8 month old still not got much of an appetite

[Lulu_Laroo]

As most of you probably know, we started BLW with Poppy at 5 and a half months. It wasn't for us, so we switched to TW. She was on two meals a day until very recently (because she just point blank refused to eat at lunchtime), but now she is on three meals a day. However, these three meals are very small!

A typical day would be:

7.30am 7oz formula

Breakfast: Small bowl of ready brek or weetabix with fruit (she usually leaves half)

Lunch: Toast with cream cheese and perhaps a yogurt

2.00pm-ish 7oz formula (sometimes)

Dinner: Small amount of whatever we are eating/half a jar/half a tommee tippee pot of mashed food. (Again, even with a small amount, she often won't eat all of it)

Bedtime: 7oz formula

So she's dropped her milk feeds, but only manages a small amount of food at every mealtime, and sometimes refuses to eat at all.

I wasn't too worried before as she was still drinking plenty of milk, but now some days she'll only have 14oz of milk in a day. I noticed the other babies at her baby signing group that are her age are a lot chubbier than she is. She has always been a long, slender baby, but she looks so skinny next to the others! I haven't had her weighed for a while, so I'm going to next week.

Do you think this is just a phase? She's not a fussy eater at all - she'll eat anything! It's just the amount she eats that's starting to worry me a bit.

 

[Franna75]

Hi Lulu - I find that Thomas sometimes has off days, in fact today he's only had breakfast and lunch but has refused dinner. I'm still BF on demand so not sure how much milk he's having as i tend to give it to him when he gives me a sign (noises like a lamb hehe).

I was sitting on a train the other day and a woman randomly said to me is he teething, i said yes and she said don't be surprised if he goes off his food for a bit!!!

Do you think it could be that?

 

[Lulu_Laroo]

Hi Lulu - I find that Thomas sometimes has off days, in fact today he's only had breakfast and lunch but has refused dinner. I'm still BF on demand so not sure how much milk he's having as i tend to give it to him when he gives me a sign (noises like a lamb hehe).

I was sitting on a train the other day and a woman randomly said to me is he teething, i said yes and she said don't be surprised if he goes off his food for a bit!!!

Do you think it could be that?

Possibly, although she's not really been a big eater since the start of weaning. She hasn't cut any teeth yet so it has to be some day soon!

 

[Franna75]

Tom hasn't got any teeth either. It's good that you're getting Poppy weighed, it will give you a reference point.

I've been worrying too about him not eating enough but he seems content, which is the main thing.

 

[KellyHook]

Charlie isnt a massive eater either Hun!

 

[Belfast girl]

Emma has her good days and bad - I just presume that once she starts fussing she has had enough. She won't starve herself! I find that if she doesn't eat much one meal she will drain the next bottle! She would have 4 6oz bottles a day.

 

[Piglet's Mama]

Brooke is really hit & miss.

First she dropped her milk, down to 10oz a day some days but ate breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Then she started teething/cut her tooth and dropped her food and has now gone back to loads of milk - 22-24oz a day, PLUS she's gone back to waking in the night for a feed again too (really hoping this is just teething related...!)

She is now slooooowly going back to a good mix of the both but I think her teeth are winding her up as she has a mouthful of food then shoves her hand in to chew, so I've been giving her finger foods and cold fruit.

I would say it's probably just a phase honey - from what I can remember, Poppy has always been great with her milk, but (and tell me to naff off as not telling you what to do) would she not want a little bit more than toast at lunchtime? I read that it's good for them to have protein at lunchtime so maybe lentils or chicken and veg?

Then again, if she is still sleeping through then I guess she is content with what she's having? Might be worth having a chat with your HV when you get her weighed to see if it's anything to worry about. But some kids are just not big eaters x

 

[Lulu_Laroo]

Brooke is really hit & miss.

First she dropped her milk, down to 10oz a day some days but ate breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Then she started teething/cut her tooth and dropped her food and has now gone back to loads of milk - 22-24oz a day, PLUS she's gone back to waking in the night for a feed again too (really hoping this is just teething related...!)

She is now slooooowly going back to a good mix of the both but I think her teeth are winding her up as she has a mouthful of food then shoves her hand in to chew, so I've been giving her finger foods and cold fruit.

I would say it's probably just a phase honey - from what I can remember, Poppy has always been great with her milk, but (and tell me to naff off as not telling you what to do) would she not want a little bit more than toast at lunchtime? I read that it's good for them to have protein at lunchtime so maybe lentils or chicken and veg?

Then again, if she is still sleeping through then I guess she is content with what she's having? Might be worth having a chat with your HV when you get her weighed to see if it's anything to worry about. But some kids are just not big eaters x

I don't think that Jen I used to give her (or try giving her) more than toast at lunchtime, but she just wouldn't eat it. I was supposed to go and have her weighed today and maybe chat with the HV but it's absolutely pissing down so I haven't. She's happy in herself so I'm trying not to worry too much, and hoping that suddenly one day she'll start to eat lots! She's not properly crawling or anything yet (just commando crawling) so it's not like she's super-mobile, she just rolls around a lot mostly. Maybe she's just eating what she needs. x

 

[Lulu_Laroo]

* she is not waking in the night either. So I'm sure she's fine and just not that much of a big eater.

 

[nik106]

My daughter is very much the same, she will eat practically anything but in small quantities and she seems to dislike her milk. For us, we struggle to get her to eat from jars now (at one point they were all she would eat) and she had between 2 and 3 6oz bottles a day. Today, she had her breakfast and lunch but refused point blank to have a bottle until gone 5pm.

Because of slow growth we have been referred to a dietician, where they have put her on a high calorie formula and advised us to give her lots of dairy based foods, like fromage frais or cheese on toast etc to boost her milk intake as well as giving her higher calorie foods (but obviously not sugar based). We have to have fortnightly weigh ins for the moment, because she dropped from the 25th percentile to the 0.4th and at 8 months is wearing 0-3 month clothing.

Aside from trying to boost her weight, they have been really reassuring that if she is fine within herself, is happy and is hitting developmental milestones then we shouldn't worry too much. Its worth checking in with your hv regularly so they can keep an eye, and if you really are worried then keep on at them about it. In the meantime, try and make the meals you are giving as nutritious as you possibly can as well as high in good calories. A typical lunch for my daughter at the moment is a babybel with some ham or chicken, some fresh fruit/veg and if we can squeeze it in, a fromage frais. Often she won't eat much of each thing, maybe just a mouthful of the meat and half a strawberry etc but we're doing our best. We're also really encouraging her to eat her favorite foods. We know she LOVES pasta, peas and kidilicious wriggles and smoothie melts, she we give her as much of those during the day as we can as generally she'll just eat and eat.

We also don't generally give her an evening meal at the same time as ours and then we eat, we let her pick off our plates (she's going through a stage where quite often she will only eat our food if she can take it off our plate herself). That's helped a lot with how much she's eating as she's getting a snack too. One of the things the dietician told us is to follow her alot, if she will only eat off our plates, then let her eat off our plates, if she wants to feed herself, let her, basically if it gets food into her, then it can only be a good thing.

Try not to worry about her though, she may just not be a big eater