My nearly 13 month old won’t eat at all

[Samantha1571]

So it’s been 7 months now since we started weaning our LO and he will not eat any solids at all. It’s been a long battle and we just don’t know what to do anymore. Even our health visitor doesn’t know what to do. She basically told us to just keep trying. All he wants is his milk…we have tried every single thing to get him to eat. We even stopped giving him milk for hours and hours before we tried to give him food/purees but he wasn’t having none of it…he won’t even drink water either so I’m also worried he may get dehydrated if we stop his milk. I basically just want to see if anyone has been in the same position as us and if their LO finally started eating? I’m just really worried about him and I don’t know what to do.

We use the 2 follow on milk. I will mention it…when I told the HV she didn’t seem to worried so we weren’t to concerned but because he hasn’t said it in a while, I am starting to worry.

Yeah we have done quite a lot but he still doesn’t eat

We were unable to get an appointment so I’ve got to call again on Monday. He did eat a bit of toast today which was amazing. Me and my partner were quite shocked

@Samantha1571 how are you getting on? We are in weaning hell, and trying to find some solace from anywhere that things will be okay. Babyled weaning and little one is barely taking anything well mostly nothing …
starting to feel worried at 8montjs I know it’s early but interested to know how your going? Our little one started nursery in May hoping this will help x

Hi, so he is eating a lot better but still not enough and he still wants his milk throughout the day and night. He is 14 months now so he really does need to eat a lot more. He still refuses water which is stressful so we have been advised to put less formula in his milk and more water. Does your LO eat anything at all or are they refusing it all together? My LO refuses all foods/purees. The HV said that a lot of babies do refuse food so it is common but she said to just keep offering food and they will eventually eat it. If they are under one, breast milk/formula is their main source of food so I was told not to worry so much and I never thought i would still be here at 14 months but I’m just hopeful he will eat normally soon 🤞🏻 and drink water which is the main concern now.

Im thinking of contacting the health visitor, im doing lots of offering he’s getting so upset in the highchair. I don’t want him
ti have a negative association so I tend to remove him try my lap but that never really brings much joy. He hates the spoon. Slams it around. Makes giving things like porridge and oatmeal so so hard.

at the moment he sits with his hands up and Jusr cries. I managed to get him interested in a nectarine but it was short lived today. I don’t know what to do for the best and what to try and what to leave it feels so so demoralising. Are you bf or formula feeding? I’m not sure at what point your meant to ask for help or if this is something u just have to navigate? Do you offer milk before solids? X

Perhaps he doesn't like being spoon fed? My second one was like this and we did baby led weaning. They like to be in control. She really took off once she got the hang of it. Google it.
You might be worried about choking but honestly their gag reflexes are really good.
Try things like toast fingers, strips of mango, omelette cut into strips, strands of spaghetti. Then you can move onto things like peas which they love picking up with their cute little fingers

@Notstrongandstable

we’ve abandoned spoons been pretty much leaving him with food. Only when he doesn’t pick up food we offer some from
ohr hands or tap the table to reengage him. I Jusr feel lost looked into babyled weaning tonnes and been following solid starts too. Jusr not enjoying this phase x praying nursery will help

My son was the same. He hated the highchair and hates bibs. He stands now so we fed him when he stands up and it seems to work for us.

He has formula. He should only really be having 1-2 milks a day as he is nearly 15 months old but he still wants at least 6 within 24 hours especially at night. Maybe contact the HV and speak to them because I did when he was around 8-9 months old. They will probably tell you just to keep trying. Try and offer him breakfast first and then milk.

Hi @Samantha1571 @Seeema2902

Hope you and your little ones are well

I'm in the same position with my 13 month old. Any luck for you guys? Did it get better?

My LO was very uninterested in food until about 11 months but even then, really wasn't that keen. He's 3 now, he now eats things like broccoli, salmon, tomatoes...literally never thought it would happen but it did.

Things which helped:

• Not using highchair, sitting in parents lap for meals and being fed from your plate.
• After refusing most of my home cooked food i found a brand of pouch food he did like which i gave him lots of and that seemed to open him up to other food. a gateway food can help, ime.
• i stopped stressing about vegetables and he ate fruit instead.
• never stopped offering the healthy food. keep persevering. its now paying off.
• stopped stressing. wish i had stopped worrying tbh, it ruined so much time.

@flowerpop

Thank you so much for your reply and really useful tips

He definitely eats better if I feed him out the high chair

So glad your little one eats a nice variety. Gives me hope

I agree, I stress so much its ruining everything!!

What was the brand of pouch if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks

**@Hazzyyy https://babease.co/collections/all?page=2 

It was this brand called Babease ^ no idea why he liked that in particular.

Actually something else that I did which REALLY helped was to say if you eat 2 more mouthfuls or try this veg, then you can have pudding. This is when my son was a toddler. I know it’s not the best parenting to offer rewards like that but I was desperate. Pudding was full fat greek you with a spoonful of jam. He was delighted with that! And it meant he got more protein and fat. Win win if you’d mind bribes.

He was vary motivated by the pudding and tried a lot more things.

And nursery helped! Just mainly just generally getting older and hungrier!

He did get better but he is still very fussy. He hasn't eaten much for the past few days because he is in a lot of pain with his teeth. We have just come to accept that he isn't keen on food and just give him foods like he likes

@Samantha1571

I think I'll have a fussy one on my hands too!
Just need to stop worrying but it's so hard. Hope the teething pain doesn't last long. Thanks for replying

@flowerpop thank you so much for the link, I'll definitely have a look.
Yes don't mind bribes at all! I'll do anything! I'm quite relaxed about what he eats, as anything is good! Thanks again