BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Eating For Toddlers => Topic started by: suzannemoore on December 02, 2008, 21:29:07 pm
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Hi all,
I have a 13 month old son that will NOT eat anything but the stage 2 purees. Oh, he will eat Cheerios, and on rare occasion I can get him to eat rice crakers. I had always thought I would do the baby led weaning, but he shows no interest in eating anything at all. I cut up little cubes of cheese he will pick them up and throw them or just push them off his tray. He does this with anything I give him. Any thoughts??
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Is anyone else having this problem?? I could really use some advise!!
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I'm having this problem too actually. My son is 15 months and gags on anything, so I still was giving him straight jarred pureed food up until a month ago. I spoke to a nutritionist and now I slowly added real mushed up food to his pureed food. Now he eats mostly mushed up food with a couple of Tbsp of pureed food.
I still have trouble getting him to pick up food and put it into his mouth, but was advised to just make sure he has something he can pick up at every meal time. So I usually make sure there is pasta, or bread, or rice crackers, or rice puffs, on his high chair so he can try it. MOstly he throws it on the floor, but sometimes he picks it up and puts it in his mouth, then he spits it out, but it is slowly getting better. I say just keep doing what you are doing, and make sure he has something he can pick up and put in his mouth at every meal and eventually he'll catch on.
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You might want to get an assessment from Early Intervention. They can see if your son has poor oral tone, which is something they can help with various exercises and therapy. That's the first step I'd take! We've used EI for speech issues, and I'm so grateful we did. Poor oral tone also leads to speech delays, so working on it now could be helpful! :)
P.S. don't know if you had a reflux baby, but reflux babies often have poor oral tone which can lead to fine motor delays and speech delays. But not to worry because therapy does wonders!
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Thanks, I will look into that!!
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I am in the same boat, so you aren't alone......my DS just turned 1 year old and I too am still on jarred food for supper time meals. He has a very sensitive gag refelx too and he will gag easily if he doesn't like a certain texture. I feel like we taken a step backwards a couple months back as he was starting to throw up his meals if there were too many lumps (food I was mashing for him)....so I went back to pureed jarred food. He still gets pureed vegetables mixed with a stage 3 food to help reduce lumps. I feel like I have failed in terms of getting him up to speed on eating all types of foods. I do offer him lots of finger foods and he will put them in his mouth, but then gag....AHHHH....it is frustrating.
My problem is I feel like I am running out of food ideas to offer him. He eats pretty much the same things everyday....
Breakfast: a pancake, waffle or a piece of French toast (all Eggo products) with a little syrup
Lunch: peanut butter or cheese sandwich (1 piece if bread) and a yogurt or applesauce
Supper: some type of jarred foods and a yogurt or applesauce
I know....really boring but it seems like that is all I can get him to eat.....
My hope is he will out grow this gagging thing and start eating "real" people food, like what we eat......
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I wish I could get my lo to eat a pancake!! Or a sandwich!! I guess one day he will decide to eat everything?!?!?!
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Me too. My son has allergies too on top of the sensitive gag reflex. He's now 16 months old. My day looks like this:
Breakfast: Rice cereal with mashed pear
Lunch: Mashed carrots or Mashed Sweet Potato or mashed Green Peas, with 2 Tbsp of the pureed version to reduce lumps, plus 2 Tbsp of pureed chicken mixed in.
Supper: Same as lunch but with a bit more chicken.
Plus I give him a piece of Rice Bread with each meal. He will gnaw at it, but spits everything out, or gags... I try giving him finger foods such as rice puffs, rice crackers, rice noodles, sweet potato fries, but he always just takes a bite and spits it out. I wish I knew how to improve the situation.
hlatreille - I too feel like you. I feel like it's my fault, like I didn't push these foods earlier more. He always gagged on foods, I even held off on cereals until he was 7 months because when I tried at 6 months he would gag, puke, then refuse food.
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I sometimes feel that way, that I did not introduce them earlier, or when I was making his baby food, i could have made it with more lumps in it. Have any of you tried anything that has really worked for you???
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When I spoke to the Nutritionist she said to continue slowly adding more lumpy foods to the pureed foods. I've done that and went from always only eating straight puree from the jars to a full bowl of mashed food with 2 tbsp of pureed jarred food. So it has gotten better with that, but I haven't been able to get past that. She also said to make sure they have some type of finger food on their tray at every meal so they can try and practice and get use to it. I've been doing that and he has improved. He went from throwing the food on the floor to playing with it in his mouth and taking bites, yet spitting it all out. All this has occurred from 13 months until now, 16 months. So he is better, but still has a far way to go.
I hope someone else has gone through this here and has had more success??
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You might check out the book "Just Take a Bite". I'm using it for my toddler who only has a few foods in his diet. They talk about gagging etc, and the book can be used for babies through grade school age kids.
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I have ben trying something with my son, and so far it is working so thought I would post it. I have been putting a very small curd of cottage cheese in his purees to get him used to the texture. At first he would spit, but when he was hungry enough he would eat it. We are now eating half purees, and mixing with stage three textures. Last night he ate a whole jar of straight stage three food and did not spit once. I hope this helps, as I know how frustrating it is when they will not eat well.
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Hugs ladies- you are all doing a great job, some kids just take longer than others. Definitely keep offering new textures, even if they just play with it, that is the first step to accepting some in their mouth. Good pointer Suzanne- glad you are having some success!
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Ladies, I have been there with my dd. She was stuck on stage 3 baby food for many months. I had to bring in my own baby food (jars) at the day care because she did not eat daycare food at all....I was embarrassed because my dd did not eat my homemade food.....She only started eating regular food at 17-18mths. Now, I am not saying that this will happen to any of you but, it happens to alot of babies. You are not alone.
I took my dd to a dysphagia clinic (eating clinic for babies at a children's hospital) because I wanted to know if she was having chewing problems. She gagged on everything to the point of vomiting at almost every meal. It was very frustrating. I wanted to cry at every meal for months. It turns out that there were babies worse off than my own. Sofia was not losing weight and she chews, we just needed to introduce her food slowly to her. We never let Sofia play with her food. That was one of our problems. We needed to let her play with her food....We then started to mix the jarred stuff with the real thing. We even added milk to some meals to help her get used to different foods.
((( HUGS )))
Good Luck
Dree ;)
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good point, Dree, some kids need to be "desensitized" before a meal because of severe gag reflexes. That is not my area of expertise, but it's great that you got a dysphagia (swallowing problems) assessment to further check it out!
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Thanks everyone for all your helpful tips and advice! I know I don't let him play with the food as much as I should as I hate cleaning up messes! But I've been making sure I have some type of finger food on his tray at every meal. He's actually starting to chew and eat the rice bread, makes me so happy! Plus he took his first drink out of a sippy cup two days ago, sure it was only 3 sips, but before he wouldn't even put it in his mouth.
Persistence!! :D
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That's a great start!
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I am glad you are having success!! ;D
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Hip hip hooray !!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D 3 sips right on !!!!!!!. I used to let Sofia hold her sippy cup (that was filled with water or sometimes water and a bit of juice to encourage her to drink)..and play with it between meals.
Don't worry your LO will get there. My daughter couldn't eat a cheerio at that age. Now, she eats them by the handful.
(( HUGS))
Dree ;)
p.s Repeat after me. This too shall pass.. ::)
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Hehe, that's what I keep saying, "This too shall pass!" lol
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That sentence has gotten me through alot...As much as I truly love my daughter sometimes she drives me crazy. I take a deep breath and I hear my inner voice say "this too shall pass".
Terrible two's are not always fun. I guess that's why they call it terrible twos...Needless to say, We are going through alot these days. Toilet-training for the last few months.... and we just transitioned her into a toddler bed. In about another year, (once we have mastered the toilet training.) I plan to put her in a bigger bed.
Still sending you great big massive ((((((( HUGS )))))))) from a mom who truly gets it. I learned not to stress out so much about the eating thing... Rice in our house is hit or miss. She hates it cause she gags. Tonight, she finally tried grapes. When she was younger, she would spit them out immediately. This time she ate a few...
Dree ;)
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Hehe, good to hear she is doing well and that there IS hope :)
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Yes, there is hope...
Sending you some good vibes with the eating-thing...
Dree ;)
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Thank you! Love the vibes.