13 month old poor eating

[ForMintRaven]

Hi all, just looking for some advice and guidance please as I’m quite worried about my 13 month old son. We started weaning at 6 months with purées initially, and specifically with veg purées but then moved on to finger foods and more textured food. Since the beginning my son has not taken well to food but he was putting on weight steadily that was till around 2 months ago. In the last two months he has not gained any weight which is really concerning for me. I offer breakfast, lunch and dinner with snacks every day but he barely accepts any of the food. He seems to love pastries and so I often end up feeding him these for lunch but think to myself these can’t be very nutritious for him. I’ve tried to change up the fillings and added things like red lentils with carrots and sweet potato as fillings but he notices it’s not the same as what he likes and spits it out straight away. I’ve worried if he’s averse to textures of food - because when he touches odd textures he makes funny faces, he will try different textures though but if he doesn’t like the taste etc it comes straight out. I spoke to the health visitors around 2 months ago and they advised to cut out his milk so I dropped his bottles and now he is only having one before his daytime nap and one before bedtime (he also wakes up for a bottle at night). Now I’m thinking has this led to him not putting on weight as despite cutting the bottles, his food intake has not increased. Has anyone else experienced this? Does it get better? Do I carry on offering different foods at meal times despite him refusing almost everything I offer. I am constantly worried he’s not getting the nutrients he needs but everything nutritious I make he does not eat - I’ve tried so many breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack recipes and most of them end up being eaten by me as he doesn’t eat them. I’ve tried distracting him with TV at meal times - at this point I rather have him watch screens and get food in than not - this only works sometimes. Just as an example - he’s eaten one pizza pinwheel pastry today and one courgette twist pastry. Nothing else. I’m giving him probiotics and Abidec. Any advice would be so appreciated thank you. PS Please be kind! It’s my first time posting and I’m a first time mum so I may not get everything right.

Keep offering as many different foods as possible. My son ate the same as my husband and I, unless we were having a takeaway. When my son was very small, I'd make him separate puréed foods but as he got older, he ate the same as us. Does you son drink water during the day? I wonder if the milk he's having is stopping him from being hungry. Others might have a better idea, my son is 15, so it's been awhile!! Plus my son, would eat anything (and still does!).

This is exactly how ARFID started for my son. Just keep offering a wide range of food. So sadly it didn’t get better. To get him to eat I had to pretty much starve him (no milk at all). Health visitor GP and paediatrician all totally useless. He is now 15, the restricted eating ended aged 13 because he real wanted to be over it.

I tend to give him whatever I’ve made myself that day although sometimes we have lunch at different times but all tend to eat dinner together. He does drink water. When I cut the milk to just two bottles (over the last 2 months) he didn’t put on any weight, and my GP seems to think I should be offering him milk after meal times (so he can get some nutrition in) but to be honest even after he’s refused meals, when I’ve offered milk he’s not really drank it or had very little.

Op it must be a big worry for you. Could you try him with a fruit smoothie?? Annabelle karmel used to do a really good cookbook for little ones. My youngest was always a fussy eater, always the same thing's. He's now 17 and the past year he's suddenly eating everything!! Don't give up hope just yet x

It’s really difficult to access support and advice for food refusal. It’s so worrying and friends and family will give you unhelpful and unwanted “ advice”
It”s tough but try not to let him see that you are anxious.He will pick up on it.
The Infant and Toddler Forum has helpful information and advice.
https://infantandtoddlerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ITF107-Factsheet-2_1-Why-Toddlers-Refuse-Food-Dec19-v1.pdf

https://infantandtoddlerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ITF108-Factsheet-2_2-Fussy-Eating-Dec19-v2.pdf

https://infantandtoddlerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ITF109-Fact-sheet-2_3-Extreme-food-refusaL-Dec19-v2.pdf

I'm in the same boat OP, my 13 month old has become so fussy with eating. After a bout of constant illnesses, her eating has become very fussy she ate everything when we first weaned her and up until about 11 months.

I feel your pain its so hard not knowing what to do for the best, I'm hoping once we have got past more illnesses it may return. What I have read is that after 1 their appetite decreases a lot so this may play a part too.