a constant battle with my 8mth old and solids.. what to do??

hi,
my 8 mth old has been on solids from around just before 6mths old and i feel like weve gone no where in that time..
it takes me 40 minutes 3 times a day to feed him only 2 - 3 tablespoons of food =(
im going crazy!! in 2 months hes dropped from the 97th percentile to the 89th and the dr says he will keep dropping if we don't get him eating.. im lucky he started big!!
a little history, he was a poor feeder when born, he seemed to be feeding well but he lost weight dramatically until we put him on formula at which point he took off so we think he was feeding ineffectively..
ive tried lots of different foods with him and try and stick to the ones he favours now but even then he will only open his mouth for the first few mouthfuls if im lucky..
he often shuts his mouth, winges, turnes away, hits the spoon etc..
ive tried him on finger foods, so far the only ones he has successfully are milk arrowroot biscuits and rusks, everything else i give him he chokes or gags to the point of vomiting..
im at a total loss as for what to do! the dr has told me to reduce his bottles so he becomes hungrier but this morning he had a bottle at 4am and still was no more interested in breaky at 9.30 or in lunch at 12 =(

FWIW, my DS did not get into solids until after 12 months. I believe milk (FF or BF) is supposed to be their primary source of nutrition until 12 months in any case ("food is fun until they are one"). I would NOT be decreasing his bottles to get him to eat- I hate to second guess your doctor, but I don't think that's great advice. Give him more time, he will eventually get into food. In the meantime, keep up the milk and stick with his fave foods that he will eat. If you try to force it, it will just create real difficulties for him and food, especially if he is gagging- he will hate eating then.

Around that age, we got right into baby lead solids, and it was SO much less stressful than trying to get him to eat what and how I "thought" he should be eating. Its well worth checking out.

I do really feel your frustration- even up to 11 months, my DS was pretty hopeless with solids, just pushing them away and being generally very fussy about the whole thing. I really thought he would never eat. I was pretty stressed about it, but what do you know- around 12 months, something changed and he decided food was great. I guess his body knew when it was ready for more solids and your DS is probably the same. If he was over 1 you might want to be concerned, but atm I wouldn't be. If his weight loss continues and is worriesome, I would probably get a second dr's opinion.

Good luck! I am sure it will all be just fine.

i am dying to do BLS because of how stressful it is but every time he has finger foods he gags and vomits/chokes its horrible..
thanks for the input tho its good to know other babies arent interested at this age too.. DD was a great eater and ate more than he does currently at 6mths which is probably why i get so worried as well because of the contrast..

I had a problem with my DD that she wouldnt go past puree food. I just went straight to finger food. But something i want to let you know, when they all start getting onto the lumpier food, they all gag at first because theyre not use to the texture. With DD i would give her tiny pieces of toast with vegemite and encourage chewing. She would gag, she also had reflux lol so there were alot of times she would eat a full meal, last mouthful she gagged and threw it all back up.. but she eventually got there. Even over cook some vegies or pasta so that its super soft and just put it on his plate and let him go for it. Anything to just encourage him to put it in his mouth and once he gets past that gagging and gets use to it, hopefully he will start to eat more.
I know it can be scarey them gagging, but yeh just wanted to let you know thats normal.

Have you tried giving him a spoon when you are feeding him his favourite stuff. Let him do a spoonful, then you can do one etc. Might be a mess, always is when they start to learn to eat.

Only other thing i found that helped a little was eat your meals at the same time as him. If you all sit down and eat, he may be more inclined to eat as well.

But remember as they start moving around they will start to not put so much weight on, or even lose some. He may just not be hungry atm.. hopefully he will eat when hes hungry.
Good luck with it :hug:

DD#1 loved her solids from 6mths - but DD#2 wasn't really interested until she was about 10mths old. They are all different :)

I tried BLS - but she would choke. But she also refused to eat from a spoon!
I persisted with the foods she was happy to feed herself that didn't make her gag.

I wouldn't decrease his bottles if I were you, because he needs it.
Try not to worry too much, he WILL eat in his own time :hug:

It is always an anxiety provoking thing to learn that they are dropping weight. So hugs... :hug:

My first child was breastfed until she was 12 months with food for fun until then. She just wasn't that interested most of the time.

I guess I would investigate other reasons he may be losing a bit of weight but I also wouldn't decrease her milk. I think it's only us "civilised" nations that tocus so much on solids & this can stress us Mamas out!

Just remember that you will get through this stage - keep following your instincts. :hug:

I still have issues with my DD hun. She's just past 11 months and more likes playing with food.. I disagree with your doctor regarding decreasing bottles. Your DS will get the hang of it hun. It's all about getting the feel for food at this point.

Heck FWIW neither of my kids were great eaters until they were nearly one.
My little guy is under the 10th percentile and no-one's ever said anything to me about him being outside the norm.
Don't mean to offend, but I think your doctors advise is way off base....like circa 30years ago. Please don't decrease his milk intake. Trust yourself.
:hug: he'll get it when he's ready.
Nate still only eats maybe 3 tablespoons of food at any sitting.

Maybe try finger foods that aren't big bits. It will be messy as all heck, but give rice a go, or small bits of avocado - and only put on the tray a couple of bits at a time, so even if he shoves it all in it won't be that different to spoon feeding.
Maybe try giving him some options - put some small pieces of a few different things and let him play.

Hi,

It can be so stressful when your baby doesn't seem to conform to the norm,
Babies grow and develop at their own pace and seem to have a very good sense of "what's good for them". You have years ahead of you to fight with your child - no need to start now. It is completely normal for babies to cross percentiles as they grow. What size and you and your little one's dad? If you two aren't in the 97th percentile for adults (ie really big!) then your baby won't be either, ultimately. And at some stage will have to grow to meet his genetic potential. This means he will grow at a slower rate sometimes. If your baby was a little late at walking - we wouldn't *make him walk* several times per day - we'd understand it was a developmental stage and he would when he could.
Do you have any history of allergies or food intolerances in your family? Babies are very good at protecting themselves.
Apart from that, set your face to *neutral* - give your baby the message that healthy food is on offer - but no biggie if he chooses not to eat! At this age it can be a *battle of wills* - and they quickly learn how to push our buttons. If he grabs the food on your plate - let him have it. Cut down the bottles a little - see if it helps.
But, importantly, in his own time he will eat.

No real advice, except that decreasing his bottles would not be something I would consider doing. Just a suggestion that you may or may not have considered: have you thought about making runny custard, using his formula? Perhaps just creating more of a of a link between his bottles and his solids, by giving him something similar in taste and texture, may help? If you want a recipe, i can give it to you.