Baby Doesn't Like Eating

Graham

Graham

Registered User
Just wondering if there is such a thing as a baby dietician in HK, especially one that makes house calls?

Our 11 month old boy is eating less solid food day by day and it's starting to worry us. Apart from that he is healthy and extremely active.

We normally give him some toast fingers or banana for breakfast, some congee mixed with some blended meat or fish and blended vegetables at mid-morning and evening and some fruit and biscuits at lunch.

Besides the solid food, he still has about 4 x 9oz bottles of milk throughout the day and evening. Drinking the milk is not a problem for him thankfully

He used to eat a whole bowl of congee at each meal and could finish 1/2 a banana or 1/2 a pear and 1 biscuit at lunch, but now it's got to the point where he'll only take 3 spoons of the congee before refusing any more and throwing a tantrum. He's also off his banana and toast. He used to eat half a banana and several toast fingers, but now he'll only have a few bites before loosing interest.

He also doesn't like baby food in jars and we've tried just about every flavour and brand.

My wife was at the Tai Po Gov't baby clinic today for another matter and she mentioned our sons eating habits to the nurse, who told her that he should be eatting more at his age or there is a worry about aneamia due to insufficient iron.

We trying to keep meal times fun and relaxed so not to stress baby, but this doesn't help either.

Thoughts, suggestions, exeriences?

Graham
 
Hi,

My daughter did exactly the same, she ate very well at first and then suddenly every meal time became a battle with her at first getting excited at us preparing her food but when we tried to feed her she would just refuse!!!
So frustrating. Like your son she would still drink her milk.
I took her to the doctor many times and he said as long as she was still taking her milk then not too worry too much!! Her weight continued to increase and we would have days where we would rejoice at her eating a whole yoghurt because other days she wouldnt eat a thing. This continued for many months with us and the doc monitoring her weight and health until one day it seemed as something inside her snapped because she suddenly started to eat again and now at 22 months some might call her a pig!!!
My advice is persevere and tried to not get too frustrated because I believe they sense it!!! As my mother in law said no child starves to death so hang on in there!!
 
I think he's just not hungry, he may hungry if you don't give him milk.
But I suspect is the powder milk really good for babies, actually this is very good, as you can look their advertising, I still think it's bad if drinking too much milk will interfere his eating solids foods..
 
Actually, he's still mostly drinking breast milk, not formula. Although my wife stopped breast feeding at 6 months, she still expresses her milk and feeds it to him in a bottle. He has 3 x 9oz bottles of breast milk during the day and 1 x 8oz bottle of formula at bedtime.

Graham
 
Like you, my daughter drastically cut down the amount she was eating at around 1 year old. After some research, I found that this was very normal, as they are growing less from 1-2 than they did in the first year of their lives. You might also find that he becomes fussy about what he does eat, again very normal, but very frustrating.

As your son is still drinking a considerable amount of breastmilk, you can be assured that he is getting lots of nutrients. Well done to your wife for keeping the b/f going for so long. It must be particularly difficult doing it by expressing, so hats off to her.
 
Dear Graham,

I would be expecting a six month old baby, if exclusively breastfed, to be drink about 30 oz in 24 hours. (This is actually the same amount a one month old baby drinks. This is because breast milk, unlike formula milks changes. It changes from the beginning of the feed to the end of the feed and from the beginning of the day to the end of the day and also as the baby grows. So for breast milk the quantity says the same and the quality changes and for formula milk the quality stays the same and the quantity increases.)

When a baby starts solids the breast milk he drinks usually reduces by the same amount of calories as the solids he eats. So that for about the first year the total number of calories stays about the same.

Your baby is getting a lot of calories from milk and so I won?t expect him to be eating much solids. When a baby is first introduced to solids it is more to get him use to eating solid food rather than a significant nutritional value. It is fine to go slowly with solid food if that is what makes your baby happy.

A rough guide is that the minimum a baby should be eating is one tablespoon per meal for each year the baby is. As your baby is not yet one year old, a few teaspoons of food at each meal is fine.

Please remember that the best food he will have in his life is breast milk ? don?t be in a hurry to swap this for other, less nutritious, foods.

Babies not eating (and not sleeping) are two of the most popular topics at LLL meetings. It is very normal for babies around one year old to not eat much.

Some of the suggestions that mothers have suggested in the meetings are:

Have a tray of little bites at the baby?s height. Many babies like to graze throughout the day rather than just at meal times.

Invite some children a little older over to eat with your baby. Babies love to copy the actions of older children.

Let the baby feed himself. This can be messy but they seem to eat more if allowed to play as well.

Make every mouthful count. If the baby is only eating a little make sure that each mouthful he eats is highly nutritious.

Feed the baby while he is distracted by other things. TV, toys or in the bath have worked for some mothers.

Give food that you know your baby likes. One mother told about giving her daughter spaghetti bolognaise every day for breakfast because she knew that she?d eat it whereas she won?t eat more traditional breakfast food of cereals and toast.

I hope one or two of these suggestions helps.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
Your not alone

Hi Graham,

My son did eactly the same at around 11 months and it lasted off and on till about his 13th month...I panicked... all the food he used to LOVE eating he would just keep his mouth tigthly shut if I tried feeding him anything...except milk which he would happily drink. I read a lot on the subject and the general idea was that a lot of babies go thru this....I just increased his intake of milk....belive it or not one articale I read suggested I stop feeding him solids till he did not ask for it ( which they said could last upto 3 days ) I had worked myself up in such a state at my son not eating that I did try it....thankfully after just one day my son asked for food....so hang in there ur not alone....not sure if I've helped..
 
The above suggestions sound great. One other possibility not mentioned though. My baby was diagnosed with mild anaemia at 10 months and as soon as she started the iron drops, it was like a miracle drug: her appetite transformed almost overnight. She was exclusively breastfed for 6 months and in fact we're still breastfeeding at 18 months. I know that breastfed babies aren't supposed to have this problem - maybe it was because my own iron levels were low because I'm a vegetarian and I also had prolonged postpartum bleeding which can't have helped my iron levels. Your baby probably doesn't have the same problem but maybe it's worth checking out just in case.
 
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