10.5 month old refusing solids

[EmmaG]

My baby has been refusing solids for over a month now. She started being fussy about which savoury baby food (both home made and Ella's and Plum pouches) she'd have. Then it escalated to refusing all solids.

She will entertain the idea of finger food but takes a couple of mouthfuls and then gets bored or something and gives up, chucking it around, slapping it, slipping her straps and standing up in her high chair. She's dairy-, egg- and soya-free and is maxed-out on reflux drugs. Home made finger foods I've tried include: little sandwiches, chicken casserole with potatoes, steamed bits of veg, pasta quills, chopped fruit, Cheerios in formula, etc. The only thing she really likes is mashed potato patties mixed with a bit of minced meat or chicken, which I then dry-fry. However, they don't travel and take bloody ages to make. She WILL suck the contents of a Plum fruit puree straight from the pouch down in about 10 seconds flat but won't take it off a spoon.

I think it's something to do with being independent and wanting to feed herself, but I'm getting to the end of my tether. Her milk intake is now up to 500mls a day so she's regressing in terms of feeding development. She's lost weight and is nearly two lines down on her weight centiles (down to 2 from 25). The GP and health visitor say give her whatever she'll eat but that's literally just the Plum fruit puree pouches. Can she live on those? I dread having a kid like my nephew who "only eats chips". Gaaaaahhhhh.

Has anyone else had a food refuser? How much weight did they lose before resuming eating? What did you do?

Help!

[Fuschia]

My first child refused all but finger foods and was very fussy.

If I were you, I'd try very very hard to show no emotion, offer a range of foods, ones you are making for yourself or easy things that are not hard work so you're not stressed.

Try offering in a little handled cup, or a small sandwich box, or give her snacks in the buggy, fruit in the bath, sandwich in front of the tv, etc etc.. so she is a bit distracted and gets to try different techniques... mini fromage frais with a little plastic spoon, that sort of thing. Don't increase her milk above what she has now.

Above all, I'd try to see hour role as offering the food, then get up and load the dishwasher (or just get on with eating your own) and show no interest in how much she swallows...

[Fuschia]

You can get fromage frais in puouches (Sains Kids range) and plastic tubes

[EmmaG]

Thanks Fuschia. I am at the point of offering and leaving it at that. It's driving me nuts. The HV has said to stop snacks and let her get hungry but this has not worked, so I'm going to take your advice and give her the opportunity to graze. She can't have fromage frais as she's dairy-free (and soya-free) but she can have a Plum pouch on the move. Thanks for this.

[crystal7]

EmmaG I could have written yr post this time last yr (apart from allergies). My daughter refused to be spoonfed at all after 8 months but like yrs would only take a few bites from finger foods before losing interest. She lived on ella's stage 1 pouches and weetabix with a few bites of sandwich and organix snacks thrown in. F has given some great advice. E's weight was below 0.4th centile and i was so worried i started to offer her all sorts of stuff i swore no child of mine would eat- dairylea on breadsticks, fish fingers, baked beans. Slowly she became less fussy- no idea why but i spent a lot of time feeling guilty at how limited her diet was. She's now 22 months and still quite picky and doesn't eat a huge amount but perfectly healthy and i wish i hadn't worried about food so much! Hope that's some use. E still really likes homemade chicken nuggets with rice krispie coating then shallow fried...good luck!

[Ole]

I posted something similar when my son was about the same age and what I ended up doing was offering food at set meal times, if he refused to feed from a spoon then let him feed himself and when he lost interest not make a fuss but take it away and no snacks or anything until next meal time. After a couple of days he got the point and would eat very well. Since then every couple of weeks he'll have off days where he refuses either lunch or dinner, but if he carries on like this for a few days I revert to 'the method' and a couple of days later he is back to norm. I also stopped weighing him so often (I was weighing him every couple of weeks and becoming obsessed with it), as long as he is happy and thriving then his exact weight is unimportant (also he is growing in length a lot, so I know that he is getting nourishment). I also cut back on the breastfeeding because he learnt that if he wasn't eating meals later on he'd get breastfed anyway. He is 1 year now and still has his off days but on the whole his eating is pretty good.

[echo]

Sorry to read about your stressful time. My experience with my daughter is that weaning took/takes a long time. Our little one is now 2,5 years old and she still loves to drink pints of cows/breast milk, but she is starting to eat more often with us and bigger portions. Although some days she does, others she does not!

I found the 'baby led weaning book' by Gill Rapely useful, as she believes we should only offer finger food but not to get too worried if they take a while to eat a range of food. So if your little one just wants milk, then that's their choice, but to continue to offer other finger food to try. This book may give you more information so that you feel happier with letting her get on with it, espically as your GP is not worried about any underlying illness.

Best of luck

[EDmummy]

Why are you dry frying the only food she will eat? When you are this age, calories are calories especially when there are so many other high calorie, good fat foods that she is allergic to. I am afraid I am in the camp that getting anything down her is better than nothing. Eating habits of all children change and develop over many, many years. A baby that will only eat one or two foods now is highly unlikely to maintain that as a child or young person (children that do often have some other underlying issues).

I am also with Ole on the weighing. Weighing is important in the first few months of a child's life but at 10 half months you will be able to tell if your child is "failing to thrive".

As a mother of a very, very, very fussy baby, I am now a mother of a incredibly tall, super strong 9 year old.

[EmmaG]

OK, some really good advice from everone there. I'm going to get the Gill Rapely book and my mantra will henceforth be "offer it and then it's out of your hands". BTW, EDMummy - I dry fry because she won 't touch anything fried in oil. She holds her hands up and looks disgusted at the grease. I do choose brown chicken meat as it's higher in fat (and nutrients) than white and she doesn't seem to mind handling it.

Thanks again everyone.

[The Nappy Lady]

EmmaG, someone on here posted re food 'under 1 it's just for fun' I think this is a good mantra - most babies are initially excited by the introduction of solids, then get bored. I agree with others, offer stuff that you are making anyway, or easy things that take little effort. After a set amount of time take what's left away without a fuss & try not to show stress/concern.

Both mine have had fussy patches, my six year old was very tricky for a couple of years but is a great eater now & the little one, now 2 takes the lead from her big sister so is pretty good.

Hang in there.

Xx

[crystal7]

not sure why my post went in twice!

[craigy]

I had a similar experience with my boy at around the same age and it lasted about 3 months to be honest.. he would allow me to spoon feed him weetabix in the morning and then pretty much refused everything else i would try throughout the day.. in the end he was pretty much living on weetabix and cheese on toast as finger food and i would try and hide things under the cheese and up his milk intake... i think in the end he got bored and then developed a huge passion for meatballs.. at the time he did lose a bit of weight i think but i was never that concerned as he was on the 100th centile anyway so plenty of reserves!!

it is stressful but i think you just have to keep going and offer things, i think it was about the time i bought a book about finger foods for toddlers and made all sorts of odd things with vegetables..

now he is a huge three and a half year old who has a love of carbs, fruit and veg with little interest in meat...