7-month-old Edward has gone from a fantastic eater to a food refuser
Please help! Edward is seven months old and has been fantastic for ages, we went on holiday and roughly four days after we came back he has been waking several times a night.
His schedule is breakfast of one weetabix with fruit puree and buttered toast fingers at 7.30am and 9oz of milk between 8 and 8.30am; lunch at 12pm of chicken, potato and carrot mixed with fruit puree, 3-4 mild cheese slices and a petit filous with a 2oz drink of well-diluted ribena. He’ll have 8oz of formula at about 3.30pm. His supper at around 5.30pm is something like 2tbs tomato pasta mixed with fruit puree, 3 bread & butter fingers, 2-3 mild cheese slices, 3tbs fruit puree and a drink of 2 oz of well-diluted ribena. He’ll have 9oz of formula between 6.30 and 7pm and then go down for the night. He has a morning nap of 45 minutes at 9.30. His lunchtime nap is two hours or so at about 1pm.
He is refusing his food. I know he is not eating enough but he just clamps his mouth shut and starts blowing raspberries! He will take the first couple of spoons with no trouble but then the only way to get it into him is by putting fruit puree on the front of the spoon, this works for a few more spoons but then he gets wise and won’t take anymore. Meal times have become a real strain, as I am well aware of the fact that if he doesn’t eat enough he doesn’t sleep properly, so I spend ages trying to make him eat his full quota. I have now taken to letting him eat as much or little as he wants because it’s just becoming too stressful spending an hour getting him to eat. He has always eaten fantastically well, so I don’t know what has happened. He loves feeding himself with finger food but as soon as the spoon appears it’s another story. I let him have a spoon of his own but if there is ever food on it, it mainly ends up in his ears or hair . The only meal that actually sees him opening his mouth to take his food without protest is breakfast and even then he sometimes will only eat half a weetabix. I know that he is going down for his lunchtime sleep too late but this is just because he is taking so long to eat his lunch.
The wakings in the night are now catching up on me. I am three months pregnant and desperately need to get a good night’s sleep. I spoke with Gina pre going on holiday and she advised me that he should be having 7tbs spoons of protein at lunch, he was eating that and more on holiday and for a few days when we got back but then suddenly everything went topsy-turvey. I know he is teething but am not sure what I should do. I have on a couple of occasions thought that I should just feed him when he first wakes at around 1am but I really don’t want to start feeding him in the night as I know it can become a difficult habit to break. Even when he was a little baby, he wasn’t waking as many times as this! I am just not used to it. HELP!
Edward does have quite a large intake of milk especially at 8am. If you cut this back by a couple of ounces, he should be hungrier at lunchtime. As he is taking longer to feed, begin at 11.45am so he is having his nap earlier. His afternoon feed should be no later than 2.30pm and a lesser amount to ensure he will be hungry by tea. As Edward is accepting cheese slices and fromage frais, he can cut back on his milk. He needs a daily total of 18-20ozs which includes milk used in preparing his food.
While Edward is being less cooperative about taking his solids, be careful not to offer him his drink until he has taken at least half of his solids and encourage him to only have sips. Too much fluid can quickly fill a baby up and take the edge off his appetite if it’s given at the beginning of a meal. Offer him his lunchtime fluids from a beaker. Try to wean Edward from ribena on to water, if you can, as the added sugars in such drinks also suppress his appetite. Do this by diluting his drinks more and more until he is taking water only.
Edward is obviously beginning to show his independence in wanting to feed himself. He also is teething which can cause temporary problems with accepting a spoon. Use his love of finger food to give him more of his solids this way. You can spread his chicken or other puree on pieces of roll so he is able to feed himself. Make him mini sandwiches with fillings suitable for his age. Pasta shapes can be given with a suitable sauce which Edward can dip into. Lightly steamed vegetable batons can be given with a sauce to dip into or with cheese grated over them when hot. It may take a little more thought to provide him with suitable finger food but will result in happier mealtimes for you both.
Introducing apple puree at each meal may begin a fondness for sweeter food which could escalate into another problem. Depending how good Edward is at feeding himself in this way, you should be able to get more solids into him. Keep persevering with a spoon as well but a teething baby can dislike its feel on his sore gums. This should disappear once the tooth is finally through, so keep trying. Give him plenty of cold finger food if you feel that his gums are sore; peeled cucumber sticks straight from the fridge, frozen fruit and bagels may all help the discomfort and soothe his gums.
At his age Edward will not get much food himself into his mouth using a spoon, but it is a good idea to give him one of his own. By holding your hand over his you can help him dig into his bowl and lift it to his mouth. The action of getting it there is fairly complex and many early self feeders turn the spoon over and lose the contents before it reaches their mouth, but it is only by being given the opportunity to try at each mealtime that they refine their skills. Self-feeding can be very messy. Use all-in-one bibs with sleeves and spread a messy mat or sheets of newspaper under his highchair so that cleaning up is easier. Have one or two flannels ready to clean him up. These should be soaked and washed on a daily basis.