14 month old not eating

[StealthPolarBear]

I'm sorry for starting this thread again, I seem to do it a lot.
My 14 month old has never been a good eater but his eating has recently dipped to new lows. He is fussy in the range of fodd he will eat, and also the quantity.
I am working almost full time (4 long days a week) during which time he is with mum or at nursery. Nursery are very worried and suggesting I talk to HV - they say he is the worst eater they have ever seen (well not quite in that tone!)
The options seem to be:

• Stop breastfeeding, as he will then have to eat some real food
• Stop breastfeeding on demand and limit it to morning and night
• carry on, assuming he will start to eat at some point...

He has a cough at the moment, but there always seems to be something. He's low weight but not excessively so (about 19lb) and is slowly putting on weight. Any ideas?

Well I know all babies are different...some are fussy and others not, when it comes to food.

Our baby is not even 8 kilos and she is 10 months. She has been refusing food on and off for a while since April. It has resulted in a loss of weight and no further weight gain. Because she is also developmentally behind I decided to get her admitted to hospital for checks. HOSPITAL - because of the no weight gain and also because it has been a while of food refusal - to the point where it was getting impossible to feed her. They have taken blood, urine and stomach ultrasounds, ear nose and throat checks, checks for allergies etc basically they are doing a whole load of checks to rule out illness and other factors which could cause long term lack of appetite.

You may not have to go to such an extreme - a simple visit to the doctor to rule out infection or other probs may be enough. Every baby probably has a difficult phase - but I think you can trust your instinct too in knowing if he is just being a bit picky for a bit or if there maybe an underlying cause. I would really only worry if over a period of couple of months there is VERY LITTLE or no weight gain - like us, or any other developmental problems. In your case it just sounds like typical toddler fussiness...but checks never do any harm at all if you feel a bit concerned.

So sorry to hear about the stress you are under, hope your baby is well soon. Is she still in hospital? When are you expecting any results?
Your post does put it all into perspective, I have also had a bit of a better conversation with the nursery owner who said she was upset because she felt they were starving him, which is why she was a bit ~~~ can't think of the word ~~~ on the phone before. They gave him a bottle of milk after talking to me and she says he has been much better.
I don't have any specific developmental worries, although I have wondered in the past to what extent a baby being underweight affects their physical and mental development. Can anyone explain this to me, or is it all very much dependent on the individual baby?
Has anyone been through this with a very fussy child who could quite happily live on milk at this age (I honestly believe he would if we didnt offer him food)? Was there anything that changed the pattern? What did you say or do when people expressed concern?

No advice Stealth, but don't feel bad about posting the same thing over and over. I've started about a million threads on dd's sleep, and have never plucked up the courage to try anything suggested. Although I always say I will.

No doubt I'll do it again.

lol
Don't even get me started on his sleeping

he slept really well for about 3 nights running earlier this week, now he wakes himself coughing...hoping once that is gone he will get back to that

Can I ask what exactly is the problem with sleep? I have recently solved the 'feeds to sleep, wakes when put down in cot issue' and want to share it with the WORLD!

bump for the evening lot

hungry bump

Stealth - check out the number of times I have posted this! Don't worry. DD is nearly 14m and is so unpredictable with food that I either had to stop worrying or have a breakdown (seriously). I don't think breastfeeding is the problem. It could well be delayed teething as DD has been teething with canines for past month and they're still not through. She hates anything touching her sore gums. Or it could just be that he's stopped growing.
As long as hes having snacky bits here and there I wouldn't worry - so may people have ponted out to me that its better not to force them and allow them to actually feel hungry. I very hard to watch them reject food though - I know that feeling so well...

Stealth - share with me your wisdom on sleep!!!

my baby is ok... she is behind developmentally but they have ruled out some major things..she had MRT brain scans and other things done like ENT...and other tests and all ok. She is out of hospital and she will start physio.

With eating and drinking...she is still refusing.. but it could be teeth. I know with her first four teeth (two at the top, two at the bottom), we had weeks of awkward drinking and eating. We will see...the hospital said we could take her back if things turn for the bad again and she loses more weight.

Its just as soon as anything goes in her mouth she pushes it straight out. As soon as bottle teet touches the gums she turns her head away. will keep you posted.

My DD is 15 months and eats very little. She's been particularly bad this last week and has been crying very easily so there is something up like teeth or tummy ache? etc. hence why was looking at the not eating threads.
I keep having to tell myself to relax as she's slim build but very whizzy so it's not slowing her down.
Don't think stopping breat feeding will make much difference. My DD was breast feed exclusively till 7 months moved over to formula only by 9 months. Didn't make any difference only started eatting properly by about 10-11 months. My DD is slowly getting better but think you have to trust they know what they want. And will eat as much as they need.
But have great sympathy as is so tedious making stuff only to throw it away and having to mental tally the dismally small calories during the day.
My DD slept 9-10 hrs straight for first 4 months then it was all down hill from there. Most nights is up at least 3 times. It is slowing improving again (or though bad when she's unwell or teething) but definately think it's connected to food and how much she eats. Good Luck with your little one.

My 18 month old is still breastfeeding and she too wont eat much. thankfully i only work one long day a week, and 2 half days. i sympathize with you as i dread my long day knowing she will prefer to go hungry and wait for me. I am 'building' myself up to stop feeding her, not sure how exactly as shes so attached and now knows exactly where it comes from. A philopinno woman i work with suggested garlic, chilli or something horrid on my breasts to put her off.They do similar things in Africa apparantly. Dont really fancy that option. With my son i went cold turkey at 20 months because i was ill, and he handled it better than i thought- but he was eating other stuff. I guess your son and my ds wont eat properly all the while we're giving in and breastfeeding them. Many people mention the problems of establishing breastfeeding but no one ever tells you how hard it can be to stop! Advice anyone.....

Ds is so so fussy and unpredictable at eating, and is so slow to gain weight. He is nearly 8mo and weighed 14lb 2 and a half oz last week. Sometimes he'll eat really good for a week then suddenly refuse to eat most things for a week, he's never been a big milk drinker either. I worry the slow weight gain will affect him although he seems to be developing pretty well at the moment apart from being small.
Sometimes he'll eat brilliantly at lunch time and terribly at tea time, I just don't get it?!
We have tried allsorts, have been battling to feed him for as long as I can remember and none of the suggestions I try seem to work long term, some work once or now and again but then we just get the refusing food/milk again.
He's had a pretty bad day today, only had 16oz of milk all day, ate a fromage frais for breakfast which took ages, ate carrot and aple at lunchtime but refused his pudding then ate his pudding at tea time but refused his beef stew puree, He's gotten too tired now so we're in the position we find ourselves in a lot which is that he has to go to bed but we don't feel he's had enough food , I find that if he's tired too it makes the food/milk refusal even worse.I don't have any good advice at the moment, got an appointment to see a paediactric doctor and paed nutritionist next tuesday, I'm hoping so much they'll be able to give us some helpfull advice/answers...

as long as he's developing fine and reaching his milestones within normal limits i wouldnt worry. if he lacked goodness from his diet he'd be lethargic and he sounds just fine. My dd is a very poor eater ( because i still breastfeed) - i dont know what she weighs as i dont have her weighed regularly (weight charts are just a guide and they send mothers paranoid)She's alert, full of energy, and ahead of her peers with regard to what she can do so she must be getting her goodness. At 8 mths i wouldnt expect a diet of too much more than milk, solids are really just being introduced. Sounds like you are doing just fine.just need to check out that his low weight is not due to anything else.

Yeah he's developing well, the latestthing i'm woried about is that he can't sit unaided yet however but he rolls all over the place and is very strong so guess he'll get there. Last few days he's still not been taking enough milk however, 16 and a half oz on thurs then 16oz yeasterday don't know why this sudden drop has happened... he was taking 19-20oz a day, he's not eating more than he was so I just don't understand it? Whenever I tell hv's how much milk he has they just say to offer him more feeds but this doesn't work AT ALL with him, if he takes any milk from an extra feed he'll deduct that amount from his other feeds so he'll still end up taking the same amount over the day. If he doesn#t finish a bottle I always give him 20-30 mins, warm it and try him again a few times but if he doesn't want it there is nothing I can do to encourage him to take it and if I persist he just gets upset/annoyed and arches his back to get away from the bottle so I really can not get him to drink more than he does. I usually stop offerning the milk as soon as he gets upset as I don't want him to associate feeding with being forced to feed or getting stressed which is only likely to make it worse!

Hi there,
My little one is 14 months and I am 100% glad I found your thread to know I am not alone! My little one has a great couple of eating days about once a month lol otherwise it is 4 or 5 spoons of anything-or less now as she wants to do it herself and it goes everywhere and then she pushes it away.
My lo is very definite when she's had enough and pushes things away shaking her head and making a little no sound. I feel so frustrated as almost everything will go on the floor too. She has only just got the hang of a sippy cup too and takes a couple of sips a day-great guns I know!
The health visitor is urging me to reduce breastfeeding (currently four times in 24hrs) so that I 'adjust her behaviour' to eat more food. I feel like the bf gives me some reassurance that she is getting fluids and a few calories...I am struggling to get anything like a balanced diet in either-can a child survive on fruit and fromGe frais? Lol
I feel like no one bar my bf colleagues (I'm a midwife), supports me fb past a year. I feel so lost what to do!
Lo is doing well on fine motor skills and is about 3 months slower on average gross motor skills-but I think this is quite common in girls compared to boys?
If anyone is still out there would love to hear from you :)