10 month old and food refusal ...

[shanjayne]

I'm sure there's been a thousand posts on this already but can't find any ...

My dd is almost 10 months and for the last month has really gone off food. She still drinks her milk pretty well although when she had a cold she even stopped that. Right now she seems on fine form, and is quite a solid little girl but just doesn't seem to like food. We can usually (but not always) get her to have a yogurt or some Heinz baby food in powder like cauliflower cheese or something but not much more. I'm sure at this age she needs more than that. She has 2 teeth and sometimes will gnaw on a cooked carrot stick or something - I've tried giving her food to feed herself with, and I've tried food of all different textures from complete puree to quite big lumps. I've also tried a variety of tastes ... she is generally a happy peaceful little girl but stick her in her high chair and try to give her some food and she gets really upset.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks x

PS Sorry for duplicate - I posted this in general behaviour and development first before I spotted this section.

Some babies are just happy on milk for longer than others. There is not a lot you can do, other than to keep offering and not get too stressed. If it becomes a huge issue then I think there will be more problems in the long run. Try not to worry and one day I'm sure she will just go for it!!

Sounds like someone I know...oh yes, my DD!

Eating is not DD's priority. I was told that up until a year food is for experimenting only. Your DD will get all the norishment she needs from her milk.

My DD is a fun lively child but put her in a high chair and she turns into the devil incarnate. She is now 19 months and I have taken the following steps to get her to eat:

1. I have a low chair not a high chair, she does not like to be marooned up high.

1. I let her 'feed' dolly, it seemed to help her with the whole feeding idea

1. Never gave mush. Did baby led weaning. What got picked up and eaten did and the rest went in the bin (whilst smiling through grited teeth

1. Let her use a fork, that seemed to go down vrey well.

I also made food balls! Chicken or Lamb with a whole stack of veggies and apple, into the blender, make ball shapes and cook. Today I made the stupid mistake of trying to get her to eat mush as she is teething. She would not entertain it. So, heated up 4 lamb balls and they went down the hatch with a slice of bread before you could say lamb balls!

A very wise MNer said to me when I was stressing about 10 months, just imagine you are an OAP in a home, stuck in a chair that you cannot get out of and someone is trying to force feed you food that you do not want and cannot get away from. After that I chilled out a bit. After all, no child willingly starves themselves.

It will get better. Just try not to let her know you are stressing otherwise she will refuse to eat all the more - they know you know!!

Is she teething? Ds could go for upto 2 weeks with hardly any food if he had tooth coming

Thanks for your replies - very helpful. Bizarrely DD ate a 3 course meal tonight! I don't suppose that means she will now go on to eat well at every meal but at least it's something!