11 Month Old Who Won't Eat Solids

Don't worry. He is probably not ready. My son was also awful with this. I was terribly worried. He would gag & vomit if I put anything near him with chunks!! This went on until he was 16 months old & then suddenly he started eating table food & now that's all he eats. Don't push it don't stress it. Just keep trying & introducing the food, eventually he will get it.

Your son sounds healthy and strong, so don't stress! Eventually he will eat, I promise. :)

One thing you can try is to feed him while you hold him, especially in a sling. My son absolutely refused baby food after 7 months, just wouldn't eat those gross pureed foods. (Can you blame him?) But even though he's a big eater at times, he can be very picky with his finger foods. However, if I put him in my sling, and hold him while I eat, he becomes VERY interested in what I'm doing. Wants to try it for himself. So you may want to try something that is a solid finger food, but easily dissolving. Maybe a Baby Mum Mum, gerber puff, or even a saltine cracker. Try some yourself while holding him, and see what his response is. Maybe hand it to him, and then "ignore" him while you carry him around.

My son also does a lot of stuff just to get a reaction. I can't encourage him to eat, or he'll stop! Sheesh! So he eats a lot more if I act like I don't care one way or the other.

If nothing else works, I would take him to the doctor. Maybe he's got reflux or a swallowing problem that could be helped medically? Good luck!

Hi H.,

My baby (now 16)didn't starting eating until about the age yours is now. Just breastfed with an occasional little bite of fruit. Our society has conditioned us to believe that eating food early is a good thing. Well, just look at who's behind that advice. Who says that infants need to eat at 4 months old anyway? Who says they should have milk from a different species--something not done in nature? We are so hammered with advice and what we "need" to do that we lose a lot of our instinct and think with our heads instead. You think your baby is fine. He probably is.

I was also worried but my baby was fine. Later it turned out that she had some allergies. She knew what was best for her! She loved fresh raw fruit, like oranges, bananas, pears--pears are closest in molecular structure to mother's milk. She didn't like cereals (ever tasted that baby cereal?)

If I knew back then what I know now I would have stressed a lot less, fed almost exclusively raw fruits instead of cooked & processed & packaged foods and I would have completely ignored mainstream advice since most it doesn't make any sense at all unless you have stocks in a food company.

I hope you will get this today and listen to a recording with Dr. Doug Graham. He was interviewed and it will be up until about 5 or 6 pm today (Pacific Time I think). He's fed his daughter exclusively raw foods and that child sounds amazing. He's got some really interesting things to say about it (not pressuring or even suggesting anyone else do this). He was interviewed on Rawkathon. I had to sign up for it and get an email notice every day (for one week). You don't need to buy anything but you can get the entire event on CD or DVD after if you want to hear it again. For 24 hours each event is live. It's pretty interesting but for you just listening to that one episode will really open your eyes as to what's possible. Warning: you might get mad about how we've been brainwashed!

Keep in mind your baby could very well have allergies too and just isn't ready yet. Keep feeding yourself well so that you produce healthy breast milk. When he wants to eat, he will, don't worry! Easier said than done in today's overfed and obese society of people who have grown up on fake food. If you don't already go to La Leche League you might want to go there for support and ideas. Your son will also meet other breastfeeding babies and toddlers and perhaps seeing them eat will motivate him too.

If the Mom who wrote the post about slathering food in sauces comes back to read this, please wake up and feed your child properly. Pretty much all the sauces you mentioned contain MSG which is a neurotoxin and doesn't belong in anyone's body, especially not a baby with a yet undeveloped brain. Why do you think kids are so hyper these days? The poor things are so laden with chemicals their brains don't function. Babies and children need good, natural, organic food!!!

S. Hoehner
www.sharethecause.com/detoxqueen

H.,

I don't have any experience with a child who won't eat, just some ideas.

Try new things, too. My DS is turning his nose up at things he likes at the moment - and wants to feed himself. I give him a spoon and have him practice, as well as give him chunky stuff.

Congratulations on nursing him a year! He's filling his gaps with that, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It is so good for him!

Do not worry, your son will like food in the future. He might be telling you now he needs comfort, too. If he is 25 pounds at a year, he sounds pretty solid.

You might try not forcing the issue, but making sure he sits with you at meal times. If he reaches for something, and it's not milk/eggs/nuts, let him go for it!

Teething happens ANYTIME :| :) Don't count it out entirely, until he's got all his teeth. If he hasn't had anything in for a long time, he may be in process.

Good for you trying new things = but be careful, too many new things at once are not a good thing. Try a nice quiet lunch in the usual spot near the family table, you with your sandwich and soup, and him with his meal in front of him. Chat with him like any other member of the family, but don't make any moves towards the food. :) Maybe he'll pick up the social cues. Maybe not? It may take a few trials.

Good Luck!
M.

I am going through a similar situation, so if you ever need someone to commiserate with, just let me know! My daughter is also a peanut (only 14 pounds at 10 1/2 months), so we have the weight gain worry on top of everything else.

Here are some things that work for us.
- I found my daughter only eats certain foods at certain time of the day. Therefore, we always have yogurt at breakfast, a fruit and oatmeal mix at lunch, and two smaller meals of veggies and meat or beans/legumes/etc at dinner.
- I let her feed herself as much as possible. Now that it's getting cold, I feed her soups, which she can slurp up herself (with me holding the container. Refried beans, pierogies, lentil curries, any type of bread (especially naan), pancakes, and bagels are also a hit in our house. I find that she really enjoys the food I enjoy, which she might have tasted through our nursing relationship.
- It doesn't sound like you are worried about calorie intake, but if that ever does become an issue, I pack a punch in the yogurt meal. On a nutritionist's advice, we will add wheat germ, heavy cream, silken tofu, and various other stuff into her food to help get the calories and nutrients in.
-As someone else mentioned, distraction sometimes works. Distraction could be as simple as letting her play with food while you feed her something else.

If none of these things work, don't worry. It sounds like you are planning to nurse past the one year mark, and good for you! If you are like me, you're probably getting a lot of unnecessary weaning advice, but it is common (well, maybe not in America, but certainly in other countries) and normal for a baby to be exclusively breastfed for the first year. As for us, I was originally planning on weaning around her first birthday, but now am thinking about continuing for a longer period of time.

As for giving junk food if he won't eat anything else...I would say absolutely NOT! This is just setting up bad habits for the future. A nutritionist and speech pathologist both told me that certain snack foods are okay in small amounts to help teaching chewing and swallowing skills, like cheerios (there are organic versions available, and the annie's organic/low sugar bunny-shaped cereal are popular with my daughter), and the gerber wagon wheels or puffs. But these foods should not be a meal, and definitely do not offer McDonald's type food or salty snacks. No, no no!!!

hi H.;

GOOD NEWS. DON'T WORRY! JUST KEEP NURSING!

listen, i nursed my son right through my pgncy w my daughter until he was 3, and i am still nursing my daughter who is 20 months; i have been to a lot of La Leche LEague meetings and read a lot about this and about infant nutrition, so here is my self educated advice;

NO MATTER WHAT DO NOT STOP NURSING. you are exactly right. and your baby does not need any other food for quite a while. breastmilk is the best food he or anyone else in the world will ever get.

many breastfed babies don't want solids. they love the breast, solids are a hassel, and they are totally listening to thier bodies; if they don't want it they don't need it. what you look for to indicate good nutrition, superficially, is weight, activity, intelligence, wet and poopy diapers; if your baby has all these in good measure, then he's fine.

he may have been interested in solids temporarily just because they are interesting, and then lost interest; happens all the time. just like with older babies when trying to get them to try new foods, just keep offering, and don't put on the pressure. when he's ready, he will eat.

you can also go to your local La Leche League Intl. meeting to learn more about infant nutrtion and talk to other nursing moms about this. just google the organization, the webpage will come up, and click on resources to find your local meeting.

good luck and congrats on successful breastfeeding!
J.

i had something similar happen to my son,

he as Food aversion or the beginnings of this disorder
How Do Food Aversions Develop?

While there is a biochemical source for food allergies, food aversions are typically learned

i know you don't want to stop nursing, but to be honest he has no incentive to eat real foods if he still gets it from your breast,

If its the nurishment, then PUMP, and put it in a sippy cup with a silicone top

but at some point he will need to be weaned or your milk will dry up. and then what?

this is not to say you have to STOP all together, but usually when foods are introduced your milk reduces aswell,

and the child becomes more independent, and eventually weans himself

what I did was, offer junk foods, such as mc donalds,
french fries, chips, doritos, cookies,

I would place the foods on a table where he could reach them but didn't directly offer them to him.

I would eat them and then make HAPPY fun sounds like MMMMMMmmmm Yummy, and then we would have playdates with kkids who were good eaters, and they would all be chomping away, enjoying the junky foods. he would eventually TASTE them, but not necessarily like them,

then we would eat dinner as a family at the table,
I would NOT give him a plate, but i would cut up some food for him on my plate, like a little pile of rice, some potatoes, home fries with the salt, and some really tender meat ({usually stewed, or grilled) I always have various sauce
such as ketchup, A1, plum sauce, salad dressings, whatever.

but i wouldn't offer the food to him I would just let him play, pick at it or whatever from my plate.

and after I found One sauce he liked we tried All foods dipped in it LOL

eventually he built up a few foods he likes, and we steadily increased them from there.

everyday would be something diffrent and something familiar
Cereal always seems to do the trick,
buy several small boxes, and let him taste it dry,
cheese and cold cuts,
I would make pancakes, grilled cheese, waffles,oatmeal with brown sugar.or fruits.

And after you find something he likes,
you call everything by that name, all meat becomes chicken,

try nutella chocolate spread on apples and bananas,
make cinnamon toast,

ice cream, fresh fruits with whipped cream.

pie, yougurts, parfait, cottage cheese,

maple flavored breakfast sausage links

try more foods, and eventually you will find something he likes,

http://www.empoweredparents.com/pickyeating/pickyeating7.htm

http://www.comeunity.com/premature/child/growth/feeding-h...

http://www.losangelesrestaurants.com/article.cfm/article/...

http://www.parents.com/toddlers/feeding-breastfeeding/tod...

http://www.familycorner.com/parenting/health/mealtime.shtml

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=737&...

Hi H., I'm sure you love nursing (I never wanted to stop) but you may have to cut back so he will be hungry enough to move on to the next stage. I guess you should keep trying. If he is in a high chair, put some things in a colorful dish or right on the tray. My children liked sliced peaches, they were slippery and could be chased around like a goldfish. Have you tried showing him that you eat these things? Sit with him and say one for mommy, one for you. Let him feed you. Yes his weight says he is healthy. My best, Grandma Mary

Hi H.,

I'm a developmental evaluator for children birth-5 years old and I can tell you, I've seen this a lot. Since he is still accepting the breast, it seems like it's truly behavioral. You can do a couple of things. 1. I wouldn't stop breast feeding all together, but I would decrease the amount you give him. He is getting older and should be getting ready to wean anyway. I would only breast feed at calming times (bed time, nap time) and offer solids at other times during the day. He needs to learn when it is ok for breast feeding and when it's time to eat. 2. Eat with him, make it a game and a social situation. 3. If he doesn't eat, DO NOT breast feed him right away. He needs to learn when the time is to breast feed and the time for table foods. 4. Go back to the jarred foods and then you can gradually increase from there. 5. If nothing seems to work, you can always talk to your doctor about getting him referred for a feeding evaluation to make sure there are no other underlying factors (low muscle tone in his mouth or that he is sesnsory defensive). Any other questions, feel free to respond. I hope I helped.

A.

Hi -
On many occassions I've been absolutely certain my 11 month old was hungry but yet he wouldn't let me feed him or eat finger foods. My gut feeling was he just wanted to do other things, OR he was being a little stubborn. What works for us is if I get him completely interested in a toy, while sitting in his high chair. Once his attention is on that toy, he'll eat - like he's on auto-pilot!! It might sound a little sneaky, but it works... and he stops when he's full so I'm not afraid of over-feeding.

I've found I have to use something totally different and interesting - like his bottle brush, a wisk, or a spatula that he sees me use when I cook.

Good luck!

keep nursing, he is fine and its very common. just make sure you keep offering finger foods of fruits and veggies, all of a sudden, it will just kick in!

Hi. My son wouldn't eat anything except baby food for the longest time. He is now 5 years old and still won't eat alot. We found out that he had/has a speech delay and SPD. SPD is sensory processing disorder. I'm not saying your son has either,but when ours was tested,the OT said the first thing that should have keyed our pediatrician about the SPD was the feeding issue. It might be something to keep an eye on or get checked out now. I wish we had known to get it checked out earlier than we did. We always have beleived to error on the side of our child. Getiing him tested is free and atleast then you'll know if there is a problem or he is just being finicky. Hope I have helped you. :-)

Dear H.,

I have a little girl in my daycare that will be one in
November and her mom is going through the same thing. She gags on everything solid put into her mouth and at some point refused to open her mouth. What we did it take it slow, they are not used to the texture or the taste so they are reluctant to eat. One the other hand we have a little boy who is the same age eating pasta and meatballs ha ha. It just shows you how different each child can be. What we did is one day
I took a breakfast bar which is soft, sweet and good tasting and i was able to get her to take a very small piece SHE LOVED IT. And little by little the teacher and her mom are introducing new things to her. She loves pancakes, very small soft items she will take. After a few weeks we gave her chicken nuggets and she loves them now. I think some kids do not handle change well and we just have to be more patient and keep trying. I know you said you are still nursing which is great just make sure she is really hungry when you try to feed her or she will really not be interested. I also give my kids at daycare a plastic utensil so they try to feed themselves. They are usually so distracted you may be able to slip something in here and there. Just take a spoon or fork and put some food on it and let them try to feed themselves. When kids are teething they usually do not want to put anything in their mouth. As long as he is growing and healthy i would not stress just keep trying. Good luck!!

Hi H.,
I don't have much to add or anything really...just wanted you to know I am going through the same thing with Max. He's 9 months old and still won't eat a thing. He's JUST starting to mouth some bread but he's not eating it...it's scary, I know. Definitely DON'T stop bfing, I don't think it would be that... Have you tried feeding him before he nurses? I've tried everything, I was so happy yesterday when he actually put the bread to his mouth. Good luck!
Love,
K.

My exclusively nursed daughter (now 20 months) had almost no interest in solids until she was 13 months. It's not all that uncommon for breastfed babies to be slow eaters. She didn't really start eating 3 meals a day until almost 17 months!

Keep it fun, don't try all the time, and he will eat when he is ready.

It sounds like your son is getting enough from nursing and has no need for solid foods yet. If that's the case, and you enjoy nursing him, then you are so lucky!!! My son Connor at almost nine months old, absolutely refused to nurse one morning, out of the blue, when nursing had been the most important thing in life to him! The day before he refused to nurse, I saw him staring very intently at his two year old brother Cooper while he drank from a sippy cup. I kept offering the breast to Connor, but he kept sitting right up in my lap...... so I finally poured my expressed breastmilk into a sippy cup and he drank it right down! I was heartbroken that he no longer wanted to nurse and I even tried to nurse him for two weeks, but he wanted to be like his big brother, so I expressed milk for several more months after that and just put it into his cereal, or into a sippy cup for Connor to drink. So enjoy this time while you can! Both my sons did enjoy Cherrio's in the high chair when they were age one.
D. :)