11 mo not eating enough solids?

[NattysMom]

My daughter is 11mo and I don’t think she’s interested enough in solid foods.

Right now we are doing 4 breastfeeds a day, 3 meals and 1-2 snacks. She can usually go 11 hours at night without eating.

Here is our approximate routine:

730 WU & BF
930 Breakfast
1130/12 Lunch with BF topup
1-3 Nap
330/4 BF
530 Dinner
7 BF
730 BT

I’m trying to phase out the BF topup at 12 which has been fine but I find that she wants to eat during the night when I skip it so she must not be making up for it during the day. Even when we skip the 12 BF sometimes she’s not very interested in the 330 BF. If she eats during the night she’s not interested in the wake up BF either. She always BF very well at BT. For solids some days she’s a bottomless pit but most days she takes 2 bites of her meal and refuses anymore. She eats a big variety and when she first tries something seems to love it. Even her favourites she’ll refuse (except fruit). She mostly self feeds but we do some spoon feeding for certain foods.
I go back to work in a few weeks  and I plan to BF at WU and BT. I’m worried that she’s not going to eat enough. Should I be worrying or will she just eat the solids if she’s hungry enough?

[creations]

Hi there
Sorry you didn't get a reply sooner.

By the time you go back to work your Lo will be almost 12 months so milk will be considered a "drink" rather than a food, her main source of calories and nutrition then will be focused on solids so I wouldn't worry too much about dropping the top up BF or dropping to 2 BF per day, that's fine.

I would be offering 2 snacks per day every day now rather than sometimes, plus 3 main meals.  How about moving breakfast earlier (say 8.30) and having a snack at 10.30am?  then another snack around 3pm?  There is no rule about what the snack needs to be but some LOs will drop milk feeds more easily if they get some dairy elsewhere so perhaps think about a natural unsweetened full fat yoghurt or a chunk of cheese?

For the after lunch top up how about offering expressed milk in a cup or with a straw?  At 12 months you can offer cows milk as a drink.  Or again end the meal with a chunk of cheese (and drink of water)?

Some times they are teething which causes a drop in appetite although possibly not enough pain to disturb sleep or alter mood too much. This could be why she seems to be off food some days and a bottomless pit on others, she'll make up for the low intake days on another day.  You could also try starting the meal with a very small portion of something she really likes, fruit or dried fruit to get her appetite going and then move on to the other main foods. I found this helped my DS when he seemed totally uninterested it just took a few sultanas to get him going and then he'd eat a big portion of proper food.

Either now or at 12 months I would probably just offer comfort and water in the night. There is plenty of opportunity for her to eat during the day and you've already said she usually goes through the night without needing to feed.  If you start feeding more at night there's less chance of her taking all her calories on board during the day.

hope this helps

[NattysMom]

Thanks for the reply. Hope your back is feeling better. 😊

I’ll move breakfast up and add those snacks in. Yogurt and cheese are some favourites. I haven’t been able to get any milk with my pump for the last few months so expressed bm isn’t an option. I’ve tried formula in the past but after one sip she refuses anymore. She turns 1 in 2 weeks anyway. I haven’t tried any dried fruit yet but I’m sure she would love it so I’ll try some raisins.

When she goes to daycare the routine will change a little here is what I’m planning, does that sound ok?

If I BF twice a day she only needs 1 more dairy serving correct?

615 WU & BF
645 Breakfast
715 Go to daycare
930 Snack
12 Lunch
1-3 Nap
330 Snack
445 pick up from daycare
6 Dinner
730 BF
8 BT

I don’t have any control of her nap time, I’m not sure if she’ll be able to make it until 1 and I’m hoping her sleepiness doesn’t interfere with her intake at lunch. But that’s another situation and we’ll see how it goes.

[creations]

As she's turning 1yo in a couple of weeks I would imagine it would be okay to offer a very small cows milk in a sippy cup or straw as she is unlikely to take more than a few sips anyway so it isn't really a "drink" more of a taste to get her accustomed to it.  You could try it very warm or cold to see if the temperature makes a difference. I'm just thinking it might make it easier for day care if she is fussy after lunch if they know a little milk drink may help her settle (although sounds like she loves her BM so she prob won't want cows milk!)

Dairy servings for toddlers are 4 per day but tbh some serving sizes are so big they would count as 2 servings (eg morning or BT milk feeds would be more than one serving), don't worry too much about it if she is getting BF twice and there is one other dairy solid in the day that would be fine.

Not sure about your planned routine, BT is very late considering the earlier WU time you need.
As she is doing 12 hr nights now I'd probably aim to get her into bed asleep by 6.15pm.  It might not be possible to fit that in with your work day etc but I'd go for as early as is possible to offer a long night.

[NattysMom]

Yesterday she ate pretty well so hopefully she keeps that up. She always been hit and miss since starting solids at 6mo. She has no teeth yet so I’m never sure when teething could be a factor.

She’s had some sips of cows milk cold and seems not to mind it.

I’m not too happy about my daycare routine either but she usually doesn’t go to sleep until she gets her AT and 4-4h30h before BT is the minimum Right now. Maybe that will change since she’s got such a long morning, I can put her to bed as early as 7 if needed. I think she’s moving to 11h nights anyway So hopefully that will work.

When should I switch the order of Morning BF and solids so solids are first?

[creations]

When should I switch the order of Morning BF and solids so solids are first?

You don't have to change it but if you think it could help then you can.
I never switched them, mine always had milk first and breakfast later - for years!  Only when he was much older he started to have his milk at the same time as breakfast and now he has his muesli and his milk drink directly after it, he decided himself to switch it around.  If though you are concerned with solids intake you may find that switching helps, I know some others have done so to get the solids up.  You could do this now if you wanted.  Maybe try it and see if it changes things?

[NattysMom]

Ok, Sounds good, thanks!