How much food should DS be having?

[SamuelsMum]

Hi there

Please help me. Our ds is 13 months old, however he was 2 months prem & was in hospital for first 8 months of his life & endured 5 operations.

Anyway, he has been home since December & is doing really well. Only the last 4 days he has gone from eating roughly 600-700g per day, to about 300+g. It is really hard work to try & get him to eat anything, even his favorites. He still has about 600+ml of milk per day & he is fine with that, but will not eat.

Should I be worried?

Tracy

Hiya

Not sure about the being premature thing etc but a very wise mumsnetter once told me that, ohh, now what was the age, hmmm, might need help here, think it was for a child over 1, should be eating about 7 tablespoons of food a day. That includes all food.

it could be that a) he is teething and therefore off his food
b) a little constipated maybe and therefore not up for eating much

I'm sure other mumsnetters will be a lot more helpful.

Prematurity and eating....I've lived through this one. DD was born at 31 weeks and in hospital for 4 weeks. Prems are normally very greedy at the beginning, then it seems to normalise. My dh became a SAHD when she was 10 months old and because we had been so paranoid about what she had eaten for the first 10 months, as soon as she could exercise power, this was the way she would do it. She would drink milk, but refused to eat, sometimes for days. We were going mad trying and actually took her to the GP, who said she had developed 'sole carer syndrome'. Basically, she worked out what our weak point was and then pushed the buttons by not eating, and bingo, got a reaction from us. It got to the point that if dh came in the room, she would pick up a bowl of food and chuck it on the floor!

This doesn't mean that this is what is happening with your child, but it is true (and necessarily so,) that mums of prems are much more concerened with food intake and weight than other mums! This anxiety is bound to get passed on to your child. We are now actively not mentioning food at all and are trying not to care when food is not eaten (she is 7).

All I can recommend is try feeding in different rooms, try to distract them while you feed them, try different textures (as they may be bored), swap who feeds them if you can and DON't WORRY. If it is not a physical problem (which your GP can rule out,) it will get better.

My heart goes out to you - it is soul destroying watching them refuse food. And it links in to the most important thing you have been paranoid about for the last year - their weight!

Good luck - keep in touch.