Almost 1 year old and still not into solids....

[Chicane]

Hi ya

DS turns 1 late sept. He has been EBF and is very big, healthy, strong. We've been doing solids since 8 months but he really doesn't eat anything, still. We started with puree then moved onto Baby Led Weaning. Now we do a mix of the two. The only thing he will consistently eat is bread, bread sticks, rusk and baby rice, which I dont like to give him too much as there is little nutrition and I am concerned that too much carbs will lead to constipation. He just is not interested in anything else. Occasionally he will eat a little tiny bit of nectarine or apricot infact he likes most stone fruits. But thats it. Any tips, advice, suggestions been there done thats?

thanks x

[anna*]

Is he still having lots of milk?

[Lolly]

That was my thought - how often is he BF over 24 hours - is he still having a night feed?

Laura

[Chicane]

Hey Gals

thanks for getting back. Yep, still having his full milk sessions. So, about 4 feeds during the day then one at night after about between 5-6 hours sleep. That is until recently. Then we went traveling for 6 weeks and I fell back into the awful habit of feeding to sleep. I have a thread going on that in GBT. Nightmare, what an idiot I am. Anyway, for some reason he is now waking up at 5-5.30am and having a full feed then too, going back to sleep then getting up at normal time of 7am.

So yeah, the short of it is lots of milk still going in. Should I be trying to cut a milk session? Should I be trying to wean that night feed? I recently asked about STTN and the consensus was they do it when they are ready...I have started the process of re training to stop the feeding to sleep again so perhaps would be better waiting for that to be done before doing anything else...

Am so confused, haven't felt like this for a long time. I had it so good and now I've messed it up again! can't believe it!

[anna*]

If he was eating solids well I would say fine, but he really needs to be getting a varied diet right now so I would cut out at least one of those daytime feeds, with a view to dropping a second soon after.

[MummyToBen]

Agree with pp about dropping at least one feed now so that he is hungry enough for solids.  In terms of how to get him interested in other foods what are you doing now?  Just to give us an idea of where you are at the mo.  If you're not already doing it, I would have him sit with you every time you eat, and serve him up what you are eating for every meal (or at least most of them) - whether that's a sandwich or spaghetti bolognaise.  He needs to be getting a variety of foods into him - but you especially want to get 'fill up', high calorie foods into him - meals with plenty protein and good fats, as that will be how you break the cycle of him breastfeeding so much to fill himself up.  So anything like greek yoghurt, stews with meat in them, eggs, cheese on toast etc etc will fill him up lots more than the same volume of breadsticks or fruit iyswim. 

Let us know how it's getting on xxx

[Chicane]

Well, I offer him what we are eating or variations of it. Example, today I made avocado sandwiches on rye bread (I'm trying to stop wheat for a while for my own issues) and some pieces of cheese. He threw it all on the floor, didn't even bring any of it to his mouth. Then pulled out some chicken and veg puree which he refused. Then went onto watermelon and yoghurt which I thought was delicious but he did not. Took one taste of yoghurt. So basically I sit there and eat and he just chats and bangs the table and plays with his cup. Every so often I offer him something all the while making food-is-great noises and faces (!)

For dinner I will prob mix some baby rice with puree as he is more likely to eat a bit of it. Breaky is bircher muesli (oats apples raisins) and fruit...will start to add yoghurt...on weekends we have eggs on toast...he has a little bit of muesli never any egg and loves toast. 

Thing is if i drop a breast feed but he is still not eating solids he is going to be hungry...how do i go about it?

Am a bit nervous about dropping a feed so have started to space them out longer (he cant seem to go more then 3.5 hrs between feeds - he's always been a hungry baby) and fitting the solids in between hoping that he will be hungry enough to try something...

I dont know what to do! its really hot here so none of feel like cooking or eating stews ect...we're doing lots of salads and fish and cold lunches/dinners...

[anna*]

Thing is if i drop a breast feed but he is still not eating solids he is going to be hungry...how do i go about it?

That's the point!! You WANT him to be hungry! At the moment he's got no incentive to eat because he knows he'll get his milk soon! just distract him with some fun activity when it's usual milk time, or offer him a snack instead. If he doesn't eat it, no problem, but don't give milk instead. Have a sippy of water available all the time so he can get liquids.

[Chicane]

Ok so tried today with dropping a feed but of course it didn't really work out but I need to try for a few days to really tell. He loves water! When I sign water to him he goes mental with excitement - but how much should I be letting him have? I heard somewhere not to let them fill up on water...

will keep you posted on our progress...thanks for the support x

[MummyToBen]

I, personally, would let him have as much water as he wants at this age.  It may be that he sometimes taking a BF because he is feeling thirsty, but then the feed fills him up as well as giving him the drink he wanted iyswim (and then there is less insentive to eat any solids).  But if he was drinking more water then he would not be being filled up and may be more likely to take more solids.

I also wonder if it might be worth trying to add a few other things into his meals (not purees) if you are tending to eat lots of salads etc.  I know that my ds who has pretty much always eaten most things given to him will still turn his nose up at salad!

[Jiinx]

anna, just wondering...if he refuses the snack or meal in lieu of the bf...isn't there a chance he'll wake at night for a feed?

..sorry Chicane, I've been musing over this question too. My lo was eating wonderfully and has resorted back to full feeds and doesn't eat much in the solids. I try skipping the bf in the afternoon, but won't eat solids and is -very- upset by the time it is her bed time feed.

[Chicane]

Hey Sarah - that's exactly what happened to us this afternoon...was totally cranks by BT because of missing a pm feed...and I wonder about the same thing with the water...if he fills up on water then doesn't have a BF and doesn't have solids will I get more NWs? He is STILL waking 1 or 2 times to feed in the night...argh!

[malenka]

At my last appointment with my Dr we talked at length about DS not taking any solids. Finally in the past month he's started to eat more. The reason? I dropped his night feeds (he was still having a DF and a 4 am feed!) and since then we've also dropped a daytime feed. We're down to 3 BFs a day now.

Since he's not filling himself up on milk, he's hungry for his food... and he now eats a lot!

Some of his favourites, in case you want to try them with your LO:

frozen peas
raspberries
blueberries
cheese
peaches (he likes to take bites straight from the peach itself, same with pears)
bananas

So for those of you wondering about dropping a daytime feed, I would suggest dropping the night feed. It worked for us...

[anna*]

Yes, there is that chance. But I wouldn't go back to feeding overnight if I'd already stopped (or start giving more feeds overnight if not).

[Chicane]

hey Malenka, thanks for your input...how old is your LO? ok - so how do i drop the night feed? he wakes up about 5-6 hrs after BT for a feed, then again at 5-5.30am...whats the best way to go about weaning him from it (the thought fills me with dread!) keeping in mind DH will not be able to help me at nights...