At what point (food related)...

kas80

do you start to worry that your child doesn't eat anything substancial?  Caroline will eat maybe a half a blueberry, or a grape or other fruit.  She won't eat any meat at all, or vegetables or anything requiring utensils.  She still hasn't cut back on nursing at all.

I know food is just for fun until 1- but she's approaching 1 pretty rapidly with no progress.

hepcats

Someone I work with has a son that has a food aversion and had to go to therapy for it. I believe he was diagnosed prior to age 1 and has recently had his final appointment (recently as in April and he turned 1 in Feb). It's worth discussing with the doctor and/or finding a food therapist to get her checked.

M&M227

hepcats:

Someone I work with has a son that has a food aversion and had to go to therapy for it. I believe he was diagnosed prior to age 1 and has recently had his final appointment (recently as in April and he turned 1 in Feb). It's worth discussing with the doctor and/or finding a food therapist to get her checked.

Agreed, if you feel it's a problem I would talk to your pedi.  We talked with ours a lot because DD was having a hard time with solids and then finger foods.  At 9 months she was gagging on finger foods still and we already had a GI appointment set for 10 months.  Our pedi agreed that if when she went to the GI it wasn't better and the GI agreed, then we would set up an appointment at the Feeding Clinic (they basically evaluate the child and make sure there is not physically wrong that is preventing chewing and swallowing and also see if it's due to an aversion to textures).  Luckily she stopped gagging on finger foods a few days before we saw the GI and now she eats everything. 

bookkitten

I would mention it to the pedi, but wouldn't stress yet. My cousin ate hardly any solids until 16 months, but nursed a *lot*. (He was my aunt's fourth child and the only one who exhibited this preference.) He is now a 21-year-old foodie who made us bagels and a yummy pear/gorgonzola salad last time we visited, so it clearly had no adverse effect.

Birdies08

bookkitten:

I would mention it to the pedi, but wouldn't stress yet. My cousin ate hardly any solids until 16 months, but nursed a *lot*. (He was my aunt's fourth child and the only one who exhibited this preference.) He is now a 21-year-old foodie who made us bagels and a yummy pear/gorgonzola salad last time we visited, so it clearly had no adverse effect.

I agree. I read (I think it was in the BLW book) that babies start getting substantial amounts of nutrition from solid foods anywhere between 9-15 months. So, one year is average, but some babies take longer. Sylvia rarely eats much solid food, but she's still nursing plenty, and I can see that she has the ability to eat table food. She just doesn't always care to. If it seems like your LO is unable to, then I would talk to the pedi, but otherwise, I think it's normal. 

kas80

She's definitely capable of eating.  She doesn't gag and she knows how to chew.  Some things she'll put in her mouth, make a horrible face and spit it out.  Some things she judges by sight and just throws them on the floor with no interest.  She refuses to let spoons near her mouth, she clamps her mouth shut and shakes her head back and forth if you try so that means we can't feed anything like yogurt/oatmeal/etc.  She will eat those pouch things sometimes but only the ones that are blended with banana.  Banana is pretty much the only thing she consistantly likes but you can't just give her banana for every meal or mix banana into everything.  She will eat yogurt melts.

She doesn't even like puffs or mum mums.  Or arrowroot cookies.  Or any of the other things babies supposedly love.  I've tried every preparation of foods that I can think of and we've literally had her try everything with no luck.

Birdies08

kas80:

She's definitely capable of eating.  She doesn't gag and she knows how to chew.  Some things she'll put in her mouth, make a horrible face and spit it out.  Some things she judges by sight and just throws them on the floor with no interest.  She refuses to let spoons near her mouth, she clamps her mouth shut and shakes her head back and forth if you try so that means we can't feed anything like yogurt/oatmeal/etc.  She will eat those pouch things sometimes but only the ones that are blended with banana.  Banana is pretty much the only thing she consistantly likes but you can't just give her banana for every meal or mix banana into everything.  She will eat yogurt melts.

She doesn't even like puffs or mum mums.  Or arrowroot cookies.  Or any of the other things babies supposedly love.  I've tried every preparation of foods that I can think of and we've literally had her try everything with no luck.

If I were you, I would keep offering a wide variety of foods and then try not to worry about what she does or doesn't eat. Easier said than done, I know!

Have you tried handing her the spoon? She'll probably throw it on the floor a few times, that's what Sylvia did at first, but now she feeds herself very well with the spoon.