23m prefering breast to 'food'

[PrettyCandles]

Is this a problem? Ds2 often refuses his meal, part way through or even at the begining, and comes to me for a breastfeed instead. He seems fit, strong, well, etc, but I wonder whether at this age he needs more.

He has always been more interested in milk than in solids, but the bfing had been dwindling naturally, at his rate. In recent months, however, I have been encouraging him to feed more because he has no dairy foods whatsoever (suspected milk-protein intolerance). Now I'm not sure whether I'm doing the right thing.

Hi PrettyCandles

I have a dd of 25mths who is similar to this, although she's recently started to improve (very gradually). She wasn't keen on solid food until she was around 9mths old, and even then she'd only put away 2 small meals and a minor snack, but always lots of breastmilk in between meals, and as a 'pudding' - she would turn down yogurts, custard etc in favour of bf. Will not go anywhere near cake!

I suspected she may have had silent reflux, as she absolutely refulsed any fruit except bananas - I guessed due to acidity - and she would only ever really like the blandest of foods, like plain rice, porridge, bread etc. However, she has always been a big fan of cheese.

Whilst on holiday in August (when she turned 2) her eating improved - and I actually knew why! I noticed that the amount of activities we did distracted her from bf during the day, and the lots of running around outdoors also gave her a much better appetite for solid food. Her diet included of chicken tenders, seaside fish, lettuce, broccoli, pasta, cheese ravioli, she even tried and liked apple. However she still insisted on finishing off some of her meals with a bf!

For us, the decrease in boredom and increase in outdoor exercise helped with appetite issues. Harder to do back home when it rains 5 days out of seven though.

dd became milk monster at the same age. It tied in with her speech and awareness of 'society' and social protocol. she suddenly became v insecure and would rush for a feed at the slightest tumble or worry.

I forgot to add, my first child drank no milk at all after self-weaning at just over 18mths, but not due to any intolerance, just because he didn't like it. The HV said as long as he was getting his calcium from cheese and yogurt then that would be ok - is your ds able to have (or have you tried) non-dairy yogurts and cheeses, PrettyCandles?

I can see it's a quandary for you - on one hand he needs the extra milk because of the lack of dairy, but on the other hand, a bf, being more like a "food", fills him up too much for solids (plus the fact that he's mad for it)! I don't know how much milk is necessary tbh, because of my experience with my non-milk-drinking first child, who seems to have turned out fine.

He does eat the calcium-fortified soya yogurts and puddings (and likes them almost as much as he likes bm!). Though he won't touch the soya 'cheeses' - can't blame him! And he happily drinks the fortified milk-substitutes that I use, such as Oatly or Rice Dream. So I suppose I could let the bfing slip again. It's difficult to know how to balance it.

Dd was like yours, foxy, at a slightly earlier age, and I ended up dropping the middle-of-the-day feeds in order to get her back out there, socialising. It worked, and she didn't seem to miss the bfs. But I don't think that is the case with ds2.

It never occured to me that his disinterest in food might be related to reflux. I wonder whether it's still bothering him. I had assumed that he had outgrown it, but just this morning he threw up a little juice, which he hasn't done in ages.

Hmm, something to consider and observe.

Does he like hard goats cheese - might be worth a try if he can tolerate it?

I'm still bfing DD2 at 2.5 yrs and she goes through phases of wanting booby all the time - like a previous poster says I think it is linked to insecurities and growing up as much as attitude to food. She doesn't have much cow's milk although is now having milk at bedtime with her big sis.

OTOH DD1 at 4.5 yrs would survive solely on milk (cow's) if we let her - eats like a mouse but is sporty, fit and strong. All different eh?

BTW you've got me craving an Alpro dark choc pud now. On offer in Tesco so picked some up even though I am trying to do Slimming World properly at the mo.