Not hungry enough for solids

[zoeselina]

I've had a lot of trouble getting my 8.5 month old to eat solids other than the tiny amount she gets down from doing BLW. However, on the days when for whatever reason it's been a long time since her last milk feed (eg 3 or more hours), she eats like a tiny horse, purees and all.

So my question is, how do you do a routine where you still get in the right amount of milk feeds but she gets hungry enough to actually want her solids. At the moment our routine is milk feeds first thing in the morning, then every four hours up to bed time, with solids feeds 1.5 hours after the milk. I'm afraid to give solids first because she's quite distractible and breastfeeds best if I feed her in the dark straight up from her naps.

Any suggestions?

[tanyanz]

Hi

I would like to tag along on this, my LO is 8 mths & very similar, only eats a wee bit of solids, probably because he is getting to much milk, but not sure if I should deliberately reduce his bottles.  I think at 9 months or so, you can switch over to solids first & milk as a drink with food or as a snack. 

It sounds like your LO will eat but needs to be hungry to do so?  Have you tried giving solids first for one meal (breakfast maybe?) and see how she goes?  I think being distractable at this age is really normal, my LO is the same, but the great thing about LO's is they will eat if they really want to!  My 4yr old will eat like a mouse one day & the next like as much as his Dad, they have great self regulation around food.

HTH

[zoeselina]

I tried doing solids first for breakfast once, but she's never all that hungry first thing in the morning... or rather she's itching to get to her toys and can't be bothered with food. I think if I tried it, it would have to be lunch.

She's always been pretty distractible, ever since about 3-4 months. For a while I couldn't get her to eat for more than 3 minutes before she was arching her back and screaming to be put down.

Most of the time with spoon feeding, she just clamps her mouth shut and gets narky at me if I offer her a spoon too often. She just likes to munch away on carrots and breadsticks and things. But not much actually goes in. I'm worried about her food intake because we're in the process of weaning the DF, and I want to make sure she gets enough food overall.

[~inbalance~]

Hi Zoe

Definitely keep BFs first and most important still.  She's still getting more and better nutrition from milk than from solids anyway, so increasing solids but decreasing milk won't really fix any hunger problems anyway.

My DS2 is very distractable these days too.     It's frustrating!

I hate the feeling that they should be eating more but aren't.  Unfortunately aside from offering, there's not much you can do about that!

If you're weaning the DF, she should hopefully be making up for it during the day with milk, and with any luck her appetite will solids will increase too.  But it's a catch 22 really - you want to wean the DF so she'll eat more during the day, but if she doesn't eat more during the day you worry about weaning the DF!  Go ahead and wean it, her intake should regulate.

If she's hungry, she'll eat!  If she doesn't want to eat, you can't force her.  Just keep trying to stay relaxed and offering, hopefully she will take to it soon.  My DS2 is rather fussy, he didn't start eating much until 8-9mos but even now he goes through phases where he'll eat lots and then others where he'll eat little.  That's just how these babies are. 

[zoeselina]

The thing is that I don't think she'd cut down on the milk if she had her solids first. She always takes all of whatever I have, regardless of what else and when else she's eaten. I just can't figure out a way to work the routine.

[~inbalance~]

So what does your routine look like then?

[zoeselina]

Roughly like this at the moment:

6am wake and bf
7.30am Solids (BLW)
9am nap (1.5 hours)
10.30 wake and bf
12 noon Solids (BLW)
1.30pm nap (1.5 hours)
3pm wake and bf
5.30pm solids (BLW with spoon feeding offered)
6pm bath
6.15 bf
6.30 bed
(weaning DF, currently down to 9pm)

[~inbalance~]

It is tricky to work it all out at this age.  You can try solids first if you want.  I'd still keep the BF first, but what about offering solids 2hrs after BF, do you think she'd be interested then?  Keep in mind that breastmilk is actually digested rather quickly, unlike formula which takes longer to digest so formula fed babies feel fuller longer.

Another thought is, I find that whether or not my LO is receptive to eating depends largely on his mood.  If he is cranky or tired, he doesn't want to eat whether he is hungry or not.  What if you offered solids 30mins after BF?  We usually do that and he actually eats well then.  It might not be a hunger issue at all, it may just be that for whatever reason she's just not as interested at this moment in time.

Lastly, is your LO crawling or cruising yet?  Once she becomes mobile, you can expect her appetite to increase, so you might find that soon enough she'll be keen to eat more solids once again.

Again, just try not to worry about it.  Like I said, you can try the solids first if you think it would help.  But if you think she BFs best at the times she does now, I'd stick with that because you want her to keep up with that milk.

[zoeselina]

For some reason in the last two days she's suddenly started eating like there's no tomorrow. 190g of pureed lasagne today! I'm not sure if it's a growth spurt, or whether the lack of night feeding is catching up with her... I just hope it lasts!

If not, I think I might try juggling things a little and see how that goes. Thanks for your input. I'll keep you posted!

[~inbalance~]

Isn't that always the way?  DS2 ate like a horse last week but this week is back to picking at his food.   

Glad she's eating well at the moment.  Remember that there are always good and bad phases with eating, just like everything else, so don't worry when you hit a bad one.  When you think about us as adults, I'm sure we go through periods where we don't have as big an appetite either, so it makes sense our LOs are like that too.