Baby Wont Eat!

Honestly, I would talk to her doctor about it. If the doctor says everything is ok then I wouldn't worry about it. Have you tried anything like just dumping some peas from a can on her high chair? Or other finger foods? Also give her a spoon to hold while your trying to feed her. If she makes a mess so big deal. Maybe she will eat more that way. I always let my girls have their own spoon. Somethimes we would have food all over but they enjoyed eating. If it was something they really didn't care for much I would play choo choo or airplane with them. But for the most part they ate real good. If you don't want to clean a mess off the floor go to the dollar store and buy a plastic table cloth for under the high chair. After meal time is done shake it into the garbage and wash it. Works great.

How long has this been going on? I know my kids go on food strikes when they are teething. She may be getting some teeth in and it just plain hurts to chew! When my 16 month old is teething (which happens to be right now), we feed her crushed ice in between bites, which seems to help. I don't suggest doing that with an 11 month old, but frozen veggies might help. Just put a small handful of frozen peas or baby lima beans on her tray and see if she will start putting them in her mouth by herself. Frozen raspberries or blueberries are good too. If teething is an issue the cold will help numb her gums and she won't mind chewing things. My kids sometimes prefer frozen over heated now! It is an easy snack. Add some small pieces of cheddar cheese (bite size) and some baby crackers and you have a meal!

My 16 month old sometimes won't eat unless she can feed herself. Kids this young get into control issues and food is usually the center of it. Give her some things she can put into her mouth herself. Some of it will land on the floor...kids love throwing things on the floor...but you might be surprised what ends up in her mouth if she has control over it!

Otherwise, don't fret over the pureed food. At that age, I used pureed food for main meals and the frozen veggies, fruit, baby crackers, cheerios, bites of cheese, etc. for snacks just to get my kids used to more solid items. Then I started chopping up whatever I made for dinner really fine and added yogurt, mayo, etc. to make things stick together and feel a bit more like puree in their mouth. Then I went for just chopped fine, then eventually cut in small pieces. Every kid is different and you have to see what works. Whatever you do, don't keep on the dinner theater, that will only wear you out and end up not working after a while...

That sounds like my daughter at that age. She would take one bite and be done. I was so worried she wasn't getting enough. I never did entertain her because like you said I didn't want that to be an everyday, every meal thing. I did sometimes take her somewhere and feed her then (like in her stroller) and sometimes that would work. Or I would sit in the living room with her and try, again sometimes that worked.

Finally I asked my peditrician and she said that her weight gain was steady and she was getting all her calories from her formula that she needed. So you may want to put a call in to your doctor and discuss this.

Good luck!

I am so relieved I am not the only one going through this! My daughter is almost 11 months, and I am dealing with the exact same thing. Won't sit in her highchair, screams and cries the whole time, to the point I end up sitting on the floor and feeding her there. She then only eats half of a stage 3 jar of food or half a yogurt/cereal and that takes about 45 minutes! It is such a fight, every time, every day. She eats puffs and gerber veggie sticks, but no other "solids". I keep trying and trying and she spits noodles, cut up veggies, everything out. Let me know if your daughter turns it around, and what you did and I will do the same!!

A few questions: Are you still breastfeeding your daughter? If so, you don't need to be as concerned about nutritional value from solid food. Does she have all the teeth a typical 11 month old has? If not, then that's a sign that her digestive system is not developed fully for solid food. Those first teeth is what let's us know they are ready for food. So if she was a late bloomer and didn't get her first tooth until say 9 months, then you also probably don't need to worry about how much solid food she is eating. Do you insist that she eat at the traditional America meal times? Maybe you need to follow her lead. She'll tell you when she's hungry, then offer her 'quality' vs. 'quantity'. Fresh fruits and steamed veggies. No refined sugars, white flour, cracker/snack food. Since she doesn't eat a lot, make sure you get a 'bang for your buck' so to speak.
A.

My daughter is 9 months old and just about completely given up baby/pureed food. This weekend I made chilli and she loved that! Any soft food that she can feed herself is what she wants. She still has not gotten her first tooth and has been eating like this for awhile, so I would have to dispute the ideas that teeth mean they are ready for food. Have you just put some sweet potato or banana in front of her and walked away or gone about your dinner while sitting with her? You don't need to put on a show, that is for sure. Even if she still doesn't like this and won't eat much, I also think that as long as she is healthy and growing, it isn't a concern. My mom always said my brother never ate. She swears for the first 5 years he survived on air! It will kick in at some point! The foods my daughter loves are: sweet potato, perdu baked chicken nuggets cut into very small pieces, ground beef, any kind of bean, peas, avacado, banana, peaches, watermelon, gerber turkey sticks, yogurt melts and puffs.

You are right to cut the floor show because you can't keep that up and she'll need to learn to eat without it. Keep offering other types of food but don't worry about it. My son was a picky eater and he rarely eats 2 meals a day. Some days he eats almost nothing. But he gets hungry and makes up for it later. If he had it his way, he'd have a 100% milk diet. The baby will eat when she's hungry. I'd take her to the doctor just to be sure but otherwise, she's probably fine.

Thanks -I am also looking forward to the advice :)

I think they are supposed to stay on formula to 1 year - but my son never took formula & just started to drink milk (so I nursed until 20 months) He isn't a fan of food. He's 2 this week & weighs 22 lbs. (was 5 at birth)... they say not to make food a fight & to offer several options. He goes thru "phases" (loves, pasta then stops, loves yogurt then stops...) he likes salad, broccoli & asparagus. Everything low cal :( he won't eat thing most kids like (mac & cheeae) though he does like fries... but I want fattening with nutrition!

My baby just turned one year old and he is still eating pureed food and drinking two bottles a day. I've been trying to mush our food for him and make the texture more rough, but sometimes he refuses to eat it. I'm not pushing it because his molars aren't in yet so chewing might be too difficult. My pediatrician told me not to worry as long as my son was healthy. If your daughter isn't comfortable with solids then don't stress over it. Right now she lives on cereal and applesauce. In a year she'll live on macaroni! :-) It all balances out.