11mo lost his appetite - need food to tempt him, please

[cornflakegirl]

My 11mo son had a tummy bug last week. Just vomiting, and only one day, but he's been tired and off his food since (he had the bug last Wednesday, so only a few days).

He eats okay in the mornings - porridge with fruit, and yogurt and banana - although not back to normal quantities yet. But he now seems to require the banana to be mashed.

Other meals are a bit of a dead loss. Tried pasta with sweet potato and ricotta yesterday - normally wolfs it down - but he just ate a few small spoonfuls and then everything else he took he spat straight back out. Today's ratatouille all got spat straight out!

Even toast, which he normally loves, he will only eat about one third of a slice, and throws the rest of it on the floor...

He'll eat yogurt no problem (been a fave for ages) and seems to suddenly love raisins.

Anyone got any suggestions for other foods we could try to tempt him with?

(He's still breastfeeding okay three times a day, so I'm not too worried. It's more that I don't want to deprive him of solids if there are things that he might enjoy...)

Maybe stop the full meals for a day or so and tempt him on finger foods for a while (at least it's low on preparation so you're not throwing food out that's taken time and effort to prepare...

carrot/apple sticks with hummous?

toast and marmite?

sticks of cheese?

Thanks for the suggestion Feistybird. Sadly finger foods haven't really been a goer for a few weeks... Ds has developed a habit of picking them up, breaking / biting off enough to put in his mouth and throwing the rest on the floor. And if we put more than two bits in front of him (one for each hand), the rest automatically gets swept on to the floor - even if he's still hungry. It's even more annoying than having him reject food I've prepared - at least I can eat that if he doesn't want it! :)

Apparently, the BRAT diet is good for tummy bug recovery. Bananas, rice, apple puree (or stewed apple) and toast. If it helps, it took about 3 weeks for DS to recover from his bug - he would only eat bits here and there. But I offered him meals and upped the bfing to make up for the rejected ones, and once he was feeling better, he started scarfing virtually everything in sight.

thanks for the tip corriedale. sadly, upping breastfeeds isn't really an option - it's my husband who looks after him during the day. and haven't had much luck with expressing recently. ds is getting weighed at clinic today, so if he's lost too much, may have to start offering some formula when he doesn't want food...

Just a thought but could it be teething as well as recovery from tummy bug - My DD refused anything savoury when teething I just stuck with extra meal(s) of porridge and fruit puree and yoghurt as you have been doing and she soon got her appetite back. DD is 2.4 now and still a pita with food

yeah, i've been wondering about that - but he hasn't really had any appetite loss with teething before - and i think it's his other two bottom incisors he's due to get next, so i wouldn't have thought they'd be particularly different? mind you, that's on the assumption that past behaviour is any sort of guide to the future! :)