Impossible Eater

BarrettJ89

Brynlee was finally cleared for us to start introducing dairy and soy again, which is great. We've pretty much gone all in, and offer her anything and everything. Digestion-wise, she seems to be handling it well, but no matter what we give her, she will take maybe 2 bites total, then she will completely refuse. That item may be the only thing we give her, or she could have a buffet... we could give it to her at random, multiple days in a row, she absolutely will not touch it again. She shakes her head "no," will say no, and/or throws it. I'm absolutely losing my mind. Any ideas? 

Mamapema

Jasmine rice cooked until tender, add pinch of salt to taste OR spaghetti cooked until tender cut into small pieces OR cooked old fashioned oats sweetened with apple sauce... let them cool, add kefir. Kefir is the miracle worker. These were winners when she refuses food.
Apple sauce recipe- peel, core 2 large organic sweet apples, boil for 5 mins, drain water, 2-3 dates seeds removed, blend together until smooth. Apple sauce always works as a last resort. 

Bake Japanese sweet potato with peel on, let it cool, remove peel, cut in small pieces, offer to feed herself.  Give a spoonful of cold milk with every bite.

Cut small pieces of very ripe Bosc pear, add Greek gods yoghurt. 

You can try goat milk. I use mayenberg whole milk goat. It's easily digestible than cows milk. My baby eats buffet too. She is very picky.

juliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

My daughter used to be the same.  I found offering a few distractions sometimes help, like singing a song or giving her something to hold such as a cup and/or spoon (something related to meal times) and then feeding her while she plays.  if she still refuses I just follow her cues and figure she'll eat more when she is more hungry... I figured it's better than both getting frustrated...
Also often before distractions I offer a sip of water. She often continues to eat after drinking a bit...
One last suggestion: offering something different after the 2 bites and then going back to the first thing if she eats more... Eg alternating fruit and cereal or whatever the items in your meal are.
Good luck and patience !!

cali1710

Mine has been going through similar this week. She drinks her bottle ok but only takes a few bites of food. I'm hoping its just a phase shes going through. Before she was a hugeee eater. I'm also wondering if I should cut down the amount of formula so she has more room for food. Even though it wasnt a problem before, their eating does change. 

l4rk

Yes. My LO has become like one of those puzzles where you have to choose the right sequence of events (foods) to get her to eat. She won't eat avocado now but maybe after exactly 5 cheerios and a piece of banana and two bites of my bagel...

Jokes aside, have you tried those baby food pouches? I hate to buy them but my LO goes crazy for them so we use them in a pinch.

cali1710

l4rk said:

Jokes aside, have you tried those baby food pouches? I hate to buy them but my LO goes crazy for them so we use them in a pinch.

I do have some pouches but I'm scared to give them to her. I don't want her to always want them and never want normal food..

KFrob

cali1710 said:

l4rk said:

Jokes aside, have you tried those baby food pouches? I hate to buy them but my LO goes crazy for them so we use them in a pinch.

I do have some pouches but I'm scared to give them to her. I don't want her to always want them and never want normal food..

This happened to my step daughter!!! 

fishee333

Yup, my daughter is often like this! Some things that sometimes (not always) help:
Putting a mirror in front of her so she can watch herself eat
After her first couple bites, offer a food pouch 

Give her something to hold while eating
Give her sips of water between bites 

Play peek a boo between bites 

Let her "graze" while she plays... So she runs around and comes over to me for another bite every few minutes. Also just putting little bites out for her to find.

cali1710

I found tonight she did well at dinner. Given she only ate a bottle for lunch... but I found giving her bigger pieces as opposed to cut up food helped. Instead of giving her cut up chicken I gave her strips, same with cheese and the carrots. That way she held them and nibbled. Ill test it out again tomorrow to see if it works or if it was a fluke... I'm thinking Ill need to decrease her formula (soon to be milk) intake. 

BarrettJ89

It's been a real challenge because for the last 8+ weeks she was on an elimination diet trying to figure out what the allergies/sensitivities were, we pinned down dairy and soy. But the specialist said that now that we've hit the 1 year mark, it was time to introduce them again. She begs for everything. Reaches for it and grabs at it, but she won't eat it. I've tried pouches and again, she'll taste it, then shake her head "no." I can try to give her other things, she refuses those too, then go back to the pouch and still nothing. 

KFrob

Maybe since she was so limited before it's almost like she's going through the "first trying solids" phase again where they squished and threw most of it? So she's trying things and getting used to texture? 

SBH041815

I know it's tough to figure out! This baby has been different from my DD and DS completely. She has hated puréed food from the start.  When I started, that is all I offered her in every sort of different kind of food. But since she hated everyone and wasn't big enough for anything chunkier yet I just sort of held off. Then I begin trying very soft chunks of food. She definitely liked that much better and actually ate them. When she had the purée she was gagging and rejecting them all. She also hates all utensils, so if I let her feed herself off her high chair tray she is much happier.

  Some different things that have helped us are I offer her small chunks of cheese,  Little bites of scrambled eggs, whole wheat bread, blueberry pieces, and she really seems to love some organic Cheerios from natural groceries.  Another favorite is freeze dried strawberries and blueberries that I found at Walmart over by the fruit/deli section. 

The other thing that seemed to help, strange as it seems, was I just let it go when she doesn't want the solids...let her lead more instead of me. She seem to do worse when I was more frustrated by it or pushing it at her too much...which I know I was doing for a while. Some days I just nurse her a lot still :-) Mary still doesn't eat a ton of solids but it's slowly increasing in amount. But she's doing great with her health and growth and seems very happy so I figure it's okay. 

Hopeflly your little will start munching on some more solids soon!!!

 

=caenis=

Just a thought: my little guy tends to be more interested in his meals when he has some finger foods he can pick through himself while I spoon feed some saucy/pureed items.

BarrettJ89

I've tried a bit of everything, purees, soft foods, things she can crunch on, things she can feed herself, pouches, etc. And maybe it is that this is the beginning stages of eating, with the crunching and throwing it phase. Last night made it very obvious that unfortunately the dairy sensitivity is very much still prevalent, so we're back to avoiding that for another month or so. We're kind of stuck in a spot that she will only take bottles and eventually the girl HAS to eat real food. The cost of her formula is killing us! $40 a can that lasts about 2 days...

fishee333

True, eventually she has to eat! I've heard from a couple moms I know that their LOs were about 18 months before they really got good at eating, but it happened. 

I like the thinking some of you guys have mentioned - a good way to look at it is that she's starting from scratch... My LO only just started eating other stuff a couple months ago, so I figure she's at the beginning stages as well. 

Also, maybe she's just picky and hasn't found anything she likes yet. Right now we only have 1 food packet that I KNOW she will eat (sweets and beats), other stuff she only takes a couple bites out of. Cheese, yogurt, and peanut butter are the only other go-to's. And of course cheerios. So we constantly try to introduce her to new foods and hope that one day she is less picky, but we end up feeding her a lot of the same. 

ekscopp

How has she been doing consuming things with dairy? I realize is isn't taking much in, but any reactions? And did they do any testing or just say to bc she is a year old? Just wondering for us. LO's spitting up has been better without giving her dairy, but I was wondering when we should try again. 

BarrettJ89

@ekscopp
For Brynlee, she's had these god-awful screaming fits since she was an infant, pretty much from day 1. She would writhe in pain, screaming, clenching her fingers and toes, rolling, arching, scratching/clawing at anything within reach. We took her to a specialist at 3 months old who looked at us like we were crazy, said it was colic and reflux and sent us on our way. At about 10 months, we took her to a different specialist where she was diagnosed with a cow's milk protein allergy and a soy allergy, but they did no testing because it presents as nothing more than an upset stomach (in doctor eyes), rather than hives or bloody stools. We went back to the specialist a week ago and have given her small amounts of dairy, which had awful reactions. After talking to her regular pediatrician today, we are going to follow up with a blood test to check for allergies and an upper GI scope to look into the reasoning for the severe reflux and just to be sure that there's nothing more serious going on. She's been maxed out on 3 different medications for reflux and nothing seems to help, so it's time to quit putting band aids on and find what's causing it...

ekscopp

@BarrettJ89 I remember your posts from way back... my goodness. I hope you find some answers! My LO just spits up a ton. Still does. Not as bad, but I see her swallowing a lot and sometimes re-chewing food. Doc recommended no dairy at 9 month visit, but we never did any testing. She has never been uncomfortable or had any physical s/s. Just at a loss of what to do milk wise so I can relax on the breast feeding. I'm exhausted from it, but obviously want to do what's best for her. I hope all works out for you and you get some answers. Keep us updated!!

BarrettJ89

The pediatrician suggested to give her formula in her sippy cup! She likes the bottle because she's busy and gets instant gratification, then can go back to running around like a maniac. Making her drink it from a sippy will make her work for it, and hopefully encourage her to go after real food. 
So far, Brynlee hates the idea. Lol. We'll try again after a nap...

BarrettJ89

Update: formula from the sippy is still a no-go... BUT she has started to show interest in real food! She played with the frosting on her birthday cake and had to tummy issues (and made a completely adorable mess). Then while I was out, Brynlee followed suit of her older brother by begging for a banana. She ate an entire banana by herself! She likes it sliced into coins, cut in half, and stood up on their side so that she can grab them. I've also gotten her to attempt chicken nuggets, tater tots, and apple sauce! 

Cricket99

@BarrettJ89 that's how my LO likes his bananas too! What goobers. I'm glad Brynlee is finally showing interest in real food!