone broth from the store, or homemade through cheesecloth, vegetable broth with no bits (silverbeet/ chard tastes fantastic boiled with water and salt for 5-10 minutes, leaves no bits, a delicious soup and nutrients will be in the water) .

Googled nutrients from this vegetable that will go into the water: Vitamin C, B Vitamins, Potassium,
Magnesium.

It can be a good start for them to get the taste.
And try to feed it in all environments.

And apologies if he already had broths.

What about following the lead of cucumber? Maybe it’s cooking and soothing. What about just more of that, watermelon, other fruits. The joy of eating will lead to more eating.

Looking forward to progress updates :)

@ThisSparklyViper Babies should not be given salt

I don’t have much advice @EastEndGal but have you tried eating at the same time as LO and giving him little bits of yours? This is how I started with my little boy, if just give him a bit of yoghurt or whatever I was eating and he became interested

**meant cooling not cooking.

I don’t breastfeed, he’s formula fed - not sure it makes a difference.

And I am avoiding using salt as well as the guidance does say pretty much no sale before 1. But we’ve tried broth like food with him and he fights me for the spoon and then just turns it around and sucks the handle.

I’ve tried giving him a cucumber and the follow it up with more food but he only does that for his dad - weirdly. we’ve given him order cooling finger foods like watermelon and he has none of it.

@NotFragileLikeAFlowerFragileLikeABomb we give him food when we’re eating but again when it’s with me he won’t have it. Once Dad is around or someone else he will eat it.

I really do think I am the problem

he fights me for the spoon and then just turns it around and sucks the handle.
Have you tried 2 (or 3) spoons?
or letting him ‘drink’ it out the bowl
I think you need to be offering food a few times a day really but just accept it’s going on the floor, the exposure is still good. See ‘I’ve offered him 2 meals today’ as the win rather than how much he’s eaten.
I don’t know much about formula but can you just drop one bottle and see if his appetite picks up?

what does he actually do when you feed him? Is he refusing completely or spitting it out or just playing with it? Spitting it out and playing with it are still good, it’s exposure and learning self feeding and chewing.

How could you be the problem :)

He's having 35oz of formula a day so I very much doubt he is hungry for solids!

Get dad to get up and give him breakfast first thing in the morning.
Leave the first bottle til later.

Are you giving any bottles during the night?

I’ve dropped a bottle during the day but he still wakes up in the middle of the night. We tried not giving him a bottle but we have no choice most of the time as he’ll scream the house until he gets no matter how much we soothe him - therefore make me think he’s not getting enough during the day.

They weaning before 1 is all about then have exposure and is for fun but surely they need to be having something substantial in other to decrease the number of bottles.

We give a bottle at night as I said in the above message, it’s the only thing that’ll get him back to sleep, no matter how much we soothe him.

i think he would but his first bottle could be anytime between 3.30 - 7pm depending on what kind of night he’s had.

Does he fall asleep on a bottle at bedtime too?

I'd maybe just do one night feed at 10/11pm. Then do breakfast first in the morning before milk.

Yeah we do a night feed around 11pm but depending on the night he could wake up at 3am or sleep through to 7am. He won’t settle if he wakes up at 3am without a bottle - which I suppose is technically his first one of the day.

so for example this morning, he woke up at 4am and had a bottle went back to sleep until about 8am and then I tried to give him porridge instead of a bottle. He just wasn’t having it and by 9.30/10am he was ready for a bottle.

My first didn't eat properly until they started nursery at 9 &1/2 months. They copied what the other babies were doing there gradually, plus the new environment helped I think. They were up to normal food levels around a year, just a slow starter on solids.

I do credit most of the change to nursery, but things that helped:

• leaving 2 hours between milk & food. Not giving milk for at least 45min after attempting solids, so they didn't think they could refuse it and then drink.
• eating at the same time as them, with exaggerated motions to show them what to do.
• treating food as sensory play, to take the pressure off. Letting them get absolutely grimy at mealtimes. Splashing in the suction cup bowl on the highchair, holding their own spoon, smearing it everywhere. I resisted the urge to wipe them down until they were down.
• low pressure meals, like wholegrain Cheerios, berries, sweet potato chips, bits of meat ball they could pick up and eat themselves.
• letting them eat on my lap, off my plate.
• letting them have their own spoons.

Best of luck with the weaning journey, it's so frustrating when it doesn't go well! For what it's worth, it's probably not you! I thought that as well, but my second is an absolute grub for food and I've done nothing differently.

I’ve dropped a bottle during the day but he still wakes up in the middle of the night. We tried not giving him a bottle but we have no choice most of the time as he’ll scream the house until he gets no matter how much we soothe him - therefore make me think he’s not getting enough during the day
i breastfed so absolutely not an expert on bottles, but it seems normal to me for a 9m old to wake in the night and fine for him to have a bottle, I wouldn’t say that indicates he’s not getting enough in the day just that it’s a long time to go overnight with no food, and babies often wake up anyway. I’d be tempted to drop another one in the day. Have you asked your HV? Or how much does the formula company recommend he should be on?
he probably just hasn’t ‘got’ it yet that food is for when he’s hungry

So is he having 2 bottles in the night and 3 in the day?
Maybe swap the midday bottle for lunch instead?

He’s starting nursery in a couple of weeks so I’m hoping he copies the other kids. But I know our nursery will not be as patient and if he doesn’t have solids they will give a bottle which I worry won’t help him at all.

I am trying to make meal times more sensory but sometimes it’s not always possible especially when I’m tight for time. The clean up is a nightmare.

I’m going to ask the HV again at his 9 month check in a couple of weeks but when I went for his last weighing appointment the nurse adviced that I should just stick to BLW/ finger foods but I know he is barely eating as he either spits it out or it’s on the floor.

thats interesting you say that he might not understand that food is for when he was hungry.

Yeah pretty much. We’ve tried cutting out his lunch bottle but no luck. Tonight we are trying cutting out his evening bottle as he did eat a bit more than normal at dinner time and then give him a “dream feed” around 11pm - see how that goes

I know it’s stressful but keep offering and he will get there eventually. I always followed a weaning book to structure solids and reducing milk feeds so I had a bit of a guide as to what to do. Saying that though my first two DC were very different - first weaned easily and second was not bothered at all and took a long time to warm to it….to this day at 2.5 she’s not a big eater. My third is 4 months and a little chunk so I think will need weaning early and is dairy intolerant so a whole other ball game again to the first two.

My advice is to relax and keep offering all different foods. It’s easier said than done but try to just go with the flow and I’d probably try and drop a milk feed so he’s hungrier - what time does he feed - if he feeds at 11am or 12 noon could you drop that and offer a lunch instead - maybe offer solids before milk so he’s hungry for them.

Don't worry about it. My mum always said food before one is just for fun.

Let him try things and eat what he fancies, and then worry about it when he's over one.

The bed time feed is the last one I'd cut as you want him to sleep through the night - reduce the night time ones first!

I wouldn’t worry too much for now he’s still super young and the main source of nutrition before 1 is their milk anyway. So I’d just carry on offering food throughout the day for exposure and I’m sure it will click with him soon. I doubt he will get to 12-18 months and still not be interested! My first loved his food, my second not so much. Took her a bit longer to get the hang of the whole eating thing.

My daughter barely ate until 13 months.
At 10 months we switched to formula and our daily routine was
Wake 7 am offer breakfast soon after
10.30 5oz bottle followed by nap 40-60 minutes
Offer lunch
2 5 Oz bottle followed by 90-120 minutes nap.
5 offer dinner
8 8oz bottle bedtime
Overnight 1-2 5oz bottle.
Total formula 23-28 Oz a day she was 7-7.5kg at the time

She never had more than a few mouthfuls of any meal and her weight was static as a result so we didn't want to reduce her formula but separating the bottles from mealtimes helped
I would probably look at reducing the size of the daytime bottles rather than removing them especially any close to a meal time

UPDATE: so the last couple of days we’ve had a bit of a breakthrough (but not holding our breath). So we dropped his breakfast bottle and he’s eating breakfast. Then I give him a bottle late morning. Then around 2pm I’ll give him a late lunch. Then another bottle around 4pm dinner around 6/7pm and we’ve managed to drop the bottle before his bed time between at 8pm and then we give him a dream feed at 11pm. Only thing we can’t break is feed around 3/4am. But he’s eating 3 meals and down to 4 bottles at 7oz. Hope it continues and we can continue to drop bottles.

Oh and it seems giving him a melt stick or finger food with his meals helps with him trying to fight us for the spoon 😅

Thanks for all the advice ladies ☺️

Why not give his 8pm bottle and he may not need an 11pm

It’s what’s working at the moment, so sticking at that for now ☺️