Food just for fun until he's one...

[StealthPolarBear]

Well he's one now, and still not eating enough to keep a stick insect alive
TBH he has been ill since march and has been off his food but even when well he wasn't ever a big eater. Family starting to mutter omiously about me stopping bf...please just give me some encouragement!

Um.....why would stopping breastfeeding, which is full of calories and nutrition, make your little 'stick insect' heavier and keener on solids?

I think the logic is that you stop breastfeeding, and the child is so desperately hungry that he wolfs down whatever solid food you stick in front of him. And the volume of these solid foods add up to more than he would have got when bf ... somehow.

Seems to me to be rather an unkind way of going about things. There are many ways of encouraging a wider repertoire of solids without 'starving' him into submission

Can I give you my mum's number?
I think the main point is that I am at work all day and he still is eating very little -she looks after him. Plus mum is looking after him overnight next month and I think she is panicking about keeping him alive for 24 hours.
How do we encourage him to eat? He knows what to do, he just shows very little interest.

Or if he does show inteerst it's to sweep everything on the floor in a tantrum

OK, done my usual - post a thread on MN and the problem resolves itself (hopefully)
We did wonder if as he was becoming more mobile whether he felt penned in by his high chair and didn't like being in it. Just given him 3 fingers of dairylea sandwich and he's eaten almost everything - over a quarter of a sandwich, on the floor. That is probably more than he has eaten in total in the last month.
Must remember to close the dining room door next time...
Well, we'll see how he goes! Thanks for your reply tiktok. I am going to read up on ebf and breastmilk nutrition so I have some facts for next time I am questioned!

Stealth, that is good news, and this is a technique used by 'food refusal' clinics, too - make the physical surroundings of the mealtime a bit different. Other tips:

• try and eat with him, even if it is not your tea time

• take the anxiety out of it (eating with him does this, too)

I might worry, if I were you, that your mum is making a big deal of it and he is picking up on that. At a year, he is just about capable of understanding enough when he hears her fretting to you (in front of him) that he is not eating anything...

Thanks. We do always eat with himm, as we try to give him what we're having. Good point about the stress though, we are very stressed at the moment as he has been so ill and is refusing all food. He is also having tantrums in his chair and flinging food on the floor. I think we just need to not react when he does it and not discuss why he isn't eating!

you have my sympathies and support SPB. Ds was like this. then around 18 months he discovered he likes food. now i have to pack a flippin' picnic with me where ever i go because he's ALWAYS hungry.
(and i was BFing until he was 2 no appetite change what so ever before and after!)

Hi Stealth, my DS sounds very similar to yours! I was waiting for him to open his mouth for food like a little bird and it just never happened. He has started eating a little more now although though his diet is not very varied (and he is still a milk monster). I think I am a bit more relaxed about it now which has really helped.

He's not keen on the highchair and tends to eat more when he is 'distracted' (and I guess when I am not sitting there putting pressure on him), so we have been having picnics in the garden at the moment, and he often munches on things in the buggy.

I find eating with him works - we share a bowl of Oatibix in the morning, sharing the same teaspon. Its one spoon for him, one for me, one for him....we must look a bit odd, but he seems to enjoy it!

I haven't been brave enough to leave him with anyone overnight yet though!

Thanks you two. ppp how old is your DS? I might try the one for me one for him thing...although oatibix would make a big mess when thrown

My DS will be 1 in a few days. He's pretty messy - not got the hang of plates or bowls yet (even the sticky down ones get pulled off and chucked on the floor). I just keep tight hold of the Oatibix bowl! He likes his own spoon as well to dip in, so I make sure I do breakfast in my dressing gown and get changed for work at the last minute otherwise we would both be covered.

"although oatibix would make a big mess when thrown"

Messy is fun !!!

When my DD was little, I would strip her naked and sit her on an open terry nappy on the floor, give her a bowl of messy food (wheatabix and milk, porridge, jelly etc)...step back and watch the fun.

She would coat herself in food, eating some and coating her hair in the rest. She loved it and I have loads of photos of her enjoying her food.

I always had a bath ready run and would carry her up in the terry nappy to avoid dripping mess everywhere.

i remember vvv saying that in order to get her wee boy to eat she had to leave a trail of bits and bobs around the floor...
dd loves a picanic too, i'd take advantage of this lovely weather if i were you.

DD was the same. Only started eating at 13 months and then still very little. Even now she has a tiny appetite. She doesn't like milk on her cereal (unless it is from my bowl so I give it to her dry and leave whatever she doesn't finish out for her to pick at, she'll have a tiny sandwich or something for lunch, then pick at cheese or fruit through the afternoon. She usually eats a decent dinner but is easily put off it if ill or teething or just too tired. If I didn't let her graze she wouldn't eat much at all

maybe grazing is the answer...and keeping my floor clean enough to eat off
He seems to be recovering as well (he's much happier) and is eating tiny bits, enough to keep G'ma happy

Oh and we are having a teddy bear's picnic in a month or so I think as he was too ill to have a birthday party!

Oh don't worry about keeping the floor clean-it only gets covered in food anyway