11 month old dosn`t eat

[tamirra]

Hi, my 11 month old grandaughter wont eat, she still hasn`t any teeth and whenever my daughter puts a dinner wether its a home made dinner or a jar, just anything that needs to go into her mouth she refuses, she is under the hospital due to being under weight, all they have said is to cut down on the milk just give her 6 oz twice a day and only after food, which dosnt help as she dosn`t eat anyway, what she does eat is wotsits she loves them but the hospital has said to stop giving them to her but that is all she does eat, had anyone any useful advice on what to do, and advice maybe from parents going through or have gone through the same stressful time. Thank you

[meltoadhall]

so she eats nothing at all except wotzits? not a single mouthful goes past her lips except milk?

what about smooth foods like yoghurts? crunchy ones like breadsticks? pieces of french sticks?i presume she has tried putting small bits of various foods on a plate for her to try?

I would stop with the junk food and then see if her mum eats and ignores the fact that she isnt eating then she may try something.

she doesnt need teeth to gum a bit of a french stick, my girls managed very well.

[tamirra]

Hi, no not really she sees the spoon coming and thats it, she tries to put a little on her lips for her to taste but she has a fight on her hands even doing that, she has cut up small bits of different foods and she throws it on the floor, she rang me this eve all excited as she had eaten some jelly, i went round and cooked for her and we sat her on the floor and put bowl in front of her and she just stuck he fingers into it and played around with it, my daughter had shepherds pie so i advised her to leave some on her plate and leave the plate somewhere she could get to it to see if taking off her plate without mummy knowing would work, but it didn`t, we dont know what else to advise, my daughter now is thinking of ignoring what the hospital says and just giving her what she wants when she wants it, like wozits, but we both know it wont do her any good, we havea losing battle on our hands.

[natalie_1982]

I'm not a professional but I would think that by allowing her to have wotsits you will ultimately end up with an even more difficult time getting her eat when she is older ass she will know that eventually she will get what she wants to eat.

If she can eat wotsits with no teeth then she should be able to eat other things?

Will she eat a peice of toast? You could try different cheesey toppings / spreads on toast if she likes cheese flavour?

To be honest, and I am lucky I have never been in this position, I wouldn't draw too much attention to it but would leave food around and just carry on eating as usual in front of her and hopefully eventually she will copy. When your daughter start weaning her? Has she eaten solids before, is it a reason thing that she has stopped eating? Does she have a favourite television character who has a food product out? Or maybe the character has a favourite food (I'm thinking Pooh's hunny on toast or telly tubby tustard and fruit?)?

[Tups]

I think that if she isn't responding to what the 'pro's' say, her mum has to go with her gut instinct but eating wotsits is obviously not a good idea. There is a healthier alternative, available from Tesco, which looks like wotsits but is made of carrot and, I think, various other vegetable varieties. Like wotsits, they just melt in your mouth. I wouldn't cut down on the milk until she's eating something more substantial. In fact, I would put her on formula milk for hungrier babies. She needs to get some weight on her. Good luck

[Panic Button]

I would stop making a fuss about trying to feed her, but leave lots of things she could cope with in reach, and ignore her. Rusks are one possibilty.

These little bu**ers quickly learn how to control their parents, and the battle to get food into her has shown her how she can get a reaction out of the parents.

Wotsits are a no no. Far too much salt.

[puss_boots]

If your grand daughter likes the crunchy cheesy taste of wotsits would she perhaps eat a little cheese on toast. I would definately keep up with the milk for the time being it will do no harm for now and then at least she will be getting some nourishment.

[Bathsheba]

I'm guessing she's developed a taste for the salt in the Wotsits.

[tamirra]

Tups im going to tesco to look for them today, if you get back to me before i go where in tesco can i find them, with the crisps and what are they called? also thank you to you all that are giving advice as my grandaughter isnt looking to brilliant at the moment, you can see it in her eyes. xx

[lozzylou]

you can get them in the baby section with all the jars of foods

[redcrx]

organix snacks are what tups and lozzylou are talking about http://www.organix.com/Our-Foods/Food-For-Todd lers/Savoury-Snacks/Curly-Puffs-Cheese-$4-Herb

I agree with the leavin lots of things about for her to try as she wishes. Dont make a fuss if she doesnt and praise her for holding or trying anything at all.

[tamirra]

Hi, i cant thank you all enough for your information, im definatly going to tesco to get the organix, it does sound like she is addicted to the wotzits, they should bam them! but i really do appreciate all your help. xx

[redcrx]

by the way, they dont taste too great, but hopefully the texture will entice her.
then when shes used to a difference tast offer her something that tastes the same as them but with a different texture, then go so a new taste with same texture as last thing and keep going.
good luck

[annie0000]

We had a similar problem with my first son, it is very stressful and looking back, I think that the recommendation to take away the wotsits and milk and that she will eat when she is hungry is absolutely the right thing. However, it is easy to say that when you are not in the middle of it. It is in mothers nature to ensure that their child is fed and we will do anything to ensure that it happens. The doctors recommendation is probably the toughest, but will undoubtedly be the fastest.

I will share a few tricks that we used to get our son to eat, but ultimately we went for the hard course, but he was getting on for 3 by then and we went through stress for a couple of years before we bit the bullet.

Tricks we used were getting him engrossed in something else while in his high chair - e.g tv or a jigsaw (he got great at jigsaws and could do 50/60 peice jigsaws with no picture by the time he started nursery) while he was concentrating we used to shovel food into him without him noticing - if he didn't open his mouth automatically, we stroked the side of his face as this makes them open by reflex. To get him away from crisps (he was mad on quavers) we would give him bowls of dried cereal (rice crispies, cherios etc as he liked the crunch and the flavours tend to be bland. They like having tiny amounts of little things that they can pick up and crunch. She may also like a few pieces of pasta ( I cooked it in chicken stock and added a bit of butter) - she might like the spirals as they look interesting - I would only give her a few pieces (2 or 3) in a bowl so it doesn't look too overwhelming.

In the end, we got so fed up that we did not pander to him at all - it only took a day and a half of not spoon feeding him yoghurts etc when he voluntarily got himself a spoon from the drawer and started eating the beans from my husbands toast!

He is now a strapping 8 year old with an enormous appetite and hollow

[Tups]

Sorry Tamirra, only just seen your reply. If you haven't found them already, they are in the baby food section.

[tamirra]

Hi Tups, its ok someone else told me where to look and ive got quite a few packets and she loves the cheese and herb ones, but still no progress on the food eating yet though. xx

[Tups]

Don't worry too much. I have a friend whose daughter ate nothing but jam and white bread for about 10 years! She's now a healthy, intelligent 25 year old! The most important thing, as mentioned by other people, is that she must steer clear of all that nasty salt in 'adult' snacks. I'm intrigued that she still hasn't any teeth. Has she seen a dentist? Very difficult to give her more solid food if she can't chew it??

[Tups]

Tamirra, we all have problems. I'm about to post one concerning my grand daughter!

[B00]

Re the teeth thing- my daughter was well over one year old before she got even one tooth!

Good luck with the food thing :-)

[Tups]

Did she manage to eat solid food Boo?

[B00]

Yeah oddly enough she did- contrary to what I thought her gums were pretty solid and were really good at clamping down on things- like your arm for example!!