when he is going to start eating ???

[lilly_kitt]

Hi

Ty is almost 11 months old and is rubbish at eating, this morning for example he had a bottle at 9 to go back to bed and refuses his dinner, he does this every day and its so soul destroying.  The only thing he will eat really is cheese and breadsticks, everything else ends up on the floor.  I do the same as we eat, make his own etc etc etc He's mainly into finger food and i've tried everything.  I cut down his milk to encourage his food but it just means he's hungry in the night.

Does anyone have any suggestions as its driving me mad.

Sarah
x

[~inbalance~]

(((hugs))) That is so frustrating!  What does his eating routine look like at the moment, including amounts if you are bottle feeding.  Maybe we can see a way to help him eat more.  Will try to brainstorm some ideas for you. 

[lilly_kitt]

Hi
Thanks for your response, his routine looks like this.

6AM wake (not hungry because he feeds at night, which am trying to sort)
8AM Breakfast (cheerios, shreddies, which he eats, porridge refuses, then fruit which he eats)
9AM Bottle (7oz) and nap for an hour
10AM Wake and we go out
12 Lunch (we try everything, most end up on floor)
1PM Bottle (7oz) then nap for an hour
2PM Wake and out again down my mums
4PM Dinner
6PM Porridge (hit and miss if he eats this)
6.30PM Bath, Bottle (7oz) and bed

I now only give him a bottle after his food.  He loves strawberries and raspberries and banana.  Also he loves the ella's kitchen stage 1 pouches and will happily suck straight from one of those.

Sarah
x

[~inbalance~]

Hello
How much does he eat at night?  I would be inclined to drop the night feeds cold turkey.  At his age he doesn't need them, and he probably won't start eating more during the day until they are out of the picture.  It's a tricky one - want him to eat more during the day so he doesn't eat at night, but won't eat more during the day because he does eat at night!    You could use pu/pd to get rid of those feeds and it might help with the daytime eating.

The thing is, really all you can do is offer a good variety of foods.  You can't force him to eat them nor do you want to.  So try to create an environment that is condusive to good eating habits.  Eat meals together as much as possible, if you can (which you may do already), and try to make it more of a social, fun, family atmosphere as opposed to 'his' feeding times.  Even if you're not hungry, have a snack with him.  When you offer him meals, offer something he likes and you know he will eat, something he doesn't seem to like, and something he's never tried.  A 'snack'-type plate works well, with little bunches of different things, and let him pick at it.

Try to think of ways to change up the environment he eats in and it might change his attitude towards eating.  Don't get frustrated, as hard as it is, because he will pick up on it and will associate eating with negative feelings.  I know it's hard, we want our kids to eat well to be healthy and happy, and sometimes they don't cooperate.    But he won't starve.  Since he is getting closer to a year you might be able to start decreasing his milk intake to encourage more solids.  What is he drinking in total?  I see 21oz on your routine, assuming that's not including the night feedings.  After a year, I think they take closer to 20oz max milk, so you will want to decrease it to try to get him to take more of his nutrition from his solids.

I was also wondering, has he always been a picky eater, or is it more of a newer thing?  Is he teething?  Did he or does he suffer from reflux?  Just trying to gain some more clues as to why he's not so interested.

Hope that's a good start.  We'll keep working on it. 

[lilly_kitt]

Hi

Ty has reflux and is on gaviscon for it, i'm also on night 3 of the watering down bottles to discourage his night feeds so there is abit i'm working on.
He was fine originally on puree's then teething started and he hates being fed, so we do BLW which he definitely prefers.  If he's in the mood then he will try anything, we've just come back from being out for lunch and he ate cherry tomoates, bread (from my sarnie), cheese and a small piece of steak, but refused his food from the spoon.  He is now in bed after a full bottle after his lunch, so he has the ability to eat well, he chooses not to.  Tonight (when he come back from my parents) he's having sweet potatoe, carrots, peas and chicken all cut up so he can feed himself.  He has finger food in nursery as they have cottoned onto the fact he eats better like this.

Sarah
x

[~inbalance~]

Well, if his reflux is under control and there's no medical reason he is refusing to eat, then just keep offering.  Like you said, he has the ability to eat well he just chooses not to.  Teething is also a huge appetite buster.  It sounds like he does have a small variety of foods he likes, so keep offering those as well as new things.  Work on attitude towards eating and the environment he eats in.  Make it fun.  And most of all, don't worry.    Is he happy, healthy, and gaining well?  Toddlers surprisingly get away with eating very little and still doing fine, much to mummy's dismay!    Keep up with weaning those night feeds over the course of the next little while and see if his appetite improves.  My DS's appetite always came and went in waves, sometimes he'd eat well and other times very little.  Since he is getting closer to 12mos, you could also visit the Eating for Toddlers board for more ideas. 

[sparrow]

I've cut and pasted some info for you that I hope will put you at ease a bit.   Hope it helps.

(from http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/toddler-foods.html#cowmilk)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some toddlers are eating very few solids, or even no solids, at 12 months. This is not unusual and really depends on your child - there is quite a big variation. We like to see breastmilk making up the majority (around 75%) of baby's diet at 12 months. Some babies will be taking more solids by 12 months, but others will still be exclusively or almost-exclusively breastfed at this point. It is normal for baby to keep breastmilk as the primary part of his diet up until 18 months or even longer. An example of a nice gradual increase in solids would be 25% solids at 12 months, 50% solids at 18 months, and 80% solids at 24 months.

Some children take a little longer to begin taking solids well.
At this point there is NOTHING that your milk lacks that your child needs, with the possible exception of enough iron. As long as his iron levels are within acceptable levels and when he does eat you are offering him foods naturally rich in iron, then you have plenty of time before you need to worry about the amount of solids he's getting.

All you need to do is to continue to offer foods. Don't worry if he's not interested or takes very small amounts. Your only true responsibility is what you offer, when you offer it and how you offer it, not whether or not he eats it. That has to be up to him. Trying to force, coax, or cajole your child into eating is never recommended. Continue to nurse on demand, day and night, and trust your child to increase the solids when he's ready. As baby slowly moves into eating more solids, your milk will fill any nutritional gaps nicely.

[lilly_kitt]

Thanks but he's formula fed   

[~inbalance~]

It's ok, formula still has everything he needs.  That excerpt had some good tips.  Keep working on it, if at a year you're still worried, post on Eating for Toddlers and I think you'll get some more helpful tips.