Eating little solid food and only very pureed - nearly 9 months

[songbird]

Hi all,

Just wanted to get some advice on the amount of solid food my8.5 month old daugther is having at the moment...we have a few problems:

1. eating very little per meal so I keep having to feed her at night (she has 5-6 NW a night and I generally give her two full feeds, a feed if 4-5 hrs have passed) - she normally only takes 50-60mls of food each meal sometimes even less (3 times a day around 7,11-12 and then 5-6pm). I feed her BM about 30 minutes after her solid meals. The problem is I think she's still hungry but just too bored to sit still and finish her meal or just doesn't have the apetite for it. She would just start whining to get out of the high chair and refuse to open her mouth for more food after a while.

Any tips?? She is quite chubby (9kgs) so I don't think there is a problem with her weight gain, but I really want to drop night feeds esp if I have to wean her off BF when I return to work soon....

2. Not willing to try new food or texture - we started solids at 5 months and all she would eat in the first month was rice cereal and apples. Slowly we have are now able to give her a bit more variety, however she only eats two main flavours - sweet potato or pears (we have to mix whatever we want her to eat - e.g. zuchini or egg yolk- with either of these otherwise she wouldn't eat it). No meat intake either. She also still can't take food that is not pureed finely - she gagged and spit it out immediately. i am a bit worried that she will not be able to chew properly as she's already 8.5 months old and still eating what people give their <6month olds!

I can see one teeth coming up but it's not completely out yet.

Any tips? Is this normal? I am still continuing to puree everything just so she doesn't throw up (she did once when I tried offering banana as finger food, she threw everything up including her lunch 15 minutes later). But I am a bit worried about her development.....

Thanks heaps in advance!

[<Catherine>]

Bumping for you

[Skadiver13]

Hi Songbird just a btdt post. My lo is just over 10months old and he still only likes level 1puree's best. I sometimes have to water down level 2 purees as they are too thick. Occasionally he likes them thick but more often than not he just spits it out if it's too thick. I was so worried for the longest time as he also wasn't feeding himself finger foods although i'd offer them.  This forum is full of my "what do I do" posts.   He was also on a puree strike from about 8 months to 9.5 months just refused to eat all together. I ended up taking  a week off around 9 months from even offering.

Then one day he took a bite of food off my plate (I offered it to him) and every day he would eat just a bit more. Even as of 2 weeks ago he refused to eat anything with texture. Pasta he would throw on the floor. Chicken he'd put in his mouth gag and vomit. The only thing he would eat was baby cheerios. Then like magic he just seemed to get it. He now munches on pasta, pancakes (dipped in puree), squished blueberrys etc.  It's still very limited in what he'll eat but it's growing.  I think also what helped is I dropped from 4 bottles to 3 and moved them around so he wasn't as full come feeding time. 

I think the key I'm trying to get at is every little one is different. Some little ones just take to solids like a fish to water while others it takes a long time. Here I thought I'd have to take him to an OT. And I still might if by a year he's still spitting out half his food, but I honestly think he's just a very opinionated little boy he likes what he likes. I offer him a wide variety of finger foods and then give spooned puree's ether towards the end while he's playing with a toy (as he's bored from feeding himself) or while he's feeding himself. I found it was important to eat with him. If he sees me chewing (he'll offer me his rice cake and swallowing often times he'll continue to eat. Also I make it fun, I have music playing in the background I can sing too (usually toddler tunes). Some days are great and like this morning some days he just isn't interested and just got fussy. I immediately stop feeding him when he gets fussy and we end the meal. I don't get angry or upset anymore I just end it and we go on with our day.

Your lo is still young yet, and I'm sure you've heard the mantra is "solids are for fun till they are a year". But I also know we have to remember that overnight they aren't going to just "get it", and we worry about their progress and well we just worry that's what we do.  So we need to help but not push. Offer up different finger foods and purees'. I know my fall back is mango. anything with Mango he'll eat so if for breakfast he was really irritated and didn't want what I was offering I"ll mix it with mango and he'll eat it. Then the next meal I'll try something new and it's begun to expand his list of foods he likes. It's still limited and may remain so but all we can do is offer, make it fun, and not push.

Hope this wasn't too long and it puts you a bit at ease.

[Skadiver13]

Any tips? Is this normal? I am still continuing to puree everything just so she doesn't throw up (she did once when I tried offering banana as finger food, she threw everything up including her lunch 15 minutes later). But I am a bit worried about her development.....

Sorry also meant to say throwing up is normal. My lo did it every time he chocked or gagged on solids until about 9 months and then he slowly grew out of it. However, just yesterday he took too much egg and gagged and threw up. I just cleaned him up, changed his bib and continued on with the meal. It's quite normal.

Also for the meat intake, puree baked chicken or turkey crumbles in with your sweet potato apples of whatever if you want to get some protein in her and offer it that way? It's ok to disguise foods in other foods. You'll use that a lot when she's a toddler.

[songbird]

Thanks so much for your response! It really does put my mind at ease and I will keep trying.  Hopefully she will get it one day too.

With dropping a bottle, did you replace the bottle with a snack or just filling up on main meals?

They sure are tricky aren't they!  Thanks again

[Skadiver13]

I guess a lot of lo's who are drinking a lot of forumla drop to 3 bottles around 9 months. I was a big wuss as My lo was only drinking maybe 26oz on 4 bottles. but I  am usually able to get him to drink at least 22 most times 24-25 on 3 so it wasn't that bad, wish I had done it sooner (than 10months). My schedule needs some maneuvering to add in dinner which we haven't done yet but what we do
Wake 6:30
Bottle: 7 he'll only eat about 6oz
Solids 9 (some can do earlier but my lo will refuse all solids unless he's actually hungry)
Sleep 10:30 (currently pushing to 10:45)-12:30
Solids 12:45
Bottle 2:45 8oz
Sleep CN
Snack after CN
Bottle at BT 9oz. (usually only takes 8oz)

I want to add in dinner but he's still very gassy from slids so I haven't yet, we're a little behind schedule. My lo's pretty opinionated. Here are some links to look at

Feeding routine for 10-12months
Weaning from 6 to 9 months  Hints/Suggestions
Solids for 6-12months very useful Information
Routines for Solids and Bottles/BF's 6-12months

[songbird]

Thanks so much esp the same schedule.

I bf so I don't know how much she drinks but I think I should probably drop a milk feed too. I worry about NW though as she still needs one full feed at night most nights sometimes more (she cries until i feed her then she goes straight back to sleep). I am only just starting to gradually wean that.  Before she used to wake 5-6 times a night so I am quite scared to mess with that.

[Skadiver13]

I dropped our NF at 9 months but he was bottle fed. So I'm not really sure how NF goes with BF? I hear it is normal to go to a year but I know a lot of people wean the NF's if they aren't taking as much during the day so they transition to eating more in the day. If you do decide to do it will be painful for sure but it only took us a few days .

[Lemonthyme]

A few things; gagging is normal.  It's just learning about textures.  Stay with her as she eats in case she does choke but let her explore it.

My son got better with texture and more adventurous as his pincer grip got better.  Why not try some finger foods alongside the normal stuff like cooked peas, cooked carrot sticks, cooked sweetcorn.

You can cook things like beef with sweet potato, great in a slow cooker then puree together.  They do need iron sources at this age.

For the night time stuff, I did PUPD to reduce the night wakings and I think we dropped night feeds completely at around 10 months.

Good luck.  Keep trying with texture and new flavours.  My top tip is to try something new at lunch time and then if there's a flat refusal you have an insurance policy of teatime.  Also try moving some of the meal times.  I'm constantly tweaking them.

[songbird]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

Just wanted to report back that DD seems to have finally started to be more interested in food!  Skadiver you're absolutely right that dropping to 3 milk feeds really was key and I wish I had done it earlier!  I was just so worried that she would be hungry but her solids intake really improved when I replaced the late pm feed with snacks.

Trying finger food as well at the moment.  She doesn't really pick her food up and just wants to get out of the chair and play lol. But got her to eat a bit of bread the other day and food with more texture as well.  So relieved!

Thanks for your help!

[Lemonthyme]

I'm so happy for you!!!