My baby barely eats food? when to worry? tips for increasing solid consumption in reluctant baby

[mamapants]

I know milk is main source of nutrition up till 1 but some days my 9mth old DS refuses to eat any solids at all. He isn't increasing quantities at all, in fact he ate ok to start with but now refuses food most of the time.

He will occassionally eat if you follow him round the room offering him food but has a strop in the high chair- he doesn't like to be still.

He has milk feeds every 3hrs and feeds during the night. Attempts at cutting this down are met with massive tantrums.

Anybody experienced this? Did it suddenly resolve itself? Any tips?

Dd didnt eat until she was 13 months. Very frustrating as when I'd tried to start weaning her at 5.5 months she had initially seemed quite happy to start. She jyst never went past the one or two mouthfuls stage.

She is now almost 7 and not at all fussy.

he's probably not that hungry if he is having milk feed every 3 hours so doesn't see the point of sitting down and eating at mealtimes.
I wouldn't chase him round with food. Could you extend the breaks between feeds very gradually by being out when it was milk time and offering a cup of water or a banana or something?

Hi Freakoid - glad she eats well now.
Sounds quite similar he started off stealing my food but has now lost interest. I guess if he was hungry he'd eat more though.
I am worrying about what will happen when I go back to work though. As he is EBF and will barely drink out of a cup and completely useless with a bottle. I guess he will get on with it once I'm not there - hopefully.

Tommy- I know the following him offering food is ridiculous and silly just get frustrated sometimes as all his food ends up in the bin. But he will occassionally find a rice cake or something he's discarded and eat it on the go.
If I offer him finger foods he tends to just throw them away and carry on playing.
He does eat well for a couple of days sometimes then just stops. He clamps his mouth shut or tantrums if I try and spoon feed him and throws everything else on the floor.

sounds like he likes his mummy milk so much he doesn't need to eat anything else!
I had a really fussy eater, an ok one and a great one. The one who is great now was BLWed and I never angsted about him at all (having used up all my angst on the first one). I suppose what I'm trying to say is not to worry about it too much - he doesn't know that he's "meant" to be hungry at set times of the day. Just have the option of the highchair up at the table when you are eating and let him choose whether he wants to eat.

My ds2 was like this. He was mainly breastfed till 18mths. He is now ten and eats like a horse, eats anything and everything and is skinny as a rake. He continued to bfeed until he was almost four yrs as well.

Just offer food and sit down to eat with him. Fine to offer snacks as well during the day, keep it fun and he will get there :)

Thanks I know I shouldn't worry but its hard when I see other babies eating 3 big meals a day as well as all their milk feeds when my DS can go all day without anything touching his lips.

However he has just eaten unprecedented amounts of food at my mums. So I think no source of milk available helps. Also no high chair at my mums so he is eating while standing up playing. I do wonder if he is just too busy for eating. BF is the only time he's still.

It sounds like he is just full of milk from the regular feeds. I had this problem with DD (11 months) as I was feeding her most of the night and also whenever she 'nagged' me for it during the day. I was going with the flow but found that she had dropped down a centile at her last weight check. I did some reading and decided to night wean (well cut down dramatically from 7+ feeds and co sleeping to maybe 1 feed and DD in her own cot) then I allowed her only two day feeds and lots/as many as she wanted after bath and before bed. This new routine started on Wednesday and her eating has improved dramatically already! She is even accepting some yogurt from a spoon which was absolutely a no no before. Next weight check is in 10 days so hopefully she'll be back on the right line!

dc was similar. until 10m when they just started eating.
we just had dc with us at the table at mealtimes and plonked a few bits on the tray in front. picked it up and sucked a bit on it and dropped most on the floor but proper quantities only came later.

Same as mousy. At 10m she suddenly "got" solids and now eats really well.

Neither of my DC have really eaten much until around 12m TBH.

How ok'd will he be when you go back to work? Sounds like you haven't got any worries if he's eaten loads at your mums anyway? Have you talked through your plans to return to work with a BFC? Have you got te helpline numbers? Could your mum have her one morning a week for you?

As for refusing solids and not eating, its fine he doesn't eat but he still needs to sit at the table if that's what you do. Would he sit on your knee? Would he eat if you stuck the TV on?

I'd also try solids before bfing if you can, so if he has a feed at 6-7 am maybe ask your DH to take him downstairs and give him his breakfast instead. Nits only recommended to offer milk an hour before solids to make sure they get enough milk and he seems to be getting plenty .

Has anyone recommended My Child Won't Eat by Carlos Gonzalez too?

How old not how ok'd. My typos are getting worse

Marking place to come back later as I am in very similar boat with dd2 - what has helped slightly is to give her a piece of something to hold whilst I try to shove purée in! A daily battle!

I will be doing a couple of half days from when he is 10.5mths and 3 full days from when he is a year.
He can't go to my mum as she works full time.
We have made some progress in the last couple of days though as I've been thinking more about the timing of the food. I had been leaving it till quite a bit after his milk feed as I thought he'd be hungrier and more likely to eat but he was getting very upset when I tried this tactic so have tried a few different timings and about 40mins after milk seems to be working well.
I have also started pureeing the food finer as he used to eat ok I was making his purees thicker and I think this may be when he went off food. He can eat lumps and bits but think he finds it easier with the puree and that is what he has a t my mums.
So he seems to be eating better and seems to be sleeping better too!!!
So will keep going.it really helped talking on here as it made me think about it all. So fingers crossed!

That's good then. Have you got your childcare sorted? It might be worth talking to your childcare provider to see what food times will be there and what he'll be having, just so that you can keep it in mind.

I'd still talk to a BFC about returning to work. The last thing you want is to get mastitis like this dumbo

I hadn't thought about talking to a BFC but now you are making me think it would be worthwhile. I had thought he would have cut down a bit of his own accord by now.
He will only be having lunch at childcare which I'm going to be providing to start with- and some snacks too.
I think we are going to have to do some trials and figure out what will work best. I'm thinking he'll need a snack early on to make sure he isn't too hungry and upset and I was thinking a beaker of cows milk too? We are working on beakers and have found one he seems to get on better with after a few attempts.