I am not looking for medical advice as much as I am looking for similiar situations.
Our daughter going on 10months old went from breast milk straight from my wife too breast milk pumped and into a bottle (Biting problems) as well as whole milk (Before you go on about whole milk not being for her, our docter whom we went to see on her 9 month check-up said to go ahead and give her whole milk supplement to her normal diet)
She was exclusive breast fed until 6months old not a touch of anything else, then we started with the Gerber 1rst foods, and cereals that she devoured and let her nibble on our dinner as well.
Since we started this bottled/ sippy cup breast milk (With occasional whole milk) she has since shunned the cereals and the gerber foods occasionally wanting something we are eating which I blend and let her have but she chooses not to eat anything most of the time. Now the bottle/sippy cup on the other hand she is a pig on she will go through all my wife can pump out and a couple of whole milk bottles a day now (from 8-12 8oz bottles and cups a day) even when I wrongly told my wife to withhold the bottle until she was hungry for real food she chose to scream for over three hours rather then eat the regular food. Had to relent and give her the bottle.
If she doesn’t eat normal food in the next few days I will consult the doctors but for right now I am not too overly concerned as she is still walking and playing like normal (yes she walks completely)
How normal is this, is this a side effect of her never having the bottle before? Any guesses?
I have no idea whether this is normal or whether you should be concerned. I will say that my son went through something similar at that age. He was, for the most part, not breastfed, so we didn’t have to worry about weaning, just introducing new foods. When we first started giving him solids, he was okay with certain things, occasionally (rice cereal, jarred bananas). When we gave him fresh stuff - food that I prepared for him, like mashed bananas - he would make himself projectile vomit. Yeah. He’d swallow the food, get this really grossed-out look on his face, then do this little gagging noise until he threw it all up. After witnessing this, my brother (the father of 4 boys), was extremely impressed and decided my son had a talent that would make him the coolest kid at school. He also, however, recognized the disciplinary challenges that a child who could puke at will could pose.
This all stopped when he discovered Cheerios. He immediately became a Cheerio addict and would eat anything we gave him, as long as Cheerios were included somewhere on the plate. When we moved to Australia, we had to give up the Cheerios, since they’re not available here. He adjusted and he basically eats anything we put in front of him (he’s 18 months old).
We never used commercially prepared baby foods, but tried various steamed vegetables chopped a bit, no salt added, but no pureed to mush. Loren won’t eat mush. Once we figured out that, it was not too hard. Also oatmeal made up and mixed with breast milk was a big winner at that age. Breastmilk mixed into foods was a winner. She did like variety and did like to eat what we were eating. Lemon wedges were a big winner too.
I was supplementing with formula during her 6th and 7th months, but went to solid foods and nursing after that. She drank water and milk from a cup but ditched the bottle at 8 months. If you can use this transition to ditch the bottle without much fuss, do so. We never used a sippy cup either and are very happy about that; so is our dentist.
I never withheld breast milk if I had it. Making mealtimes unpleasant is to be avoided. Teething could be a problem here. Anbesol and Tylonol really helpe us through that, ask your doctor about it.
Thank you for your replies both from me and my concerned wife.
Well since she is not attached to the bottle breaking the bottle should be a breeze, the sippy cup will also be a easy as it is just a supplement to get her used to holding on to a cup. I will try giving her some infant tylenol now and see what happens when we mix her some breast milk cereal.
I did hit on a partial solution after I posted not much of one but it worked, I mixed quite a bit of cereal into her fast flow nipple bottle and she drank it down. Temporary but something.
Oh, geez! We went through the same thing with our twins. They went from formula to cereal, to 1st/2nd foods (and some fresh that I mooshed up), to — fussing! It hit bad at about 8 months.
For us it was a mixture of factors. For one thing, it’s normal for babies to thin down a little bit as they become toddlers. When I look at pix, it’s clear mine were much plumper at 6 months than they are now at 12. Also the growth slows a bit for many babies towards the end of the first year. Plus mine simply hate the Stage 3 prepared foods, won’t touch them.
But I think the bigest factor is self-feeding. After mine had fed themselves just once they went through a spell where I could not approach them with a spoon. It’s better now, they like to share yogurt which I insist on feeding to them, but that’s about the only time I do it.
We worked through this by relying heavily on formula (which is just fine through the first year) and letting them nibble at will. Cheerios are spectacular. Mine also like rice cakes spread with hummus or peanut butter (very, very thin, and only if allergies aren’t a concern).
Since your daughter’s already walking, I wonder if she might be looking for more opportunities to be independent. It’s hard trusting them to feed themselves, but you might be surprised. Stick to things that dissolve easily and cut it down to pea size at first (I don’t always do that now) and she’ll be fine. Mine like banana, kiwi, watermelon, ripe pear, peach, macaroni 'n cheese, cottage cheese (large curd is easier to pick up), chicken, rice, carrots, and potato. Sometimes I’ll open up a can of low-sodium soup. Gerber makes some toddler snacks that are handy - the wagon wheels were a big hit, along with the star-shaped nibbles.
You might not need to worry about breaking the bottle habit. From what I’ve read it really doesn’t hurt a bit - IIIRC recent studies show that it’s only after about age 2 that they need to use a cup b/c of concerns about “bottle mouth”.
Warm thougths and admiration to your wife for breastfeeding and then pumping so much. I never had that volume when pumping.
The advice on the sippy cups and bottles is because babies can get more attached to them after a year and weaning from them can be a real battle but there seems to be a time around 10 months where they don’t need them and if you change to something else, the transition can go well.
I do second the self feeding when possible. We found that if we alternated between self feeding and spoon feeding during the same meal, Loren would eat more solid food. She seemd to get tired of feeding herself, but wanted to try.
So glad to be helpful! It’s hard, being a new parent! I hate those messy feedings with a passion, but apparently there’s no other way around it. Putting a plastic mat on the floor can help a lot.
I also second lee on not letting mealtimes (or any other time) get unpleasant if you can help it. I’m saving my energy for the big struggles later on (piercings, boyfriends, etc) .
When Abbie Jr. was little (barely walking to age 2 or so, IIRC) she’d go through “food is poison” stages.
She’d drink anything we put in her sippy but God forbid she actually have to chew anything. We’d be lucky to get a little bit of veggies and a graham cracker down her in a day. For a while we were going through quite a bit of PediaSure. I also remember her not having much of an appetite when teething.
She turned out fine, though, and yours will too. Just let her feed herself and DON’T WORRY. They really will eat if they get hungry enough.
Okay, MOST will eat if they get hungry enough. Just make sure that you keep your kid in for regular checkups, and that their weight is OK with the doctor. No need to be obsessive, but especially if you had a preemie, it does pay to be careful.
At 10 months, my kid was self-feeding all kinds of stuff. Cheerios, raisins, tiny chunks of bananas and grapes. Tiny chunks of spaghetti noodles. If you empower them, they like things so much better.
I sympathize. Mealtime was tense around our house for a long time because my firstborn wouldn’t eat. I will mention, though, that she’s extremely independent even now, so maybe putting the food in your daughter’s hands literally will make some difference.
I don’t have too many ideas here. My kids are too far beyond that for me to remember all the details, but I’m wondering if maybe letting her have the cup but putting less milk in it might help. Maybe she’s just getting full on the milk. I know even with my teenagers a full glass of milk will sometimes kill a meal.
My sister used to give her son frozen peas on his high chair tray. He could pick them up, just like cheerios, and he loved them. When my son was learning to handle a spoon he often turned it upside down to get it into his mouth. I mixed his breakfast cheerios with applesauce to get them to stick long enough to make it to the mouth. I also made baby oatmeal for him with applesauce. That way most of it made it in.
thirdwarning brings up a good idea. Frozen vegetables are godsend. My daughter still likes still frozen brocoli, corn, and mixed vegetables. The cold helps the teething pain and swelling.
This happened to my close friend’s baby. she wasn’t eating, wanted nothing but milk, and was really cranky all the time. The doctor said she was drinking way way way too much milk, said to cut way back on the milk and she would get her appetite back, and she would cheer up too, because milk is so hard to digest at that age. He was right. She started eating like a horse and stopped being so cranky. It was awesome.
Gosh, that reminds me - I found out my kids can’t tolerate cow’s milk right now! At about 11 months I started putting in an ounce or two from time to time, and then increased the percentage after a while. When we ran out of milk, and then resumed using it, it became obvious that the milk was causing their extreme fussiness and gas! I’ve decided to put that aside for a couple of months, and then I’ll start again in really small increments.
Taking the advice and suggestions too heart this morning I went to the grocery store and bought Gerber Baby foods (Finger foods, sweet potato wheels) and a grocery store bag of pea’s along with some fresh fruits for later.
We put our daughter in her high chair and dumped some of both on the table, well it was as messy as can be expected but she did manage to eat 6 pea’s and 7 finger foods. Thats a start and I really appreciate the responses!
My one year old only lightly nibbles at any food we give her. Her doctor said this can be attributed to “every baby is different”. Our 2 yr old eats ANYTHING you put in front of her, and has since she was able to. After having one who ate everything, I was startled to have the second show no interest in food at all. We give her formula now (she was BFed before) and continue to offer the more “solid” type foods. Sooner or later, she’ll eat them.
Try not to worry too much about it. Some babies just do things are different stages.
I believe my youngest was so busy concentrating on walking (walked fully at 9.5 months!) that she set aside things like eating as less important. Now she’s got to catch up on those things!
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