Refusing her solids....frustrating!

Emily has decided she doesn't want to eat her solids anymore. I hope it's just a brief phase she's going through. With Em being a premmie, I followed the calculation in the feeding guide for premmies on when to start solids. I started introducing her to solids when she was almost 6 months old being the earliest to start trying. First go she took a mouthful but after that wasn't interested anymore so left it a week or so before trying again. Same story so left it again another week or so and this went on until she was 7 months when she was definitely ready and on one meal a day. Some days she would eat it some days she wouldn't. If she liked something one day the next day when I offered it again she didn't like it anymore. But gradually I got her up to 2 meals a day. Then we went to visit friends in Canterbury for a few days. Ems was so unsettled with the unfamiliar surroundings, and teething as well, so wasn't terribly interested in her solids while down there and didn't really eat much of what I offered her. So when we got back to Akld a week ago, she was much more settled and happier so when I gave her her lunch the next day after we got back, she gobbled it all up with no probs. But then later that day she and I had both come down with a cold and she was really grizzly so took her to the doc that evening and she had developed a throat infection. So as you can imagine all she wanted was her milk feeds so I left out her evening solids for that day. Next day she was feeling better and had a bit of lunch, but by evening she was grizzly again so didn't want an evening meal so I just stuck with BFing her that night. Next day same story again.   She's over the cold and throat infection now so I am trying to offer 3 solids meals a day but she flat out refuses them and only wants her milk feeds. She wont even take the first mouthful and decide if she likes it or not. She just jams her mouth shut when she sees the spoon, and then would rather grab the plate and play with the food instead. I know she is hungry though because afterwards she wants more milk feed. Grrrrrrr! I know I'm not supposed to but I end up pushing the spoon into her mouth so she at least gets a bit of food. I'm realy annoyed because I wonder if we didn't go away, she wouldn't have gone through that stage of being so unsettled, probably wouldn't have gotten the cold (I'm sure we got it off the plane), and so we wouldn't be in this situation at the moment. I feel like we've gone backwards and have to start over again.

Sorry for the really long post. Just wanted to have a rant about it and get it off my chest. Did anyone else have this sort of phase with their little ones after starting solids? I'm hoping if I just keep at it and offering her solids 3 times a day (even though pretty much all of it gets thrown out ) she might get the idea and come right again. Any ideas?

It's so hard not to worry though about whether she's getting everything she needs. The thing that most concerns me is whether she's getting enough iron. Being 2 months prem and low birth weight, she was on an iron supplement everyday since she came home at 4 weeks old. And since she came home I've had to make sure she fed plenty and gained plenty of weight, had her iron and vitamin supplements everyday, so I guess I've just always been in that mind-set. When we saw the Doc the other day I told him her iron supplement had just run out and asked if he could give a prescription for more. He looked back on her notes, looked at her and said she was doing really well and growing nicely so didn't think it was necessary to give her anymore iron supplements because she will start getting her iron from the solids. I know he's right and developmentally she is doing really well but still I can't help but worry that if she doesn't eat her solids she never will. I know there will be days when she won't want to eat but when it's days in a row I get concerned. I guess I just need to learn to relax and go with the flow now.

Edited by TrudandEm

Keiran went off his solids when he had a cold, and even when he seemed better he still refused them for a few days.   I just ate in front of him and when he starting watching me intently and grabbing for my food I knew it was time to start again. Perhaps give it a total break for a day and see how she goes. I think the key is not to force her as that might cause eating issues.

TrudandEm, I soo know your frustrations! Feeding has been a problem with Mikayla from the 2nd week of solids (we just won't go there with the BFing!). I didn't start her until 6 mths (because of my allergies) and she gobbled it up, then the next week didn't want to know! Even now she's not a good eater, and still rather light, but I have had to accept that some days will be better than others. All you can do is not make it a fight, and offer lots of different things during the day. Sometimes I think I've found something she really likes, then the next day she won't have a bar of it, luckily we've got ducks that hang around - they even enjoy the farex or porridge left over from brekky!

I did start giving her milk feeds after her solids, she eats a bit more that way, but even Daycare have commented on how little she eats.

The doc is not concered (even tho she only hit 8kg @ 10 mths! 4275g at birth! ) as she is a happy, healthy we girl, he said she'll get all the iron she needs from her milk, and the more we relax with her feeds, the more success we will have.

I still end up wearing her a lot of her food, and sometimes I have to get DH to come and take over as I get so frustrated, but I am trying to relax and go with it, just making sure she has lots of food offered during the day.

Hope this helps and Emily starts to enjoy her solids soon! If you need to vent or want to chat, feel free to PM me

Daniel started finger foods at 5 months

My bubba's a bit fussy at times too, but LOVES mousetraps. I just thinly spread marmite on white bread, cut it into fingers & cook in a really low oven (about 100degrees) for about an hour until they are really crispy. She just sucks them but manages to devour the whole thing & often has half a piece of bread that way & gets the iron that's in marmite. And I've done the same as Bizzy too & smeared baby food on them & she's eaten it that way when she's refused to take it off a spoon.

We went thru a phase at about 7.5 months were DS wouldn't eat anything unless it was finger foods. He was always slightly fickle with what he would and wouldn't eat!

He now barely eats of a spoon unless its custard or yogurt.

I visited the Karitane nurse about his eating and she suggested that I only gave a half feed of milk before solids and then the other half after. That worked really well for us and got him eating a decent amount at meal times. She suggested this at 7.5 months.

Maybe of help. I think some kids are just independent and want to exert some control at an early age

busymum wrote: Fingerfood can start at the same time as any first solids, the difference is that they get to hold it. Even if it is a piece of toast, they just suck it until it's "baby food" anyway LOL. I think I'd go for one solids meal per day, not three, until she has that in routine and seems hungrier or refuses the breast in favour of more food. Give it another 2-3 weeks like that before increasing to 2 meals per day.

Emily was only on one solids meal per day for several weeks and that was going well enough so I stepped it up to 2. That was going okay so I'd decided to step it up to three when the trip, teething, cold and throat infection came along and everything went pear-shaped Maybe I'll just have to start over again and go back to just one a day.

She does however like to suck and chew on her mesh bag, esp with pear. Maybe finger food is the way to go. I just worry that she might not be ready and choke (paranoid ). But I'll give her a few more days with the mesh bag and then I'll try the toast thing. I'll have to get some white bread in the next shop though - not big white bread eaters in this house.

Forgive me if I repeat what someone else said (haven't read it all), but A went off solids for 3 weeks after having her first cold at about the same age. She got back into it in her own time, but I had to start back from the beginning again - ie puree and small amounts.

Now I can hardly keep up with her demand for food!

ETa - she is probably not self-weaning and you don't have to wean her if you don't want to. She will be at the peak for being distracted on the boob atm and will be very frustrating to feed for a while, but will get over it eventually and feed well again.

Edited by DJ