Is our feeding routine working anymore?

[lazfam]

DD is 11 months old. She still gags if I give her foods that are too lumpy or thick. She enjoys her finger foods. But, in order to really makes sure she has sufficient nutrition I'm feeding her pureed foods. I've tried making my own, but she seems to not like the texture. She'll gag and throw up. For example, I make some potatoes and sweet potatoes for her. I pureed them. Threw them up all over the place. Lately, the last few days, she's been turning her head away from her finger foods and just crying in her highchair. Lots of fun for the whole family!   Also, she's only been having her sippy cup during the day for water and with snacks. Should I be offering it more? Should I be putting her formula in it? Here is her current routine, please let me know what you think....

7am - wake and 6 oz bottle
8/8:30am - Breakfast: cheerios, banana pieces, yogurt (2oz) and pureed fruit (2 oz), and 2-4 oz of bottle
11:00/11:30 -6 oz bottle and snack (crackers or fruit)
12:30/1pm - Lunch: 2 oz pureed veg, 2 oz pureed fruit, a fruit finger food (pear, or grapes), 2-4 oz of bottle
4pm - 6 oz bottle and snack (crackers or fruit)
6:30pm - Dinner: Avocado pieces, shredded cheese, peeled beans, butternut squash pieces, 2 oz pureed fruit, 2 oz pureed veg, 2-4 oz bottle

She wont take any more bottle before bed. She dropped that a while ago now. Her bedtime is 7:30pm.
Any ideas about the food refusal, gagging on anything that isn't pureed or a finger food (she wont take anything in between), sippy cups, and our food routine? I know, it's a lot in one posting...

[RachelC]

She seems to be eating a lot!  I don't think my 2 year old eats that much.  I would consider cutting back on the bottle during meals and just keeping the 3 6oz ones.  Perhaps even eliminating the snacks with the 11 and 4 bottles and moving lunch and dinner a little earlier.

HTH

[katemom]

Hi,

My DD is 11 months old also, so it's always nice to compare notes on what we're doing at similar ages.  I wish I could offer some insight as to why she's throwing up your purees - that is a mystery.  Does she eat commercially made ones with the same problems?  Is she teething at all?  When she turns her head at her finger foods, have you tried offering different ones to make sure she's just not into what you've offered, or if she's against all finger type foods?  I know, I've given more questions than answers!

As for the sippy cup question - my lo takes water for 2 of her meals, and formula with 1 of them.  I did this because of Tracy's advice to get lo's used to all beverages being offered in a cup so that they don't learn to only associate milk with coming from a bottle.  I also plan to phase out bottles pretty early in her first year, and offer all milk from her sippy.  This was recommended by my pediatrician, and by a lot of the books I've read, but certainly that is a personal choice (and I think there are some posts somewhere on here about how you don't have to rush that transition).  Anyway, I will progressively offer another meal with milk, and take away a bottle feeding sometime this month - although I have no idea what DD will have to say about it!

I do agree with the pp that maybe your lo is filling up on milk and isn't really enthusiastic about eating the other stuff because she's just not that hungry.  My pediatrician said somewhere around 18-25 oz's from 6-12 months, and 12-18 after a year old.  Since we're nearing 12 months for our lo's, I think it's natural to be closer to around 18-20 ounces.  But again, all lo's are different. 

Here's what we're doing - and I'm not at all saying it's right or a good routine - I have questions/doubts about what we're doing too...

7:30 bottle (7 oz)
9:00 breakfast with water
12:30-1:00  lunch with sippy of formula (drinks around 2-3 oz usually)
2:30ish bottle with usually 4 oz formula
5:30-6:00 dinner with water
7:00 bottle (7 oz)

See, I haven't been offering snacks, and I'm wondering if I should be, so I don't really know what is best!

Anyway, you're not alone in the guesswork!

katemom

[Freya'sMum]

Hello! Lots of good advice from the pps, I agree that dd is having a lot of food in 24 hours. I did baby-led weaning with dd2, so no purees at all, just finger foods, and from about 10.5 months our routine has been like this:

6am bf
7.30am breakfast (cereal in cow's milk then fruit)
10.30am EBM/cow's milk bottle (8oz)
12.30pm lunch (eg. flaked salmon, pasta spirals, raw cherry tomatoes) and water
3pm EBM/cow's milk bottle (8oz)
4.30pm tea (eg. homemade chicken sausages, potato wedges, steamed veg) and water
6.30pm bf

I reckon that you could drop the milk at solid meal times, move the 4pm milk to maybe 3pm and move dinner to maybe 5/5.30pm with a final milk feed before bed (this would make up for the dropped milk at mealtimes).

I think it is wise to trust babies' instincts when it comes to refusing to eat, they don't tend to starve themselves, it goes against their survival instincts, so when they seem to have a reduced appetite, I'd say go with it... appetites can reduce when los are poorly, teething, tired, distracted etc. Also, I see no issue with missing out the lumpy purees stage, just going straight from smooth purees to finger foods, it seems to be your dd's preference at the moment.

Check out the FAQ and Recipes sections for ideas on finger foods,

Ax

[lazfam]

Thanks, Ladies! I've started offering her a sippy more and more. Now she gets a bottle first thing in the morning and with one of her snacks and it's sippy all the rest of the day. She is totally fine with it. I also did decrease the amount of fluids, and she seems to be more receptive to her food now. I really think she was filling up on bottle too much, and that was contributing. Also, poor girl has just cut 6 teeth at once. Two of the teeth are her first set of molars. So, it seems like we've got a combination of things going on. As for the pureed food, when I offer her commercial stuff, she takes it down with  no trouble. Maybe I'm making it wrong? Right now I'm setting her tray with finger food and a sippy. I let her eat and then offer puree for follow up and let her take as much as she wants. It's getting less and less the more she is getting into her finger foods. So, I altered her routine a tad and her is what it is looking like:

7am - wake and 6oz bottle
8:30am - Breakfast: fruit pieces, egg yolk and cheerios (just little of each) followed up by yogurt and fruit puree, 2 oz water in sippy
10-12pm- morning nap
12:30pm - Lunch: fruit pieces, shredded cheese and crackers, followed up by veg puree, 4oz formula in sippy
2:30pm - Snack: Fruit and water in Sippy
3:00-4pm - Afternoon nap
4:30pm - Snack: 6 oz bottle
6:30pm - Dinner: avocado, beans, shredded veg. followed up by veg puree and 4 oz formula in sippy
7:30pm - Bed

Any thoughts?

[katemom]

I'm glad you are having success!  Your schedule looks really good to me.  In fact I was just thinking of replacing my lo's afternoon bottle with a snack like you offer, so that was nice to see in action.  Wow, that is a lot of teeth at once, poor lo!  And molars too!  Well, I just wanted to say everything sounds good!  One question, did your lo miss teh evening bottle at all before bedtime?  I think my lo likes the comfort of that so I'm a little nervous about that one...

katemom