When do you give in? Feeding issues with 12 month old DS

[Sonya]

Good luck, we went through something like this too until we found out what he would eat, hot dogs! Now if he gets picky we start with a hot dog and move on from there and get him to eat whatever we want him to try. It really does get better!

 

[skuttle]

Thanks everyone! I know it will get better...that light at the end of the tunnel just sometimes gets blurred when there are other babies in the family around the same age. I just want to make sure that he really isn't ready versus just being super picky.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

skuttle, my youngest is about the same age as yours--he's jsut a doll, but he'd better keep away from my angel! Here's a few tips:

I've always made my own baby food. I'm not suggesting you start making everything, but I find having a mini-chopper handy, where I can quickly puree stuff, helps me to control the texture, and I think it tastes better than the jarred stuff. Celeste is 13 months, and still eats a lot of pureed stuff. She also likes bread, toast, crackers, Cheerios, etc. Some babies don't like bowls and stuff--it cana be easier to just put the food on the tray (messier, but if it works...). Also, Celeste likes utensils, but some kids don't at this stage. You might want to try putting him in the high chair with a handful of Cheerios or slice of toast and a sippy, and be in the kitchen, but not hovering. if he's hungry, he'll at least try some stuff, probably. maybe talk to him while you're cooking, but not be right there to help him. Some other popular foods in our house: yogurt (we LOVE Stonyfield Farms french vanilla whole milk--I would buy it by the gallon!), graham crackers spread with cream cheese, and Spaghetti-O's.

As to drinks--Celeste was (is!) breastfed, so I started a sippy early on ~7 months. She's never had a bottle. I put her on whole milk at 9 months since she had no signs of allergies (Buzz was lactose intolerant at birth, believe me, I know the signs!). She's great with a sippy now, but still likes to nurse at bed time. Also, she has the two older siblings, so she has a good example--hopefully your son will pick up from the other day care kids, now that he's in with older kids.

You will get there, it's a journey, though. Good luck!

 

[shortbun]

Well, IMHO if your DS is just 1- he's probably not quite ready
to self feed completely. I didn't even start giving DS baby food
until he was 7 months old and solids began at about 1. He started
with mushy soft stuff that would stay on his hands, threw quite
a bit for several months(that's why they make those plastic
floor covers for around the highchair ) and transitioned to solids
at about 18 months. BTW, our daycare doesn't even begin to
send kids to the toddler room until they reached 18months and
all went by 20 months. My friend's DS is still eating veggies at
stage 3 baby food as he won't eat solids and he is 23 months old.
He just hasn't found any veggie he wants to eat solid yet. She
puts peas, carrots, potatoes,beans etc on his tray but he still
throws them. He does eat pizza, pbj,cheese,lots of fruits whole-
just no veggies yet. I don't think you should "fight" with your
DS about any of this. Let him be who he is and keep putting that
solid stuff out, try different things. Eventually, he'll eat it-really!

 

[GlennandAnn]

My younger DS was a beast when it came to table foods and drinking from the sippy cup. He just did not want to do either. I decided to stop sweating it and let him do it when he was ready. I'd sneak a few table food items into each meal (along with the baby food) and let him taste what he wanted. I found that when I let go of it, stopped making a big deal of it, he began to eat table food. Same with the sippy cup. Kids won't starve, they will eat what is presented to them if they are hungry enough. Good luck, this can be a very frustrating time!


Ann

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

You've gotten great advice here. On e of my thought I have seen several times which is to mix milk with formula. My method took about 4 weeks to make the complete transition: Week 1: 6 oz formula, 2 oz milk; Week 2: 4 oz formula, 4 oz milk; Week 3: 2 oz formula, 6 oz milk; Week 4: 8 oz milk. Worked like a charm with both DDs.

As far as the self-feed, your DS is at the age where peer pressure is a good thing. He will notice the other toddlers self-feeding and will pick it up. Both of mine wanted to self-feed early, but I was told many times that my DDs helped other kids get over that hump. And those same kids helped DD1 get over the potty training hump. All her firends had big girl panties, so she wanted to wear some too!

 

[Pembo]

My ped with ds#1 told us to never put whole milk in the bottle. With ds #1 it worked like a charm, he loved that sippy cup. Of course ff 2 years and it was hard to break him of the sippy.

Ds #2 loved the bottle. We did put water in it instead of milk and he quickly gave it up. (At age 1)

DD HATES sippy cups. She still at almost age 2 won't take a sippy cup. She just drinks out of a regular cup. This was a whole new adjustment for me. My mom reminded me that sippy's are a new invention. It makes things a little more inconvenient but it works for her. I did have to put milk in a bottle for her because at age 1 she just wasn't able to drink as much milk as she needed. But we slowly weaned off. She took a nighttime bottle for a long time...I think almost 6 months.

As for the self feeding thing~don't sweat it. He'll eat when he's ready. I personally would keep feeding him so he gets enough to eat but I would give him those finger foods first. If he's hungry, he'll figure out he needs to eat!

As a mom of 3 I can easily say to you ~ this too will pass. Try not to overthink it. I know it's easy for me to say but hard for you to hear. By the time you have 3 kids not much bothers you.

Good luck and he is Very cute!