twins..one eating solids and the other doesn't

[HJL]

Hi everyone
I have 6.5 month old identical twin girls. I introduced solids at arround 5.5 months (all the signs seemed to be there). Anyway, they seemed to take to it okay (started with rice cereal, monring and night, progressed to barley and oat cereal and eventually introduced veggies (they liked carrots, butternut squash and sweet potato, and they didn't take to the green beans or sweet peas...i make my own in ice cube trays). They weren't eating a lot (maybe 1-2 tablespoons of cereal twice a day and maybe 1/2 to 1 ice cube tray of veggie twice a day). Twin B was always a better eater for solids (which surprised me because she was always harder to bottle feed....never drank as much as her sis, etc). Its been about a week now, and Twin A is totally refusing to eat any solids. She just turns her face away and waves the spoon away with her hand. I've read a lot of posts, etc and I know that I'm not supposed to "force" it on her if she is not interested. So now, i've totally stopped preparing a solid plate for her (it was just ending up in the garbage). I still seat her on her chair beside her sister for meals, but i just let her play and do not force her to eat (i offer her some food from her sister's plate at the beginning of the meal which she undoubtedly waves away and then i proceed to feed her sister). I guess I just want some reassurance that I'm doing the right thing by letting her take a break from the solids as it were. She often looks sad/disinterested in the chair beside her sister, so should I stop seating her there are mealtimes altogether?? She doesn't cry, she just plays with a toy but her experssion is sombre.

Some other background information. She seemed a bit sick (her voice was hoarse) so I took her to the doc this week and she had thrush (oral) and candida (diaper area). I realize this might be causing her disinterest in food, but i'm not sure how long it will last (she was on and off refusing meals before this). And she's taking all her bottle feeds just fine and other than not eating solids, she is acting normal (not acting sick). I have a hard time giving her her meds for the oral thrush (nystatin) cuz she clamps her mouth shut when i try to give it to her (need two people to give it to her and even then, i suspect most of it ends up on her face and not in her!).

So to make a long story short, my questions are:

(1) should i continue seating her at the table for mealtimes with her sis, or not even bring her to the table

(2) She's drinking 4-5 bottles per day (stopped DF for a few days last week, but when she was off solids, started up again...she's drinking approx 6-8 ounces per feed, DF is usually only about 4 ounces). How long can it be safe for her to go without solids (i know i;m being irrational, but i worry that she'll never want to eat solids!).

(3) i always give bottle first (before solids), then wait about 1/2 hour to 1 hour to give solids...should i reverse it and offer solids first? I'
ve read that most of their nutrition still comes from the bottle for the first year, so i didn't think this was a good way to go...just wondering

Thanks for your help

ps. stopped breastfeeding at 3 months, so bottle feeds mentioned above are all formula

[Mom to M&M]

Hi there! BTW - there is also a multiples forum here in case you haven't found it yet.

I think you are absolutely doing the right thing. As long as she isn't crying/upset, I think it's good to continue to seat her at the table and patiently/gently offer food. It's also great that you are not pushing her when she refuses.

My DD had thrush at about 3 months and it was nasty. Know also that Nystatin is not the best med to treat it - so if the thrush doesn't go away in a couples of days and/or comes back, I would definitely ask for Diflucan instead.

Thrush can be quite uncomfortable for them and it is likely much more comforting for her to have her bottle than solids that she never was huge on anyway. Just keep being patient and offering gently and I promise you that one day she will start to take them.

I would stick with bottle first until at least 9 months, but that is just MHO. Others have had success with solids first (but make sure it doesn't cause a big dip in formula intake) or offering just 1-2 ounces of formula first and then solids.

Don't worry at all about it - my friend had twins that didn't even start solids until 9 months (digestive issues) and today are almost 2 and eating really well!

[Sarah O]

Hi!

I'm a mom of twins too and have also been dealing with one solids-eater and one 'not'.  My difficult one, as of this week,  is now eating! (we're now 10 months old and I've been at it since just under 6 months old!!!)  So hopefully my experience will be some help and/or comfort to you.  I know how hard it is!

Here's my shot at trying to answer a few of your questions:

*Yes, I would still seat them together for meals.  We had to go to a dietician and she said that doing that can help a lot, since they imitate/mimic everything.
*Yes, I would say you're right not to force the issue.  With us, I did in fact force things a couple of times and somewhat successfully, but only when I was SURE that he was crying from hunger.  He was behaving so strangely in that he clearly WANTED more than his bottle but seemed horrified by the thought of anything other than the bottle.  But if your LO is sitting there content even if a bit sad-looking she probably is best left alone.  I'd still offer her something each day so that she knows it's expected but wouldn't press her if she refuses.  Have you tried giving her a spoon to play with?
*It definitely sounds like it's a discomfort-thing since you're having trouble giving her oral meds too.  And since she was eating well before, chances are she'll come around when she's feeling better.  Don't forget there could be teeth coming too...FYI both my guys went through solids refusal when they had colds.  I think if it's even mild illness, they seem to feel comforted by the simplicity or something of the bottle.
*Her bottle amounts seem to be fine - they're supposed to be having 32 oz (average per day) at your babes' age.  My DS has continued to gain weight every month on this amount of formula alone, though he dropped a tiny bit on the percentile-chart-thingy this past month (9 month checkup). 

My final comment (I promise!): the dietician we were sent to at 8 months or so looked puzzled and said "why are you here?".  In short, she told me that there's really no reason to be concerned until they get to be closer to 10 months.  Formula is iron-fortified.  They get everything they need from this.  The only possible concern is oral skills that aren't being learned (chewing, swallowing, etc).  But since your LO was eating before, I am sure she'll eat again.  In the meantime try not to worry.

HTH!!

Sarah 

[woopster]

We had thrush over here too.  Nystatin didn't touch it, we had to go onto Diflucan.
I had the same issues as you and Sarah.  My boy wasn't interested in solids to begin with, yet my girl has her mouth open even before the spoon has left the bowl!!
They are now 11 months and DS2 is showing a bit more of an interest, although some days all he wants to do is eat the spoon.
Have you tried leaving a bowl of food and a spoon on her tray? Maybe she would be more inclined to help herself? Or what about some finger foods?  Rusks, toast??

[HJL]

Thanks to all of you for your advice! I was glad to get the reassurance to keep gently offering but not forcing. I think it was a discomfort issue because now that she's better she's back to eating (after a 2 week strike on solids). Some mealtimes are better than others (sometimes she'll take only a couple of spoonfuls and that's it and other times she'll finish all the food), but I'm glad the strike was over....Of course now her twin has thursh too, but she's not on solid strike...she's still eating so that's good.

Thanks!