12 Month Old Refuses to Eat Solid Foods.

Sounds as if something might be bothering him. Could he be teething or is he stuffy. Personally, I would keep offering, but hold off a week on the weaning and likely he will be better. Things change so quickly. Also, you might try some table foods, kids often do better with that. I hope it gets better quickly! I breastfed both my children to one year and beyond, and it really is comforting knowing that even if they're not eating for whatever, they are getting the most nutritionally packed food in the world! You're doing great.

K.

My 13 month old took until around 10 1/2 months to actually eat food besides breast milk. He skipped baby food altogether and now eats regular food cut up in small bites. Some days he eats well, other days I can only get a couple bites in him. We, too, still breastfeed, which I plan to until we both decide to wean. I'm glad I continued breastfeeding because it helped me feel like even though he was slow to eat solids and had days he hardly ate anything, that at least he was getting breastmilk. I also give him vitamins so I felt like he was getting vitamins each day.

What I have found is all you can do is offer healthy food, a variety of food, and find creative ways to serve it. My son also likes to feed himself and allows me to feed him, but no utensils. So if you are using utensils, he may not want them for awhile and only want to use his hands. Also, I have found that he REALLY likes certain foods such as peas and crackers. So, when he is really fussing and refusing food, I put some crackers or peas on his tray, and he magically starts eating them. There is other food on his tray and then it's as though the crackers are a "stimulator" and he starts to eat the other food, too. I read in Dr. Sears book that this is an idea that he endorses. So, maybe find a food he really likes and try this idea.

I also, as others have said, do not force food in any way. From what I've read, this leads to big problems down the line. According to Dr. Sears, it doesn't matter what toddlers eat each day, it's what they cumulatively eat during the week. He also says what I said before that as a mom, your job is simply to offer healthy food in a creative manner and it's up to him to eat it. It's hard for us not to worry, though. I've tried hard to just relax on the days he refuses to eat and say "there's always tomorrow"!

Also, I recommend a book called "My Child Won't Eat" by Carlos Gonzalez. He talks about how we worry about this issue when we really shouldn't. He'll eat when he is hungry and won't starve himself. I've learned to pick my battles and food won't be one of them!! Good luck!

Oh, one last thing. My son is too smart for his own good and maybe your guy is the same way! I think that your son could possibly be connecting that you are trying to wean to food? Maybe hold off on weaning for awhile and see if that helps. I've noticed some days when my son doesn't eat that he seems to want to breastfeed more. Maybe wean more slowly or try again in another month or so to see if there is a difference.

My baby is almost 1 & we had this same issue a few weeks ago. Who knows what babies are thinking. One day the baby food is fine, then next it isn't, then no food altogether, then back to the baby food. Is he playing with it yet? Our baby does & it's so gross my stomach churns the entire meal. Chloe (the baby), goes back & forth on stage 3 baby food, is still breast fed 3-4 times a day, but drinks diluted juice from a sippy cup & also eats small, soft table food.

Try Gerber's Toddler pasta's. I have no idea why they're marketed towards Toddler's b/c every baby around 1 that I know, eats this stuff. It's small ravioli's and pasta's that you can cut up even smaller. My baby loves them & one bowl lasts for several meals. Small sausages (w/o the skins) are also good.

I just think they're exploring their food options & change their minds daily as to what they feel like "eating". After watching the theatrical show my baby puts on when she "eats", it's a wonder anything gets into her stomach. Our kid is doing all the same things yours is...gagging, throwing bits of food from her mouth or feeding it to the dogs whenever she doesn't want anything. Just go with it. Have a variety of things on hand & simply try each one until you succeed with enough food for a meal.

Good job nuring for a year! It's quite a job, but as you know, well worth it. Whenever I worry about the food intake Chloe might have or not have, I remember she's also getting breastmilk. Plus, her chubby cheeks are another indication, she's not suffering for anything. Good luck; can't wait until they can actually say, "hey, today I'd like a grilled cheese please".

Sounds like a sore throat or stuffy nose to me.
That's when my kids would do that. We wouldn't necessarily see any other symptoms at all, but they would refuse solid food.
Couldn't hurt to check it out. If it turns out to be strictly behavioral, then I know you will get a lot of good advice from other moms on here.
:o)

This may take some time but you can try. It may be a texture issue. Start with a food that is smooth for example carrots. Start with the baby food like i'm sure you have tried and the buy the canned carrots mash them up intead of blending to make a chunkier texture then little by little mash less and less until they are eating little chunks. Do this with all the foods your little one eats.

I had the same problem after I was on solids for a while & just decided I didn't like food anymore. My mom flipped out, took me to see my Ped, he looked @ my mom & said 'she'll eat when she's hungry' he just suggested to continue to offer different foods to me & encourage me to eat & to suppliment with vitamins. & low & behold! i started eating again not too long after that (i think it was less than a week but don't take my word for the timelline as it was told to me long ago by my mother). Just start supplimenting him with vitamins & he'll start eating when he's ready. Good luck.

My son had a similar problem. He was eating well for a while then starting boycotting solids. He was (and still is a bit) breastfed as well. What helped us was getting him more involved. There are some little star shaped cereals in the Gerber Graduates line. Sweet potato worked best for us. He could pick them up and fee himself and they kind of melted in his mouth (which was key since he didn't really having chewing down yet). He took to those then we rgadually worked solids back in ... always having some of those in front of him. Let him eat a puff, then a spoon of food and so on. It worked for us. Good luck!

Sorry to hear about your son's eating issues. I don't have any direct experience with kids not eating, but I will tell you my OPINION about eating. As a rule of thumb, kids are not going to starve themselves. Eating and not eating can turn into HUGE control battles. My advice is to casually offer your son a reasonable variety of healthy foods. If he eats, fine, if he doesn't, fine. Don't react one way or another. If eating isn't an issue for you, he can't try to control you with it. Yes, even your little angel will try to control you and everything around him, that's what kids do.

Good luck!