15m.o. eating regression..help:(

[treehuggermum]

DD used to eat a whole range of fruit and veg etc but now just refuses or plays with it in her mouth then spits it out. She's even being funny with rice cakes and humous which we relied on as a great snack. We dont ever pressure her to eat, have tried eating it making it look yummy, leaving it round the room etc etc. She b'f's approx 4 times in the day, same throughout the night. Same as when she wasn't this fussy. I've tried not b'feeding her for ages but she still doesnt eat solids (unless peas, sultanas, oat cakes or baked beans) she just gets really upset. I'm so worried she's not getting enough nutrition. She is vegan too. Advice please? TIA

Some children do go through this phase but usually slightly older ime. If you bf her if she doesn't eat then it will reinforce that she doesn't need to eat iyswim. Give solids before a feed and water in a cup if she is thirsty before a meal so she doesn't fill up. It may be that she is less hungry because growth slows down after the first year. Allow her to play with the food, remember that a portion of anything is only the size of her fist i.e. 1 carrot stick 1/4, small chunk of brocoli/ cauliflower/ spoon of quorn mince. I would cut down night feeds as well to one to maintain supply. If she is still having 8 feeds she will be unlikely to be hungry during the day. Don't give sweet/ salty foods as they tend to prefer these and will decline others if they think they will get something else. Does she need to be vegan? If she isn't taking to a vegan diet she still needs calories. What protein does she eat?

She cant fall back to sleep in the night if i dont feed her which is why she feeds more or less 4 times. She has peanut butter and humous (not much atm), porridge,oat cakes and baked beans nearly every day. BM provide protein too. She refuses cheese etc anyway. I've tried refusing her b.m but she gets upset and doesnt eat anything.

How many portions should they have each meal time?

Of course she gets upset treehugger, its what she has been used to for the last 15 months! However, she shouldn't need night feeds nutritionally at this age, which is why she hardly eats her solids. BM is naturally sweet and so it is usual for children to prefer its taste to veg. The tears are likely from anger, not upset, because she wants what she is used to. Because BM is so effective in providing calories she will simply not be hungry with so many night feeds. You perhaps need to sort out the sleep first.

About 3-4 of her fistfuls of food for a main meal and some fruit for afters i.e. 1/2 banana

perhaps try a friend or relative giving her one meal per day until the bf can wait until after meals? iyswim. DH give breakfast? You remain upstairs until she has eaten some, bf, then give remaining breakfast if left. Or try some bm, don't allow her to feed fully, give some solids, more bf.

Thank you. Their stomachs are only as big as their fists, so are wku saying she should eat 3-4 times more than her stomach capacity? Today i only fed her once in the morning. This made no difference to her solid food intake. In fact she ate only 4 spoons of her dinner.

Please does anyone else have any advice? Have i put this in the wrong section?

The 3-4 fists of solid food that goes in takes up much more space than the chewed food that goes into the stomach and it does pass through so it won't all be in the same place at the same time iyswim.
Obviously it won't be changed overnight .
Sorry if you didn't feel it was the answer you were looking for .

tree what are you feeding her? It sounds like you are spoon feeding still, which isn't necessary in a child this old. By 1 year she should be able to finger feed. Should be able to attempt messy feeding with a spoon. Even spag bol, mash and cottage pie etc she can do with her hands . Put all the food on her high chair tray and leave her to it. Some children protest for independence, especially girls!