9 month old doesn't eat enough!

[dogmom]

DS is 9 months old and has been steadily dropping down the growth curve as he is EBF and won't take a bottle/hates taste of formula. I started him on solids at 4 months and he was a great eater but around 6 months old he began to lose interest in solids and it's a huge ordeal just to get him to eat one jar 3 times a day (and he's not much of a finger food eater). All my friends' babies this age are eating at least 6 jars a day. DS still breastfeeds 4-6 times a day plus once or twice overnight. Have I created a boobie monster??? I plan to wean him at a year old and am starting to get worried. What if he rejects all food the way he rejected a bottle? Should I start to back off the breastfeeding now and try feeding him more solid foods, or have DH or the babysitter do it?

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Wow, 6 jars a day? Really? That sounds like a huge amount of food to me. Mind you I don't know because I have never given any jars or purees.

Are you offering him the same food as you are eating, for him to handle himself? He may not want to be spoonfed any more, this is quite common from what I understand.

It's likely that he is still getting everything he needs from your milk so I would just offer him what you are eating and he will want to eat it at some point, try not to feel to stressed about mealtimes.

By the way, him going down the charts may be entirely unrelated to his eating habits. Breatsmilk has more calories in it than any solid food, plus many babies start off on a high percentile then drop down as they become more active. My baby has been dropping down the charts steadily since 6 months, but is perfectly healthy and started eating solids at 7.5 months.

 

[DaisyBee]

Megan is formula fed but doesnt like formula so we struggle getting her to drink some days. I use a lot of jars - she's been on stage 2 gerber - the plastic tub ones. She'll eat maybe 1/3 jar- 1/2 jar 3 meals a day (so a total of 1 1/2 jars... maybe 2 jars a day) & is eating cereal still at all meals as her dr wanted her on cereal vs. meat for iron at this age til 9mo. I wouldnt push him to eat at his meals - it might turn him off his solids if he's pushed too much. Once he's a year and can be on cows milk vs formula it might help him accept it better. Will he take a sippy cup? About 1/2 of Megan's formula intake lately is from a sippy cup.

 

[special_kala]

A baby at 9 months should be having lots of finger food not just jars.

Tbh what is do is forget the jars and only offer finger foods. the more you push food on a baby the less they are goung to want it. All it does is associate food with stress which is the last thing you want.

Put the food front of your lo and let him get on with it, don't coax at all. If he eats it great if not maybe he will at another meal.

It is highly unlikely your lo is going to starve himself so just make food not a big deal and ebentually he will pick it uo

 

[OmarsMum]

Mine is ff. Today he only had porridge for breakfast & some fruit yoghurt for lunch in addtion to 3 6 oz bottles. He doesnt have any finger food as he hates feeding himself. His weight gain is steady but he's not a big eater. 6 jars per day is way too much. Mine still cant finish 1 stage1 125g fruit jar. Most of the days he eats what we eat at lunch but very small quantities in addtion to porridge or yoghurt with fruits at breakfast.

 

[Laraa]

my little ones exactly the same. Never been keen on her milk only has 3 4oz bottles a day if that!
I did however introduce a beaker 2 months ago and she is a huge fan so has sips of water throughout the day with beaker.

She has weetabix for breakie, lunch a veg puree or something and evening meal another homemade meal. She may have a yoghurt or may not depends if she wants it which is rarely the case.

So i wouldnt worry hun. All babies are different. As long as shes happy in herself and is having some fluids and meals thats fine.

As for finger foods i give my Lo buttered toast, carrots, apples, and she loves it.

 

[dogmom]

Wow, now I feel like the only person on this board whose baby still eats pureed food at 9 months! I've tried finger foods and he puts it in his mouth, tries to chew it then spits it out! Cheese, beans, bread, bananas, avocado...I've tried it all! I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but now I'm worried that he will never learn to eat proper food! I'm going to try the suggestion to only offer finger foods from now on, no more purees, and I will drop the number of breastfeedings to 4 a day (although I'm afraid he will start waking up more at night for food!)

 

[Laraa]

Dont be worried hun youre doing a great job. My daughter still has her homemade pureed food but with lumps of patatoes or pieces of pasta or veg in it so its not completely pureed. Take it one step at a time, i introduced fingerfood very very early on, main reason being chewing on something helped her with her teething.
Please dont worry though. xx

 

[CharlieP]

Wow, now I feel like the only person on this board whose baby still eats pureed food at 9 months! I've tried finger foods and he puts it in his mouth, tries to chew it then spits it out! Cheese, beans, bread, bananas, avocado...I've tried it all! I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but now I'm worried that he will never learn to eat proper food! I'm going to try the suggestion to only offer finger foods from now on, no more purees, and I will drop the number of breastfeedings to 4 a day (although I'm afraid he will start waking up more at night for food!)

Don't feel like you're doing things wrong - every baby is different, and just because some babies are good eaters and like finger foods, doesn't mean all babies will!

I have found weaning very stressful as my LO is a very sicky baby, and if you get it wrong with tea, then he pukes his bedtime feed and all his tea up! My LO eats far less than other babies his age, but I have given up comparing!

My HV said that you need to make your baby hungry for milk and so I agree it would probably be a good idea to cut down on the feeds you are giving him...perhaps cut them earlier in the day so he has his big feeds towards the evening if you are worried about him waking in the night. I cut down my Los feeds by starting to only offer one boob instead of two (like offering less ounces in a bottle).

It would be good if your LO could get used to lumpier food but don't feel pressurised to move him on too quickly!

xx
Hope all goes well. xx

 

[DaisyBee]

A lot of babies are eating puree at 9mo. Some kids take a while to accept foods - esp. finger foods. He will get it in time - I'm sure he won't be starting kindergarden still on puree!

I would take it slow.... if he's used to puree & refusing finger foods - if you only offer finger foods he's going to be hungrier at night if he's not eating much of the finger foods. A lot on this forum have done baby led weaning but if you are doing traditional weaning you cant just take away their food. Megan would scream at me if I tried to take away her food w/the spoon!


What jars is he on right now?

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Wow, now I feel like the only person on this board whose baby still eats pureed food at 9 months! I've tried finger foods and he puts it in his mouth, tries to chew it then spits it out! Cheese, beans, bread, bananas, avocado...I've tried it all! I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but now I'm worried that he will never learn to eat proper food! I'm going to try the suggestion to only offer finger foods from now on, no more purees, and I will drop the number of breastfeedings to 4 a day (although I'm afraid he will start waking up more at night for food!)

That's a stage of the learning process they all go through when learning to manage food. My baby did this for a couple of weeks before the food actually got swallowed.

Personally I wouldn't drop the breastfeeds. I would continue to BF him when he wants and just offer normal food at the 3 meals of the day.

If he is very hungry he is not going to be in the right frame of mind to try new foods.

 

[Tsia]

mylo had problems feeding at eating at first.. I struggled on and now he has the equivilent to half a big jar 3 times a day if I can get away with it.. aplus any taste of finger foods we are eating!
Today he loved little cuubes of my patted down to reduce the oil eggy bread! yet still ate all his lunch! haha
hope my little guy keeps this up!
I know what anxiety it can lead to when baby doesnt put on weight or eat like the books say they should.

 

[DaisyBee]

As far as spitting out the finger food - Megan did that when we first started trying finger foods - she'd either gag on stuff or just make a face & spit it out.

Her first food that she actually started chewing & then swallowing was the gerber puffs. Have you tried those? They mush so easily in their mouth - I think thats why Megan accepted that better. After she was ok with those then we moved on to other foods - things that mush easily in her mouth.

 

[dogmom]

Oh he's capable of chewing and swallowing things but he just doesn't like to. The other day he ate a whole piece of my banana bread because it was loaded with sugar. He only likes sweet things. Tonight I loaded up his food tray with boiled sweet potato pieces, smashed kidney beans, small pieces of zucchini, and chewed up broccoli and chewed up tri-tip (I chewed them to make them easier for him to eat, hope that doesn't sound gross) and he put a couple things in his mouth and then just flung the rest of the food on the floor for the dogs to eat. Then I gave up and fed him a jar of Stage 2 chicken and sweet potatoes which he loves. He also loves the Ella's kitchen squeezable foods (pears/peas/broccoli and carrots/apples/parsnips) probably because they're sweet. I guess my question is, should I just keep offering him finger foods and not break down and offer the jarred food anymore, or is it better to get the nutrients into him if the pureed food is all he will eat? It just feels like breastmilk is a liquid diet and at this point he needs solids even if it means feeding him pureed food...

 

[DaisyBee]

I would keep offering puree - 9 months is really not too old for puree in my opinion. Some kids are picky eaters - and you have to work with him not against him. Have you tried any stage 3 jars yet- with the lumps? If he does well on stage 2 - but not stage 3 yet.. you could try mixing a stage 2 with stage 3 and see if he'll take it?

One of my daycare kids was very tough to wean - he was so picky - didnt like texture of any kind - so lumps & finger foods made him just gag. It took us a VERY long time to get him used to thicker/lumpier foods & to want to pick up his own food. I spoon fed him far longer than most kids. He did eventually get better - but even as a preschooler was picky about texture of things - he wouldnt eat something like oatmeal or cottage cheese even then.

If he is putting some food in his mouth & swallowing - it is a start. Megan will get frusterated with her finger foods - as its not as easy as being spoonfed. So if she's hungry she doesnt have the patience for the finger foods yet.

 

[Halle71]

I haven't read all the replies so hopefully I'm not repeating people.

Matilda basically stopped eating for six weeks at 9 1/2 months and only put on 3oz in this time (under 100g). My health visitors told me to offer lots of finger food but I was doing that anyway and she has always had finger food at every meal so I was convinced it wasn't that.
BUT, it kind of turned out it was. Basically she didn't want to be fed, especially not with a plasic baby spoon so after a couple of weeks of me feeding her with my fingers or her feeding herself (think pasta shells loaded with whatever, homemade burgers, strips of omelette and lots of cheese!) she now trusts me to spoon feed her again but I use a metal teaspoon and one of our bowls. She always has a spoon and plays with the food and sometimes gets a mouthful it but mostly flicks it over me and the kitchen. But she's eating again and I'm so much happier.
It also coincided with teething and starting to walk so I think she had other things on her mind.