10 month old never eaten solids.

[Lucia201837]

Hi just wondered if anyone has experienced the same problem as myself??? My 10 month old has never eaten any solids including purées ever since I tried to wean her at around 5 months old! She had colic and reflux when she was younger but now seems to be symptom free and has been for a few months.
Every time I try to feed her she bats the spoon away and clamps her mouth shut shaking her head. I’ve tried baby led weaning and she doesn’t put any in her mouth. She doesn’t really mouth any toys either just her fingers.
She’s meeting all her other developmental milestones and is nearly walking but I’m at my wits end with the feeding! It’s making me so depressed I cry most days. Please can anyone help or let me know of any similar experiences that get better?

That reassures me. She has tasted a few things but that was mainly due to me getting desperate and forcing it which I know wouldn’t help. She didn’t seem to like the taste however. The funny thing is though is that when I need to give her calpol I ask her to open her mouth whilst lying down and she takes it beautifully- very strange lol

Shirleyschmidt- well it seems like a start so that’s brilliant! It’s nice to know we are not alone! It’s so difficult when you hear of friends babies eating brilliantly and then you get a strange reaction when you say yours isn’t.

Oh I know. Or you see a 6 month old accepting a plain old carrot stick and shoving it straight in!! And my much older kid won't eat a chocolate biscuit!! 🙈 Although we've started to make progress recently it's been very gradual, and he's still well behind his peers on that front. Even when he's 'willing', feeding takes forever. It's so annoying! DS is generally a lazy bones, at least your DD sounds very forward in other ways which is great. 😊

Just think of it as a start though. At least he’s now getting the taste for food which is brilliant. A lot of people have reassured me from this post that the same has happened to them and their children are absolutely fine now.
Yes DD is meeting other milestones early. She is very determined and knows what she wants and I don’t think it has helped with the feeding situation. She actually shakes her head and laughs sometimes when she sees a spoon coming as if to say “you can try but I’m not having it “ 🙈

OP, it's such a worry when they don't do something 'on track'. Have you tried smearing something spreadable on her fingers, if she mouths them? Something like chocolate spread or jam might go down well? Unless she doesn't like sticky hands.....

Shovingleopard- I’ve tried it a couple of times but not jam or chocolate spread, worth a try to see what happens

Lol aw she sounds very smart! My DS' approach is like "what's that?? 🤷‍♀️". He's just a bit dopey about food (for want of a better word!). He's never had a huge appetite, and just isn't bothered. His weight is good and milestones are technically on track but as the HV put it, he's at the slower end. I have a DD so I know these things vary but this has been surprisingly stressful. Just eat ffs!!! Lol. Must try and get to sleep now - can't believe it's nearly 2am - but please update on your progress if you can!

I think shoving might have a good plan there. Can you get her to smell stuff? If you can ask her to sniff stuff, then taste. Get a few contrasting things for each time, with an interesting smell. I'm thing warm strawberry jam for example. Warm bread. Gravy. So sniffing and tasting rather than actually eating.

shirleyschmidt- I hoo you managed to get some sleep lol. Yes I will keep you informed and let me know about your little one too if you could 😊

Wallywobbles- I’ve not tried her to smell things, it’s worth a try. Thanks for that

@Lucia201837 my DD is 16 months and practically lived on milk until about 13 months. When she started nursery at 13 months she was still on 5 bottles a day and was seeing a dietician, mainly because her weight had slowed over a number of months during the 1st year. Anyway fast forward to 16 months and she now eats everything, I'm getting her weighed next week and hoping she's put on more weight and is above the 2nd percentile.
At 14 months she was 16lbs 9oz so very petite and the lack of eating was worrying me somewhat and getting me quite stressed also. I'd been offering 3 meals a day since 7 months on the HV advice but with little interest. I remember she ate a strawberry once and another time a tiny piece of chicken and that was about it in the 6 months. The turning point for us was nursery,she started to eat some of her food and then it increased to most and now during her 3 days she eats all her food plus snacks.
She also eats well at home now but that's only more recently. I did BLW and spoon feeding combined from 6 months. I was wondering if you plan to put your DC into nursery as it may have a positive effect on eating like it did for us. Someone told me when they do start eating, look at what they eat over a wk rather than a day. That helped me especially when the eating was better at nursery than at home xx

Loveautum- that’s great to hear that she’s eating fine now. And reassured me that there is hope! Im due to go back to Work in a couple of weeks so she will be starting nursery in February but only for a day and a half a week. I’m glad you said how it helped your little girl as I’m hoping it will help mine too watching other children eat etc...
did your DD mouth toys at all? My DD doesn’t mouth anything but her fingers.
She sounds pretty much the same as yours with offering meals and no interest whatsoever.
So far her weight has been fine- she’s a big baby and on 71st centile, however she is due to be weighed tomorrow and I reckon it may have dropped has she has had a bad cold and not taken so much milk the last few weeks which hasn’t helped with the feeding etc...

@Lucia201837 sorry for the late reply. Yep she does and did put toys in her mouth. Her issue was that she would take a bite but just spit everything out. I think nursery will help, but if you can stretch to 2 full days that may help as well, plus your little one will be a bit more settled which in turn will hopefully help with the eating fingers crossed.
How was her weight after being weighed? That helps she's at least higher up the charts in terms of weight, but as soon as she starts walking she may not be gaining as much.
Looking back 10 months is still very young and even though some babies are on 3 meals plus snacks, some aren't but it doesn't help when you encounter mummies who's little ones are eating wonderfully ☹️
How many milk feeds is your little one on still? After 1 you can try and reduce the milk, which is what we've been doing slowly as well in the hope it makes her hungry for food. Like another PP said worth getting her mouth checked just to rule anything out. Keep us posted xx

Loveautum- sorry for the late reply back also, I was thinking about extending her days to two full days to be honest.
Her weight has come down as I expected. She’s now at the top of the 50th centile so come down from 75th but she has hardly been drinking with her bad cold.
She’s going to be referred to a speech and language therapist and also paediatrician just to check things out.
She actually put a toy in her mouth the other day so that was a positive.
Your right- it’s difficult listening to other people’s DC that are eating well but the replies I’ve had on this site as truly made me feel a whole lot better :)

Hey op, my dd was like this I couldn’t get her to eat anything. I tried for months and months and it was honestly getting to the point I was planning her 1st birthday party thinking she would end up drinking milk while everyone else ate.

Then at about 11ish months we were at a friends house and my friend offered her a biscuit. I told my friend ‘oh she won’t eat it’ and went to give it back at which point my dd took it out of my hand and started munching away on it. From that moment on she started eating normal food there was no soft foods or weaning etc, she was eating everything properly.

I’m not going to lie she’s a terrible eater now, to the point she does stress me out about her food, she grazes all day but won’t sit and eat a meal.

But to be fair she eats and drinks enough that’s she’s healthy all be it very slight but she is within a healthy weight range.
Why don’t you try leaving some bits around that she can try and come back to rather than get her to sit and eat a meal at a set time.
This is what I did with my dd, I put things like breadsticks, crackers raisens etc out around the lounge, things that werent going to spoil and could be left out for a few hours.
She would quite happily have a nibble carry on playing for a bit and then go back for more it could be worth a try.

Is your DD in nursery/childminder or around other kids? You'll be surprised what they do if they see their "friends" doing it! My DS only 2 stood up at the loo for a wee last week because "my friend at nursery stands up to wee".

@Lucia201837 hi again! DS is still doing better than he was, prepared to accept 'slop'. Not finger feeding though 😖 Just seen your update re speech and language therapist - why does your DD have to see one, is it connected to eating?Just wondering if I need to look into the same thing 🤷‍♀️😬

Bennismydog-that’s great to hear that your DD is now eating and maintaining a healthy weight.
Yes I do that on a regular basis when you mentioned leaving bits of food around. She will always pick it up and play with it but it never goes in her mouth 😫. Did your DD mouth at toys etc...?

Emzw12-that’s amazing how your DS does that at 2!
My DD will be starting nursery in February so I’m really hoping that will help the situation 🤞🏻

Shirleyschmidt- hey, glad your DS is still doing better. Slop is better than nothing lol so that’s a big positive!
Yes the speech and language therapist referral is regarding her feeding issues just to check that nothing physical is going on I suppose and apparently they can give advice etc..
maybe worth mentioning to your HV next time you go if your concerned. However it sounds like your LO is doing great now 👍🏻

All my 4 ate nothing till 12 months. Then ate a wide variety of foods but never huge amounts. I was very relaxed about it all. They are very healthy teens now and will eat anything. All luckily slim and sparky.

Grannyannex, thank you for your reply. Just out of interest, did you try and wean them before they were 1 and they wasn’t interested or did you wean them at 1?

@Lucia201837 been reading through this as this feels like us at the moment… 8’months in. I know it’s been years since this post n but wanted to know how you got on? Whether everything turned out okay and when there was a turning point? Xx please reply if you see this xxx

@Seeema2902
this flagged to me as a thread I had posted on.

The good news from our perspective is that our baby who was 15 months old before he would eat is now nearly 16 years old. He’s a typical teenager in so many ways after taking his time to eat as a baby. He is about 5’9” and very fit and active. He’s definitely not underweight any more, just a fit healthy teenager who eats just about anything he can find in the fridge/cupboard.

The only thing I can think of now with regards to food is that he doesn’t like gravy to touch another sauce on his plate.

Those days of really worrying about him eating anything at all have faded away over the years and I can’t really remember how awful it felt now.