BLW - 13 month old who just won't eat

[twotimestrouble]

Hi, my 13 month old DS won't tolerate anything other than BLW. However, this is the big downside, he just doesn't eat anywhere near enough. A couple of half hearted mouthfuls and he tips the plate/food onto the floor. It doesn't matter what's put in front of him. Result, he is still guzzling milk - particularly at night when he wakes three times. Obviously he's starving. Only good meal is breakfast after that it's downhill all the way.

Has anyone got any experience/suggestions.

Also, is there a website with good BLW recipes for this age group?

Thanksxx

[BizzyDint]

what do yu mean he won't tolerate anything other than blw? are you trying to spoon feed him as well? have meal times always been a battle?

[belgo]

I also have a dd who has always been difficult with eating. She's now 18 months old and it does get better!

I did BLW, and didn't use a plate, because like you say, it ends up on the floor.

The fact that he's eating a good breakfast is a good sign.

Things that have helped my dd:

-giving her plenty of time to eat, she's a very slow eater.
-When I find something she likes, she gets given that a lot.
-try and be relaxed at meal times, if my dd thinks she's going to be pushed into eating, her mouth clams up and she turns her head and refuses totally to eat anything. Then of course she'l want milk later which is annoying.

[twotimestrouble]

Hi, BD -what I mean is that we tried to spoon feed for a long time (because it was v successful with DS1). However, he never ever allowed us to spoon feed him anything other than yoghurt and weetabix. He has been a bad eater from 5 months old. At that time HV said, "take some time out and then he'll be OK" but he wasn't. Strangely at 8 months he suddenly ate off a spoon for three weeks and we thought, FANTASTIC! But it stopped as quickly as it started and we haven't spoon fed since. I am worried a) about his total lack of a balance diet (he never eats veg) and b) about his intake (because it is so minimal).

[BizzyDint]

what's he having at breakfast? i ask seeings as that is the meal he seems to like best.

i think this is down to the fact food has been an ordeal for you and him from day one. does he sit with you while you eat? does he get the same as you to eat? what if you are eating, he's in his chair and you just pass him bits of what you're having? do you ignore him when he throws food or do you make an issue of it?

[belgo]

can you try giving him fruit at breatfast along with his weetabix? That will cover a great deal of his nutritional requirements.

[suziewoo13]

I'm sure you will have tried this but will he take the food from you? I often have to help my DD by popping bits of food into her mouth ie fish and semi solid things. If he is eating during the night then I guess he wont be that hungry at day time. Can you cut back slowly on his night feeding? I hope the advice helps as it must be hard on you

[twotimestrouble]

Thanks all.

BizzyDint - yes he sits with us and we try not to make it an ordeal. He gets more or less what his 3 year old brother gets. I ignore food throwing. SuzzieWoo 13 - he won't take a thing from my hand, he is so wilful. ENTP - he is ff.

Today has been another example - weetabix and pear for breakfast (OK) followed by toast (so so). Lunch sandwiches (didn't eat), pudding pear (wouldn't touch), tea mince and veg (chucked on floor)!! Bedtime (300ml - wolfed down). So another successful day.

Have tried desperately to cut back on nightfeeds including CC but awful. He is starving - no surprise. In fact he is getting worse not better.

Did anyone have any ideas about the second part of my question - good BLW recipes.

PS He does sometimes eat veggie sausages and fishfingers.

[SoupDragon]

Homemade pizza?

[twotimestrouble]

Good idea - do you know a recipe for the base?

[BizzyDint]

is he maybe a bit full after breakfast for lunch? if he's keen for food at that time maybe try him with something else? it's all a bit trial and error isn't it?!

as for blw recipes, i think of any recipe as a blw recipe IYSWIM. so lasgane could be a blw recipe if you give the lasagne to your baby. other than going that way there is a good book by jennie maizels called finger food for babies and toddlers which has all kinds of ideas in, mostly for 'mini' versions of normal food.

hope you have a better day today.

[suziewoo13]

What about giving him milk at lunch time to fill him up during the day? I use the Annabel Karmel book which has quite a good section on finger foods but I don't plan to get too caught up on making pretty pictures with food!

[SoupDragon]

I'm a lazy moo and buy Napolina bases but make my own tomato sauce (can of tomatoes, a few carrots, whatever other veg I have to use up, garlic, no salt stock cube). I've also done it with a circle of bread though, lightly toasted. I cut round a mug! BabyDragon won't eat a huge pizza and DSs have one each.

[SoupDragon]

Pasta is another good one and the pizza sauce works with pasta OK. Messy but OK. Spaghetti bolognaise - basically pizza sauce plus mince

I should point out tht DD doesn't eat well either (she's 13 months old too) but she will permit herself to be spoonfed once she gets bored (very quickly) with finger food.

Oh, oven baked chicken risotto worked. If it's too messy for self feeding, you can puree it (trust me!) shape it into nuggets and then oven bake them until they're firm on the outside.

[twotimestrouble]

Thanks all. Like the idea about the chicken nuggets SoupDragon. Actually I was wondering if anyone sells really really good quality chicken nuggets (maybe online). Even Waitrose doesn't seem to.

Tonight was disaster tea again - baked potato, carrot sticks, spaghetti, peas. He didn't touch one little bit

[AitchYouBerk]

there are loads of good recipes on the blog at www.babyledweaning.com. enid's chicken nuggets are on there, and there are loads of lentilly things. dd's mad favourite is pasta, peas and pesto, would he eat that? i've noticed DD prefers not to have too many things at the one time, so four things like that would definitely phase her. and we've recently started giving her frozen blueberries, which she loves, so that makes me feel quite good about vits etc.

[twotimestrouble]

OK, will have a look at the blog. I'll try blueberries as well - anything with some vitamins!

[AitchYouBerk]

ah. only froze ones for my dd, she spits out the fresh ones for some reason. have you tried frozen peas as well? brilliant for teething.

[CantSlimWontSlim]

How much milk is he having and at what times?

Sounds like he possibly doesn't like bread things, if the toast was so-so and he wouldn't eat sandwiches. My dd (also 13 months) is like this with bread. I tend to do her stuff like omelette or sweetcorn patties (recipe from Aitch's blog) for lunch.

I've also found that dd prefers to eat her food whilst on the go! She'll have some at the table, but if she doesn't eat a lot and throws it instead, then I tend to leave it on the floor for her, and she'll often go back in and help herself from there.

DD also won't eat meat unless I've minced it and made it into a sausage. There's a recipe for chicken and apple sausages on the blog which goes down well here, and I've also made some with lamb, mint and either aubergine or courgette.

From your tea tonight, I think that dd would only have eaten the peas. Have you tried making potato wedges instead of baked potatoes? Much easier to eat as finger food. For pasta I'd go with fusilli rather than spaghetti too - far too hard to pick up, and too much temptation to play with it!

Blueberries (unfrozen) go down well here as long as they are sweet, and grapes (halved) and cherries (stoned and halved).

DD only really started eating well at about 11.5 months when I cut down her daytime milk (from 7-9 bfs a day to 2-3), but now she eats very well most days.

[twotimestrouble]

Great ideas ladies, thanks. Am going to have a good look at the website.

[twotimestrouble]

Changing direction a bit... I have a question!!
We had another day when he ate his breakfast and then only a tiny bit of a sandwich and some custard during the rest of the day (and even the custard was pretty half hearted and he loves that). Problem is he now wants to spoon feed himself (and can't). So added to the issue of refusing to be spoonfed by anyone else, he is also showing less inclination to pickup food. When can they spoon feed themselves properly? I can't remember?

[CantSlimWontSlim]

Let him have a go with the spoon, but try and cook food that is thick and sticky so that it stays on well when he turns and twists it! My dd has been spoon feeding herself for about 3 months now, so since she was 10 months, but it can be hit and miss. Porridge is a great one to get started on.

Obviously, do be prepared for some mess, and if he gets in say 1/3 of a pot of yoghurt, I'd say that's good going.

[CantSlimWontSlim]

Oh, should add that I have to load up the spoon for her as she hasn't mastered that one for herself yet. Just load it up and hand it over, or put on the table/tray in front of him.

[Cadmum]

I am watching this thread with great interest...

Our DD2 is 12 months and bf but is very like your son. It is such a relief to know that it is not just down to her being breast fed. (PIL and my mother have tried to convince me otherwise.)

She really hates anything that she doesn't pur in her mouth by herself but even that is really hit and miss.

Her eldest brother was similar but was a bigger baby so we worried less IYKWIM.

I would agree with the advice about no plate. She does seem to eat more from the high chair tray as it stays in place longer (she has to toss it on the floor item by item rather than in one go!!

I am envious that your ds has one healthy meal but in response to your spoon question I would suggest that if you can handle the mess, try our two spoon method: I load up a spoon and then hand it to dd who may or may not put it in her mouth at which point I will trade her for another full spoon. It came about rather by accident when I was convinced that if I could get her to eat from a spoon that I might actually be able to get some sleep rather than feeding an obviously hungry baby all night. I was rather desperate so I gave her her own spoon to play with and she really liked it.

[CantSlimWontSlim]

Cadmum - haul your ass over to the Beanie thread young lady - people are asking after you, and there's news for you to catch up on!