Is there anything else I can do to get my 14 month old to eat?

[c0c0mon]

Laura,

He's going to see his doctor on Friday (moved from next Tuesday and that's the earliest availability). And, no, I haven't tried giving him meds for his teething before his meal because for the past 7 teeth, I never gave him anything and he was fine.

He doesn't try to get food off my plate either... I think he's just not that interested in food. But if I offered him something off my plate, sometimes he wanted it, other times he didn't, without even knowing what I was about to give him.

Thanks again, Laura!

[sunflower321]

hi i know everybody says not to do this but have you tried spoonfeeding him? I would consider my little girl a very good eater because she eats most tige but i still spoon feed her most of her meals and she's 20 months. She, like your little boy, could only eat puree for a long time and at 14 months i was still pureeing her dinner nice and moist and she loved it. Now at 20 months it's mashed with lumps but i still spoon feed. everything i read at 14 months said she should be off puree by that age but I didn't care because I knew my little girl needed it that way because she was just slower than others re solids. But like i say she has a very varied diet but is still mainly spoon fed. Since 18 months i've been giving her a finger food tea at 6. This she will eat some days and other days won't touch it. Now i know the next thing people will say is really the wrong thing to do but i sit her in front of her favourite programme on tv and spoonfeed her! I give her a soft cereal like weetabix or ready brek with lots of milk in it and pureed fruit to sweeten for breakfast. And for dinner i make batches of potato, meat and veg dinners and feed her this. Her snacks are finger food. At 14 months she wouldn't have eaten any. I just think do whatever works for you and don't worry about how he should be eating at a certain age as long as he's getting the food. She eats loads of food now but if I left her to feed herself, like your little boy, she wouldn't bother. I'm sure i won't still be spoonfeeding when she's 18!

[sunflower321]

also, the day you left out the pm snack i would have given tea at 5. it's a long time to go with no food and if my little girl is left too hungry she won't want to eat at all

[c0c0mon]

Sunflower321,

Thank you for your response.

I was spoonfeeding my ds before I decided to let him feed himself and I would have continued doing so if he let me. About 2+ weeks ago, he wouldn't let me feed him anymore whether it was by spoon or pouch food. I let him watch all his favorite show, pulled out all his toys, had someone read him books to distract him but his hands kept pushing the spoon away once it came near his face. It would take us at least an hour to feed him and from time to time, he would cry once food entered his mouth and he would scoop it out.

Then I read somewhere that someone needed to see a feeding specialist because he/she had negative association with food since he/she was forced to eat. I got scared. I didn't want to push him and damaged him further than I already did. Ideally, I would want to spoon feed him because he eats everything I gave him. It made balancing his meals easier. It's not my concern if he still need to be sooo fed at the age of 2 when most kids can feed themselves. Like you said, he will eventually feed himself.

I'm going to see his doctor on Friday. And if he lost significant weight, I think I'm going to resort back to that at least once or twice a day and let him learn to feed himself for his other meals. At least I have a peace of mind that he's getting what he needs. I just hope that I won't cause long term issues for him.

 

[4isstillnighttime]

OK, one other point of view. And I'm not sure if this is a dreadful thing to do but it worked for us!

My little girl C is a total spoon refuser, and at about 11 months was losing weight. She would get v cross in her highchair and was obviously hungry but couldn't bear to be constrained into her highchair, got bored, threw her food on the ground, didn't eat, got hungrier and crosser,etc,etc. So....I asked for advice on the baby led weaning website and started giving her snacks as she played. So, breakfast in the highchair but as soon as she got cross we would get down, then about an hour later we would all have a drink and a piece of toast or something in the playroom. Same after lunch. That way she could eat without stopping playing and as she got better at feeding herself (and she's always been pretty good) mealtimes got easier and we only have playroom snack if we fancy it!

I think maybe your little one doesn't realise eating solids will stop him being hungry perhaps? Could you try something like this but with things that are really easy and fun to eat - blueberries cut in half, tiny bits of cheese, baby flapjack, muffins? Then just let him get the hang of eating without it being a drama and a stress. Like you I was v worried about making mealtimes stressful but now they are lovely!

I know grazing on snacks all day is a bad habit, but we did it for about 3 weeks and everything got a lot better. If the weather was nice we had picnic lunches as well, and meals out in restaurants too. All more exciting than being at home and so much easier for C to stay in place long enough to eat a meal!!

[c0c0mon]

LilyRose22,

Thank you for the tips!

I tried giving his lunch while he's playing today. He was walking around and playing with stacking blocks and I tried to put food in his mouth. It was successful for the first 4 bites and then he wanted to feed himself. And I gave the avocado to him and instead of putting it in his mouth, he shoved it in his toys! It was a mess. I don't particularly care if I have to clean up after him as long as he eats. After 30 mins or so, I think I was only successfully get him to eat 6 bites... 

And you're right! He doesn't realise that solids will stop him from being hungry. He doesn't understand that in order to stop from being hungry, he needs to eat. Sigh...

I am willing to try anything and everything. On weekends, I feed his lunch when we're out at restaurants. He was more interested in people watching rather than eating.

I hope this is just a phase and it will get better. Hopefully sooner than later....

[4isstillnighttime]

Oh dear  I hoped it would work. I hope you get something sorted out. My health visitor told me that no healthy child will starve when there is food available. And maybe he does just need to go through the whole playing with food stage. Mine love things like pasta spirals with cheese on - easy to hold, not much chewing, lots of calories. Or baby flapjack. And raisins - will he eat them?

Poor you. It is so stressful! But I promise it will get easier. My brother was a horrible eater and is now 6'4, built like a tank and eats like a horse!

[c0c0mon]

LilyRose22,

I tried baby flapjack and he wasn't a fan. He likes things that do not involved a lot of chewing; things that will dissolve in his mouth and he eventually will just swallow them, such as graham crackers or cereal or baby puffs. I give them to him as snacks as I think he needs something more nutritious for his meals since he's eating so little.

I'm sure he will come out the other side... one day. Hopefully soon because it's so stressful to watch the way he eats, especially after all the effort I put in. I know I'm not supposed to be a short order cook, but I do for him just to get him to eat.

Thanks for your inputs, once again.