14 Month Old Not Eating Much

Are you talking about MY son??? LOL. Welcome my world. I have been trying to get my son to eat for MONTHS now. I have taken him to the Dr. and been told basically that he won't starve if there is food available. You will know if he is getting the nutients he needs by his activity level. Is he growing? playing? active? if so, it means that he is getting enough even if it seems like hardly anything to you. I wish I could give more advice than that, but I can only tell you to be patient and relax. You are not alone.

Feeding my 4-year-old is always a trial since day one. Something I do to put weight on him (and trust me he needs it) is to regularly give him (4 or 5 times a week) a milkshake made with milk and real ice cream. Kids usually eat ice cream, right? My Doc says it's too important that my son gets fat calories and not to worry about feeding ice cream every day.

So, stock up on ice cream and feed him milkshakes. It adds the weight!

I think your doctor needs to do some more research. Breastmilk is one of the highest fat/highest calorie foods available. Of course, at 14 months old, he should be eating other foods, but breastmilk is definitely a good choice for nutrition also. A lot of toddlers are picky. Also, unless he's dropped from his usual percentile weight, I wouldn't worry much. Some kids just start out small and stay small. Good luck to you!

Hi M.. I just want to let you know that my son is 16 months old and he started the peckish eating thing at abiut 13 or 14 months. I have talked to WIC and my son's doctor about it, and you know what they told me? He will eat when he's hungrey. Don't stop trying to feed your little girl but there are some helpful hints: 1. cut down on the bottles or liqiuds. This leaves her little tummy more empty than usual, and therefore she will eat more. 2. try to give her more of the things you know she likes. My son likes granola bars. He thinks they are his "candy bars." I still wouldn't worry to much though. It's like a phase the kids go through. Just keep doing what you are doing. Give her snacks instead of bottles. Give her liqiuds after her meal instead of during. Well, I hope this helps calm your mind a little. My son still eats like a bird!! A small one at that...lol. Don't worry about it ok? Good luck!!

I have four children, and each and every one of them went through this phase at some point or another, and all before they were two years old. I cut back on the juice, (mine were all, and still are, juice-lovers) and that helped some, but mostly I just waited it out. My oldest was the worst, and would only eat a few bites of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This went on for several months, and instead of losing weight, she gained normally and has never had any health problems as a result. Are you giving him a lot of snacks in between meals? I found that if I gave mine smaller snacks, they were hungrier at meal time. My pediatrician told me that this was fairly common, and not to worry unless they were losing weight, quit having normal bowel movements or quit wetting their diapers. It was worrisome, but like I said, each one of them went through it and then one day started to eat "normally" again. I just chalked it up to a "phase"! Good luck to you, let us know how it goes!

It looks like you have a lot of responses but I'll let you know my two boys (now 19 months and 34 months) were similar. I had quit breastfeeding both by about 10 months so they had a little period of formula and then whole milk - which one of them will drink 1/2 a gallon of a day if I let him. Both of my kids were around the 10th percentile when they were 1, I think they were just 20 pounds exactly, and around the 75th % for height. My pediatrition thought they looked great though, she says there are so many overweight babies and kids that the charts have changed over the years and "normal" is heavier than it used to be. My kids hate the pediasure (I've only tried the strawberry) - thought it would be a special treat and help with nutrition since they also refuse to eat more than a few bites a lot of times. Anyhow, long story short, just keep offering and don't force the food and I'm sure he will be fine. My almost 3 year old is now close to the 50th % for weight and eats much better than he used to. And from personal experience I advise NOT to eat all of the food he refuses just so it doesn't go to waste! :-)

Hi M.!

I was just responding to another girl who's 11 mo old wont eat. I have a little guy turning 2 this week and BOY have we been through a lot of "phases" when it comes to eating. It's not easy, but there are tricks! A friend of mine has a son who was WAY small for his age, her dr told her to make him milkshakes, put peanut butter on things, get the instant breakfast type drinks to add in some calories.

Sometimes, with my son, I've had to just find some "staples" of foods that he likes and let him have them for the sake of getting food in him.

One thing I would caution you against is projecting yourself on to him. If you don't like a certain food, don't automatically not feed it to him... try everything. Even if he hasn't like it in the past, try try again.

Some things that might be good... Hand him a whole banana and let him go to town (of course watching him)... My son WILL NOT eat it if I chop it up, but will chow down if it's whole. (even when he was younger) The Del Monte cups of oranges tend to be something kids will eat... maybe cut them up into smaller pieces for him (watch out for acid daiper rash though, I can't give my son too much in a day). Eggo Waffles (I get whole wheat to try to be more nutritious) are good also. It seems that my friends who have boys and my son all tend to go towards being able to "Be big"... They like to hold big pieces and just knaw on them to their hearts content.

Krusteaz (sp?) has these mini pancakes that my son will chow on in the morning too.

Anyway... there are things out there that I am sure will get him excited to eat. Don't be too concerned though. My son doesn't weigh all that much more now then he did at his 1yr appt and that is normal. He's turning 2 on tuesday and he's 28 pounds. Just weigh him every once in a while and make sure he's not losing and try to get some higher calorie foods into him in the meantime.

Sorry if this isn't very helpful, I just put my son down and I'm 28 weeks pregnant and OUT OF IT! ha ha ha... Good luck, feel free to e-mail if you have any specific questions!

N.

That does not sound too light to me. My baby is huge, we breastfeed and he eats solids only when he is motivated. He likes to feed himself so anything you can think of that he can hold and feed himslef might help. My son's favorite is baked sweet potato sticks. he loves them. and yes he likes to feed them to the dog. I have always read that breastfeeding is the best nutrition, and I do have a big baby (he just turned one and is 28 pounds) but my sister's baby was smaller than yours at 1, and so is my friend's - he is now just 23 pounds at 2 and a half years. His doctor (also my doctor) says this is NO PROBLEM. So do not worry. Those growth charts are just numbers - every baby is different. If you asked your doctor why your baby needs to be beefed up, I wonder what he would say.

I let my 19 month old boy eat what he will and then give him vitamin supplements. He is also very picky. Otherwise it becomes a power struggle.

Hi M.,

I think you could blend some food, to help him not gag as much. Also, One Step Ahead has this thing that is to be used to stop gagging from occuring. It was invented by this guy whose son almost died from choking. Maybe that would help you as well.

Blessings,

K

M.,

Use the palm of his had to figure out portion size. You may be trying to feed him too much. Whole milk is hard on a kids system. Try switching him to 2% and make sure you do organic. There are pesticides in regular milk that can me hard on a kids system and can cause problems later. He may also be in a growing stage. Kids tend to sleep more and eat less when they are growing.

If you would like to do supplementation for him in the way of a good children’s vitamin, give me a call.

I will also do a free evaluation for your son to make sure he is on the right track.

Hope this helps

L.
Nutritionist
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I am a 45 yr old mom of 2 girls 15 and 9, and the godmother of a 9 month old, I am also a RN, my girls both went thru the stage of not eating anything, and how we got thru that phase was a try one bite area on the plate, everynite we would serve everyone their plate of food, and yet the girls would almost always say "I don't like that", so I out of frustration started putting literally 1 teaspoon of whatever it was that they didn't like on their plate and that was all that they had to eat, or try on any given night, and before long, the try it bites grew into actual serving sizes, and to this day, if I am serving a new dish, I place only 1 teaspoon on the plate and then if they like it, they can put more on their plate.

I have the exact opposite problem with my son...at 12mos he weighs in at 26lbs! However, since his first birthday, he will only eat a bite or two of ANYTHING I put in front of him.

Your doctor might be coloring his "diagnosis" by his own views on how big/little kids should be; some people think babies can be too "fat", others think that "fat" babies are the picture of health...I think we sometimes forget that doctors and nurses are human, too. Now, while I am not an expert, I think your son is/will be fine; especially if he's healthy and is in all the "normal" ranges for other developments.

As long as your son isn't showing signs of "not thriving"... I wouldn't worry too much about it. (It is kind of like when toddlers only want to eat Mac-n-cheese! lol) When they get hungry enough, they'll eat, is what I've always been told. :)

Good luck!

When my son turned 15 months my pediatrician also wanted me to put some weight on him. I knew my milk production had significantly decreased so I weaned him from BF also. But he didn't like whole milk. My doctor recommended Carnation Instant Breakfast with whole milk. We bought chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. He loved the taste (especially chocolate) and we gave him two cups a day. At his next check up the doctor said he looked healthy and we didn't have to continue the Carnation, but he likes it and we still give it to him for now.

He sounds fine! My son is 30-31 pounds - at 5 1/2 years old!! He's a head shorter than everyone else in Kinder. But he's happy and he eats well (when it comes to variety) but oh my gosh, he eats so little!! What helps us most (at 5 year old) is making sure he eats after school (3 30-4ish) then NOT until dinner then he will eat his dinner and he is finally starting to eat larger (kid sized) portions, wahoo!

He is healthy, happy, eating (just not very much..) so dont worry about it (easier said than done, I still worry and fret LOL) My pediatrician said to fatten him up (when I was concerned about him being off the weight chart) by putting butter and peanut butter on stuff. Well my son is only JUST starting to tolerate peanut butter (he has nutella sandwiches, which I mix half and half with PB since nutella is expensive!) It has only been in the last 1-2 years that he will eat toast/sandwiches with butter on it (before that he would REFUSE to eat it if I'd put butter on anything, pancakes included, so I just let him eat it plain rather than not at all) He too will grow.

Pizza and quesadillas sound nutritious enough to me. (Let's see.. Pizza: grain, dairy, veg, meat... no problem!) I've seen other kids LIVE on mac n cheese and they're just fine.... I'm glad my son eats more of a variety though.

Hello!
My daughter went through the same thing, and it lasted almost a year. I used to make her protein drinks (smoothies) and load up the protein (regular protein powder). Try giving him Protein Bars (like Tigers Milk). They are safe for kids and are super healthy. We call them Breakfast Candy Bars. My daughter absolutely loves them. Most importantly, he'll get through it. He is a child, and has isn't trying to starve himself for looks, and won't over eat because of emotions. He simply isn't hungry, and that's okay. It is hard as a mom not to worry and be concerned. Try the protein shakes, that way you'll know he's getting something substantial!
Good luck!

Personally I would take him off the Pediasure mixture and give him milk. Breastfeeding always give children the nutrients they need but since you have weened try whole milk, if he can't digest that try goat milk. If he can get around himself take a small muffin pan (the kind with 6 muffin cups) and put a few different items in each cup (raisins, dry cereal, crackers, cut up cheese, etc.) and leave it on the table in the room where he plays. Don't make a big deal out of it and he'll probably munch his way through his playtime. Just refill whatever cups he empties without saying a thing and he will never realize how much he is eating.

Hi M., I just joined tonight. So I'm new at this whole thing. I found this website because I'm trying to get my son properly diagnosed and the proper Therapy. My son will be 3 this coming May. When he was 1 he could not eat anything past a #2 baby food. He would gag to the point of vomiting. His pediatrician got him a referral the the SHCHFC ( Sacred Heart Childrens Hospital Feeding Clinic) He was diagnosed as having a swallowing dysfunction....thats what the insurance billed it as anyway and then they stopped paying. :( We could not afford this. We did what we could with what we had. We constantly tried new foods and reintroduced old foods. He currently drinks 2 to 3 pediasures a day. He has always been in the 75th to 95th percentile for weight and height. I feel this is only due to the pediasures. Other wise he would be under that label "failure to thrive" In the past month he has finally gotten sick of the few foods he WOULD eat, but has not been able to replace them with anything else. I needed help!!! I called my Ins. to see if they would cover for him to be reevaluated. He had his second eval at SHCHFC, he is much older now and easier to diagnose. We found out today that he has SPD( Sensory Processing Disorder). This effects so many things. Eating is a huge one. My son is over sensitive on his tongue. It's too much information for him to handle. The smells of food and the textures. I don't mean to scare you, I don't know if this even pertains to your situation. I know I felt so concerned and alone with this for almost 2 years now. You can find alot of information online about Sensory processing Disorder or Sensory Integration Dysfunction. I hope this might be of some help to you or any other mothers reading this. My son also has never slept an entire night through, is terrified of loud noises, has attachment issues, is sensitive on his hands, feet and head..all these are other symptoms of SPD. I wish you luck, you know what's best for your son, if something doesn't feel right, don't hesitate!

I think it's strange that a Doctor would say that BF is not providing nutrition as that is where any kid is getting most of his nutrition, even after you start them on babyfood/solids, BF is still where they are getting most the vitamins and good fats they need. It doesn't seem like 19 pounds is that small either...
Anyway! My boy didn't really take to solids (kept BF almost exculsively and he was 24 pounds at his 1 year appointment) and it was very frustrating. He always would make a "ewww" face and push away anything I would give him. I knew he was hungry as he would ask to be nursed immediately after the food session was over. I can't force him to eat solids if he doesn't want them.
He's about 13 months now and is JUST starting to eat stuff. We are estatic when he'll down more than 2 goldfish crackers at a sitting. We try to be as healthy as we can, but he's pretty insistant when he doesn't want something.
Don't worry if your kid just eats a bite here and a bite there, they aren't birds who eat like 10 times their weight or something crazy like that. Kids eat much less than people think they do with their stomaches being the size of their fist (yadda yadda yadda). You try to fit a 1/4 peice of toast and a few bites of egg into your kids fist and see how it hard it is to keep it in there. LOL :-D I also think their eating schedules are not like adults where we are used to three meals a day. Kids seem to like to eat when they are hungry and stop when they aren't hungry anymore, may not be at the same time each day.
I would check on what a "failure to thrive" kid looks like online, or get an opinion from a different Dr.
If you have an active kid, they might be thinner too due to their greater expenditure of calories during the day.

Good Luck! I know I need it everyday...