[Lalaith]

My EBF DD is 15 months old, and she is still pretty much refusing to eat solids. She is extremely fastidious and hates the texture of food. She will eat a few things here and there, like bread, yogurt, apples and a couple types of jar baby food. Every now and then she surprises me by trying something new, though she usually ends up rejecting it immediately. I have tried pretty much everything I can. I need some creative ideas to get her more interested, or I need somebody to tell me this is not totally abnormal and dangerous for her health. I'm a card carrying "breast feeding Nazi" (or so my reputation goes), so of course I believe breast milk is the best stuff in the world, but I'm starting to grow concerned that she is not getting enough nutrition from breast milk alone. I have no interest in weaning her, and I have a few people around me hinting that I will see no "improvement" in her eating habits unless I do so, so I need some MDC love, and wisdom.

Thanks.

 

[4evermom]

Well if it makes you feel better, my ds hardly ate anything other than crackers and pretzels at that age (and breastmilk, thankfully).

 

[Lisa1970]

Is she underweight? My son had health problems and rejected a lot of foods over it. You can take her to an OT for a feeding eval if you want. Make sure, though, that it is a pro-breastfeeding OT. (hard time find, you might not find one). I, too, am a card carrying breastfeeding nazi as one would say. I had this problem with one of my children and he turned out to have gastro problems and sensory issues. I don't know if the sensory issues were caused by the GI problems, they very well could have been. Maybe you could start with a pediatrict GI doctor.

 

[Lisa1970]

BTW..bread, yogart, apples..that does not sound too bad. I mean, my son was eating NOTHING. He literally refused everything. Sometime, after 3 yrs old, he started allowing bread. Now, at 14 yrs old, it is bread, some meats, pizza and plain style pasta with ordinary spag sauce..that is it.

 

[Moonvine]

Variation of normal, in my experience.

 

[cappuccinosmom]

If she is normal weight and development, I wouldn't push it.

My last baby was much like that--many days his nutrition at that age was 80%-90% breastmilk. We just made sure that food was always available, that he sat at the table with us for meals and had his own food within reach if he wanted it, but didn't push it.

 

[LynnS6]

Some kids have sensory issues which affects their relationship with solids - so your comment that she is 'fastidious' and hates the texture of food makes me wonder about sensory processing issues (sensory processing disorder).

Several recommendations:
Give her one thing each meal that she has eaten in the past. Put a small amount of a new food nearby and see if she tolerates having it on her plate/tray. Your expectation is not for her to eat this new food, just to get used to it. It sometimes takes 10-15 exposures to a new food before a child will try it.

Choose something new with a texture similar to things that she's liked, or something with a distinct texture in case she does try it. Crackers or things with a crunch are often good starter foods because they don't surprise a child with the texture. Crackers also breakdown fairly quickly and so aren't much of a choking hazard.

Let her feed herself as much as possible. I'm a firm believer in the benign neglect school of feeding solids. Your job is to provide it, her job is to eat it. Our dd hated baby foods and so went straight to small pieces of what we were eating when she was about 9 months. I put it on her tray, she ate what she wanted to of it. Rice, peas, spaghetti noodles and small pieces of meat (smaller than a cheerio) were what she liked best.

Finally, there are a couple of books that I'd recommend:
Feeding with Love and Good Sense by Ellyn Satter (Ellen Sattyr?)
Just Take a Bite

Just Take a Bite is for kids with feeding/food aversions, while the first is a more general book on feeding kids.

If you think that your daughter might have other sensory issues, you might want to read: Sensational Kids to see if this issue with food is part of a bigger picture or just her little quirk.