Is there such a thing as a solid food consultant???

[HollyMadison]

Hi
I feel I need some help with my 9 month old baby's eating and I don't know where to turn. My baby is underweight (2nd percentile) and v thin. He wasn't extremely small when he was born (nearly 7lbs) but had reflex from 5 weeks. I've been BFing but had wanted to give him some formula when he was younger but he never took a bottle and screamed at the taste of formula. He's now drinking from a Tommy Tippee so I am trying to wean off BFing but it's not going that well. His solids eating has been poor. He's had a couple of brief illnesses but now his eating has dwindled to almost nothing and I think milk drinking is the same. I've tried lots of different approaches - spoon, BLW, diff locations, diff foods - but he finds the experience extremely stressful.

We're seeing a GP re weight but I feel I want some (private if necessary) help - maybe someone to come into my home for a few weeks and help me get him weaned onto formula and help get his eating on track so I can help him get bigger and stronger and fulfill his potential.

I've put in a call to my HVs but TBH they haven't been that helpful in the past. Does anyone know where I could find someone to help??? I'm in Twickenham.

Hello

Felt I had to reply even though I don't know any food consultants. Your experience sounds v. similar to what I went through with DS1 and it is exasperating so I feel for you.

My son didn't take to food well at all and was ill quite often as a baby, and subsequently we discovered he had several food allergies. With hindsight this probably gave him a bad experience of eating as he associated eating certain foods with feeling unwell. I exclusively BF til 15mths as this is what he liked to drink. I didn't bother with pursuing formula as he never took to it and I didn't want the stress. He properly started eating solids around 9mths albeit small quantities.

The best advice I got was to give them whatever he liked to eat and then gradually you can start introducing a greater variety of foods. Basically he loved fruit and petit filouss so in the beginning this is all he ate! And this was a massive improvement as perviously he wouldn't eat anything. Avacodos v.rich and I still give him these today. Is there something that your son would like? Just keep offering him his fave food to get him used to eating and filling/expanding his tummy.

He is now nearly 6, he eats well by his standards, he has outgrown some of his allergies, still on 2nd percentile but don't worry as long as they're growing upwards this is the main thing.

We saw various doctors, dieticians and from the age of 2 was referred to GOSH growth clinic which is run at W. Middlesex hospital. You could ask your GP about this. They were really helpful and has recently been discharged as they are happy with his growth and that there is no other cause for concern.

Good luck, email me if you have any further q's

Have just come across your post and wonder if you managed to get some help?