12 month old hardly eating and looking thin

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My 12 month old has never been that good of an eater but did ok overall. However, in the last couple of weeks his appetite seems to have disappeared. He seems to be living off scraps and a bit of fruit. He’s not even asking to BF much either. I feel like he’s starting to look thinner and his clothes seem looser. He’s recently started nursery and started walking too so I’m assuming he’s burning off more energy so I would’ve thought he’d be more hungry. He eats even less at nursery than he does at home but it’s bad at home too.

Is there anything I can do to help him eat more and maintain weight? He tends to throw most of his food or is just completely uninterested, even with his favourites. I try eating bits from his plate so he copies me and this works for maybe 1 bite or so. I try handing him bits. I’ve tried spoon feeding (which he completely refuses). I’ve tried just adding bits to his tray instead of a plateful. I’ve also tried ignoring him whilst I just eat mine. Nothing is helping and I’m worried about him wasting away!

Where is he for height and weight on the centiles chart/growth chart?

@NuffSaidSam 25th percentile when I last got him weighed a month ago

Is it just that he’s looking thinner or is he not gaining weight? Around this age they do tend to lose some of their “baby fat” as they are moving around more. My DS also used to go through phases where he didn’t seem very interested in his food and the GP told me to look at what he’s eating overall over the week because it’s normal to have days where they don’t eat much, then they make up for it on other days. If he is dropping on the centile chart though then I would get him seen by a GP.

Is he tracking his centile? Doesn't matter which he's on. Try sitting him on your lap while you're eating, and don't encourage him to eat just let him eat off your plate if he wants. It is normal for them to be a bit feast/famine though.

@headcheffer @Moonshine160 he was tracking his percentile a month ago but I feel like he’s started looking thinner since then. I need to get him weighed again. He has always had days where he’s eaten less and then makes up for it the next day but this time it’s gone on for much longer! I keep expecting him to demolish everything the next day but then it’s just more refusal or picking

Is he actually loosing weight - as in getting lighter? Or slimming down as he moves more, but maintaining - or better yet, increasing slowly - in terms of weight?

Track his weight closely and ask GP / health visitor for advice re how to get him to eat more.

Babies do go fat then thin then fat then thin, but when they are thing they should be getting taller and they should be roughly on the same centile. But eg my son’s thighs were bigger at age one than they were at age three.

How does he sleep? Does he snore or have a blocked nose? Does he rub his eyes a lot, etc?

My DD lost a lot of weight around that time, and I mean a lot, could see through her ribs. She had various things going on but it was also the time she became allergic to grass pollen. Roll forward twenty years and I know when she hasn't taken her antihistamines as her appetite is one of the first things to go.

His weight centile is a bit meaningless without his height centile. You say he's started walking and that will have had an effect, he could also have grown taller, which again would have an effect.

It doesn't really matter how often he feeds, your supply will be very well established and whether he feeds 3 times or 12, he'll be getting roughly the same amount of milk from you.

Can you give us an outline of when he feeds and what he eats in a day?

Do you spoon feed him bits?

Had this with DD.Things we were advised
Eat evening meal early as you can eg 5pm ( might not be possible with nursery)
Don't rush meals and make them cheerful occasions
Don't give fruit squash ribena or fruit juice
Separate out different foods on the plate

Found out that slow cooked meat was eaten better as less chewy

I think the first thing you need to do is get him weighed and measured. Babies do start to change shape at about this age- more like children, not babies. But do get the data before you start worrying!

But do get the data before you start worrying!

Exactly, if there is a problem they will need a baseline, recorded in his Red Book so do either go to a Weigh In Clinic or see your HV and get them to record his height and weight.

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto I’ll go get him weighed again to be sure.

He normally breastfeeds 4-7 times in 24hrs depending on whether it’s a nursery day and how often he wakes at night as I feed back to sleep. He doesn’t seem to take loads though and when I pump, I only get 2oz (although I know not necessarily direct correlation).

For breakfast he normally has a few spoonfuls of porridge made with fruit purée & peanut butter and a sliced strawberry. I breastfeed before his 2 naps. After naps he has a small snack of something like rice cakes, breadsticks, fruit or a couple of bites of a homemade porridge bar. For lunch I normally offer him something like omelette, sandwich, vegetable muffin, jacket potato & beans but he just picks at it. For dinner it’s normally something like pasta, chilli or curry and rice, jacket potato & beans, spinach & cream cheese puff pastry tart etc. But again, only eats a tiny amount or on a really bad day completely refuses. At nursery they say he only eats a little too.

What is his food schedule like with feeds is it like:
Wakes up BF
Breakfast
BF
Nap
snack
Lunch
BF
Snack
Tea
BF

Or is there also BF in between naps snacks and meals as it may be that he's filling with milk and if he's then picking at a snack and then shortly after being offered milk or a meal he isn't actually hungry.

If you're concerned you could always ring HV for advice as they can suggest specific high fat foods, like hard cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt (like Greek or natural that's full fat) etc.

My eldest always looked like a long skinny baby and that's continued and she is up and down with her eating but I just try to go with the flow, but she wasn't dropping centiles so that wasn't a cause for concern.

@Monstermoomin when he’s with me his schedule is like:

wake up & BF
breakfast
BF
nap
snack
lunch
BF
nap
snack
dinner
BF & bed

some days he doesn’t snack.

At nursery he just BF when he wakes up and at bedtime but it doesn’t seem to make him eat anymore.

I know you said he's not always been a great eater, has his portion intake reduced or just that he seems thinner and therefore seems like he's eating less?

I think it'd be good to get him weighed to see if he's dropping down that is of concern or just normal with walking etc and see if HV say to maybe look at a bit more regular weighs to check it isn't continuing to drop and what foods to try to increase.

That seems like a huge number of milk feeds for a 1 year old. I’d reduce the milk feeds and see if that encourages him to eat.

also get him weighed and measured and then track his centiles

@CorBlimeyGovnr on the days where he only feeds twice during the day and twice overnight, he doesn’t eat any more. From what I’ve been told by BF counsellors, lots of BF toddlers feed quite frequently and it doesn’t necessarily impact appetite. Some of his overnight feeds are very small and more for comfort suckling.

@Monstermoomin yes, his portion size has decreased. He’s always been quite picky and particular and has always refused spoon feeding but recently the quantity of his food has reduced from what he used to eat. Perhaps he’s just getting poorly 🤷🏻‍♀️

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto @Monstermoomin I got him weighed at the baby clinic this morning and he has lost weight since his last weigh in. He’s still between his centile but now at the low end of it/close to the one below. I spoke to the HV and she just said to monitor and keep trying with foods he likes and to get him weighed again next month and if loses again to see GP 😩

Did she measure him and did she record both the weight and height in his Red Book?

Hmm sounds as if his small tummy is getting filled up with breast milk and snacks, then no room for the dinner you describe offering.
In your situation I would probably try and reduce the frequency of the breast feeds so cut out some of the nap ones and say just give two feeds a day. Then increase the nutrition of his food in terms of protein and calories so porridge/scrambled egg/omelette, chicken and vegetable casserole/ mince and carrots, cheese sandwich/ cheesy pasta, fruit with custard or yogurt, fish or chicken goujons etc? Small portions first.
Obviously toddlers have their own preferences but a few rice cakes and bits of fruit is not going to help him put on weight.

And sorry to keep banging on but those two things are really important. If they weren't done, let us know

Yes I agree. It’s essential to get these concerns and details accurately recorded by health visitor/GP and to return for this regularly over next few weeks.

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto his weight was recorded by the HV but they never measure height in my area for some reason, never have done. Not sure what the reasoning is