Please help - 10 month son eaten next to nothing for 2 weeks now

[caminix]

I really don't know what to do and would appreciate any hints/tips or similar experiences! Up until about 2.5 weeks ago, my 10 month son ate really well - including meat/lumps, basically anything I gave him. But for the past 2 weeks, all he will eat is philly or hummus, which he sucks off small pieces of toast, and then spits out the toast. I keep on offering him other finger foods, but he just spits them out, if they even get anywhere near his mouth. I went for a few days just giving him the philly and hummus because I knew he would at least eat something. When I don't offer these things, he doesn't eat anything. I feel I can't carry on just giving him philly and hummus because then he would never learn to like other stuff (and surely these things will not fill him up by themselves - he doesn't even eat the toast). When I have tried being strict and let him go hungry until the next meal, he will take a very small bit (ie 3-4 teaspoons)of whatever I offer him (mostly ella's kitchen stuff - I'm sick of throwing away my homemade food) and then refuses everything else.
I just don't know what the right route to take is - PLEASE HELP! I dread meal times, and they seem to come around all the time.
He does seem fine in himself, although is sleeping less than he used to. But I tihnk he looks quite thin - and I thought that pre-crawling babies were meant to be more chubby. He feels lighter than other babies his age.
Can anyone help me?

Have you tried putting your meals on his tray, and eating it off there ? It sounds a bit mad, but if he can 'steal' food from you, its a lot more interesting than being given something different. Don't worry about it being finger food, just whatever you would have normally (but don't add salt), and let him grab at it

Maybe he's teething? Try some ashton and parsons 10 mins before you try to get him to eat, could you also mash some food up in a bowl to spoon feed him so he is also being spoonfed as well as feeding himself?

Rice cakes and cucumber are good for them to chew on too.

Most importantly don't worry he won't starve himself.

Also make sure he's not filling up on milk instead of food.

I don't think he is teething - he doesn't have any of the other symptom. He has 8 teeth so far, and they have all come through completely trouble free, thank goodness.

will he eat philly/hummous on a rice cake? or smeared over a roasted carrot or potato wedge? You could mash other veggies/meat in with the hummous maybe?

Have you tried feeding him alongside other children - at a baby/toddler group/at a friends house? Sometimes I think we can get stuck in a feeding sort of rut and sometimes a change of scene or routine helps a lot.

don't worry! It's probably just a phase, lots of babies don't take much food at all until a year or later, he'll get all the calories he needs from milk.

Check for oral thrush though, and don't rule out teething, even without symptoms, some teeth just seem to randomly give more gyp than others.

My nephew wasn't eating much for a while and his weight slowed right down. Then some teeth came through and he put a pound on in a week.
Offer him milk regularly and he'll be fine.

thanks for all this. We are just coming to the end of the day when he refused absolutely everything for both lunch and tea, so goodness knows what sort of night we have ahead.

Can I just check whether I am doing the right thing by not offering any other alternatives if he refuses the selection on his plate?

I think it's up to you - I usually didn't/don't offer an alternative purely becuase I am too lazy to keep churning out fresh meals, but at the same time I don't think you can set hard and fast rules for a 10 month old, they are too little to understand the "eat up your main course or you won't get pudding" approach.

So at that age I tended to offer main and "pudding" (ie fruit or a yoghurt or something) and if he didn't eat the main he would still get pudding and I'd make it something a bit more filling than usual, like maybe a hot cross bun or a banana. If he didn't eat that as well I'd conclude he really wasn't hungry and didn't need the food.

Don't get into the mindset where you dread meals though - it really isn't worth stressing over, perhaps you could try giving him whatever you are having - at least that saves the "wasted effort" feeling.

my son did exactly the same at 10 months (only ate yoghurt for about 2 weeks) then picked up where he had left off (ate lots again). I think it was teeth, cold in his case.

wow im in the same boat as you at 15 month my dd was ill 2 week ago and thought it was related but shes fine in herself just not eating, been doing the try eating anything approach for a week now but still no better. Someone said she may be teething but like you has no symptoms. Yesterday she ate half a piece of toast, 2 yogurts and a very small bowl of porridge,thats it all day!! What do you do??

My son went through a phase from around 10 mths where the only thing he would eat was spaghetti hoops (and only a few spoons of that per day) plus his milk. No idea why. He was a great little eater before that. Gradually he started eating a couple more foods (I think he'd start to eat a bit of banana, then some yoghurt, then weetabix, if I remember rightly) and slowly he got back on track...although he has been a fairly fussy child ever since, unfortunately!