He Just Wont Eat!...

[Xero]

It's sooo hard getting my son to eat. It's just always been a subject that drives me crazy! I can't figure out how to successfully get my son to eat three meals a day! Or forget that, even one meal! He's never been all that interested in his food. It's just got me at my wits end, because I've been trying and trying since he was 5 months old. I'm just not good at it. I'm doing something wrong, I have to be!

I've always tried feeding Eli jars of food, starting with one a day, and eventually two. He would NEVER eat three in a day, that's just beyond my imagination when it comes to him and food. It's ALWAYS been a struggle to get him to eat. There would be certain days where he would eat his food SOOO good, and then other days where he wouldn't eat it at all! He would just cry and get mad, and now that he's older he'll actually smack the spoon away or throw all of it off his tray or whatever you can think of an 11month old doing.

I've always thought, okay well I'll just try my best to get him to eat, and it will be okay because formula has all the nutrition he REALLY needs anyway, and a lot of babies don't eat anything but breastmilk and formula for the first year! But now he's turning one on Sunday, and as of right now, we're slowly switching him over to whole milk instead of formula, and I know regular milk doesn't have nearly the same stuff in it as formula, so I know that he HAS to start eating more!

I get food out for him three times a day, and I let him have a taste of anything I'm eating too. But even if it's time for him to eat, or AFTER time for him to be way hungry, he still will only take a couple tiny bites IF that! And then he'll just cry until I give him a bottle. He only gets three 8 ounce bottles a day, sometimes (but not usually) one 8oz bottle in the middle of the night if he wakes up and wants it, so maybe 4 if you count that, but not always.

I've tried so many things that I thought he might like to eat. I've given up on the jarred food and have been just giving him everything that we eat hoping he would like it better, and there's really no difference. Please help me, I have to be doing something wrong. How can I get him to eat his food? Is there any way to get him to eat three meals a day? I've got to figure this out so he gets the nutrition he needs.

I'm definitely thinking about flinstones vitimins too, or whatever. Can you give those to babies?

Help! Thank you!

 

[Dadu2004]

If he's at the proper weight and seems healthy, then I'm not sure that it's a problem. Kids can be finnicky eaters. Delaney will eat like a hog for 2 weeks, then eat next to nothing for 2 weeks. Do the best you can to get him to eat, but ultimately, he'll eat when he's hungry.

Yes, you can get kids flinstones...try the gummies!

 

[Sirk]

I agree with Dadu. In between growth spurts I swear my babies lived off of love. But once they hit a growth spurt again they're eating everything in sight. So long as he's a healthy weight & height, don't worry about it.

 

[Xero]

Oh, ok.... well that's good to hear. I think I will get him some flinstones gummies, that would at least ease my conscience a little lol. If you guys have seen any pictures of him, he's certainly a healthy weight and height haha! But anyway, yeah it's like he lives off of love and formula. lol. (soon to be milk)

 

[mom2many]

Do not stress, a lot of little ones have no interest in food untill around 15 months, as long as it isn't made into a battle things will be fine. Offer the food, if he takes one bite and is done, then he is done. Babies will not starve themselves, it is programmed into them to get nurishment when they can. I would also trade his night time bottle from milk to a formula that is made for toddlers. That way you know that at least one of those bottles is nutrition full.

As to the gummy vitamins, they aren't geared towards toddlers, not to mention trying to convince them that one is all they need, and that they aren't candy. Stick with the toddler formula, it is the same price and will last just as long. I never remove bottles until I know that my little ones are eating a somewhat decent meal, and once that happens you will see them needing the bottle less and less!

 

[Skyburning]

At that age its not as important what they eat in a day as much as it is what they eat in a week. So if he has a good day on monday and eats a variety of things its okay if he doesn't eat much tuesday or wednesday as long as he's getting a balance of things throughout the week.

 

[Nikita]

I know where I live, we can get liquid vitamins. They are specifically designed for under 3. My oldest has been on them since we switched from formula to milk.

 

[Xero]

Oh really, what is it called? I would much rather give him that then give him a bottle of formula each night. It's a good idea and everything, but I'd rather he be on the same thing (milk) all day. And I'm switching him from the bottle to the cup in the next month here, so formula might be weird in a cup (or maybe I'm just weird for thinking that lol I dunno). But if I can't find these kinds of vitimins, I'm probably going to give him one bottle/cup of toddler formula. I'm telling you guys, he just doesn't eat enough. He'll try to fill up on milk I just know it.

 

[mom2many]

Poly V Sol is the name, made by Enfimil, but it taste nasty and their poops.....PEEYOU! Mine don't like it, so I stick to the formula it doesn't confuse them in anyway.

 

[Sirk]

The health food store I go to sells liquid vitamins for babies.

 

[Mindy]

Xero if you are really worried he's not getting enough, I would suggest you maybe hold off more than a month on getting him into cups instead of bottles, because he will actually in most cases consume less from the sippy cup. The sucking goes a long way for getting a lot in there. Just a suggestion, because my goddaughter never seemed to drink very much milk or whatever when it was in a sippy.

 

[Mindy]

Forgot to add, if he's not hungry, don't worry too much, he will eat when he is, and as you mentioned some babies get nothing but breast milk for a year. I actually know a couple of toddlers who ate next to nothing except breast milk for 2 years. The world health organization now suggests 2 years of EBF, so I'm sure that means they don't actually NEED solids, only that they should be starting to be introduced to them by that time

Good luck!

 

[Xero]

Honestly, he really likes his cups. I use the Nuby kind, with the soft spout. Not quite the hard, unwelcoming cup, but still not a bottle either. I'm not too concerned about that. I've seen too many kids go crazy because their parents waited too long to take the bottle away. NO thank you. I don't think I'm gonna move my ideal time of getting him off the bottle up any farther, but thank you for the advice anyway. The 5 year old little girl across the hall has all her top front teeth missing because they had to pull them because they were rotten from being allowed to be on the bottle too long as well, so I'm just not interested in that idea. He's been drinking every day out of the cup once a day with juice in it, and he's always liked it. All he has to do is get used to having a cup all day instead of once. I think to begin with I'll still let him take a bottle to bed (that's one of my downfalls, I will admit I let him sleep with a bottle), but have a cup the rest of the day. Not long after that he'll have cups the whole day. I don't really relate the cup to his nutrition problem. I just wish he would eat more food.

 

[mom2many]

I really wished I could find the articles I used to have about tooth decay in toddlers, Some of my kids have really strong teeth and some of mine didn't, one had MAJOR dental work at 3 years old, but all were bottle broke at the sametime, just over 2 when they were ready.

Here's what I learned, and if I can find the sites I will post them, it might be helpful to others. Most people are predisposed to tooth decay from the moment they are born, and believe it or not passed down from mother to child, especially in the early days of development in utero. Looking back I discovered that my kids with the bad teeth were concieved during a period where my teeth weren't taken care of as well as I should have, of course it hasn't been until recently that pregnant woman were encouraged to go to the dentist. SO although there is a lot of hype about bottle mouth, routine daily care of the babies teeth will almost always take care of the problem, and that is the problem, a lot of little ones aren't good about letting mom or dad take proper care. My dentist recommends that after the child has there last bottle to take a little flouride on the finger and rub the teeth, and brush morning and night, when possible. So far this has worked with my last one, I just wish that there wasn't so much confusing info out there.

 

[Mindy]

Hey, every baby is different, so whatever works for Eli, works for the whole family

 

[Nikita]

Poly V Sol is the name, made by Enfimil, but it taste nasty and their poops.....PEEYOU! Mine don't like it, so I stick to the formula it doesn't confuse them in anyway.

My doctor recommended putting the vitamins in his milk or juice, so there would be no taste to worry about.

 

[Xero]

Oh, thank you. I'll check that out too. Right now he still gets one bottle of formula at night. I figure I'll do that until all my formula is gone (I have quite a bit left from WIC), and then see where he's at then. I don't see any reason for him to NEED a bottle. It's just a shape of something to drink out of. His cup will be fine. I don't want to go through the awful ordeal of taking a bottle away from a toddler. It's much easier at this age and there's nothing wrong with doing it, it wont hurt him in any way possible. Thank you for the info though. I'm more concerned about what he's eating than what he's sucking it out of.

 

[chars24]

Xero, first i must say that your boy is too cute!!! And don't get too stressed about the eating part. They cry for it if they are hungry and feeding an infant or toddler requires much patience. I recently got a high chair for my daughter so that she develops the habit of eating properly. Good luck!

 

[mom2many]

My doctor recommended putting the vitamins in his milk or juice, so there would be no taste to worry about.

I tried that and I swear my kids could smell it a mile away! I though it was could they could see it, so I strated doing it when they were occupied and they would still know. No matter what I put it in.

He will eat Zero when he is ready, some kids just take longer then others, of course their are those who eat like a bird all of their lives.

 

[AmyBelle]

The thing about toddlers is that they only eat when theyre hungry, they dont eat because theyve been told to or because its a set time or for emotional reasons like us grown ups do.

The thing to note with vitamins is that they dont replace natural ones, in order to be absorbed the vitamin must be there in natural form, the supplements just 'hitch a ride' so you get more. So if he's really not eating that day, the vitamins will just come out the other end.