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REALLY stressed with feeding my son!!!
Gabe's nearly 9 months and feeding has become a total nightmare.
He won't eat homemade food, it's so upsetting when he refuses it again & again. Tonight I made the Annabel Karmel butternut squash risotto and he hated it. Its really upsetting TBH cos I make it for me as well and it's really nice!
He will hardly eat jars now either, he's got a chest infection but he eats cereal and yogurts fine so why not other foods???
He doesnt drink milk either now and just cries when he sees the bottle especially the bedtime one. He'll have a little bit (3-5oz) in the morning, maybe a couple oz in the afternoon but thats it. Before he was ill he still often the bedtime bottle but had 6-7oz in the other 2.
It's just really getting me down & stressing me out, he's also started being messy (never was before) and if he doesnt like the food he will take it out of his mouth and smear it everywhere. I hate waiting for him to open his mouth for the spoon, and shaking his head from side to side.
I'm thinking of substituting one of the meals for finger foods as he seems better with these and just eats what he wants and leaves the rest. Is this OK?
xxx
ETA: his weight gain is poor too, dropped 2 centiles and only gaining 1oz a week now.
[Modified by: **Tiger Lily** on 04 February 2009 17:11:14 ]
He won't eat homemade food, it's so upsetting when he refuses it again & again. Tonight I made the Annabel Karmel butternut squash risotto and he hated it. Its really upsetting TBH cos I make it for me as well and it's really nice!
He will hardly eat jars now either, he's got a chest infection but he eats cereal and yogurts fine so why not other foods???
He doesnt drink milk either now and just cries when he sees the bottle especially the bedtime one. He'll have a little bit (3-5oz) in the morning, maybe a couple oz in the afternoon but thats it. Before he was ill he still often the bedtime bottle but had 6-7oz in the other 2.
It's just really getting me down & stressing me out, he's also started being messy (never was before) and if he doesnt like the food he will take it out of his mouth and smear it everywhere. I hate waiting for him to open his mouth for the spoon, and shaking his head from side to side.
I'm thinking of substituting one of the meals for finger foods as he seems better with these and just eats what he wants and leaves the rest. Is this OK?
xxx
ETA: his weight gain is poor too, dropped 2 centiles and only gaining 1oz a week now.
[Modified by: **Tiger Lily** on 04 February 2009 17:11:14 ]
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Replies
We do have phases where he refuses food and milk for the odd couple of days. I try him with loads of different stuff then until I find what he wants to eat. Like you say though it is usually finger foods , yoghurts, rusks, or cerial / porridge that he chooses to have. He is now partial to toast as well.
I have a stash of different foods for LO as he goes from liking one type to liking another very quickly (ie. dried, jars, home made, finger foods.).
If Gabe likes his finger food best then I would let him have them for a meal, (and naughty mommy in me would be giving plenty of snacks as well).
He probably cant taste things properly at the mo either with his chest infection.
Hope things get better soon.
Beck
If he won't drink plain milk could you try a little flavoured milk in a beaker?
I had a long chat with a mw at the baby show and she said to just give him food that he'll eat and keep trying new stuff. She said mealtimes should be social times and not full of stress as the lo will pick up on the stress from you and will just get worse upset if you try and push the issue.
That was definately true for cole, and it is very hard not to get stressed about it but I had to persevere and now he eats better so I try not to worry. It may sound odd but one thign we have found he'll eat is soup - yeah its more like puree than soup really but we offer him soup before his lunch and tea and then at least if he refuses the rest of the tea he's had something thats good for him. Annabel karmals leek & potato puree makes for good soup and is dead easy to do. Also - for the jars and home made stuff..have you tried mixing it? We mix blended veg with half a jar.
He's ill so I guess if you think about it, it stands to reason that babies will be just like us, if we are ill we want the nice tasting comfort food while we are feeling grotty - I find cole is like that - he's been rough lately and he's refusing breakfast & tea but he'll eat fruity mush, soup and yoghurt.
As for the weight gain - is he crawling/walking/standing etc yet? You'll find that the weight gain will slow right down when he gets more physically active.
Definately try flavoured milk too.. cole the little monster won't drink milk out of a beaker but he'll happily drink chocolate milkshake out of a beaker!
If he eats finger foods better, then just make sure he has plenty of foods to munch on and try offering him spoons of mush but if he refuses try not to worry, at least he has something to eat.
I know its easier said than done, but hopefully he'll get better as he feels better
xx
Remember, it's just a phase and will soon pass. It's important that he doesn't feel stressed when he sees food/bottle or he may come to resent meal times and it's even harder to deal with fussy toddlers! If you see him getting upset then, just take the food away...never force food into his mouth if he isn't interested.
Hope this helps xox
Gabe's fine with lumpy food funnily enough kia, he went through a stage of hating it but is usually ok with stage 2 jars.
With the weight gain...no he isn't standing or crawling yet, he sits unaided really well now but never rolls either haha!! Don't think he likes it!
I will try him with sandwiches again tomorrow, he does like those and will normally eat a quarter of a cheese spread sandwich & loves crusts of bread and butter too so may try that.
I never do force feed him and always just take the food away if hes lost interest but its so frustrating and its tempting just to shout and cry arrrrgh lol. He'[s never been a big eater of solids, he goes through stages of hating them and then loving them, but he's always loved milk so its a toughie!
The flavoured milk is a good idea...we have some nesquik powder somewhere!!! How much would I have to use??
I'm going to take him to get weighed tomorrow i think....
Nesquick powder does give you instructions though about how much to use I think - can't see why that wouldn't be ok for him
big hugs
xx
As the others have said, it is probably a phase and hopefully he will start eating properly again soon.