10.5 month old still not eating solids and still on night feeds

[zenzenna]

My 10.5 month dd is still refusing to take solids, i have tried finger foods but at most she will just gum at them and not swallow. I am worried that she may have difficulty in chewing.
DD is milk intolerant so i am exclusively breast feeding. I am trying to reduce the night feeds but it is so difficult to stop her fussing and at the end of it we are both so exhausted due to lack of sleep.
Has anyone had similar problems trying in to cut night feeds, to encourage solid intake? How do you handle the fussing and crying, i have tried offering water. I just find she will just take longer feeds when offered and still really isnt interested in solids.Just fussy all day instead.I feel really exhausted with the whole process..

My ds didn't really become interested in solids until past 12mo. His appetite has increased over the last year despite still having night feeds at nearly 2yo.

I also have a milk intolerant dd (now 12 months) who until a few weeks ago was hardly eating anything. I cut out the night feeds previously by doing controlled crying, and then over the last few weeks have got down from 7-9 bfs a day to just 2. I did this by cutting out 1 at a time and keeping very busy so that dd was distracted from asking for it. Gradually she increased her solids intake, and now eats loads most days (not every meal, but enough of them). She now drinks water during the day, and has increased the amount she drinks considerably now that she isn't offered milk during the day.

We are blw so she just gets offered finger foods.

The problem for you is most likely the same, that she is too full to actually want to eat food as well. I reckon the chewing them is because they are interested in the taste and texture, but then they spit them out because they aren't hungry enough to want to swallow.

I have been told by the health visitor to keep offering foods. And to cut out night feeds. I dont think dd associates food with filling up her belly.
How often should i offer foods, i have been advised to just offer three set meals a day.

After 5/10 mins in the highchair she just becomes fussy and i take her off! I try not to give her a milk feed until a while later. What sort of routine should i take with her that could help.

I am considering being referred to a behaviour clinic just to help me through the process now but it may take a while getting on to it

Yes keep offering food and eating with her - I think three meals a day is fine. Actually, just whenever you eat something. So if you have a piece of fruit as a snack, for example, offer her a bite. My ds never really sat in the highchair for longer than 10 mins... what about if you sit her on your lap and let her help herself to your plate?

It is all very well for the HV to say cut out the night feeds, but that is much easier said than done, and not really necessary, IMO. Milk is still the most important thing at this stage. And trying not to be too anxious about how much they are eating

I'd say just take it at her pace. Even at 19 months, my ds is no whizzkid on solids - much better at the childminder's than at home I might add - if I was going to cut any feeds at all (I never have) I would cut a daytime feed, since you're obviously not going to be serving up a generous platter of purees / carrot sticks in the middle of the night.

She sounds like she's not ready. I would just go with the night feeds, and if you can, during the day arrange to meet up with other mums so dd can see other little ones eating food. Also, depending on how you feel, I would give yourself a holiday from the relentless 'offering three meals a day' routine, just to cut yourself a bit of slack. It's so demoralising preparing the food just for them to look upon it with disdain.

I would not be so worried, but she has started to lose weight and is now crawling and very active. She would feed all night if she could, yesterday she was up every one and a half hours for a feed , i feel sleep deprived to say the least!
When i let dd get hungry and feed her she is so fussy and cries that she will not even sit still to look at food, if i wait until she is not so hungry but not full either she will just play and gum. I feel i dont know what i should be doing with her, just A little lost

aaw, my sympathies. i'm not sure i have anything helpful to add but you do sound a bit glum about it. i remember vvvqv saying that to encourage her daughter to eat she pretty much dropped things on the floor... you coudl try that, so that she's eating but distracted at the same time.

i'd have to say that it's only at 12 months that my dd's solid intake has had any real impact on her milk intake. but i know that's not what you want to hear . and also the playing and gumming is what you want her to be doing but i can understand that you want her to eat too if you're worried about weight loss. (i never had dd weighed, but i did notice her fat levels going up and down).

hopefully it's just a growth spurt (or rather an intake spirt) brought on by the increased activity and will calm down a bit for you at night.

your lucky least your lo puts food in her mouth!! my ds only just started picking food up - a yorkshire pudding on sunday! he's 8 months on the 24th.

ds didnt get established on solids well until he was over a year old and he was still having night feeds for well past this.

we used to offer solids completely seperately to milk feeds. He fed pretty much 2 hourly so if he had a 6am feed I would offer solids at 7 and then he would have his 8am feed.

We did alot of just putting food in front of him on his tray and letting him play with it, dip his fingers in and lick them and so forth..he had a lot of trouble with his gag reflex so lumpy stuff took some time to get used to. We kept everything very low key and relaxed as much as possible and he is now 2 and a half and eats a huge range of foods with quantities that vary from larger amounts than his father to small nibbles through the day.

hth