Please help with a reluctant eater

[emjsw]

Hi there,

I have just posted on the sleep posts for help and now I have come here for some advice too!!!  I am new to the site so I would like to say hello to all of you and congratulations on your beautiful babies!
My son is 9 months old and is not gaining a huge amount of weight and hasn't for a while.  He hardly eats anything at meal times.  I BF and think I am perhaps BF too much but am not sure.  This is our routine:
Below is our routine which may help with the trouble shooting:

7:30 Awake
8:30 Breakfast cereal/fruit
8:30-10:30 Play
10:30 BF/Nap - this also need addressing, I push him back and forth in buggy for about 20 mins then he nods off and he sleeps for 20-   30mins.Then play
13:00 Lunch Solids, then play
14:30-15:00 BF/Nap as before play/go out for a walk/see friends
17:00 Tea Solids/Nappy off time
18:00 Bath time/Relax/BF
18:30 In cot in darkened room.  I am trying to get him to fall to sleep in the cot at the moment rather than at the breast.  He keeps standing up, last night I laid him down 182 times.  Often he crawls, tries to stand, kneels, collapses, starts to drift off closing his eyes and then starts the process again.  He then starts to cry so I pick him up, he stops, I put him back in the cot, he starts crying again, this I did 55 times and then eventually he fell to sleep when I put my arms round him in the cot.  It has been like this for a week. He wakes every 1.5 hours and I BF.

I need to phase out the night feeds but he cries really hard and wakes up for hours if I don't.

Any advice would be gratefully received, thank you for reading my post!

[woopster]

It sounds like he has got used to bf back to sleep. Something I am guilty of too at the moment!
Is he snacking at night or taking full feeds? Both sides? Full feeds during the day?

What foods are you giving him? Does he feed himself?

You'll probably need to pu/pd during the night too. Have a look at the pu/pd boards on sleep.

[tylersmommy]

Weight gain starts to slow down as babies get closer to their first birthday. Keep an eye on his percentiles. A huge, sudden drop could be cause for concern, but then again, a height growth spurt could cause that too.

BF should still be his main source of nutrition, so try not to stress too much about the amounts of solids he eats. You might also try finger foods if you haven't already. They tend to start exercising some independence around that age, and self feeding can help. Keep in mind that it will seem like he's eating a LOT less with finger foods because they aren't watered down like purees. Does that make sense?

[emjsw]

Hello Woopster and Tylersmommy,

Thank you very much for your advice, it is much appreciated.

Woopster- He does snack at night, only two feeds are full feeds but never from both sides as when I switch to the toher side he just suckles and falls to sleep.  He does have more full feeds in the day, mid morning, mid afternoon and before bed.  Sometimes he has snack feeds as I miss judge how tired he is and start to feed for a sleep then he wakes fully again, I then try feeding 30 mins later to settle him etc.  He eats purees with bits in, some steamed veg finger food or fruit finger foods and rice cakes all of which he is getting better at.  I am plucking up courage and building up sleep for the pu/pd!!!  Thank you again for your support.

Tylersmommy- He was ill a couple of moths ago and has never really regained the weight, he dropped from 50 to 25 on the percentiles.  He is now inbetween the two lines.  He gets bored at meal times I think despite my best distraction tacticks!  The finger foods are something I should offer him more, what you said makes alot of sense.  When he eats purees or drinks water from I cup I give them to him, should I start to allow him to try??  If I give him a spoon he just chews it despite me showing him what to do!!  Thank you for your support too

[tylersmommy]

It takes them a lot longer to figure out the spoon, but it's still good to let him mess around with it. He'll figure it out! You might try putting a piece or two of finger food on the tray and let him try, or hand him a piece. It might take some practice before he figures out that it goes in his mouth, but he'll get there! You can also try baby-led weaning, where you offer bigger sized pieces of food for him to gnaw on. Big wedges of soft avocado, toast strips, banana strips, and things like that are good starters. There are several baby led weaning threads around here to offer support if you decide to try it!

[emjsw]

Thank you, I gave him some apple chunks and he enjoyed knawing them so I will give some other things to try!!