Food struggles

[Kitcat12]

Hi ladies, I hope you're all well. I'm having such a tough time with Llewy's eating at the minute. He's living off toast and cows milk and I'm starting to really worry that he doesn't eat anything we offer him. He will also accept sweet treats like the organix fruit bars or the baby cake bars etc and is always interested in what his Dad and I are eating but when it comes to his meal time he throws everything we prepare on the floor 😔 Any tips?

[Lovemylion]

Ah I feel your pain hun. My lb exactly the same and is still quite awkward with food unfortunately. Same as u toast and milk! But he has got so much better over the last few months. We are just doing it gradually by putting different foods on toast. It seems to be working!

What worked for us is sardines in tomato sauce on toast...he now likes any fish on toast as long as it's in a tinned tomato sauce. Avocado, egg, cheese, banana, peanut butter, beans. I've noticed my lb doesn't like different foods touching and this can be common in toddlers. So I've bought a toddler plate with separate compartments....bit like a prison plate lol! It's got his favourite things on such as tractors, diggers etc. He gets excited when the plate comes out. I put something familiar on it and something unfamiliar on it so he gets used to seeing it. Also because there not touching he less likely to throw it off the side. Progress is happening but it's slow and evening mealtimes can be met with complete refusal to eat.....which is disheartening and stressful. But I just ignore him when he eats and try not to make a big deal of it. I don't offer alternatives anymore as he just waits for something he likes/recognises instead.

I figured if we keep pursuing with it he'll eventually get better....which he is....slowly.

Xxx

[Foodie23 Ambassador]

This is exactly what Leo does and he’s 16 months. He acts interested and then throws it on the floor. Leo lives on milk, protein whole grain pancakes, oatmeal with puréed fruit and veggies for breakfast, plain greek yogurt with puréed fruit and veggies for dinner and chunks of fruit. The only real solids he eats are fruit and pancakes. 🤦‍♀️

I’m comforted by the fact he’s getting a variety through the purées, but it has been a source of stress. I just keep telling myself he will eat more solid foods at some point. I’m also doing some exercises with him to build his jaw muscles given to me by a feeding therapist.

Raising kids can be so hard! Hang in there, you’re doing great! Xx

[Kyell2]

My wee one simply refuses to do baby led weaning and so I have to feed him. He really loves his food and eats 3 good meals a day but only if I spoon feed him. I’ve been using the what mummy makes book for healthy finger food and we are slowly getting somewhere with porridge fingers, pinwheels and twists but he’s a very lazy baby😂

I’m hoping that going to nursery will encourage him to copy other babies and feed himself 🙈

[Kitcat12]

Thank you ladies, he does seem to be a bit more receptive to spoon feeding this last couple of days. Hopefully its just a phase. Tricky business these babies x

[Goldenegg1]

It’s not uncommon for children to struggle with eating new foods especially when they’re very young. The key is to not stress make meal times relaxed.

Some simple tips to help will be let your child eat at their pace all the foods you know they like.

Then once a day make a “challenge meal”. That’s a a food they have not tried before or are unsure about. They don’t have to eat it but can play with it and explore it with their hands. Have a spare plate to one side so they can put it on the plate if they don’t like it on their plate. In doing the moving/ playing of food they end up with some on their hands and then in their mouth.

Never make them eat what they don’t want to eat and never hide foods in their favourite foods or you could find they reject their favourite foods and the limited list gets shorter.

It takes around 15 tries of a food for people to decide if they like a food and taste buds change so it’s fine to be undecided.,

Don’t put puddings on a pedestal by saying eat this carrot first then you can have ice cream. You want to make all foods equal.

It doesn’t matter what they eat it’s important that they just eat what they like.

It can take a long time to feel like your making progress but you’ll get to a point where you suddenly realise the list of accepted foods has grown. Eventually you could end up with an awesome young man like mine who’s gone from eating one flavour of baby food and bread to trying 100s more foods.

Do get a feeding assessment done with speech and language if you feel it’s a difficulty with chewing and swallowing. Chewings not something we learn but it’s more instinctive and Some children are under developed with this making meals harder to chew.,

Also get their tongue checked out to make sure it’s not a tight tongue or a short tongue. We need our tongues to help move the food to the side of our cheeks to start the chewing process.

Hope this all helps and try not to worry.

My child has a selective eating disorder diagnosed at 18 months old but you wouldn’t know it now with all the work we put in to expanding his choices.

He also has hypotonia ( low muscle tone) which affected his eating because muscles are in your mouth and he didn’t instinctively chew.

Seek advice from your health team.

Sorry for the bible 🤭.

Good luck!