8 month old not interested in foods

[sunnichester]

Hello. My son is 8 months old. I started introducing solids at around 6 months, starting with cereal and gradually building up to veggies and fruit in one meal. But for some reason, lately he's not very interested in eating. When before I couldn't get the spoon to his mouth fast enough. It kind of worries me. Although I have been told that solids are merely practice until he turns a year old. But I also keep hearing that by his age he should be eating 3 meals a day. Also, I should mention, that since starting solids, he has been waking in the night very frequently. Some nights he will wake 3-4 times. I thought maybe his little tummy was having some issues with getting used to the food. So that too also worries me about him taking 3 meals. I guess my question is, should this be something to worry about? Should I continue with trying the 3 meals? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read.

Sunni

[Freya'sMum]

Hello Sunni,

I wouldn't be worried babies' appetites vary a lot, just like ours, and for a number of reasons... pain (teeth, illness), tiredness, distraction, milestones (changes in routine, new skills) etc, and at 8 months, as the food doesn't really matter from a nutritional perspective until 12 months, a dip in appetite is just fine!

You'll find a FAQ about how to work with spoon-refusal - it's likely that your lo is just ready to begin the journey of self-feeding, and there are lots of resources on this forum to support you and him with that!

As for the nw, there is the possibility that you may have introduced too much solid food too quickly, which has meant that ds has not been taking sufficient milk to fulfil him nutritionally and satiate his hunger, his food strike might be his way of trying to limit his solid food intake and increase his milk intake in the day to help this - if so, go with it, it should help the nw

All in all, there is no rush to introduce 3 meals, especially if ds's appetite is already decreasing - like all things bw, listen to his cues, he seems to be requesting that you slow down, or have a change - try it, see how it goes

HTH?

Ax

[sunnichester]

Thank you so much for your advice. I think you may have described our situation exactly. I had a feeling that the food I was giving him at first may have been too much, but hearing from my doc and others that it was okay, I ignored my instinct. He also has just recently cut his first tooth. I'm going to go with it, like you said, and just stick with the milk for a while and see how things go. When do you think I should try to reintroduce the food? Thanks again, it really has helped.

Sunni

[Freya'sMum]

No problem you don't have to stop food altogether, but to prioritise milk, and the easiest way to do this is to fit food into your EASY in a different way...

...think of milk as the Eat in EASY, and of solid food as the first part of the following Activity time, this way your lo fills up on milk and just tastes and plays with the solids foods as much as his appetite will let him. The idea is that ds continues to have the same amount of milk as he did pre-solids, and as he and his appetite grow, the amount of solid food he consumes will also increase

Ax

[sunnichester]

Thanks so much for your help. 

Sunni