Since my son has started daycare he refuses to eat any baby food or solid food. Unless it is in a bottle he won't touch it. My regular ped doesn't seem to be alarmed but he has lost weight. Should I be seeing a specialist?
I have a 13 month old. He did the same thing when he changed rooms at day care. I was a wreck. But my ped said not to worry as long as he was drinking his milk. He would eventually eat ... and he did. Unless his weight drastically decreases I would just give him some time to adjust. I'm sure you are feeling extra pressure and guilt since you just returned to work full time.
It may be a little separation anxiety. As long as it's not an excessive amount of weight, don't worry. Don't keep giving him food in a bottle just so he'll eat. He's not going to let himself starve. He'll eat what you fix when he gets hungry. My 4 year old did the same when I put her in preschool. She didn't want to eat anything outside of school. She eventually got hungry enough to eat. It also works when they get picky and only want certain foods!
Hello, My name is R.. I have a 4 year old daughter who just completed feeding therapy at Richmond Children's Hospital Day Program. You can see her at http://www.myspace.com/millerrenee. Her case is a little different she was totally g-tube dependent! She refused pretty much everything. However, in 7 weeks we were able to get her to eat 100% by mouth (all pureeds in her case because she doesn't have the chewing skills yet). Hope you can get some ideas from my videos! The biggest thing for Reanna is the rewards. She loves her DVD player. I reward her with each bite by letting her watch her video! You can also use toys at the table. You just don't give the reward until the bite has been taken. You would be suprised what rewards will do. You should think about joining my yahoo group at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/learn_to_eat/. This group was originally designed to share her feeding progress as we were in the program. However, others have requested to join and now it is turning into more of a support group where other people can join and talk about their own challenges with feeding their children.
Sincerely,
R.
Don't fret my son was the same way but it was not only at daycare. If I wasn't the one feeding him, he would not eat or there was a staff change at daycare he would not eat either. That is another scary thing about daycare, your child gets so used to a certain person doing for them they don't want anyone else to do it. My mother came to visit from Tx once and I had to work. each day I had to come home and give him lunch on my break or he would not eat until I came home. As long as he doesn't lose weight tremendously and keeps drinking his milk then its ok..
