Baby not eating and hasn't gained weight in 2 months

[KnittingNoodle]

I hope someone can help. My 9 month old barely eats a thing. I wouldn't mind, I know milk is their main source of nutrition, but I had him weighed today and he hasn't even gained an ounce since 7 months. Dropped centiles. He is not mobile yet so it's not that he's burning it all off; not been particularly unwell or anything either. I bf on demand (he won't take a bottle or formula) so have no idea how much milk he's getting, but I already offer very frequently (still on 3 night feeds and every couple of hours during the day!) so don't see how I can increase this.

We offer a combination of mashes and BLW-style finger food. He rarely opens his mouth for the spoon. Finger food he mostly chews and it falls out.

What can I do to encourage him?

A friend's ds was similar until his tongue tie was snipped-has all that sort of thing been checked? What did your HV suggest?

Thanks MsPickle - I do wonder about that, as he's always had quite a shallow latch for bf and takes in lots of wind, although he gained weight well until 6 months so I didn't give it much thought. I'll try and get someone to have a look at him for it. HV has suggested things that I've already tried and is a bit stumped - she's advised to just keep offering food in various forms and not getting too stressed about it. Easier said than done

Where in the country are you? Have you good breastfeeding groups? Often very knowledgable people there.

How are you getting on now? I recommend getting him checked for tongue tie too. Have a read of how might I increase my baby's weight gain too and is there a bfing support group you can get to?

Thanks for the link JiltedJohnsJulie - I love that website but had missed the page on increasing weight gain so it was really helpful to read that.

Good news - a couple of days after my OP, DS decided to actually start eating! He takes a spoon and swallows and everything! I'm not sure what has changed - maybe he is just ready for it? Or perhaps he reads Mumsnet and took pity on me. He is like a different baby at mealtimes. I just hope it continues.

I'm having him weighed in a couple of weeks, ie a month after the last one, so fingers crossed his new appetite will start to show up in his weight. If not, HV advised to see GP to check for anaemia and other things.

Re the tongue tie - I've been watching his tongue like a hawk and there doesn't seem to be much restriction. I'd still like to get it checked out properly though, so will go to our local bf group - there is a very experienced infant feeding coordinator there once a month (I spoke to her when DS was a newborn) so hopefully she will be able to advise.

Thanks again JJJ and MsPickle

That's such good news knitting. Glad you found the kellymom article useful. If you want to ram a few more calories into him try adding olive oil to food and things like mascarpone, so if he's having pasta or curry, stir in a big dollop of mascarpone.

Hope the visit to the bfing support group is fruitful too

knitting if you are looking at increasing your LOs weight, I'd try to avoid shop bought baby food as much as possible. Yes, I've fed it to my DC but this recent article suggests that they would have to eat twice the amount to get the same nutritional value. Like most things with children, they are probably fine in moderation but I'd try to avoid using them too much

How is your Lo with oily fish? Things like salmon and sardines are calorie dense and very good for them. Have you tried avocado as well?

Just read your article Tiara. God that sounds like hard work! Can't see me ever making pigs or faces out of food, all sounds a bit too AK for me. I'm more of a, the foods here, you eat it or you go hungry type of mum

knitting forgot about smooth nut butters! We had a short time, about the same age when our DDs weight sort of plateaued. She used to love a crumpet with butter and nut butter. Peanut butter is fine but if you can get hold of almond butter it's particularly high in calcium