So worried.

[lilly_kitt]

Hi

Please help me, i'm at a loss.  Tyler is 9 months old and is not a great eater.  He will have a few spoonfuls then refuse the rest.  I've tried everything, all sorts of food, before, after naps, before bottle.  When he was last weight a few weeks ago (i work on weigh day) he weighed 18lbs, now if my scales are right, i've just weighed him and he's 15lb !!!!!!!  Apparently he eats really well in nursery, but i just cant seem to get it right, now he's loosing weight and im terrified i'm damaging him.  I dont know what to do, am so worried.  I just cant get any food down him, I tried cutting down his bottles to see if this would make a difference but it just meant he woke in the night hungry.

 

Sarah
x

[Jiinx]

Sarah,

Sweetie..take a deep breath. It's okay that he's not a good eater. Now, my scale at home weighs my daughter differently than they do at the office. If you think he's losing weight, then maybe you can go back to the doctor and weigh him or seek advice from the doctor?

My daughter is 13 months and she's barely touching 18 lbs at the moment. She barely eats solids...but she's fine. She's gaining a little bit here and there.

Babies are more in tune with their hunger than we are. They know when they're hungry and they'll eat.

More importantly, is he acting hungry? Is he having proper bottles? Does he wake at night hungry? Until 1 year, all their nutrition comes from their bottle. I don't know if that eases your mind a little, but it did for me. If babies catch on quicker, then great..you can start making solids more of a main source of food but you really don't have to worry that he's not eating solids right now.

Big hugs, Sarah...you sound so worried.

[Spandanna]

Huge {{{{Hugs }}}} Sarah

Firstly don't panic, they are really good at picking up on your stress when it comes to things like eating and if you're fretting about it chances are he will get anxious and not want to eat either...the good news is that he likes to eat at nursery so it's not that there is a problem with him as such (i.e he's not in pain or anything)

Is there any way you could arrange to go in to nursery to observe when they feed him and see if you can replicate it?

Have you tried finger foods? Try just leaving a piece of rusk in front of him on the tray then ignore him...when my DS is being fussy (and believe me he's gone through phases of eating nothing, not eating at nursery at all, refusing the spoon then refusing finger foods...each of these lasting about a month or so!!!) But if I put something in front of him and ignore him often he ends up shoving it in his mouth of his own accord!

I think the key is to try not to make a big deal out of it, try him on the food if he refuses leave it in fromt of him for a bit, if he leaves it or throws it on the floor get him out the chair and try again in 30 minutes!

How many bottles is he having in a day?

[lilly_kitt]

Hi

Thanks for your responses, I give him a mixture of finger food and feeding himself as he's quite independant.  He has 20-30oz milk a day as he has a bottle at night (which he drains).  For breakfast he's fine, he wakes at 6am, and has a bottle, then at 8 or earlier if no nursery then he has breakfast.  For this I give him baby porridge as it has 1/3 of his vitamins in it, he will normally eat all of this, I then give him a banana to eat himself (he just has a bit and the rest ends up on the floor).  If we sit down with him he will have a go at eating but never much.  he probably had 7-8 spoons for lunch (tricked him by putting the food in when he was playing with breadstick), about the same for tea.  Yet he will happily munch his way through biscuits.  He is constantly on the move and is crawling everywhere, pulling himself up etc So I think he is using alot of calories that way.
I've spoken to nursery, they give him his lunch as finger food, even roast dinner and they say he eats most of it.  When I do this at home he just throws it on the floor.  I've cooked and wasted so much just trying to get him to eat something.  Now it seems as though its affecting his weight, he has reached all his milestones and is quite advanced for his age, but there is nothing to him...

[SylvieA]

I wouldn't worry to much. My DD was the same, was very small as well, not gaining for months and stayed at 18lbs till about 17mo and she just hit 24lbs so had great gain after. Besides, eating isn't for nutrition at this stage, it's more for practice and getting used to eating. I could never spoon feed DD, so we went with real food almost from the start and let her pick away at it. Now at 2yrs, she's such a great eater, and I think it has to do with it being her leading and figuring out what she liked. Try checking out babyled weaning thread. It should give you and idea what they're all doing. You'd be surprised to see you're not the only one with a child not eating much.

[Mashi]

I would not worry too much about the eating - 9 months is pretty early for solids to be "consumed" in a great quantity, they are mostly just playing with them, tasting them etc.  Until 12 months old his nutrition and calories are from his formula or breast milk.  If he is having 20-30 oz of formula per day then he's getting what he needs.

In terms of his weight, I would have him weighed on another scale first before you worry.  3lbs is a massive amount of weight to lose in a few weeks, for a baby, especially one who is getting adequate calories as yours seems to be with that much milk intake. Even if he has just started crawling (or walking!) I would not think he would lose 3lbs in 3 weeks. If another scale confirms that he's lost that much weight, I would take him to see the GP pretty quickly....it wouldn't be a result of his not eating much solid food.  

HTH