Baby won't eat!

[Smogtopia]

My youngest is a few days shy of ten months and is terrible at eating!
He's the youngest of three so I thought I was pretty comfortable and confident and have followed the pattern I did with both my eldest two but baby will just not eat!

When and who could I speak to for help?

• baby was weaned on purées at 5 months 3 weeks. Initially reacted very badly to every flavour but I thought it's okay carry on it's all new.

-lots and lots of gagging and retching until vomiting initially but now this only tends to happen when offered anything but the smoothest of purées -low appetite - not that interested in anything and quickly shows signs of being finished with the solids / purées on offer -combi fed - breast mainly but occasional bottles - no tongue tie and great weight gain (98th centile!)

• baby doesn't or won't chew at all!! Solids get torn off with their top two and bottom two teeth but then are not chewed at all!!

-have tried offering food at all different times of day - with varying gaps between The previous milk feed

When should I be worried?? I suffered quite badly with PND and am not sure if I'm stressing over this. Baby is due to start nursery 5 days a week in April

Another stressful evening of no food going in him...

Hopeful bump

Would you consider switching to baby led weaning? It might take the pressure off. The Gill Rapley book explains it really well.

I'd speak to your HV if you're worried. It's probably fine, but everything takes so long these days that I'd get the ball rolling now just in case.

Do you mime chewing when you put the food in to encourage to them to do it? That can help. You may find they get it once they start at nursery and see everyone else having a go.

Every night I offer table food too - so whatever we're having eh gets some of. But he struggles so much - we eat together every single day as I have to feed my other two too - so he's around us watching us eat and I will mimic and exaggerate my chewing too as I saw that in a blw guide years ago.

It's just concerning me the lack of being able to chew - is understand him not liking spicy or sour or cold. But not making an effort of a chewing motion seems unnatural to me somehow. Neither of my eldest two had any issue whatsoever

I will speak to my HV (and I don't want to echo the recent sentiment on here) I just find they often give such strange advice or get things wrong. My first HV missed a huge tongue tie in my youngest and I just don't have much faith in them having the depth and breadth of knowledge needed for the role. That's why I'm wondering who else I could go to (privately if needed)

I also hope nursery proves to be a turning point although I fear with their short time with each child for feeding he may just be dismissed after a few spoons

Read 'My Child Won't Eat' and then stop worrying about it. Have you ever met an adult that only drinks milk? They all get there in their own time.

If there is a problem what you probably need is a dysphagia/feeding trained speech therapist (they do more than just speech problems).

To access one through the NHS you'll need to go via a HV or GP.

If you've got the funds to go private then maybe look into getting an appointment with one direct.

Of course he may just be a slow starter and it will self correct in a few weeks/months. But if you want professional advice that's the route to go.

I know rationally you're almost certainly right but I've never seen a baby exposed to food for 4 solid months and them not do any form of chewing - really makes me think it's a 'mouth' issue

Super helpful @NuffSaidSam thank you!