14 month old, eating & drinking very little. Any advice?

[mummyhelen]

Hi, any advice on this one really appreciated. ds3 (14 months) has never been the easiest child to feed. Had a hard weaning him, just screamed if I trued to put food in his mouth. Did gradually improve with time, but has always liked his milk. He is fairly small for his age and quite lean! At the beginning of December he ghad a chest infection and whenever I tried to give him any type of solids (even sloppy baby rice he would choke and then refuse to eat any more. After antibiotics his eating did pick up a bit but he was not particularly fussed about his milk. Since then he has had a sickness bug and now will eat hardly anything and won't touch lumpy baby food.He is also drinking very little. He does not like juice or water. Only Wysoy. An average day is.... breakfast= baby rice with 3oz milk & about 2 oz milk to drink. lunch= between 1/2 and a whole jar of 4 month fruit puree & 3oz milk to drink. tea= toast or sandwich (most of which is generally thrown around!) and some kind of fresh or tinned fruit & milk to drink 2-3oz. Bedtime milk 3oz

Even though he has always been a faddy eater, he has always enjoyed his milk and would polish off a 6oz bottle every meal. I worry he is not drinking enough. His nappies are a lot dryer than usual. Also I can't bump his milk intake up with yogurts as he is intolerant to dairy products. Aren't they suppost to have a pint of milk a day? I think we average about 13oz.

I am going to see the HV after New Year for some advice and to get him weighed. I'm sure he's losing weight though dh says I'm imagining it because I'm worried!

Does anyone have any ideas at all. My mum said to try cutting out all solids and just give him milk until his appetite increases but I'm worried if I do that he'll never want to eat a lumpy savoury again! He is the type of child you could just forget to feed, he just never seems bothered about food and will just scream if you try to give him food or drink when he doesn't want it.

Sorry have probably rambled on a bit, but I would just appreciate any advice or ideas.

mummyhelen not much advice as this is not my area of expertise (!) but I would have thought you need to concentrate ongetting him liking lumpier food rather than letting him fill up on milk by this age. I think that 1 pint per day is misleading and not particularly helpful.
As I say, i haven't got eexperience of this but observation shows me that if by this age he is not keen on lumps, you need to get him eating them as soon as you can to svoid a bigger problem later iyswim.
Many others here know a lot more about this...over to them

Are you giving him finger foods?

MummyHelen, typical day for my 14mth old DS who weighs 9.8kg:

8am - one slice gluten free toast with butter on, slices of banana (not a whole one), 1 fromage frais, 6oz milk. He eats his soldiers himself, I feed him the fromage frais, he gets the milk last so he is hungry for food.

12/1pm - 1/2 frankfurter cut into slices, 1/2 - 1 light babybel cut into bits, gluten free bread sticks or rice cakes or one slice toast cut into fingers, 1 fromage frais. I only feed him the fromage frais here. I offer water/fennel tea and he refuses both.

3pm - 6oz bottle of milk

6pm - chicken burger (made from Anabel Karmel receipe), baby corn, baby carrots, rice cakes/bread sticks. Steamed apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon, some slices of banana. He rejects carrots but I still offer them. Offer water/ diluted juice / fennel tea which he rejects.

In case you were wondering, I have coeliac disease and follow a gluten free diet which I give to my children.

Please remember that children go off of food when they are ill. Also, the recommended one pint of milk per day is an example of a baby's calium requirement. By giving yoghourt/fromage frais or similar - there must be an alternative - cheese, spinach, fish, all of which contain calcium, you can safely give 12 fl.oz.

Your Mum's advice of cutting out all solids is a step backwards - sorry, I don't want to criticise your Mother. Your 14mth old should be on a good solids diet by now and interested in food. Looking back on your posting of a typical day, I don't feel it's enough for a typical 14mth old. I don't want to criticise here but hope that the typical day I have shown above helps. The Anabel Karmel books are fantastic for recipes for tasty food.

Are you sure he's intolerant to dairy? I only ask because it is fairly rare - has your gp diagnosed this? I would worry about too many dry nappies and concentrate on getting some liquids into him. Will he suck an ice lolly made with juice? He's probably drinking so much milk that he's not that interested in solid food. Does it help if you let him feed himself? Could you try some bread or bits of soft fruit and see if he will feed himself with it? Typing random ideas here sorry if none of it's any help.

hi mummy helen...if ur lo has been ill i wouldnt worry too much he actually sounds like he eats more than my 14mth old...he is a faddy eater who tends to pick or throw things around...have no chance of feeding him anything as he just wont have it from me...he does have his milk whihc is about 2 8oz bottles one morning and one night then he has about 4oz in day...he is lean but tall for his age. I was told by hv if he was hungry he would eat and is obviously getting enough to sustain his energy levels etc...as others said i wouldnt concentrate on milk too much..is he likely to pick up the bottle if u leave it around type of thing..i usually leave DS a drink of water in his cup around where he is playing and he will drink then rather than me going and getting it iykwim..when ds is teething etc e hardly eats anything..have u tried to give him a treat of crisp or something...i dont know whether u give ur lo crisps or raisins or something...just to encourage more lumpy foods again...my ds would not eat baby food if i tried so tend to have to make him a bland adult version....i know it prob hasnt helped as ive ended up rambling too...lol

Thanks for all your messages. Chicpea, I do give him finger foods. He loves most fruits, tinned or fresh, with the exception of banana. Things like bread, toast, biscuits, vegetables, meat are a bit hit and miss. He will only eat them if HE wants (which is rare) mostly throws them or squashes them into the most disgusting mess and rubs them in his hair! Does your little feed himself for his evening meal? I have tried just chopping up our evening meal for him, but he just plays with it but maybe this would be worth persevering with? Please don't feel bad about critisizing my mother, i feel like it constantly sometimes

He does seem to be intolereant to dairy wicked witch. GP didn't actually diagnose it this time, did it all thro HV. However, dd1 was intolerant so I was familiar with the signs this time. BF ds exclusively for 5 months but had cut all dairy out of my diet as it seemed to affect him. When I started weaning him, he would be violently sick after any dairy foods and that follows through with diohorrea (oops can't spell that). I have tried reintroducing fromage frais recent, but it still has much the same effect. My daughter has virtually grown out of it now at the age of 6, so hopefully this will follow through. Will try ice lollies and keep on with the juice. He just thinks milk is the only thing that should come out of a bottle and WILL NOT drink from a cup. He really is soooo stubborn.

Mishiclaus, he loves raisins but they give him really bad diorrhea(oh no that word again!) He does like crisps but I don't give him too many because I have always assumed that they have a high saly content. Dont know if this is true? It's reassuring to read your experiences as all my friends babies seem to be right little porkers with HUGE appetites. He just seems so tiny next to them. How much does your dd/ds weigh, mine is about 19lb now. My friens baby who is 3 days younger is 24lbs!

Mishiclaus, he loves raisins but they give him really bad diorrhea(oh no that word again!) He does like crisps but I don't give him too many because I have always assumed that they have a high saly content. Dont know if this is true? It's reassuring to read your experiences as all my friends babies seem to be right little porkers with HUGE appetites. He just seems so tiny next to them. How much does your dd/ds weigh, mine is about 19lb now. My friens baby who is 3 days younger is 24lbs!

I meant salt content not saly. PS how do you all stay up so late and still drag yourselves up in the morning???!!!???

mummyhelen i think there are some other threads about how to geta fussy eater back eating....but have you tried picnics on the living room floor, little bits of food in the sections of an ice-cube tray, or even some of those mad Annabel karmel ideas, there's a great picture in one of her books of a fish made of fruit.
I look at it and think why would you bother, but if it got the kids eating it...how about a train or a tractor (or whatever he likes!) made of slices of fruit, or cheese, or toast, or whatever?
Or a mini shepgherd's pie made in a ramekin all to himself?
By this age i would certainly expect him to be eating what you eat, maybe a bit more chopped up. agree with others to disregard your mums advice. yes, we were all up a bit late last night, weren't we? school hols i guess!

Hi mummyhelen - My ds is lactose intolerant - guess that equals dairy intolerant - for 2 years. He is now 3 - yukky diarrhea if he has too much lactose

Cheese is lower in lactose so i wouldnt worry about cheese causing problems

what about alpro soya yoghurts (and the desserts - found in the organic aisle in Tescos) - ds loves them

There are some other excellent threads about picky eaters - worth a look!

HTH

HTH

hi mummy helen
my ds weighs around 21 lbs but he is 85cms tall so about to grow out of the 12-18mth stuff..he feeds himself all his meals as he wont entertain me feeding him...and the raisins have same effect for him if he has too many so i do limit the amount...as for staying up late...i just go through the day bleary eyed...lol

mummyhelen - see what the HV has to say. Maybe she'll have ds3 referred to a paediatrician for assessment.

DD was referred when she was about 1 as she was a lightweight and if she took 4oz of milk in one setting I was pleasantly shocked. As for food... well maybe 1/2 a small jar here and there. Had a friend who's son would eat in one session what dd would eat on a good day!

She also went even more off her food when she had a chest infection which was accompanied by a sore throat. The milk seemed to make it worse hence she then didn't want milk anymore even when she was healthy again...

She was put on a special high energy milk to help her put on weight and now at age 3 she weighs 12kg (I think that's approaching 2stone). The best way to get food into her always was to leave it lying around so she could 'steal' it, as offering food when she didn't want it just resulted in hysterics.

Don't know if this is any help for you but hope all goes well in the New Year.

Also the paed has conceded that dd is simply petite and extremely active and that's why she's so slim

Hi again, well we had a pretty good day today foodwise.
9am 4oz milk. Baby rice was refused and used as face cream

1pm 4 icecubes of mashed chicken, leek and parsnip, 1/2 jar of fruit puree AND 4oz milk

5 pm 3 chips and 3oz milk

7.30 4oz milk

I think he must have been peeping at all your advice

I have got quite a few new ideas to try from you all. The idea of leaving bits lying around mrsbigdrums is an interesting one. He does like to steal food sneakily. He always comes up if your eating to get a bit. His philosophy is something in the mouth and something in both hands, then he will go away! I will definately give this a go, especially for unfamiliar foods. Also will leave juice around so maybe he will get a taste for it eventually, sorry can't remember who suggested that. Will also get some provamel yogs to try, had forgotton you could get them.

Thanks ever so much for all your advice everyone.