How much solids does your 12-15 month old eat?

[joeysmom1729]

My 1 year old ds is still not eating much solids at all. I offer 3x a day, but he usually only eats 1-2x a day and only a few bites each time. He still nurses 3x during the day and all through the night while co sleeping. Is this ok? Should I be trying to get more solids into him?

[alegna]

sounds fine to me. Trust him. He'll eat what he needs.

Just keep offering the breast often.

-Angela

[eepster]

This book that you can get through LLL should put your mind at ease.
My Child Won't Eat!

[Ms. B. Sprout]

My 13 mo DS is pretty sporadic on solids -- sometimes he eats lots, sometimes hardly any all day. And he's never that interested in breakfast (probably because we have a big nurse when we wake up).

I just figure his caloric needs change and as long as he has the opportunity to self-feed & nurse, then I am ensuring that his needs are met. If he's not hungry, he just ends up feeding his soft chunks to the dogs or playing with them.

[ellacy]

Originally Posted by Ms. B. Sprout

My 13 mo DS is pretty sporadic on solids -- sometimes he eats lots, sometimes hardly any all day. And he's never that interested in breakfast (probably because we have a big nurse when we wake up).

I just figure his caloric needs change and as long as he has the opportunity to self-feed & nurse, then I am ensuring that his needs are met. If he's not hungry, he just ends up feeding his soft chunks to the dogs or playing with them.

Yep! At that age, dd was very sporadic on solids. Now, at 20 months, she eats more overall, but still has variance in amount by day. What surprises me the most, though, is her changing preferences. She likes a lot of foods, yet is very particular on any given day as to which ones she wants to eat.

[Mahre]

Thank you so much for asking this question. My son is 13 months and doesn't eat well. He at great at 10 months. Now it is hit and miss at his 3 meals a day. My biggest worry is his size. I do still BF often day and night.
Thank you!

[duckmom]

I believe it's also quite normal for them to start eating (sometimes a lot) less around a year old. They typically triple their birthweight in the first year, but they won't ever do that again in their life, so their caloric needs in relation to their weight subsequently decrease. It always seems so strange to me that my DS has become sooooo active at 14 mos, yet some days it seems like he hardly eats anything solid. I just try to let him lead and not stress about it, since I know they can sense if we are anxious, and barring a serious medical condition, they'll consume the proper amount of calories that they need in any given day. I think all we can do is keep offering nutritious foods and let them take it from there. Funny creatures, these toddlers... :

[425lisamarie]

At that age I knew mine wouldn't eat much, so I only offered whenever I was eating....eh, which is several times a day anyways. THey'd pick off a bite or two, that's it. It really doesn't matter how much kids eat IMO

[krisw]

My 12 month old eats no solids worth mentioning. I'm not fussed, he'll eat when he's ready.

[musemor]

Just to illuminate the range of normal, my 14 m/o eats a ton and has a really varied (albeit vegetarian) diet. She also nurses 4-8 times every 24 hours. All that eating and she's still really skinny (10% for weight!). Just goes to show that it's about the kid and not the charts.

[dawncayden]

Ds often goes through not wanting to eat at all to eating about 5 tablespoons worth of food a day. He nurses 3-10 times a night and about 6-12 times in the day. He likes trying new food and is interested in textures...I'm just not really worried. My 'plan' is to wean between 2 and 2 1/2 yrs, so we can get pregnant again as my A flo is no where in sight. So in the next year I will be offering more and more food and other drinks other then mama milk.

Dawn

[renaissanceed]

Another toddler here (14 1/2 months now) who can go from days where I think she's ingested two rice puffs to days where she eats most of my dinner, then a mango, then an avocado. A lot seems to be connected to teething for us. She still nurses a lot even though I'm working full time - usually about 3 times in the evening before bed and 4-6 times during the night, and she gets pumped BM during the day. Because she's getting so much BM, I'm not worried about what else she eats, as she seems happy and healthy.

[SleepDeprivedIn08]

Don't want to alarm you but...

It is worth mentioning to your child's doctor that he/she is not interested in solids. My daughter is almost 15 months old and from the very beginning, she's never really eaten them. Maybe a bite or two here and there, but nothing approaching a normal intake for her age (or any age, really). For months on end, I tried everything. I have even given my child all the things I always said I would never give her, just because I was so desperate to get her to eat SOMETHING. I mean, what kid doesn't like french fries? Candy? Or ice cream? Mine.

Turns out she has oral and texture aversion. We now see a speech therapist 3 times a week for occupational therapy. Yes, a speech therapist is helping her learn how to eat. It does NOT come naturally for some children. Our speech therapist also sees many children with dysphagia, which is when a child has painful swallowing due to an unseen problem with the structure of the mouth, tongue, or throat.

Our speech therapist has said the biggest problem with oral aversions is that most parents just assume their child is "picky" or will eventually "come around." But the reality is that oral aversions start out as such, then gradually become ingrained and behavioral. Case in point: My neighbor's son, who is 6, was just dx'd with texture aversion. He eats soft white bread (no butter), vanilla pudding, mashed potatoes, and that's pretty much it. No exaggeration. My neighbor said he started out just like my daughter, and she was never concerned. But as the years went by, it never got better, and actually got worse. If it's an oral or texture issue, you want to get it dx'd and treated earlier rather than later, when it becomes much, much harder to treat.

After a month of therapy, we're already seeing a drastic improvement in her solids intake. She's still nowhere near eating what she should be, and every month since 9 months, she's dropped on the percentiles chart, but it's beginning to get better.

Anyway, I know I am a newbie here, but I just wanted to offer a different perspective. I would mention it to your child's doctor, just to make sure you aren't dealing with something more.

Hope that helps and good luck!

[Curlyfry7]

I'll join in with SleepDeprived....

Certainly most children go on to eat solids well. My son also had oral aversions due to his reflux- he loved his milk and anything crunchy/dry (crackers, bread, crackers, crackers....see a trend here? ) He also does not chew well/appropriately- he has the motor abilities to chew, but chooses not to, and also initiates his swallow at an abnormal time. He has been seeing an OT at a dysphagia clinic for a few months now and has improved dramatically, especially with his food acceptance. We are still working on the chewing, although that is also getting better.

I had a great deal of trouble getting my peds to pay attention to me, as because of his wonderful milk intake, he has always been about 25% and metting all his milestones. And who knows? Maybe he would have been OK in the long run without the OT. But I didn't want to take a chance, and knew that things would just be more difficult the longer it went on, if it did NOT get better. But it's been worth it to me- he is not forced or coerced into eating, some days he eats a lot (at least for him) and other days he eats 3 bites all day. But these are bites of foods with different textures, and he does not scream hysterically when he touches things anymore either, as he used to.

So mention it to your ped...see what they have to say...and trust your mommy gut...mine kept telling me something was not quite right, even when no one else seemed concerned.

Kelly

[ecoteat]

My dd ate very little solids until around 14 months. She didn't have any teeth until then, either! Now at 22 months she eats plenty--some meals as much as I do!--and is absolutely healthy and perfect.

[honeybee]

Ds2 did not eat anything until 15 months. Then he started eating everything. He did not gain weight from about 9 to 15 months, and even lost a bit. We did have his blood checked out to make sure his vitamin levels were okay, and all was fine. So, I just waited until he was ready. He gained weight again once he started eating solids.

[ket1220]

My 14-month-old still does not like to eat. We nurse about 4 times during the day and 2 times through the night. She often resists the booster chair, so I try to let her walk around with food placed at a little table in the kitchen. Most of the time she ignores the food. She'll take 1 bite of everything and then ask to nurse. She doesn't seem to connect food with feeling full like she does the breast. Plus, she wants to be comforted a lot lately, I think because of the new teeth she's got coming in. I somehow felt that some time after 12 months things would turn around, but no change yet. It sometimes makes me feel like I am being punished for being a nurturing attachment mother! I don't really know why I feel like this. Maybe it's the expectation that your child is supposed to be doing something by a certain age, and you think you did something wrong if they are not.