Author Topic: 9.5 MO not eating much at all - any suggestions?  (Read 1099 times)

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Offline sarahmay

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9.5 MO not eating much at all - any suggestions?
« on: July 08, 2012, 10:39:42 am »
Hi

My LO has been a pretty good eater, up until about a couple of weeks ago. He's never eaten huge amounts (I read some of the routine diets posted on here on another thread and he eats about a 10th as much as them!), but he has always at least eaten most of what I've given him but about a fortnight ago he began to refuse his purees and now barely eats anything. I don't know if he's developed a sweet tooth as about teh only thing he will eat off a spoon is mashed banana or rusk mashed up with breast milk. he will eat bread and sometimes cheese, which he seems to like me to break off and put in his mouth in small chunks (LAZY!). I've not been doing BWL but he can eat bits of bread and cheese, rice cake etc if he wants to. I'm also still BF, although he's only been having a feed in the morning and one before bed.

I don't really know what I should be doing. If he doesn't have much at meal time, should I offer a BF afterwards, or will this only discourage him from eating more at the next meal? Also, if he doesn't eat what I have offered him at mealtime, should I resort to offering him rusk/banana, just to get him to eat something, or again, will this make him think he can always just have these? i'm worried he's not getting enough nutrients and calories, although i guess he can't be hungry as most nights he doesn't wake needing to be fed from between about 7.30pm to 7.30 am.

Any suggestions?

THanks
Sarah

Offline amayzie

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Re: 9.5 MO not eating much at all - any suggestions?
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2012, 11:02:17 am »
Hi sarah,

I think that often at 9 months babies are still on 3-4 Breastfeeds in a day. Sometimes if babies are too hungry they can not want to eat as they havent worked out yet that food=not hungry. Can you try adding a lunch time feed in again before the meal? This might make him less STARVING- and more interested in eating? The main calories really come from the breastmilk before one.

Also- at about 9 months they can get a bit bored of purees, so you may like to make them more textured and offer more finger foods so he can help himself.

Also- don't panic too much as babies have times when they are hungry and times when they are not- they are usually better than adults at knowing how much they need to eat!
Katy, Mummy to Hamish!


Offline sarahmay

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Re: 9.5 MO not eating much at all - any suggestions?
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2012, 11:08:14 am »
hi there

Thanks for the quick reply. From what I was reading on here I was thinking I should be BF more. I only dropped down to 2 a couple of weeks ago as the health visitor told me to drop the feed before lunch as I was talking to her about being worried that he'd stopped eating lunch. TO be honest, i don't really get the impression that he is starving when I sit him down to eat, as he's never crying or unhappy before meals (he is pretty happy on the whole really).
So, you think it'd be better to offer him a BF when he wakes from his morning nap (which can often be about 12 - 1pm), then offer lunch, rather than giving lunch when he wakes and maybe offering an afternoon BF?
I know I shouldn't worry, as like I say, on the whole he's a pretty happy little fella, and if he was hungry he'd surely let me know, but I think being a mum you feel so responsible for everything and I stress that he's not getting the nutrients he needs to grow and develop (he's quite small, in 25 percentile).

thanks