Help - I'm at my wit's end!

[nswensen]

Okay, so I have a 10 month old boy who has never really been a good eater.  I couldn't get him to breastfeed so he's been on a bottle since the beginning.  We started him out with rice cereal and purees at 5 months, but it was a constant battle.  Around 8 months he finally started eating better any picking up puffs to eat, but rarely anything else.  He'll eat crackers, too.  About a month ago he got sick (cold, diarrhea) and wouldn't eat anything except his milk.  And he wouldn't even eat puffs which he previously loved.  He'll still eat crackers, but pretty much everything else is a battle.  He likes vanilla yogurt at the moment, but even fruits and cereal he previously liked he won't eat anymore.  I try putting finger foods on his tray, but he just plays with them.  He drinks 8 oz of formula about 5 times a day and I usually give that to him first before I try food.  I've tried it with food first, but that doesn't really seem to help.  He just seems uninterested in food for the most part.  Mostly, I'm just concerned about him waking up in the night from being hungry - which he usually does when he doesn't eat any solids during the day.

Any advice?

[em_here]

Hi there and hugs , and welcome to the boards.  At 10 months old around 20oz ish of milk per day is adequate, and then you can give yoghurts and cheese to top up. I really do feel that the milk will be affecting his appetite for solids and maybe you need to cut the bottles just to am and night feed, and a small beaker at lunch time, with water with and in between meals. I would say its going to be a matter of perserverence and will make for a few tough days to get him to start eating better, but I would think with just giving between 16-20oz of milk a day and being pretty strict with it, he will soon get hungry and will eat something. I dont know how much that helps you and if you would be prepared to do this, just my thoughts

More hugs xxx

[Freya'sMum]

I agree with Emlo about reducing milk quantity to encourage increased solid food intake, but perhaps not by quite as much a typical routine for a 10 month old would look something like this:

7am milk
7.30am solid breakfast
10am nap
11.30am milk
12.30pm solid lunch
2.30pm nap
4pm milk
5pm solid tea
6.30pm milk
7pm bed

so if you offered 6oz milk at each milkfeed, ds would get a total of 24oz per day, plenty in terms of healthy growth and development, but significantly less than he is getting now. It also provides a nice structure to the day!

With 40oz milk per day, there's little wonder he has no appetite for solid food, plus he knows that if he refuses he'll still be able to fill up on milk, so there's no incentive to eat it Babies don't starve themselves, it goes against their innate survival instinct, so if he's hungry after his milk and works out that he ain't gonna get any more, he'll eat the solid food on offer

I wouldn't worry about him just playing with the finger foods, babies learn what to do with things thru play, so he will get the hang of it, especially if you eat with him (in the above routine, solid foods are offered at traditional mealtimes, so that families can eat together!) so that he can watch and learn from you

It's also quite normal for babies' appetite to vary depending on illness, teething, tiredness, distraction, preferences etc. so ds might have dips in interest, which again is nothing to worry about!

HTH and you feel a bit reassured?

Ax

[em_here]

Sorry, I should have thought before I posted, I am thinking of 12month milk intake  apologies 

[Freya'sMum]

That's what teamwork is all about

Ax

[em_here]

     

[nswensen]

I just realized I put he has 8 oz. 5 times a day, but it's actually 4 times a day so that makes it still 32 oz. per day.  I only recently upped the intake from 6 oz. to 8 oz. shortly after he got sick because he wasn't sleeping through the night so I hoped feeding him more formula during the day would help.  I can definitely try going back down to 6 oz.  Also, I appreciate the schedule idea.  However, don't you feel like you're feeding your baby all day?  I think that's why I want him to eat more finger foods so I don't feel like I'm constantly feeding him.  I'll give the schedule a shot though and see how it goes!  Thanks!