DS, 13 months, only just beginning to 'get' solids. Anyone else's DC take this long??

[WindUpBird]

I've been offering him solids for the past 7 months and really it's only been in the last couple of weeks that he has chosen to swallow the food. Surely this must be a record? I can't believe how long it's taken him. He's been happy to play with the food till now and making huge amounts of mess but now he might eat almost a quarter of all food offered to him.

I just wondered if taking this long might be an indicator of some underlying digestion issue? Or, more likely, he's just a wee bit lazy/not that interested in food. Is he the only baby to take so long to get used to eating??

I think my DD is in the same category as your DS. (Have just posted about 8mo not being interested in solids.) She's just not that into it. She'll play with it, chuck it around, suck on it a bit, but not much of it actually makes it down her throat. I'm finding it quite frustrating, but perhaps it's not that unusual? Will be following your thread with interest...

my ds is 12 months and is not bothered by food at all. Out of the three meals and puddings I have offered him today he ate the cheese on toast with tomato puree for lunch and refused absolutely everything at all other meals.

Its frustrating isn't it? Still I keep telling myself that surely eventually he will eat. I may be grey and haggard with the stress of it all by then but surely one day...

My ds was like this and started to "get it" at about 13 months, though still ate very small amounts. By 2 years he was eating what I thought of as "normally" where some of his peers were starting to get pickier. I was stressed about it at the time but it turned out ok - he's 3 now and still a skinny thing but he eats a decent amount and he is growing.

This is so reassuring to read!

My DS2 has just turned one and really eats virtually nothing. A tiny tiny tiny bit of what I put in front of him, and he is not keen on being spoon fed either. Hopefully things will start to change soon. I try not to compare, but his peer group seem to be eating loads ('oh yes, he just wolfed down his mince and potatoes, then gobbled up his yoghurt...')

my nearly 11 month old is the same, wil only eat a couple of those goody corn puff things a few bites of what we are having and oo maybe like 5 cheerios, or on some days a few heads of broccoli, used to eat more , used to eat baby breafast, toast , bananas and yoghurt, even half jars of 10 month babyfood, purees of fruit, biscuits but now has gone off everything.

The only problem I have with it is that she is breastfeeding a lot all day and somewhat all night every few hours, so am feeling like a husk, today had no energy at all and she just wants bm, there are no solutions i don't think I just hope she comes back to food as it is very binding and a bit overwhelming to be bf her so much still.

am dodging the hv as she thinks i bf too much, and 3 bfs a day would be desirable.

Ooooh, I didn't realise anyone had replied to my post! I posted a few days before going on hols and there was nothing before I left!

Thanks so much for your replies, it's very reassuring to hear that others have babies of a similar age who are choosing not to eat! Having said this... In the week we've been away DS is now eating LOADS at 13.5 months. Today he ate as much as, possibly more than, 3 y-o DD. It's so weird, I can't believe it's taken this long for him to get it. It's not that he is fussy about food, he just didn't want to eat it until about 2 weeks ago.

Jennylee - I sympathise!! Until a few days ago I too was waking up at all hours feeding DS whenever he wanted it (and a few weeks back during the day, too). It was a nightmare but I felt I couldn't not do it as he wasn't eating solids and his weight gain has always been poor. A catch-22, possibly. Luckily his sudden interest in food coincided with a holiday so DH has been getting up to him every night. It's been 10 days now and it's still very hard hearing him screaming with DH in the other room I hope it gets better soon. I never told the HV how much I fed him! I feel bad for cutting DS down to 2 feeds a day but I am doing it for my sake...

thanks windupbird , glad your ds is eating, hope he still is. Hope cutting back the night feeds isn't too traumatic.

my dd still isn't eating, and feeds a lot day and night on and off and she is 11 months now, but she has had teething and then a cold and bad cough, so I hope once all that is out of the way it will improve

I'm in an unusual position as 9mo DD has cancer and is receiving chemo, but she is not very interested in food and hasn't been for months now - and I'm so reassured to read this thread. Chemo does affect appetite but I do think that DD also isn't very interested herself. her main source of solids is ella's kitchen (I got fed preparing purees that she refused to eat) and then she will nibble on lots of things that I put on her tray BLW style, but swallows very little and gags on the smallest lumps. She is tiny, don't know if her size makes everything in her mouth feel bigger than it is??? Am working with a dietician as she's quite underweight due to cancer/chemo, and she has tons of extra milk to supplement her diet at the mo, but just want to say thank you for posting because this is a very difficult thing for me to deal with. I find it very upsetting that she doesn't display the usual curiosity when food is put in front of her and that she seems so "behind" in rel. to her peers. I know it shouldn't bother me but it does. I'm sure we'll all be fine in the end but lovely to have a place to chat about these things in the meantime

she is not behind her peers, my dd had oh 3 spoonfuls of baby porridge today and that was surprise for me, usually she clamps her mouth shut and I eat it myself, she is literally eating around less than ten bites of our stuff a day, am hoping its her cough and she will improve soon.

Hope your baby gets well.

she.s busy gumming a rice cake at the mo. crazy that all the things she does like to chew/suck are really low calorie eg green beans, rice cakes, mange tout... and she hates potatoes, cheese, pasta, meat... SIGH.