My 1yr old doesn't eat much of anything

[Chockiebiccie]

My 1 yr old doesn't really eat much. She weights 19lbs which is 2lbs lighter than she should on the percentile - she is average height. She was breastfed up to 6 months and was a really chubby baby at that point. We changed to formula with no problems. Weaning was a different story. I was leaning towards BLW, for the convenience but really had no choice as she totally refused to be spoonfed. So since about 6 months she picks at a few things every day.

The HV reckons that she is getting too much bottle - she was on 3 x 9oz bottles a day, I've cut that back to a 9oz and a 7oz now, but this doesn't seem to have had any effect on the amount that she eats. Today, she just had about a quarter of a slice of toast and a little bit of pasta and that is it.

I'm at a loss to know what to do. I have tried various different foods with her, and I am so sick of just dumping food that she doesn't eat. Does anyone have any experience of this and any ideas of what could help?

Ignore percentiles and don't get stressed about it. As long as you give them lots of opportunities they won't starve themselves.

Well thats what I've been doing all along, but when I see other kids the same age as her, they are much more stocky. She has no meat on her bones at all and I'm afraid it will affect her development.

Do you sit together at meal times and eat the same thing?

Yes and not by choice or design. She's never eaten purees, homemade or shop bought, she just clamps her mouth shut if offered so I gave that up a long time ago. Dinner is probably the best meal of the day for her and she will eat any type of meat, but no veg at all. I often steam cauliflower, brocolli, carrots etc for us and she just moves them around the tray. She has no problem in dealing with different flavours e.g. curry or fajita flavouring etc. She just eats very little of it. She won't touch potatoes either and isn't a great fan of bread - its like she is doing her own low carb high protein diet.

This morning for example, she had cheerios on her tray - which she will often scoff, but didn't touch, toast with full fat laughing cow on it and half a banana. She mashed some of the banana into her mouth and left the rest untouched. That was a really good breakfast for her.

Hi, my 14-month old DD is exactly the same as your DD. She used to be so chubby, then had hip surgery and now is much more bony and thin

She has a bottle of formula in the morning, a small one (3-4oz)one before the school run and one at bedtime, so approx. 15-18oz milk a day. We all sit together at meals, offer her gods amount of variety, yet still she isn't interested!

My advice is, as long as your DD isn't dangerously or severely underweight, persevere. They go through stages of just not needing as much food, then growth spurts where they want more, or learning to accept new flavours better etc. My first DD did exactly the same thing around this age, I was so fixated on her eating the 'right' amount,but now I relax more because I have no idea what the right amount is day to day

Maybe ask GP about vitamin supplements?

I'm keeping her on the follow on milk rather than cows milk because it has all of the vitamins and all that - probably a load of marketing tosh. She does sound the same as your DD. She was such a chubster when she was breastfeeding and loved her food so much, its like she never progressed further than that point where she was trying new foods. I remember going to lunch with a mummy friend and she pulled out a container of homemade textured something or other and her DS scoffed the whole thing. I was just looking on open mouthed, my DD wouldn't eat it in a week. Her DS was having 3 poos a day and my DD still only has one. I know boys are different and the worst thing in the world to do is compare. I feel I should be doing more to encourage her to eat and that I am failing in that regard :(

I am concerned that it might be turning into a power struggle between mother and child and in turn the child doesn't want to play. I'm saying this because I have a friend who swears that her 1 year old only gets down nutella and bread but when I've been round to her house they are constantly "at" the child around the highchair and I think it's too much stimuli going on and if she she wants to squish a grape and drop food on the floor it's not the end of the world.
Saying that it is quite hard to give an opinion on mn on this Also in light of recent stories in the news.

Get some people around for dinner, have a spag Bol let her play in it and let her see people enjoy good food together.