i know kids go thru weird eating phases, but i need help getting thru this one. it seems that ever since i started introducing whole milk into her formula she has been rejecting her solids (3xs a day). when i look at the calories, both formula and whole milk are about the same but im assuming whole milk feels more filling to them..???
she will open her mouth and take the spoonful but will pocket it for what seems like hours!!! once it took me 2 hrs to feed her 6oz of baby food! ive tried spicing it up with a pinch of salt, butter, used a more flavorful jarred baby food (i normally give her homemade pureed). tried new foods,her favorites, nothing. she will munch on table foods/snacks (cheerios, crackers, cheese, rice, eggyolk etc) but its not enough for a meal (it would take an entire day to suck and swallow on something that needs chewing). so ive eliminated snacks. but when she takes 2 bites of her fruits/vegies/meat meal then im attempted to fill her with something else (a snack). im worried she s not getting enough nutrition from just milk. she is taking her bottle as normal. but pooping less obviously, energy is fine. she s happy. still developing as far as i can tell. im just worried.
ive tried giving her toys to play with in the chair, tried no toys, tried changing positions of the highchair. tried eating with her. she just wont SWALLOW. my husb says give her a time limit she is prob just not hungry these days. but as a mother i cant bear to feel like im NOT feeding her. when she ate normally before if she was done, she refused to open her mouth and shook her head...but now she is opening her mouth, taking the bite but just not swallowing.
i have an MD appt next monday so ill bring it up but thats a WEEK! what do i do in the meantime?? just sit there for 2 hrs at a time begging and pleading with her? this has been going on for 2 weeks now. i notice her tummy is going down
does whole milk do this? is it just a phase? how long will it last?
so frustrating
ps she will be 12mos this friday
just wanted to add on to all your responses. she only drinks about 14-17oz a day (and has been for the last 2 mos). she only has a bottle before a meal for breakfast bc i give her a bottle as soon as she wakes up for the day. but i wait about an hr before solids. with teh other 2 meals she does not get a bottle before a solid meal. she will always open her mouth when i feed her the spoon or ANY table food, foods we're eating but the problem is that she is not SWALLOWING the food. how can she get nutrition from table food (or any foods) if she is not SWALLOWING it? she does NOT feed herself. just plays with teh food. just recently she OCCASIOnally will put a cheerio in her mouth but thats after MUCH encouragment and praise. if i leave her alone she just plays with it and prefers to be fed. not interesting in feeding herself at all (but she feeds mommy!). ive tried "taking turns" (now baby take a bite!) to no avail. no other signs of teething (ithought that at first too). she just had her top 2 lateral incisors come out and no sign of the bottom ones. ive taken toys away at the highchair and that doesnt help either. this has been going on for over 2 weeks..it s not a one or 2 day thing. she will ingest maybe 2-3 bites and then thats it (of pureed baby food). with table food, she rarely swallows, (unless its mashable like bananas, yolk). i have to give her water to help it go down. like i said the struggle with eating is her POCKETING the food. she s not swallowing. she will open her mouth but not ingest. i ve cut down her portions from 7oz to 3-4oz so im not giving her large portions. my expectations are lowered for her. when she has a bottle, it isnt until 2-3hrs that she has a solid meal. she will just suck on table food. appreciate your advice! any more..?????
Try giving the food before the milk, so she isn't full. At this age, my dr said most of the nutrients should be coming from food and only 12-16 oz of milk per day.
Hello A. A:
I agree. Before giving her the milk, try the food first in small portions (mashed as much as possible for easy swallowing). I truly believe the milk is filling her up and then she does not have the desire to eat the food.
Also, you did not mention the flavors of foods so may I suggest for starters the jar foods: GERBER--chicken and rice, sweet potatoes, lasagna, green peas, carrots, etc in the jar for a week or two and then GERBER GRADUATES following that. My 6 year old son would only eat the jar food at 12 months. My guess is that table solids that we eat may be too much for her right now so don't give her that. If she will eat the GERBER jar foods then she is okay. Also, try the cheerios fruity cereal, kix, cheeze it crackers and animal crackers as her snack.
Good luck to you!
how many bottles does the little one have a day?? when we started the solid food we had to cut back on bottles. that helped a lot. good luch hope this helps
I haven't read the other repsonses, so I apologize if I am being repetitive. The two reasons for not swallowing that I would consider would be 1.) teething....I know you say there are no other signs, but you never know 2.)she has some sort of sore throat or nasal congestion or ear ache. A nasal thing could cause post nasal drip which makes the throat sore and food not taste so good. I know she is young to get something like strep, but it can happen. Has anyone around you been sick? Also swallowing may be making her ears pop and if she has an ear ache than this could hurt. (it seems like every kid I see these days has at least the sniffles) You are going to the doc soon, so hopefully this gets figured out, but insist they check out the ears, nose, throat when you do. Just my two cents.... It could also just be a faze, and as long as she isn't losing weight, I wouldn't be overly concerned. Keep offering her a variety of finger foods and not the pureed stuff, she will find what she likes eventually.
WHOA MOM, RELAX....Try 2% milk and a smaller bottle...If she enjoys finger foods just give her a few Cherrios and or egg pits on her tray or plate....Maybe she isn't hungry after the milk or Doesn't like the mushy consistency of the baby foods...6 oz of baby foods at a meal seems like LOTS of food for a tot....REMEMBER she needs to attend to her inner signals....I saw my aunt playing airplane and always urging my God son to finish the jar of baby food...He is a CHUNKER TODAY...I myself was over fed and always need to watch my weight...PLEASE do not over feed or make the meal an issue...RELAX! and enjoy ...EXercise and fresh air with lots of activities will burn up more calories and create a healthy appetite but your child is eating fine...if you want to encourage more solids, feed the meal first and the milk a half hour later .
Glad you're seeing the doctor, as long as your child is not losing weight all is FINE>...You need a day at a SPA...Take care of yourself and RELAX You're a great mom!
D. J
now that she is a year old she should only be having 16 to 20 oz of milk/formula. I bet if you cut the ounces down to that amount you will see a huge appetite appear.
Also she can eat everything you eat now. So fix yourself some food and give her a bit. Always do solids first.
A good schedule for that age is (times can be adjusted as you need)
7 wake, 4 to 6 oz bottle
8 solids - grain, fruit
8:30 nap till 10:30
10:30 4 oz bottle
11:30 lunch - protein, milk, 2 fruits/veggies, grain
12 nap till 2 at least
2 4 oz bottle
3 snack - any two food groups
5:30 dinner - protein, milk, 2 fruits/veggies, grain
7 4 to 6 oz bedtime bottle
7:30 bed
If you need ideas on what to feed her, see the menu section of my website
http://www.freewebs.com/tarastoyland
I would call Child and Family Connections. ###-###-####. It is a free evaluation for your child's development. It is State funded . They come to your home or you can go to the office. The therapists are great. I bet they will have lots of excercises , tips etc. They will help you with everything and it's free. Good luck :)
Just my opinion...
*Back off on the whole milk. Does it help? If so, hold off giving her any for a few weeks - she may not be able to digest it well yet. Remember, there's a reason they say not to introduce it until 12 months.
* Give her a variety of table and baby foods. At this age (my daughter is a week younger than yours) she can eat anything you do, cut into small pieces. Don't worry about how much she manages to eat. She's doing fine. I would just pop her into her highchair with some food bits in front of her while you're finishing dinner prep and leave her there while you guys eat. This should give her plenty of time to feed herself.
* Continue to give her formula too, during the day.
* No toys at the high chair. She needs to know that meal time is for eating, not for playing.
Remember: just because your child turns 1 doesn't mean that magically suddenly their needs change overnight. Her development is continuous.
FWIW my daughter was refusing food until 8 months of age and also slimmed out quite a bit during the preceeding month or so (she had been quite chubby; now she looks pretty normal). Ultimately, she will not starve herself.
Oh also, this is a bit early but around this age kids will discover that they have some influence over you. Ultimately, they realize that they realy truly only have control over 3 things in their lives: eating, sleeping, and using the bathroom. As much as you can, do not make eating a power struggle. The more freedom you can give her the easier your life will be.
First off, it's what your baby consumes over a two week period that matters... not what they eat on any individual day. So don't worry too much. Their appetites start to slow down a bit after that first year of crazy growth spurts. It also sounds like she wants to eat finger foods and not baby purees anymore. I know our son was like that. He flat out refused to eat anything pureed once he discovered that he could feed himself. There are lots of great baby/toddler cook books out there with suggestions for finger foods... I've got one called Super Foods for Babies and Children... I like it a lot...
I wouldn't sit for 2 hours at the table. I think 30 minutes is more than long enough. Try giving her whatever you're eating for meals. Our daughter is 11 months old and would much rather eat "real" food than the homemade purees I've been feeding her for months and months. Also, she won't even touch any jarred babyfood from a store....
you've gotten a lot of good advice, but i just wanted to mention that i have a book about feeding written by a nutritionist that i really like. it's called child of mine, but in it, she stresses the fact that you're responsible for providing healthy foods and regular mealtimes, but your child is the one who is responsible for eating. you can't make or force her to eat and things go better when you just give her the food and try not to force things. i know everyone else has said the same things, but my son is about the same age and he does really well when he's in charge of the spoon, or at least has his own spoon.
Kids sense their mother's stress, and it stresses them out. So if I was you, I'd stop worrying about it (or showing your worry). Offer her finger food she can feed herself, and if she eats, she eats, if she doesn't, she doesn't. Also, she is old enough to hold out for the snack food she really likes, over the real food she finds OK. She could be teething, and they do tend to get picky and weird with food when teething. If that it is the case, it will pass. Or she could just be testing you --they do that too.
At 12 months, my daughter was eating what we ate. Get rid of baby food. Get rid of the bottle. Start offering her a sippy with milk at meal time.
When she is hungry, she will eat. My daughter knows that her only options are what is placed in front of her, and she eats it, 95% of the time.
Personal favorites that I make: avocado with hard boiled egg on toast, any fruit, homemade mac and cheese with ground beef, any soup, grilled cheese and turkey. My daughter loves pasta, any kind, any variety, filled with almost anything --a little butter, Parmesan. Simple, simple. These are all foods that they can just kind of mush. Give one of them a try.
I haven't read any of your other responses so sorry if this is a repeat. Maybe it is a texture thing making it hard for her to swallow. My daughter is 3 1/2 and if we make her eat certain foods (ie: noodles) she will pocket it and not swallow. She was holding some in her mouth for literally an hour once. When she does swallow she gags on it. So maybe she doesn't like the texture of the jar or pureed food. As far as table food, it may take a few bites at a time for her to realize the food is different and has a different texture. If you can't get her to eat any pureed foods, maybe don't give her any and switch over to only table foods?
