Ok, seriously. How do I feed him if he doesn't want it?

[newmothermary]

from the spoon, he takes it and throws it on the floor. I do blw also but he's not taking in a whole lot. Miles is almost 11 mos. and is bf'd exclusively. No bottles or cups ever and he measures on the small side (weight) so naturally, I am starting to worry. He is meeting milestones and is one HAPPY, bright and social baby. He's alert and is curious. Should I be worried that he's not eating much food food? I'm going to try a mama's suggestion here of a "fat smoothie" consisting of avocado, bm, olive oil and banana through a syringe because given in a spoon, it will be a royal mess, even more than what is there already.

[Nillarilla]

Right now it's mostly about exploration IMO. He will get what he needs from the breastmilk. Has he always been on the small side? If so as long as he's not dropping weight he is most likely fine. Avocados, high fat yogurt or coconut milk yogurt may help him put on a little weight. Try a wider variety on his tray. Sometimes my dd who is 11 mos likes chicken one day but not the next so she gets chicken, broccoli and cheese on her tray and may eat what she likes. I usually try to give her a choice of 3 things on her tray.

[mckittre]

Unless there's some medical issue, I really doubt a healthy baby could or would starve themselves - given access to food and milk. So he's probably fine - just small. My 11 month old likes food, and is 15th percentile in weight. Size just varies.

[Punchy Kaby]

Is he on the small side of normal? He does not have a FTT diagnosis? Then I would not force him to eat. By forcing him to eat, you are trying to control him through food and he is reacting. Let him truly lead the way. You mentioned a 'true mess' if you let him eat the smoothie himself, do you often try to get him to eat neatly? Maybe he wants to eat messy!

[newmothermary]

He's just a skinny mini,not FTT. His weight seems to have slowed down from 9 mos on. He'll be 11 mos in 4 days. Ped just ran some blood to check for anemia, lead and an allergy test for the more common allergens. He had an itchy reaction to scrambled eggs the other day. Dumb me i should've just given him the yolks. Anyway, the ped is not overly concerned but I'm a worry wart. He's 19.5 lbs right now and the ped said he should be 20 lbs by 12 mos, if not maybe something is going on.

[Super~Single~Mama]

Why so concerned about 20lbs by 12mo? My little man was 22lbs at 12 months - but I'm not really sure why thats overly important?

Anyway, to get him to eat, try putting him in his high chair and eating something yummy in front of him. Take bites and say "Yummy, this is goooodd!! Do you want some?" Pretend to not want to share, and my bet is that he wants the food from you REALLY FAST!! I've just started trying this with my son, and oh man, he LOVES to eat what I'm eating!

With my son though, it doesn't matter if its the same as mine, it has to be from my plate, it has to look exactly like what I'm eating, etc. He loves to taste what I'm eating, and usually likes it. But its not good enough to put some for him on the side - it has to come off my plate or out of my bowl!

[sunshynbaby]

Perhaps he just isn't ready??? I would continue offering at family mealtimes, but don't make an issue of it.

[frontierpsych]

I wouldn't sweat it. My DS is 16.5 months, 19 lbs, refused solids until 13 months, and is just now starting to eat them with any kind of regularity. He is happy and healthy.

[annekh23]

Why an arbitary number of 20lb at 1yr? You'll get a different centile for that depending on data source, but it's likely in the 10th-25th range, i.e. somewhere between 10% and 25% of babies will be smaller than that. Was his birthweight around that range? Even if it was higher, that doesn't imply his current weight is unhealthy.

FWIW, neither of my kids were 20lb at 1yr and it doesn't look like my third will be either, the first was an IUGR baby and not a great eater, but developmentally spot on at a year. Second was actually a chunky baby, 8lb8oz, eating large quantities of food and breastfeeding well, but barely gained weight between 9mths and a year, so was about 19lb at a year.

Birthweights have been all over the show, 5lb13oz, 8lb8oz, 7lb4oz, though if you consider gestational age and curve followed before IUGR kicked in, their birth weight potential seems to be around the 75th centile. Yet all of them have eventually got to around the 10th, it's just how they are meant to me. We have a family tendency to do a bit of catch up at puberty, but I still wouldn't expect them to go anywhere near the 75th centile.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Originally Posted by newmothermary

He's just a skinny mini,not FTT. His weight seems to have slowed down from 9 mos on. He'll be 11 mos in 4 days. Ped just ran some blood to check for anemia, lead and an allergy test for the more common allergens. He had an itchy reaction to scrambled eggs the other day. Dumb me i should've just given him the yolks. Anyway, the ped is not overly concerned but I'm a worry wart. He's 19.5 lbs right now and the ped said he should be 20 lbs by 12 mos, if not maybe something is going on.

My DD was slow to really start eating food as well. She now eats much more, but it's still not a lot at 16 months. She's also still not 20 lbs., but is perfectly healthy, so I'm not sure where the 20 lbs. number is coming from. What is he using to back up that number?

[flower01]

When spoon feeding my DD didn't work (she gagged and threw up every attempt) i found out about BLW here. She nibbled for awhile and then right around her 1st bday she really started to eat more - right from our plates. I just always offered what we were eating...unless it was unsafe or spicy, etc. She did love smoothies which she drank right from a cup. She just gradually started eating more and now at 2.5 she eats all day long.
Do not worry!

[newmommy7-08]

When we did spoon feed DS around that age I had to start giving him his own spoon, he wanted to do it himself. For a while though he just played w/ the spoon, and it bought me time to get him fed.

[an_aurora]

DD2 ate like a horse at that age, and weighed 16 pounds :. Like the PP said, at this age it's all about exploration, hand-eye coordination, and practicing chewing and swallowing--they don't need to eat alot when they are still getting all their nutrition from mom!

[Auraji]

My DD 8 months, doesnt like it for me to give her food, even if Im just handing her the spoon or giving her a little piece, she needs to grab it by herself! So I usually just put some cut up pieces or the spoon on her tray and let her do as she wants.

[mckittre]

My baby is the exact same age and weight. 11 months and 19.5 pounds. My doc said at his appt last week that he was 15th percentile in weight, and it was nothing to be concerned about at all.

After all, 15% of babies have to be at or below the 15th percentile! Your doc would send 15% of parents for all these extra tests and have 15% of parents do all that extra worrying because their babies aren't 20 pounds at 1 year?!!

If he seems otherwise healthy, I suspect the "thing going on" is that you have a smaller than average baby. Would you worry if he was in the 85th percentile? (statistically just as far off average)

[newmothermary]

Ok mamas. The bloodwork shows that Miles is mildly anemic (9.7 (I think) hemoglobin) we are giving him polyvitamin drops with iron. The ped also told us to give more iron-rich foods like meat, sweet potato. The thing is, again, he does not want me to feed him. (tried again, won't have any of it) and the sweet potato that I boiled he likes to mush in his hands and every little actually makes it to his mouth. Again, he is dev. on track and is a very happy and social baby. Height wise, he is at 75%. He's just thin and a little anemic. Oh, he's also allergic to shrimp, eggs and wheat. Although, he's been eating cheerios for some time and it doesn't seem to bother him.

[woodchick]

Maybe try giving him pieces of sweet potato that aren't so squishy? DD2, just a little younger than your DS) loves having a sweet potato 'french fry'. It is solid enough to hold, but soft enough to gnaw off bits from the end. She also loves little bits of chicken and beef. We just put a couple on her tray and let her go to town.

[newmothermary]

Hi Woodchick,
Yes! sweet potato fries are the only real way he'll eat it! lol! I just thought I'd like to give him whole foods iykwim. I made some chicken tonight (cooked for hours) we'll see if its a hit.

[woodchick]

Originally Posted by newmothermary

Hi Woodchick,
Yes! sweet potato fries are the only real way he'll eat it! lol! I just thought I'd like to give him whole foods iykwim. I made some chicken tonight (cooked for hours) we'll see if its a hit.

Maybe it is just semantics, but our SP fries are a whole food. I just slice up the potato and roast or boil until it is just a bit soft. I don't add anything.

I hope he likes the chicken! DD2 is also a huge fan of black beans. Maybe he'd like to try those.

[newmothermary]

Great idea about the black beans! Do you cooked those down further? Assuming you get the canned variety. Or do you get the bagged ones?

Thanks!