picky eater

[legend_018]

My 11 1/2 month old LO has either gone on strike or is very picky. It is still frustrating sometimes especially since lately it seems worse. Some say it's because she gets a bottle in the middle of the night. She isn't doing this every night now. Although I know not consistent. For example she slept from 7:30pm until 6am this morning. Was starved for  a bottle so I gave her an 8 oz bottle at around 6:15am. Now I do the food(s) before bottles except the first one usually. So I tried feeding her at 8am and than again at 9/9:15am. She's going to be going down for a nap around 10am and I'll have to give her the 2nd bottle. She will hopefully sleep for a good hr 1/2 to 2 hours and won't be able to wait from 6:15am until 12 for her 2nd bottle. Plus it will probably turn into her not going to sleep and eventually crying in her crib for that 2nd bottle. It's like a viscous cycle. Although I have had some luck with scrambled eggs this week, this morning I tried pineapple, mandarin orange pieces, and cheerios. I have to admit, some of it was new as I was out of some stuff I regularly give her. She had some cheerios. I also tried some baby cereal/cinnamon mixture she had "some" last week MANY times today. I wasn't forcing it, but let's just say I had to coax a little just to get a measly few spoonsfuls in. I sat her on my lap, tried while she was sitting on the floor as well as her booster seat. I gave her a banana to try. Finally I gave her some pieces of some pita bread, which she finally actually looked like she was eating and enjoying. Stuck a bunch of pieces in her mouth "lol". Even when she is eating well and we are having our "good" days, her grandparents don't think she eats like she should be. It makes it seem like it will be IMPOSSIBLE to get her off bottles. She loves her bottles. She has 4 a day. Sometimes 5 if she has a bottle in the middle of the night. Anywhere from 5-8 oz each bottle. When she's not eating and than eventually cries and whines for a bottle I eventually have to give in. I can't just sit her in her chair and try to force her to eat all day. I actually had a list of foods goign that she seems ok with. Lately, the list has gone wayyyy down. Some of you might know...she took a total absense of any kind of foods except bottles from 7 months of age until 9 1/2 months of age. It's just so frustrating sometimes. I really try all different things, different times, before bottles, after bottles ect. ect.

[legend_018]

Just wanted to mention that at 9:50am I gave her the 2nd bottle. I put 7 oz in it. she pulled my arm to her mouth before I even had a chance to and after she drank an oz..I pulled it away because I had to reach for something and she wasn't too happy. She than guzzled the entire 7 oz bottle. OF COURSE. but between 9 and 9:30am I had her sitting down and was desparately trying to get her to eat something. She did eat some pita bread pieces as I mentioned.

[andibig]

Mary
i going to have to say it but those btls are affecting her appetite for solids.i appreciate that you can't force her to eat but i think she doesn't need to bother with solids if shes going to get a bottle.

[legend_018]

She's on 4 bottles a day and there are lots of babies on 4 bottles a day at her age or close to it also on 4 bottles  a day and they still eat. She didn't do that great at lunch time but I lucked out and she had a bunch of spoonfuls of little tiny pasta pieces from a pregresso soup I opened and she has liked before. she used to love peas, but lately she wont eat them.

She has bottle when she wakes up say 6am, than another average 10am. than 3rd bottle is average 2pm and than last bottle close to bed time. thats every 4 hours. she's suppose to eat breakfast, lunch, and supper inbetween. it's very hard to just not give her the first bottle of the day and definetely hard not to give her the 2nd bottle of the day as that will interrupt and prolong her going down for a nap. but I guess I could try to work on weening the 3rd bottle of the day perhaps. the 4th bottle is the one before bed. she has had all these 4 bottles and still has eating OK enuf. just this week, she's being really extra picky

[andibig]

i know some babies her age may still be on 4 btls.sasha was still on 3 btls until she was 13-14 months-but she ate plenty of solids.what i'm trying to say is they can get to a certain point when the amt of milk they get seriously affects their appetites for solids.
anyways saying that LOs will go through very picky stages.sasha does this too.loves mac cheese 1 day next day big no no.
is it possible shes got some teeth on the move at all?
is it pos to see her routine as it stands now??

[legend_018]

Last night, was sleeping by 7:30pm. slept until 6am. I have to admit, 1/2 the week she does wake up anywhere between 1am and 4am begging for a bottle. than:

6:15am bottle
tried breakfast at 8am and 9:15am
10am bottle

nap from 10:15am until 12:45pm. Usually naps are about 2 hours and can be 10-12, 11-1, 9:30-11:30. Sometimes it only ends up being an hour and half. Sometimes I get her to take a cat nap in the afternoon, but she rarely takes a 2nd nap now.

lunch at 1pm. she had a few turkey dices. i think that was about it.
bottle at 2:30/2:45pm.

supper at 4:45am. didn't do tooo bad
will give bottle probably 6:00/6:30ish.

She's pretty much been doing pretty good at night. Since the time change, her nap has moved up a little while is good because now she's not up from 11am until 6:30/7:30 at night.

I want to say that is the average. Not that long ago, i had a problem with her wanting bottles every 2 1/2 hours. I couldn't believe it.  I try snacks sometimes too.

She wakes anywhere from 5am to 7am and goes to bed usually between 6:30 and 7:30.
she is pretty much an independent sleeper meaning I put her to bed and she plays, whines, crys a little until she falls asleep. sometimes I do have to go in and help her.

I try to give her breakfast, lunch and supper Every day.

is that what you were looking for?

[legend_018]

I forgot to mention, i did finally get her to eat some small pieces of some tyson chicken strips that i cooked up for lunch. I was also out of american cheese but she always has at least 1/2 of a slice to close to slice of american cheese everyday. sometimes that's ALL she has for lunch. the chicken was my last attempt at getting her to eat something at lunch time.

[andibig]

yep-just wanted see how near the btls were to mealtimes!!

i would try and cut down either the 10am or the 2.30 btl since lnchtime and dinner seems to be quite good times for her to eat solids.sasha was never a big breakfast eater until she got older.even now she may only have yoghurt and fruit for brekkie.

something you could try is offering a selection at each meal.by that i mean put a selection of things in front of her.maybe she'd like a bit more choice.

i'd also try and move that nap a bit later now since shes only on one.sometimes if sasha is too tired she just won't eat.

[andibig]

Mary
not sure if this will help you but this was sashas routine at 11.5 months onwards.its b4 she dropped down to 1 nap.



6-6.30 wake-milk 5oz
8am-breakfast
9.30 until 10.30-nap
12.00-lunch (maybe snack b4 then) with juice
1.00-btl-3-4oz
2-3.30-nap
5.00 dinner (again maybe snack b4) with juice
6.30-bath
7.00 btl usually about 6oz
7.15-sleep

she dropped the 1pm btl at around 13 months and would have a snack and a later lunch time until she dropped to 1 nap.

[taygensmom]

It sounds like her milk intake is really affecting her solids. I know you had mentioned that many LO are still on 4 bottles per day at her age, and that is fine if it is not affecting their solid intake, but in this case it seems like it is...Your LO is almost 12 months, as which point she should only really need 16 to 18 oz. milk per day.

I agree with the pp to slowly phase out some of the milk. I know it's hard with the naps, etc... because you don't want it to affect her sleep...

I would also suggest "consolidating" some of her milk/solid feeds so that they are closer together, so that there is at least 3 hours between each "meal" where she is not getting solids or milk. This should boost her appetite and make her more likely to eat the solids. If she is getting solids or milk to frequently (i.e. every 2-2 1/2 hrs) instead of every 3-4 hours, she may not be that motivated to eat solids. Also, perhaps introducing breakfast before the bottle in the morning will help (or giving only a portion of the bottle, then breakfast, then the rest of the bottle). I would personally offer her the solids and keep at it for about 30 minutes before offering the bottle (if she refused respect that but wait for that 30 min to offer the bottle. Just keep re-offering the food if she appears hungry). If you want to keep the 4 bottles a day maybe you could decrease the amounts in each bottle. This may be less likely to affect her naps/sleep. Here is a sample "routine" that may work for you:
6:15 - 6:30 - Breakfast
7:00 - Bottle (4 oz)
10:00 - Bottle (5 oz)
1:00 - Lunch
1:30 - Bottle (4 oz)
5:30 - Supper
6:00 - Bottle (6 oz)

HTH and let us know how it goes!

[legend_018]

Great, I will give these tips a try and let you know how it goes.

[Mom to M&M]

I agree 4 big bottles at her age is way too much. At her age my doctor highly recommends only 18-20 ounces milk/day. Maybe cut them to 4 5 ounce bottles and see if that helps?

[legend_018]

It's hard to start a new schedule in the middle of the day so I might have to start tomorrow. I might also have to stick with the four 5 oz bottles to start. She's used to between 6 and 8oz and sometimes the last bottle of the day can be as much as 10/11 oz before bed.  today so far:

6:40am - I think it was an 8 oz bottle. She did also have a bottle at 2am. She doesn't do this everynight
8:15am ish. did have some scrambled eggs. The only thing i can get her to eat lately in the morning
9:30 ish - 6 1/2 oz bottle
nap
between 12:30 and 1pm I tried some lunch. No go.
I plan on trying lunch again at around 1:20/1:30 and see what happens. than bottle.

she is a little clingy today and has been whining a little over the course of the last 15 minutes or so...might mean she wants her bottle. But I'm going to try lunch one more time.  She's playing right now or I should say she's practicing her new walking skills "lol".

we also had a woops during nap time. I dropped something that made a BIG bang and i cut her nap in 1/2. I might have to try to get a 2nd nap or a cat nap in later on. darn it.

[legend_018]

yikes here's a little example of her just DYING for a bottle. I tried lunch again at 1:30 and she was practically crying in her seat. Woudn't budge at all. than I let her down for a 2nd time. than she was very whiny and had this consistent whine that was sort of a cry and i knew it was going to get worse. She was really acting unhappy. It was time to give a bottle if she wanted one anyways. she sucked back a 6oz bottle. when I had it in my hands and was about to put it to her mouth, she practically pulled my hands near her mouth in desparation for it. mannn!!!!!!!

[taygensmom]

The first 3-4 days will probably be rough...for both of you! But it's kind of like introducing a baby to a bottle when she's used to brestfeeding...if you persevere it will get better, and soon she will be looking at food to fill her up instead of milk!!

[legend_018]

well I will see what i can do this week. This afternoon around 3:30ish I tried a snack. She had 1/2 of  "4 oz" containor of peach yo baby yogurt. Is that good?
I have tried that yogurt a few times to no avail. Although one time she did eat 1/2 of  "4 oz" containor of vanila yo baby yogurt and than never would eat it again "lol". She also had a slice of american cheese and for supper some decent amounts of spoonfuls of little shaped pastas from a progresso soup she seems to like sometimes. Probably not what other 11 1/2 month olds eat, but better than other meals/days. I gave her the last bottle before bed. I did end up giving her an 8 oz bottle though as she is used to having between 8 and 11 oz for her last bottle. I will be working on cutting down her bottles though.

[legend_018]

Do you think I should try offering one of her bottles in a sippy instead of a bottle? Which one? Or is that too much at once.

PS....Unfortunately for some reason she was a bit of a bear to get to sleep. Cried and Cried if I left the room and while in there she wanted to play up a storm. It was a battle I thought would never be over. This was overtiredness for sure, but I also gave into giving her another 3 OZ after she had already had 8oz before going up to bed. I don't know why she wants to drink so much before bed.

[taygensmom]

I wouldn't offer a sippy cup yet. Wait until you can a new "feeding routine" established and before making any more big changes!

Sorry you had a rough time getting her to bed. But on a postive note if there was one bottle that you were going to "give in" on the bedtime bottle is the best one, as it is less likely to affect her daytime solid intake compared to a daytime bottle! Let us know how tomorrow goes.

[andibig]

i agree that the last btl you want to give up is the bedtime one.its no harm them having that as they like the extra cuddle time.sasha only recently transitioned to a sippy cup for her milk.
she'd drink everything else out of a sippy cup just not milk!!!
I wouldn't push the sippy cup but i did notice she only has milk to drink.what you could try which we did with sasha is leave a sippy cup of water lying about.she'll probably throw it about etc for the first few days until they get the idea of drinking out of it.
that way you are not pushing the sippy cup but letting her do it at her own pace.
i like the idea of the yoghurt for a snack.remember as you cut down milk you can substitute it for other milk products like yoghurt.

[legend_018]

but do you think that getting to the point where she's having 11 oz for her last bottle is a bit much?
I'm sorry I didn't mention it, but she drinks water on a fairly regular basis for a sippy cup. i have to hold it for her. She has a couple different kinds of sippy cups. She seems to do ok with all of them. except she spits the water out of her mouth and gets herself soaked sometimes. usually I take it away at that point.

she slept thru the night last night so basically 7:30pm until 6:30am. I did give her the bottle first, but cut it from 8oz down to 6oz. this was 6:30. We tried breakfast at 8am and 8:45am. totally refused. I went shopping yesterday and got what was once her favorite fruit...cantaloup and I also tried some pancake pieces. She threw them around and tried to eat a couple pieces to only spit it out. I can't tell if she's teething. i don't see any coming in, but ya never know.

Im going to try to concentrate on bringing her 4 bottles down today so we'll see.

[taygensmom]

I think 11 oz for her last bottle is too much. It's OK to give a little extra for that last bottle (i.e. 8 instead of 6 oz), but I wouldn't give more than that. Even though this bottle is less likely to affect her overall solid intake (because it's her last feed until morning) she only needs a certain number of calories per 24 hr period, so if she goes too overboard with this last bottle she is really reducing the number of total calories she needs to take during the day. I would still aim for a max of about 20 oz. milk per day. You could spread that out however you want; however, if you give much more than this you may continue to have difficulties with solids. HTH.

[andibig]

I think 11oz is quite a large amt considering her milk intake during the day.
you have to remember that once they hit a year old they eat even less and milk that they took through the night really does affect their appetite.
i think there is a possibilty she got some teeth coming.so you can offer softer solids.if she likes fruit you could try steaming it and see if she takes it that way.

[legend_018]

Well today we definetely worked on the bottles. She had three 6 oz bottles and the last bottle 8 oz. She's up in her crib and playing/not sleeping yet so I hope she goes down ok. She took a nice 2 hour nap earlier today. It's 7pm now. But, unfortunately she did really yucky. Basically no breakfast, lunch or dinner. At 3:30pm, I did get her to eat some more of the peach yogurt and she let me feed her some pieces of a bananna. It almost ended up being half the banana. She also took a FEW bites of some mashed potatoes tonight. Other than that she just played and spit things out and/or threw the food onto the floor. Teething could be the culprit. She definetely has some signs. But we don't see any signs at all in her mouth. well go to go...she's crying up there and I have to go help her now. darn it all. She does so good when she falls asleep on her own. ; )

oh and I also did a few rounds for each meal. I didn't go over board. The last bottle "after trying dinner" she grabbed my arm she wanted it so bad.

[legend_018]

this hasn't happened in awhile. 5am wakeup. 6:30 has been average. we are downstairs now. bummer

[legend_018]

going in the right direction hopefully. She has had three 6 oz bottles so far today. 5:40am, 9am, and about 1pm.
some scrambled eggs for breakfast. did ok I guess. still wont eat her "used to be" favorite canaloup pieces. NO lunch basically. I also tried the yogurt at lunch time but she wouldn't let me put it in her mouth. supper was not too bad. she ate a fairly ok amount of some pasta pieces from a progresso soup. There big enuf for her to feed herself and than I managed to get 3/4 of a 4OZ containor of peach yogurt in her.

[taygensmom]

Good for you both! Really impressed with how you're sticking in there!!!!!

[legend_018]

she slept thru the night again. Was sleeping by 7:30pm, but woke up at 5:30 ish am. She's been sleeping about an hour less than usual total at night. Anyways, she had a 6 oz bottle at 6am and another 6 oz bottle at 9am. At around 7:30am ish we had a fruit party. except I was the only one eating "lol". apple, nice soft banana and a few pieces of an inside of a grape. She played with it and whined to get down. So no breakfast. AT about 8:45am, just to see i gave her a piece of nice soft bread. She has liked bread before. No luck. She sucked back her bottle though. I hope everything is ok. She has had a lot of ear infections but I don't see any signs like I have before. although sometimes she seems a bit cranky. welp there is still lunch and dinner to get thru today. ; )

[Mom to M&M]

I definitely think 12 ounces of milk by 9am is too much - no way she'll be hungry for meals then. I really would recommend cutting each of those back to 4 ounces.

[legend_018]

She woke early, but her first 2 bottles of the day I only gave her 5 oz. Luckily for me, she took it rather well and didn't bed/cry for more. So 5oz bottle at 6am and 9am. Than 6 oz bottle at 1pm and last bottle will be between 6 and 6:30, probably a good 8 oz. But 2 bottles at 5oz is a big difference from 8 oz bottles.

Now at 7;30am I tried breakfast. As she has a few times this week when I made them...she had some scrambled eggs. Probably about 1 EGG which was mixed with 1/2 slice of american cheese.
At about noon time, I tried lunch. Not much. MAYBE 5 of those small turkey dices from beachnut, 1/2 slice of american cheese. Tried toast with applesauce as I got the idea from here. No Go. Nice soft bread too. She did eat 2 small pieces. At around 4:45 she had some noodles. I tried peas which she used really like and at one time was one of FEW items she would eat. She didn't want them.

I was wondering for her age what you thought of HOW many noodle pieces she ate. Here is 2 pictures. One of before and one of after. That doesn't include a few pieces she threw to the floor.

[binxyboo]

I would think that's a good amount? It looks as though there is butter on there, is there?

Remember, portion size really is small, esp at that age. Adults tend to have a distorted view of what even an appropriate adult sizing of food is, at least I am whenever I read about it.

[legend_018]

It's penne pasta in a progresso soup can. So what you see is soup. I try other pasta's but she doesn't always like them. this one I've had the most luck with at least recently. Tonight for my dH and me, I made egg noodles mixed with butter and sweet corn that I threw into the mix. I might try that tomorrow. Although I have tried egg noodles today. Although she had already ate, we gave her a piece of corn and she took it out of her mouth. I mean who doesn't like sweet corn? "lol". ahhhhhh. Of course before bed she loved her 8 oz bottle.

[taygensmom]

The portion size she ate is fine. LOs have very small portion sizes at her age! Good job on being consistent!

[legend_018]

My poor LO woke up at 3am really crying for a bottle. not that it's not common for her to getup, although lately she's been doing better and sleeping thru the night. but when she did get up, most nights she would actually wake up in a good mood but still wanted a bottle. last night she was really crying for one. I gave her 4oz mixed with 1oz of water. Todays times will be different too, due to a small afternoon nap and long morning nap yesterday, she didn't fall alseep until 8pm and that mixed with getting up at 3am for a bottle "she went right back to sleep" - she didn't wake up until 7am.

[legend_018]

well since she woke at 3am for a bottle, at 7:15am i tried breakfast first instead of bottle. I didn't make any scrambled eggs. Only got her to eat 1/2 containor of yo baby yogurt which was 2 oz. The total containor is 4 oz. She actually had a LITTLE bit more than 1/2 so maybe 2.5oz. It took a few trys to get her to even take one bite. I wanted to wait to see how long she could go before a bottle, but by 8am she realllly wanted one so I gave her a bottle at 8am. I don't think she's going to go down for her nap "which will be around 11am" without a bottle, so I will probably try to ONLY give 4oz to see how that works out. Especially since she had 4oz at 3am and between 5 and 6oz at 8am.

[legend_018]

i only gave her 4 1/2 oz before nap around 11am. than she had a 6 oz bottle at around 3pm. we were at the mall and
she had some macaroni as in macaroni salad. ok amount I think. I just tried supper. it's 5:45pm. I got the idea from here. take tortilla and put deli turkey and cheese and melt in oven. She has eating all of these separately. she usually likes stuff with cheese. she had maybe 2 small pieces that I tore off and than wanted nothing to do with being at the table. whining up a storm!!!. I mean usually she'll at least hang out and play. Just kept whining and I tried to give her some small pieces and she just started throwing them to the floor. I don't know if she is in one of her moods like she probably is MOST of the time where she wants a bottle desparately that she'll do without foods, if she isn't hungry or is just being plain picky "lol". No supper tonight I guess. She's sort of playing on the floor now and just recently started crying/whining big time. GOD if this is because she wants a bottle geezzz. It hasn't even been 4 hours since her last bottle and only 5 minutes since I let her down from the table. boy she doesn't know what she's missing by not eating the tortilla sandwich I made for her. 

[legend_018]

well she was hungry......drinking a bottle now....typing with 1 hand on couch.
i cant force her to eat and I hate giving in. i almost want to pull a NOPE no bottle
u need to eat. while sitting on my lap I tried giving a few more tortilla/turky/cheese pieces but no luck.
than she got down and started whining real bad. a i finish typing this she is practically done suckin back her bottle

[legend_018]

I'm not sure what the deal is with her. She slept thru the night and woke at 6am and between 6 and 6:30 I only gave 5 oz. Around 7:30ish, she had some scrambled eggs. She cried MORE than ever for a bottle at around 9:00am. I only gave her 5 oz. Than she napped and than woke up around 11:45. I was going to sit her down in her chair somewhere between 12 and 1 for lunch. well at 12:15 she was not whining but CRYING and wouldn't stop. I ended up having to give her the bottle I usually give after lunch, however once again it was only 5 oz. but now it's 12:30pm and we have pretty much until bedtime to get her to eat some lunch and supper. if she refuses to eat, eats a little and/or doesn't eat....you know come 3-5 hours from now she'll be very hungry for a bottle.
She's had 15 oz so far today.