12mth old baby demanding to nurse all the time! And rejecting solids!!

[fennho]

My baby gal has just crossed her 12mth mark and has just started walking. Lately she's been rejecting solids. It's been a battle feeding her everyday! She'd clamped her mouth shut, turned her head away after only 3-4 spoonful of food, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner! We've tried everything. She seems interested in our food, but i'm hesitating in giving her those cos my mom cooks with lots of soya sauce and MSG. Urgh. She'd like to self feed too and i'd let her with finger food, but when serving porridge, she still doesnt know how to scoop from the bowl but uses her finger to pick up the porridge and splatter it all over the floor (with no intention of eating them, only playing!)

On top of that, she's also starting to pull me towards her, and drag my top open, demanding to nurse! I think her molar is coming thru (gums all swollen and lots of drooling) and wondering if this is the reason she's demanding to nurse? Her highchair is next to my seat s she's always pulling my shirt. I'd like to nurse her on demand but i'm also worried she'll develop this habit even when we're outside in restaurants so I told her i'd nurse proper but not during my meal times (dunno if she understand me though)

My question is, is this normal? Suddenly she's behaving like a newborn, nursing all the time. I'm also worried she's using nursing as an answer to her hunger feelings instead of eating the proper solids. I've read toddlers beyond 12mths shud be getting their nutrients from the solids and milk is secondary so i'm worried she's rejecting solids and still taking milk to fulfill her hunger pangs

Can anyone help to tell me what's wrong?

Thanks!!

 

[LLL_Sarah]

It does sound like she is teething. Nursing is a great comfort to toddlers when they aren't feeling great and if her gums hurt eating solid food could be more than she can cope with.

She won't starve even if she stops solids for a few days - remember your milk is really high in calories compared to most solid food given to babies.

If she likes finger foods you could try giving little trays of finger foods at her high (on a coffee table say) that she can graze on rather than forcing her to sit in the high chair for meals. Often you find that at the end of the day the food is gone even though you thought she wasn't eating much.

Remember that children only need to eat one tablespoon of food for every year of age at each meal. As your baby is only 12 months she only needs one tablespoon of food per meal - this isn't really that much. So if she doesn't want to eat it sitting in the chair try in other locations. I used to let my son eat while having a bath - that way there wasn't so much cleaning up after him and playing with his toys distracted him so I could spoon feed him.

Try not to make it a fight between the two of you. It is better to give in to nursing completely for a couple of days than to let bad feelings win. Remember that children are always changing - just because she wants to nurse today it doesn't mean that she'll want to do so next week.

Best wishes,
SARAH