Solid Foods.

[AyJ]

Would like to ask for some advice from anyone with similar experiences. My daughter is 1 years old and she still will not eat solid foods. From birth, she was breastfed and drank formula (s-26 pink) to supplement. We waited till she was 6 months until we tried her on solids. We started with Cerelac, which she started to eat. Then, after about 2-3 weeks she would'nt eat it any more. We have tried a lot of different fruits and veg, pureed and small chunks, with no success. She will take the food in her mouth and sometimes chew it, but then she just spits it out.

I am concerned she is getting too much milk which is filling her up so she can't eat the solids. Not sure if that is feasible. Anyway, now she is breastfeeding 3 times a day and drinking about 30oz formula (s-26 blue).

Any help would be much appreciated

AyJ

[Brigante7]

Would like to ask for some advice from anyone with similar experiences. My daughter is 1 years old and she still will not eat solid foods. From birth, she was breastfed and drank formula (s-26 pink) to supplement. We waited till she was 6 months until we tried her on solids. We started with Cerelac, which she started to eat. Then, after about 2-3 weeks she would'nt eat it any more. We have tried a lot of different fruits and veg, pureed and small chunks, with no success. She will take the food in her mouth and sometimes chew it, but then she just spits it out.

I am concerned she is getting too much milk which is filling her up so she can't eat the solids. Not sure if that is feasible. Anyway, now she is breastfeeding 3 times a day and drinking about 30oz formula (s-26 blue).

Any help would be much appreciated

AyJ

The first thing I would do is stop breastfeeding, my wife stopped at 6 months and we put our son on weetabix, ready-break or porridge for his breakfast, jars of baby food for dinner and soft food for his tea (Fish, mashed potatoes, fish fingers, mince & tatties) anything that is soft and easy for him to eat. Now at 18 months he eats anything. He never ever took more than 12 oz of milk during any 1 day so I wouldn't worry about it, every single baby is different and you can't compare any 2, hope this helps.

P.S. He drinks about 1 litre of water a day.

Brigante7

Edited April 11, 2009 by Brigante7

[Boo]

I agree with reducing the milk intake but I would also advise seeing a pediatrician first to rule out any medical reason why she doesn't seem to want to swallow food after chewing it.

I would start with basic porridge, very thin consistency, mix it with the breast milk, avoid adding sugar as an incitement as it will only encourage a sweet tooth but be persistent & consistent. Don't be tempted to give milk if baby doesn't eat, she will not starve itself but you may have to throw alot of food away so make in small portions & then make more if you need to. You may have to re offer her food if she refuses first time, just leave it 30 minutes & try again until she realises that this is all that is on offer.

Carrots, sweet potatoe, puree apple & pear, avacados, these are all great starting foods for a baby, avacado & apple is a great combo as it is naturally sweet & avacado contain masses or great vitamins. Check out the Anabel Karmel website too, lots of tips on dealing with a fussy eater.

Weaning takes a lot of time & patience & you have to keep your cool but don't force your daughter to eat too lumpy or thick food too soon as it may scare her & force her gag reflexes making her afraid of food. Don't shout or make a big deal out of it if she refuses or spits out, just keep offering it & praising her when she does take & swallow a mouthful.

[AyJ]

Have thought about going to see a pediatrician, but not sure where to go, or if there are any in Nakhon Sawan. If you have any recommendations, it would be much appreciated. We can travel out of NS, that's not a problem.

We keep trying her with food and are always cool hearted with her so as not to scare her or create any negativity towards eating food. I hope she starts eating soon. Don't get me wrong, she is as healthy looking as I could wish for, but a little bit of regular food and I'd be over the moon.

AyJ

PS. Read a lot of your previous posts Boo, and they have helped me quite a bit with my first daughter in Thailand. Thanks.

[bina]

actually have two friends that breast fed for two years, and the young ones took solids only when they decided to do so at about a year + ; i.e. when mom was eating the child was allowed to play with the banana or whatever, and self feed, and little by little the breast feeding was reduced, naturally... this is extreme (they are also home schoolers and vegans but they have super healthy and intelligent kids) but can be done... most kids prefer liquid to solid, so u can probably reduce the amount of bottle feeding, and use only liquidy type foods, and allow the child to sit with u and handle the food, she can feed u, and play feed her...

if she is chewing and spitting out everything, also rule out tongue/swallowing problems (but usually they also have regurgitation problems with milk and othe liquids as well- my son had chewing problems which also affected his speech; later he went for therapy and we were told his chewing was do to shape and use of tongue. the problem also affected his digestion (burping a lot, etc) since he didnt manage the chewing and swallowed air also... he is fine at 19!! )...

but most of the time it is due to texture of the food that puts some infants off...

and for whomeever recommended to finish breastfeeding at 6 months! no way, if the mom enjoys, the recommended time is as long as the mom wants and the baby doesnt have social problems with it (like at three years old in the store, yelling tittie tittie). most pediatricians highly recommend breast feeding for as long as possible.

bina

israel

[AyJ]

Nice to hear of others having the same experience with babies eating solids a little later on and everything turning out OK. I think we will try to reduce the milk a little and see what happens. Hopefully this will create a little more space for other foods and she will start eating. My wife says she would like to stop breastfeeding soon, so I will help her with that over the next couple of weeks and see what happens.

AyJ

[yeti]

We've been having a bit of the same problem: our daughter eats a bit of solid food, but not enough (according to us and to the pedetricians). She was never drinking a lot of milk either. For her I think it may have to do with the fact she is allergic to a lot of foods.

Anyway, the 1st thing the doctor gave us was vitamins, as getting vitamins is supposed to make her hungry (but in your case her hunger might just mean she'll drink more milk).

Another doctor told us to put yellow egg in her formula: you boil an egg, take only the yolk, mash it small enough that it'll go through the teat. Don't put the whole yolk in a bottle, just some of it. And it worked: she drank it and it increased her appetite.

Anyway, good luck, I know how it feels, feeding times are taking a lot of our patience.

[Boo]

Vitamins, esp Vit D is a good idea for all kids anyway. My son has a liquid multi vit prescribed by his pediatrician called Abidec.

I don't have any suggestions for pediatricians in NS but you might want to start a topic in the Issan section for recommendations.

[AyJ]

Got some promising results today. Held back on the milk a bit this morning and made some cerelac. First attempt, no go. Second attempt half an hour later, she ate a few spoonfuls. We then gave her the milk. Did the same sort of thing around lunchtime, only this time we gave her joke. She ate a good few spoonfuls before turning her head. We then gave her milk again. This is the first food she has eaten in ages. Great stuff.

The local clinic gave us some multi vitamins for her and will try to speak to a pediatrician. The egg yolk thing sounds interesting and worth a try too.

Will let you know how things progress

Thanks again all

AyJ

[kannon99]

Goodness, don't stop breastfeeding! WHO recommends minimum of 2 years. I am a lactation counselor and work with breastfeeding moms with nurslings of all ages. As long as the child is growing and has proper development there is no need to worry about delaying solids. Some babies thrive and have no desire for solids until well past 1 year. Through the first year, milk (breast or formula) is supposed to be the main source of nutrition and all other foods just as learning/texture/experiment. Think of solid foods as condiments to the main meal.

Anecdotal: One of my four children refused solid foods until 13 mo of age. By 15 mo he was eating anything and everything. One day he just dug in and is now my best eater.

[torrenova]

My daughter still wants her morning and bedtime bottle but will sometime forgo the daytime milk. She is 20 months. She will eat just about everything but some days are better than others. I was not concerned about this but it does prey on my mind that I think she should be on a much more solid diet. She loves fruit and vegetables but I feel she still wants too much milk. However, I am not panicking at this stage.

[nikster]

Also depends on teeth development.... ours had lots of teeth at a very young age, he just kept growing them, and he was eating solids from 6 mo on, and also breastfeeding. It started gradually, as others described above, with little things, and easy to chew things. At 15 mo we had to stop breastfeeding due to pregnancy

He took it remarkably well, it turned out it was us stupid parents who didn't know that he didn't need to breastfeed. Before, at 15 months old, he "needed" breastfeeding to go to bed and at night 3 times. Then he went cold turkey on breast milk overnight when we found we were pregnant and the wife had pain breastfeeding. Daddy took care of him for 1 night, carrying him when he woke up. After that he slept through and didn't seem to miss breast milk at all. He now gets a small pack of formula before going to bed, and that's it. We suddenly realized that we probably suffered through a few months of sleepless nights when we didn't need to at all, and our baby with us!

If I have any advice it would be to stop the formula before the breastfeeding. Maybe the baby simply has too much to eat... babys are smart that way, they don't overeat.

Edited May 27, 2009 by nikster