Eating Problems

[Fnar]

I have an 11 month old little girl, who is also dairy intollerant. Her eating has never been wonderful but on the whole not too bad...until about a week ago. She stopped eating any kind of solids at all and just had milk in the morning, afternoon and evening (9oz each time). I thought that perhaps she was full up on the milk and so dropped the afternoon feed on Wednesday. Thursday she had just the two bottles...urrgh...and since then she will have porridge in the morning and another bowl in the evening...but absolutely nothing at lunch time. She will go from 8.30am till 5.45pm having nothing but some juice. She still sleeps wonderfully 8pm-8am. Any advice gratefully received before I drive myself nuts with the stress and worry :-(

Id be going nuts...shes probably getting enough nutrition though.
Does she eat with the family sitting round the table, or on her own?
The sleeping part sounds good!

Maybe she has a low level bug and is just fighting it off, they do this sometimes ime. If it asts beyond a couple of days though I'd be concerned. What does she normally eat? My ds3 is also dairy intol (actually, as am I and ds1) and eats french toast, eggs, baked beans even when off all other food. will she eat prridge that has fruit in it? That at elast would be a start.

It's not unusual for kids to go all picky at this age, but it is worth watching. It may be the porridge is too filling- an you try a lighter brekkie? DS2 has a hu8mzinger and handful of cereal (dry), all he'll eat. he then all but skips lunch but will eat fruit, raisins, etc on a 'drip' basis. For dinner he usually is OK as long as not over tired.

Thanks for your responses.

She does have fruit in her porridge (I say porridge, but it is baby rice mixed with her milk)...today she has had 3 spoonfuls of soya yoghurt at lunchtime and a couple of finger food crips (organix) so perhaps we are beginning to get somewhere. It's not great but at least an improvement on other days.

Normally she eats on her own but we have tried eating with her. She'll watch us eat but doesn't try and grab our food and it hasn't improved her eating at all.

She has never been great at eating and certainly won't eat anything with lumps even at this stage on a good day...retches until she makes herself sick!! Waiting a referal from a dietician as she hasn't gained much weight over last few months which is why I find it all even more stressful now that she has stopped eating during the day.

Fnar, my DS sounds similar in a lot of ways. He is 13.5 months and feeding has always been pretty challenging. He was also milk intolerant at 11 months and would projectile vomit on anything that wasn't TOTALLY blended until just before his birthday.

Like your dd, my ds much prefers milk and sleeps 12 hrs at night too. Anyway, I was going nuts a couple of weeks ago as DS had been on a hunger strike for 3 weeks. There's a thread I started on the behaviour/development board called 'anyone had major eating probs with their one year old' or something like that! Sorry I can't do links! My DS seems to stop eating for no good reason quite regularly. Teething is big appetite decreaser though. Any possibility of this?

Hi bakeacake, thanks for your response...it is just so reassuring to know that I am not the only one with this problem....gives me such piece of mind.

I think she might be teething...she has spent a lot of time with her fingers or a toy in her mouth today. I have had a good feel of her gums and cannot feel anything coming through but feel she might be getting her back teeth. Cheeks are also quite red...classic signs really when you think about it!!!

Tonight I added pureed pears to her babyrice (about the only thing she will eat at the moment) and she ate a great amount of it....so relieved I could have cried, so hopefully we are now turning the corner.

bakeacake...did you persevere or reintroduce the milk at any stage when your little one wasn't eating? It is so tempting.

I shall definitely take a look at your thread...thanks again. :-)

Fnar, certainly sounds like your dd could be teething. Hopefully they will be through soon... I'm glad she ate well tonight, makes you feel so much better doesn't it. Will she eat other purees at the moment? I know how hard it is to have a non-chewing milk intolerant baby. Food choices can be a bit limited.

With the milk, DS' consultant wanted to trial it again at 12.5 months. I was pretty sure he'd still be intolerant (he had blood in his stools as a newborn which stopped on milk free formula) but he was absolutely fine. Makes life so much easier and helps weight gain etc. Did your dd have a bad allergy/ intolerance to milk. We were advised to start with a tiny bit of fromage frais but you're probably best to ask your own dieticain or consultant.

Hope things improve for you soon. At 11 months, DS was a daily projectile vomiting, puree eating, milk intolerant, reluctant eater. He's still a really reluctant and could live on milk if left to his own devices but the other things seemed to improve overnight. Let me know if I can help anymore.

Hi bakeacake,

Prior to a week ago she would eat lots of other puree's. Now she will eat fruit puree provided it is mixed in with babyrice....I know it is a bit of a step back considering what she should be eating but at this stage I'm just giving her what I think she will eat. Although, she even refuses this at lunchtime.

Yes, her allergy/intolerance to milk is quite bad. After eating a miniscule amount of something containing milk powder or milk protein she will projectile vomit. You can hear her stomach going into spasm. Each time she eats over the following two days she will then projectile vomit. I have told them that I am not willing to test this way and hence why we are waiting on an appt to the dietician.

Still tonights effort was brilliant and she did eat finger foods today better than she has in the past....tomorrow is another day so lets hope she is turning the corner. Thanks.

Glad to hear things are improving Fnar. She sounds like she's getting plenty to eat/drink and hopefully she will eat a wider range again in a few days.

The milk intolerance sounds quite nasty for all concerned. Have you had a milk skin prick test or blood tests done? Is this what you will see the dietician about? We actually did DS' milk 'challenge' as they call it, on a day ward in hospital. They gave him increasing amounts of petit filous over 2 hrs. I really expected to see yucky nappies a day or 2 later but he was fine. I really had to be convinced by the consultant to give it a go though.

Bakeacake,

I shall certainly ask the dietician about testing as so far they haven't tested her at all.

They have just been going on her reaction to things containing milk/dairy/lactose.

The 'milk challenge' is something I shall definitley be mentioning.

She is now back to eating a bit more. She'll have breakfast and tea (usually huge amounts) but lunch is still a bit hit and miss...she will perhaps have about 6 spoons of savoury and then 6 spoons of pudding. Today she had 1 spoon of savoury and then 1 1/2 pots of soya yoghurt (3/4 at lunchtime and then 1/2 when she awoke from her afternoon nap). She is definitely hungrier and is asking for food when we are eating etc...so having much more in the way of finger foods.

Thanks for your advice...so very much appreciated.