petite 12 mo old feeding issues?

[friendlymamma]

I have a very petite 12 mo old DD. She is 17.5 pounds at her 1 year well visit (5th %). She has been completely on formula now about 2 months and on baby food/cereal/purees since about 6-7 months. The doctor doesn't seem to be worried about her weight, but I can't help but to worry (I'm a mom!). She is not progressing with her eating and seems very picky, which doesn't help. She will eat most fruits pureed, but the veggies are nearly impossible to get her to eat. She turns away and cries. As far as chunks of food on her tray, she won't even touch most things (even fruits such as peaches, pears) and don't even think about the veggies. All she will eat so far are really cheerios, puffs, etc. I did a little dance today when she actually voluntarily put a piece of avocado in her mouth. Any time I try to put a chunk in her mouth, she immediately spits it out, and if I persist, she again cries. Thoughts? Just don't know if I should be worried about her eating or not. This is so unlike how either of her brothers behaved with food, and with her being so small, I feel like every bite and calorie counts. FYI, she only has 1 tooth so far. Thanks for any comments!

[Abraisme]

I wouldn't really push this issue. Some kids are just small. My best friend's son is a tiny little thing (-3%, he's 2yo and 21lbs now) and he didn't start eating on a regular basis until 14mo. She was so stressed out about it, but really, you can't force a baby to eat. Some kids simply aren't ready to eat until later and that's okay. Keep offering a variety of healthy foods and don't force the issue. Also, keep giving her formula, and not cow's milk. The formula has everything that she needs to grow on for now. My feeling is that if you get stressed out and force her to eat that it will cause more food hang-ups and issues than if you just let her eat in her own time. Good luck!

[linds]

My daughter weighed in at 18.5 lbs at her 12 month check up we had the opposite response as you. Our doctor said she's a % away from being on the concerned side of the weight. She was in the 10% and looks completely healthy and still has rolls even I wasn't concerned at all and then he tells me that! YIKES ok so now what! HA! She had been on formula 100% from 9.5 months on and real foods for months so what's going on? Well she did have the stomach flu and then a cold so of course that doesn't help her appetite I'm sure. She loves her bottles and eats but not hearty portions. She's petite too. So what I changed was making her peanut butter banana sandwiches on wheat cut into bite size pieces, Amy's Canned Ravioli she LOVES and I try to stay away from processed and preserved foods but she goes to daycare so I'm trying to think of things that I know she'll eat there so that works for me in moderation. She loves tomato soup and I mix it into the rice cereal I have left over so it's thick for her to easily take bites of and she says mmmm so it must be good... I buy cheese sticks and cut it into bite size pieces for snacks and hmmmm what else? I can't think but those are things I have started giving her that she loves so I hope it helps get her back into the higher percentile that the doctor wants to see at the 15 month check up. She loves her milk and the doctor said to limit it to 24 ounces a day. That's hard with her but we're doing our best by mixing in white grape juice diluted with water and OJ diluted as well along with water of course. She's a milk lover!

I am sure your little one is perfectly healthy with her weight. Not all kids are big and I think part of the problem is the kids these days grow quicker and fuller and that's thanks to the nasty foods they eat loaded with preserves, hormones and chemicals. So you're doing just fine I'm sure keeping her healthy and she'll grow as her body needs to