Hello All,
I'm really starting to worry about my 11 Month old son's eating habits. He has no interest in food, juice or water. He doesn’t even cry for a bottle, I just feed him formula about every 3 hours and he drinks it. I try to feed him 3 meals a day at the same time each day and sometimes he will eat the baby food and sometimes he won't. He will open his mouth to try just about anything but if it's chunky he will not swallow it. Yesterday I bought cheese puffs thinking that he would totally love them, and he did! But he only liked to hear the crunch when he chewed it and then he would spit them out. He loves to chew food, but then he spits it out. He will eat cheerios, only if I put them in his mouth, he will put everything in his mouth but food! He also won't drink water or juice in his bottle, but he will sometimes take sips of my water out of my cup depending on his mood. I have tried different sippy cups and he won't drink out of them. He is only in the 3% for weight and the Doctor told me at his 9 month check-up not to be worried. He said he has fat on him and looks healthy and not to force him to eat because it will start a war. He has a lot of energy and is definitely all boy, so I know he is getting enough nutrition to keep him active.
Thanks for your suggestions!
A.
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. This was the first time I have posted a question and I was amazed that so many people responded. I took my son to the Doctor yesterday and surprisingly he has gained almost 4 pounds since January 25th. That is the most weight he has gained since he was born. He typically only gains a pound a month so the Doctor was very happy. The Dr. looked at his tonsils and said they are pretty average size so he doesn’t think they are over sized and causing swallowing problems. He has referred me to the Children’s Hospital feeding therapy and said it takes about six weeks to get into it. He said hopefully by the time I get my appt. Bronson will have started eating solids. I'm going to continue to try new foods with him and see how it goes. I feel very relieved knowing that his weight has gotten better. Thanks again for all your responses.
A.
I had the same problem with my oldest. I tried everything to get him to eat solid foods. Eventually I just had decided to let him do it when he was ready I would offer it but not force it. Then one day he started eating and hasn't stopped. He will eat everything and a lot of it.
i would contact a different pediatrician, maybe there is something uncomfortable about swallowing, or the texture of the food. maybe try pureed food, or baby food, or pudding. maybe experiment with different textures to try and pin point what the problem is. also there is something called failure to thrive syndrome, i don't know much about it but maybe you can look into that!?
My 15 month old went through some similar things about eating. Take for instance: after we had gotten him eating solids like some pastas and things he kind of relapsed into only wanting baby foods-non chunky anything I guess. anyway, my doctor just told me the same thing, to not worry too much they will eat whatever their body needs to thrive and be happy and healthy. Oh, and by the way, my son's only fifth percentile, so I totally hear you on worrying about this whole eating thing. I'm sure he'll want solids sooner or later. It took a little bit of jealousy and curiosity for my son to come back to solids. kind of a "I want what you're eating" type of deal. good luck though!
Once he turns 12 months, you will switch him to whole milk, I assume. Start mixing his formula with whole milk. 1/4 whole w/ 3/4 formula for 3 to 5 days. Then 1/2 and 1/2. Then 3/4 whole milk and 1/4 formula. Also, give him less formula/milk so he's hungry for solid food. Both my boys love milk and so they would fill up on milk and not be hungry for food. Give him water at mealtime. If he won't drink straight water --- put a splash of juice in to sweeten it up (no more than 4 oz. per day). Give milk for snack. Limit to 16 to 20 oz. per day. Hopefully, he'll get hungry and want to try food. Model for him. You eat the food and then have him try it. Also, he might have issues w/ textures. So experiment with different types of foods. Make mealtime fun. You don't want to fight with him about this because this is one of the things he has control of. And he's exercising this right. Don't worry too much about the growth scale. All kids are different. If your doctor thinks he's healthy, then he's fine. You just don't want him to lose weight. Make sure he's taking vitamins (polyvisol). And remember, it's a phase.
my little guy is the same way. We are having his tonsils and adenoids removed. The theory for his eating is that his tonsils are so huge that nothing can pass by them. So, among other issues, we are hoping that he will be able to eat solids after his surgery. He loves putting things in his mouth, but when he tries to swallow, I end up turning him upside down, beating his back to get the food back out.
He also, will not drink anything but his milk from a bottle. Nor will he drink from a sippy cup. We bought some of those regular cups that you can buy lids with, that are not spill proof. He got the concept of drinking this way, and then I bought the disposable sippy cups and he can drink from them. He will drink most anything out of the cup.
Mine is below any %. He is off the charts on the bottom side for both his weight and his height. My ped. was a nutritionist before she was a Dr. and just yesterday, she told me that when they are growing in both height and weight, than it is not a nutrition issue, but something else is going on. In our case his spine is not growing straight. So we will be seeing a spine Dr. for this.
Good luck. It can be very frustrating when you have no medical training, yet you know something is wrong. I have a wonderful Dr. and when I tell her something is wrong, she believes me and works to figure out the cause of why I think something is wrong.
Speech Language Pathologists are trained to help babies with feeding therapy... and it sounds like it's time to at least get a screening to see if things are within the range of normal or if you need some expert help. You can call an SLP and ask if they do feeding therapy with babies. Many will offer a 10 free screening to let you know if an evaluation is warranted. You sound worried, and what you describe sounds to me like a second opinion is justified. Rather than a pediatrician, though, the opinion from someone with specific training might be time better spent. Good lucK!
My third child started eating solid food on the day before she turned 1, and then ate as if she'd been doing it forever. Only had formula prior to that.
This is all in the range of normal, but would have freaked me out if she were my first. Remain calm. I never met an older child or adult who wouldn't eat food, so it does go away. :)
It sounds to me like a specific barium swallow needs to be done to see why he doesn't want to swallow. If he has breathing problems, I could recommend our doctor at National Jewish and she'd get order one right away. Usually the next day or two.
Also, we have a great feeding therapist that specializes in the little guys. Our son was 11 mos when he first saw her. One of her recommendations was pirates booty (Cheetos without the mess) and the puffs in the toddler aisle. Something else she told us to get that worked wonders was the pre-toothbrushes. Nuby makes some with a nice handle to hold. Our son loved them. They are very theraputic for feeling the mouth, so most kids hate them. Also, when you brush his teeth, brush the insides of his cheeks, the roof of his mouth and his tongue. I know there were other things, but that's all that comes to mind right away.
The sooner you get help for him, the less therapy you'll need later. Most kids who need feeding therapy also need speech therapy. With the help we got, our son has barely qualified for speech therapy. I wonder if we got gotten more help sooner, if he would need it at all. Getting speech therapy is not nearly as easy as the feeding therapy.
I don't mean to scare you, but it sounds like your doctor was like ours. It wasn't so much that he didn't know enough, as that he wasn't familiar with these type of issues. I actually have heard from others that is not too uncommon. Let me know if you want names and numbers.
Hi A.,
First thing I would suggest is that you begin documenting what it is that your child IS eating. This will do 2 things for you; 1. alleveiate some fears by seeing how much is consumed, 2. provide a document to share with your doctor so s/he can see what your child is eating and if there needs to be a concern.
Next thing I recommend is that you put on a bit of a 'show' for your child. Eat things in front of him and really enjoy it. Say things like 'MMM, this is so good!" "I love how this is so crunchy!" So he can get some good role modeling for enjoyment of the food. Some people can have a mild texture issue with some foods and he may need to learn how to handle harsher textures. You may also want start with all soft and easy to swallow foods and gradually move into the firmer ones. See what he can take and what he totally resists. Consider it a science experiment!! Good Luck and I hope this helps.
I have read through your concerns about your son not wanting to eat solid foods. One of my daughters was a lot like that when she was little. Children don't usually do well if fed "by the clock" or even offered food 3 times a day. I learned with my children and all 6 of my grandsons that if food is prepared for them that can be left sitting on the table at their usual place they will come by and get a few bites. Even leaving their food on a small table they can reach or sit down to is ok. I use finger foods of all types. Even raw vegetables cut into small bites is good for them. All of my children and my grandchildren eventually learned to join the family at regular meal times and they have harty appitites. If you feel leaving food out for a long period of time might spoil just exchange what was on the plate or in the bowl for fresh food. My children never did like hot food when they were little, they would wait for it to get room temperture before eating.
Children learn to like green peas, frozen ones are really good. Offer all types of foods, whatever you eat they will eat eventually. Even cold pickled beets!
A little about me;
I was a SAHM with my 3 daughters and 1 son (and a single mom) When they were grown I went back to college and started working. I now have 6 handsome grandsons ages, 17,13,10,8,5,and almost 3. I also have a grandchild due late August.
Happy Trails to you until we meet again,
Sally
I agree it's best not to make food a big issue. My cousin's daughter didn't eat well until a few weeks after her first birthday, and was also under 5% on weight. IF your doctor's not worried, I wouldn't worry. Our son didn't take to food right away either; he's almost 10 months and just started to enjoy it.
Things that seemed to help him enjoy it were: eating at the table when we eat; eating food off our plates (even if it's actually his food just on our plates); eating mashed up bits of our meals (he refuses to eat "baby food"); introducing lot's of different things until we found what he likes. He likes lot's of weird things that you wouldn't think a baby would like: dill pickles, canned beets, kidney beans and garbanzo beans with a bit of olive oil; kiwis, mango pits with some of the meat left on (messy, but he loves it); a baby snack called Teddy Puffs, Cheerios, chicken, mounds of cooked rice and rice noodles (in the Asian section at the store) and... pickled jalapenos!
You never know; just keep trying and keep it fun. When we discover something that he actually likes we do little cheers and make up little songs, and just have a lot of fun with it.
Good luck!
Dear A. L I never put my children on sippy Cups after breast feeding I just gave them regaler cups and they did just fine. When baby's are young it takes them quite a while for them to learn to like new foods. So some times to get them use to new foods you need to inter duce the foods more than once ore twice.
I hope this helps Thanks C. J.
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Check this out for yourself and the kids!
My son wasn't interested in solids until he was 4 months old. If he is developing fine then there really is no worry. After he turns one, you will want to have his iron levels checked, but other than that, if you let him choose to eat on his own, it will be less of a battle and he won't associate eating with unpleasantness.
Try giving him some pediasure too in sippy cups. Just keep offering things, have him sit at the table when the family eats, that peeks children's interest a lot of times. I would address with your Dr you want to get him off the bottle and are concerned if he won't take a sippy cup. He or she should help you with that as they encourage strongly to get children off formula and bottles at the year mark.
Try straws for cups with milk or water. He may like sucking and doesn't like sippy cups. Strawed cups are actually better for them and their teeth. Take him out and help him pick them out, make a big deal out of how cool they are.
Also, try new and cool fun plates for him, those animal shaped paper plates were a huge thing for my kids. Just keep offering over and over, try yogurt, try eggs, anything softer maybe.
Also if he likes mouthing things go to Babies R Us and get a teether fruit holder, they can hold it themselves but you put the fruit in the mesh bag so they can mouth it and slowly get some of the fruit without choking. That way he will get different tastes. Keep giving him chunkier baby foods too. It just takes time and patience sometimes but I would bring up your concerns with your Dr. He should be eating some solids by the year mark.
just went through the same thing. My little girl is 14mo's old.
My 14mo old had a hard time getting rid of her bottle. She just wouldn't eat solid food at all and would have fits for almost 2 weeks to get her bottle. I just limited her to a night time bottle and soon enough she would be hungery enough and eat solids. Kids have a hard time with change - and you just need to start a new routine and stick to it. There may be some foods he likes more then others, and keep this in mind when you are shopping for food. My little girl also likes a straw sippy cup. She now has her "big girl cup" on her high chair each time she eats. Also try eatting with her as she eats her solid food. Make sure she eats in her high cair each time she eats.
Good luck!!!!
I know the feeling. My son wouldn't eat solid foods either. It sounds to me like you're doing everything right. Listen to your pediatrician, your son is doing just fine. He'll eat when he's hungry and keep in mind he's only 11 mo. old. Sometimes it takes a while for them to be interested. Anyway, here's my suggestion...Make meal time a game. It's what I had to do. I know it gets really messy but dress him down to his diaper, stick him in his high-chair, and let him have at it. He'll get some nutrition by squishing his food around and some will make it down him. Let him know that it's alright to have fun with his food and after a while he'll discover he likes new tastes and textures.
I hope this helps you and good luck. Just be patient with him and don't feel bad that your son is light. (My sons three and he's finally made it on the charts for weight) it'll happen.
Happy Easter!
I hear ya!
My son has been to a feeding therapist (and since graduated) to get him to eat.
Although he had trouble with the actual chewing motion, the other kiddo's in his class had a variety of other obstacles...
some did not like the texture of food, the color, the smell, etc... all related to sensory perception.
If you are interested in pursuing some education about what your son might be "thinking" about with food, contact Dr. Toomey for an assessment.
She is fabulous!! Her team of Occupational therapists, Physical Therapists and Nutritionists are so personable and they have tons of "tricks" with the kids to get them to eat!
She travels around the US educating other Doctors about feeding children.
Dr. Toomey is located off of I-25 & Colorado Blvd.
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Or do a Google search for Dr. Kay Toomey to read all about her and some documents of her studies, seminars, etc...
I hope this helps...
