This has been going on for several weeks now, but I hated to admit it, because then it seems to real. Although I took most solids out of his diet, I still offer a few bites of puree during the day, and some finger foods in the evening. He won't take more than a bite or two off the spoon before he starts screaming, and he will only eat a few bites of craker or veggie puffs.

Why did this happen? I worked so hard to get him to where he WAS with solids, and now its gone. He only wants his bottle, which is good, but he doesn't want it often enough, and he should be making progress with solids, not falling behind.

(((HUGS))) Maggie! I've been there. It's not your fault. Reflux and the sensory issues that can go with it are to blame. I'd give him a few days break. Since he's already developed some early feeding skills, it'll come back. Perhaps he's just having a few bad days. Hang in there!

We are thinking of you. I think it's ok to take a rest from the solids. Maybe his gut needs some time off from solids. If he isn't taking quite enough from the bottle have you tried increasing the calories in the formula so you don't have to worry about the missing calories from the solids. I was looking up starting solids and really babies don't really need solids until 1 year old. You know he has the skills so taking a break sholdn't really hurt him I would think.
karie

Oh, Maggie, I wish I had a good answer for you. I really hate hearing about these other kids who don't want to eat, either. But I am glad Noah is taking his bottle. My only advice is not to push him. Offer him solids. Don't make a big deal if he refuses. And even though I've been told not to make a big deal if he eats, too, I say screw that -- celebrate!!!

{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}} Maggie.....I know what you're going through.

We're in the same exact situation, Maggie. What Emma consumes in one day of solids wouldn't even fill a 1/4 cup, (finger foods only...I'm talking Gerber puffs, small bits of waffle, bread, etc. She won't eat anything off a spoon except food-processed bits of spaghetti noodles with diary-free butter).

I questioned Emma's GI about this very same thing and he asked me two questions:

1) Can she open her mouth, take food off the spoon, and swallow it?

2) Can she pick up a piece of food, transfer it to her mouth, mash/chew it, and then swallow it?

I said "yes" to both questions...even telling him that my "yes" to the spoon question only involves the buttered spaghetti noodles, and he said that she has developed feeding skills and as long as she can do those two things, he's not concerned about the amount she intakes of solids as long as she is hydrated and gaining weight from her formula.

He told me that if her weight ever drops, or stays the same for more than 2 months, then he will be concerned.

I then told him how much I have to push liquid intake, (offering bottles throughout the day, before naps because she's sleepier and drinks better then, using distractions - like reading books while drinking or singing her songs over and over while drinking), and he said, (and I remember clearly because I run it through my head when days get bad),

"Amanda, you are winning the war on GERD with Emma because she is gaining weight and she is developing well. The battles are what are tough. I know what you go through each day with her eating, sleeping, and pain issues. But, ultimately, it is the big picture I'm concerned about, and that is her weight and development."

Part of me was happy to hear that beating those daily battles of fighting the bottle, fighting sleep, and seeing her in pain is technically paying off in the long run. However, part of me (horribly) thinks that if I wasn't doing such a d*mn good job of winning those battles, then maybe Emma would get more help.

It's a d*mned if you're do, d*mned if you don't situation, and I hate it.

I hate reflux.

:(

I hope Noah's new ped has some answers for you. When do you see him/her?

{sigh} I know what you mean, Amanda! When you fight to get every ounce in and the ped. sees a tiny bit of weight gain over 6 months, then you leave again without being any further ahead. Darn GERD!!!!!

Oh, maybe he's teething ??? He seems to be just around that age. I am also glad that he will take his bottle for you. I know how frustrating it can be wheen they won't eat. Does he like to feed himself ???

I was going to suggest teething, as well. Teething can go on for weeks and affect everything from solid feeding, bottles, sleep, behavior, etc. EVERYTHING! I'm really hoping Noah pushes past this hurdle soon.

We are in the same boat. Things were going pretty well with solids (6 oz a day, which is great for Noah). Then suddenly he started only taking a few bites and would freak out if I tried to give him more. I have noticed that he is becoming more independant and wants to hold the food himself. Maybe you could let Noah hold an empty spoon for distraction while you try to feed him. Or give him finger food or biter biscuits and while he's munching on that, offer him solids too. If he still refuses, try not to worry to much about it because its probably just a phase. Plus at his age, he is still getting the majority of his calories from the bottle. I know a lot of moms who have dealt with babies suddenly refusing solids when they used to love them. They eventually outgrew that behavior and started eating again.

How many oz is he taking a day in formula and juice? What calorie content is each oz of formula? If you're looking to supplement calories for his lack of solids, Gerber makes a banana yogart juice that is packed with calories. It has 120 cal in the 4oz bottle.

I know how frustrating it is! Hang in there!

Amanda--

Your GI sounds like a nice guy. At least he gives you credit and makes you feel better about it. My old said exactly this, "he's gaining and healthy, what more do you want me to do?" What a d*ck.

I have been backing off the solids. I NEVER push them like I do bottles. I don't even really push bottles, I'm just super persistent. If Noah is not interested, he gets toys instead.

Lisa--

Noah usually ends up holding TWO spoons by the time we're done. He intercepts one, then another, then I have to use a third! Its quite a sight to see. It really sucks though because once he steals a spoon, he attention is no longer on eating. (He has a very short span when it comes to any type of food, bottle, etc...)

You all are right. He HAD the skills, so he will get them back. I'm desperately looking for soy yogurt, hoping that maybe it will be my new savior like YoBaby was. Its just so scary to see him "forget" how to eat, just like he "forgot" how to suck on his bottle. There's so much happening with this little guy, and its overwhelming!

I LOVE the new picture.:-D I don't know how you feel about this but I have decided to stop working on solids with Sarah for now since she just isn't interested anymore. There is alot of info( like on LaLeche website) about how babies don't need solids for the first year of life and that the milk is the best stuff for them. Maybe you can try fortifying the milk so that he gets more calories per oz. I like what Amanda said- her GI does sound good. But I often feel the same way she does- if I didn't work so hard maybe people would know how hard it is. But that is hard too because when she didn't gain weight for alittle while there was alot of talk about surgery which I am not ready for. I fortify Sarah's milk to 27cal/oz and I think that is the only thing saving us right now.
karie

Oh, geez--I'm sorry to hear that Noah does this, too, Maggie! Bethy would NEVER take baby food until we started seeing the feeding specialist when she was 9 or 10 months old. We worked and fought so hard to get her up to 2 oz. of stage 1 foods at a sitting...then out of the blue, she'd just stop eating altogether...which would mean we'd work and fight to get her back to where she was... We still go through phases like this--eating for a day or two, then food strikes that can last for over a week. It is really, really hard to deal with. She's 14 months old and would still much prefer to nurse than to eat finger foods or baby food. :smt088 :smt102

I don't really have any good advice, as she usually figures out all of our tricks after a feeding or two (distractions, singing, praise, sneaking in bites, etc.). All I can tell you is that I can empathize with what your going through, it is horribly frustrating and I'm sending you {{{BIG HUGS}}}!

I'm so sorry that Noah doesn't want to eat for you. I have no advise for you though.
Owen does like to eat his solids but rather prefers to nurse most of the time. He eats solids twice a day and gets a few fruit puffs or crackers in the afternoon. He only eats the purees though, anything with chunks in it and he'll gag and throw a fit and won't eat at all.

I hope that you can find a way that he will eat for you again. Just give him the time that he needs, like the others said he has the feeding skills down so I wouldn't stress out too much.

By the way, the new pictures is so cute.

Oh Maggie! I'm so sorry to hear that Noah is still struggling with eating. The good news is that he is taking his bottles. I really hope the new Ped can give you some new insight!

His bath photo is so cute!! If I can ever figure that out, I want to get some better ones of Joshua up too!

Hang in there! Keep us posted!

Sorry, but feeding skills and lack of them drive me around the bend.

Pardon me if I seem hostile, but although LaLeche league says that solids are not required until one year of age there is the big time issue of when feeding skills are acquired and that is between the ages of 4 months to 8 months of age. Some can even be caught by 10 months, but one year is too late for most. My guy would not eat at all until 14 months of age. I beat my head against the brick wall and cried more times than I care to remember as I knew it was not normal after having two other sons. The frustration is tremendous.

Yes, I do believe that Noah has the skills as he has demonstrated them prior. I think he has an issue with the amount of food or calories he intakes as the more he intakes the more he likely refluxes. Iain is a reflux machine as he intakes now more than he ever did in the past (thank you, prevacid!) and we have now stalled with it. I think he needs a new GI who will adjust his meds and refer you to an OT and dietician. In the meantime, I would keep giving him the solids and even if he plays with them you are light years ahead for now.

The post Amanda did is great information, but one has to look at each individual situation. Iain did have a swallow for fluid, yet we did not know until we were with the OT for months if he had one for solids. As far as taking food off the spoon or picking it up goes we did not have that happen on Iain's part until he was around 15 to 16 months of age. In Iain's case he was FTT and that was a biggie. Some kids do not eat that much at all and yet remain a healthy weight seemingly surviving on air. My big question would be whether or not the interest in food is there, the swallow, and if there is supplementation and how much.

I am doing some heavy praying that your new GI has some good ears and great brains in between them.:-D

Thanks for the prayers, Leigh. Noah's still not taking anything as far as solids go. He squeals and bats the spoon away now. He also cries when I start to put him in the highchair, which he has never done before. I hate this. He was doing so well (at least I considered it well) and now its like he's never seen a spoon before.

I totally agree that there is a coorelation between increased calories and increased reflux.

Sorry I didn't mean to offend anyone. Leigh I am sorry if I pissed you off. I have just been looking up alot of things since Sarah hasn't been interested in eating solids. Maybe it makes me feel better when I read info on solids saying that it isn't important that they eat alot that they aren't really needed until one year of age. I really didn't mean to get you angry. I'm just trying not to stress out over solids.
karie

Karie,
don't worry so much no one is judging anyone here. That's what makes this place the best place around :) As for the feeding issues all children are different my NOah is a self proclaimed vegan :) since he was 1st put back on foods at 15 months. We introduced rice and thickenrs when he was very young maybe 3 months old, did well for a while then nothing no food only breastmilk until he was 15 months old. As long as your offering age appropriate foods even if they only play with them in thier hands daily it will at least help with texture adversions.

I don't know if this will help or not, but when Lauren was about 8 mos., I remember posting about how she wasn't eating like she was used to doing. She'd allow me to put the food in her mouth, but then she'd spit it out.. as if not interested. We fought and fought, so I gave up... thinking that she's just not hungry. A few weeks passed and she came back around. I did believe it may have been teething.. but nothing. Not until the 27th of December did one pop out.

One last thought, Lauren hates eating when she's tired. She'll take a few bites and cry her eyes out. Could this be with Noah? She'll eat 8 oz. of solids + at a sitting after her naps.

Sorry I didn't mean to offend anyone. Leigh I am sorry if I pissed you off. I have just been looking up alot of things since Sarah hasn't been interested in eating solids. Maybe it makes me feel better when I read info on solids saying that it isn't important that they eat alot that they aren't really needed until one year of age. I really didn't mean to get you angry. I'm just trying not to stress out over solids.
karie

Omigosh! NO! You did not cheese me off at all, Karie and I am so sorry if it seemed like that was directed at you as it was not meant to be. Please accept my sincere apologies for that.

Feeding issues make me so furious and I have cried at times over some of what I see here on the board as I have been down that path with Iain. We never should have had to go down that path at all if someone would have diagnosed him when he was an infant and not when he was 14 months old and beyond learning his feeding skills at the right time. That is what really gets me. That they know kids who miss out on that window are going to have trouble feeding and learning skills and we still had to wait until his FTT became so bad. THAT is what drives me nuts. If Laleche league (by the way, I am a fan of most of what they say) is telling people to not worry about solids until a year of age then others (non-GERDlings) may have problems with learning these skills as well and that makes me furious. The main thing is that they are given foods to try and even if they mouth them you are teaching them valuable skills for later on. Iain would not swallow them unless we forced liquid puree by smearing it on the roof of his mouth and then plunking in the bottle.

Sorry, I do not mean to rant about my situation again (I do enough of it with Iain anyway:confused: ). I am just angry that Noah is not being addressed either.

Since I get so very mad about it all and the emotion comes flooding back so fast I do try and avoid the feeding board due to this, and yet I am so equipped to help based on our experiences. It is me and not anything anyone posts that causes me to be like this. Like Katy pointed out, we are here to help each other and having differing opinions is what makes this board really unique and so very good. I am glad that you posted that Karie, and my intent of that post was not to shoot it down. :oops:

**crawls away**

Just wanted to chime in that we have also learned the hard way about the window for learning feeding skills at a certain age (before age one). But I think what we all need to keep in mind that while that age is a time for experimentation and learning, the kiddos don't necessarily have to take in lots of puree or solids, as they still get most of their nutrition from their breastmilk or formula.

By the way, Maggie, you mentioned looking for a soy yogurt. Stoneyfield Farms (of Yobaby fame) makes O'Soy (http://www.stonyfield.com/OurProducts/AllNaturalCulturedSoy.cfm (http://www.stonyfield.com/OurProducts/AllNaturalCulturedSoy.cfm)). It doesn't say it's safe for babies, so I'd ask before giving it to Noah, but I definitely remember my girlfriend said she gave it to her multiple-allergied, endless diarrhea-y, FTT baby.

Good point, Becky. Formula/breastmilk is very important. Much more nutritious. :-D

I've completely stopped offering purees, after Noah began screaming as I tried to get him into the highchair. I DID get him in there this morning with the help of daddy's crazy sounds and face-making abilities, and I gave him some gerber puffs and he ate a few. So, that makes me feel good to at least see him put it into his mouth on his own. I know he's able, just not willing right now for whatever reason. Hopefully I can figure that out sooner than later.

good to hear that you got him into the highchair with no fight, even if it takes you as parents to be silly. Whatever works is great. It's a start with the Gerber puffs and maybe he'll soon start eating from a spoon again too without a fight.