i need some help

DS doesn't eat enough and i dont know what to do

when DS eats he only eats a tiny bit little a table spoon of stuff like a tablespoon of meat and a tablespoon of vegies corn and peas if i give him toast orbread he may eat a 1/4 of a piece if he has weetbix same thing again 1/4 of bix he wont drink milk about the only think he will eat in a normal amout is cheese and maybe carrot sticks (still spits those out too) and when he does eat he chews and then spits it out so only gets a little bit of food he spits it out everytime he eats
how can i stop him and get him to eat more?

i am still BF and i want to stop but he constantly wants to feed he probably spends half the night BF
but with the amount of food he eats he'd probably strave with out BM

sorry for it being long but please help me

Hi T, do you give him juice/ water with meals? If you do he might eat more if he has his drinks after?

Sorry not much help, haven't had to deal with this yet but that's the first thing that came to my mind smile

Hi T, do you give him juice/ water with meals? If you do he might eat more if he has his drinks after?

Sorry not much help, haven't had to deal with this yet but that's the first thing that came to my mind smile

thats ok smile and yeah he hs a drink with his food but hardly has any of it either i reckon he'd be lucky to drink a whole cup overthe course of a day so i dont think thats the problem thanks though

I found when you cut out the milk they start to replace it with water really quickly, and then they eat more food in just a couple of days.

Is he ok weight wise?

We were having problems with our 16m/o not putting on any weight (for 5 months or so)! So a paediatrician and dietician managed her eating plan and we put her into a firm routine which works really well. She is putting on lots of weight because we cut it back to:

7am: wake, breakfast (porridge with milk and a teeny bit of butter or weetbix)
7.30am: 120ml formula
9.30am: small fruit snack & water
11.00: lunch (we had to go back to puree food and add avocado, melted cheese, healthy oils and ground nuts, just to make sure she was getting enough calories)
12.00 - 2.30pm: nap
2.30pm: small drink of milk or home made juice (okayed by our dietician, but I know hps of people disagree with giving their kids juice) + cheese or small amt of yoghurt
(Drinks of water offered throughout the day, but not 40 minutes before meals)
5.00pm: Dinner (puree, with stuff added, then finger foods like pasta)
7.00pm: 120ml milk and bed.

No feeds over night. I think you could pretty safely cut out the overnight feeds, if you feel comfortable with that?

It could be a couple of nights' protest but it'll be worth it if you have decided he should be eating more and drinking less (that's what we decided but we just had to be firm with ourselves for the first couple of nights).

Our DD has done so much better since being on a routine. I am also less stressed! There was nothing worse than preparing meal after meal that she would just refuse or pick at. She was otherwise totally happy, but when your kid doesn't eat it can really max you out! I was dreading meal times but after a couple of days of only doing stuff that we fed her, she suddenly went from eating only 600 calories a day to over 1000. It is much easier to be able to give her three meals a day, with a couple of snacks and only a couple of milk feeds, rather than having her having milk all through the day and night.

We were told they should be getting about 900-1200+ calories per day and that after the first year, this didn't need to come from milk. Check with your doctor though! They can be pretty helpful, I certainly learnt a lot.

Good luck, and don't worry, he will get the hang of it and not starve if you have decided it's time for him to get his nutrients from food! I was worried about this too, but have found this so much easier.

Heya, you need to stop breastfeeding him so much, he'll be filling up on milk and not wanting to eat food.

I am still breastfeeding aswell but my DS is only 10 months old. I have just cut him down to 3 breastfeeds a day...7am when he wakes up, around 1.30pm and before bed around 7pm. He was breastfeeding around 5 times a day, and not eating much solids but since cutting his milk feeds he eats sooo much better and more!! His routine goes a little something like this (it varies)

7am wake and breastfeed
8am brekky (1 weetbix or porridge)
9.30-10am bikky and some fruit
10.30am sleep
12pm lunch (fruit, cruskit, sandwich, leftovers, custard, yogurt...just whatevers going basically)
1.30pm breastfeed
2.30pm arvo tea..fruit, rice rusk(again it varies)
3.30pm sleep
sometimes he'll have a rusk or bikky and a drink of water when he wakes around 4.30pm
5.30pm dinner...he eats what we eat and usually eats alot at this meal
7pm breastfeed
7.30-8pm bed time

this is just a rough routine, it does change from day to day...and we have playgroup one morning and swimming lessons another morning which throws out the whole routine. he also still has one to two breastfeeds a night, which i am just trying to get the courage to get tough and let him protest cos i know he doesnt need those feeds any more, he sleeps in my bed from any time after midnight, (bad habit!!!) and i just put him on the boob to comfort him and get back to sleep quickly (lazy i know!!)

hope some of this helps...he will get there hun xx my DS would cry for milk and i would just give him food and water instead...i also used to feed him to sleep and i stopped that habit around the same time, he now self settles (this has all only happened in the last couple of weeks!) good luck!!

ETA i also give him water in a sippy cup at every meal and often throughout the day and sometimes he skulls it down, he does get very thirsty!

When i wanted to stop nightfeeding i just started offering water, pretty much straight away he started sleeping through too ( not worth waking!). Probably not great for his teeth to be still feeding through the night. Sounds like cutting out the night feeds will solve the day eating issues too. Good luck!

DS has Lways been a bad eater and goes through phases of eating Not much and then he'll have a week were he eats lots. You could try offering water instead of breastfeeds at night if you want to stop and maybe offer food and drink during the day instead of breastmilk if you want to. He will still be getting a lot of nutrients from the breastmilk so I wouldn't worry too much. The phase should pass smile

I agree with other posts, he's probably filling up on milk so not having any room for the solids.

Hey sweetie it is so hard when they love thier bf sooo much. My ds has been the same as yours and not eating much at all and he was filling up on bf. I had allowed him to feed whenever he wanted so he comfort fed all day practically and at least a few times through the night.

As you know I've been weaning him and it was really hard in the first few days as he was still not eating much and then when I'd refuse to bf he resorted to trying to hurt me, then he tried kissing me heaps laugh But as the days have gone on he is eating more and we are now down to only a bedtime bf. He know doesn't try to get a bf in the day. At the start he was waking in the night but I would just cuddle him and he'd fall asleep snuggled up to me.

Last night he stayed in his cot the whole night and I didn't need to attend to him at all YAY.
So now for breaky he eats just about a whole weetbix with milk. At lunch he eats a lot more and dinner he is eating heaps. Between meals he has fruit and I offer water. He still hates drinking milk so I give yoghurt and cheese each day. I don't know how long I'll keep giving my ds his bed bf but atm as he doesn't drink any cows milk I worry of him getting enough fluids. Also it's my ds's bedtime routine and I'm not ready to tackle a new bed routine yet.

So if you try to start to wean Isaiah it will be hard at the start but try and get your dh to help with mealtimes. Also wear a top he can't get to your breast easy as he will try to get a feed. Yes I was wearing skivvy's the other day when it was hot just so he couldn't get easy access laugh laugh

I think you'll find he will eat better with less bf. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. smile

Wow, i think its fantastic that you have been able to bf for this long smile

Sorry back on track, i agree with everyone else, he is filling up on breastmilk and figured he doesnt need to eat. My ds went through the same thing at that age although he was bottle fed. I threw out all the bottles and the next week was hard. He would cry for it but i just had to be strong and not give in. Since then we have never looked back.

It will be hard, but if you wanted to stop breastfeeding anyway now is the perfect time smile

I'll have to agree with everyone else about maybe too much breastmilk. My 11 month old son is in the same position. Breast feeds at least 6 times a day and I often struggle to get a reasonable amount of food into him. I find when I give him solids straight after his sleep, then he eats more than if I breastfeed him straight after he wakes up.

My child health nurse told me the other day how any breast fed child generally eats less food because they are getting all the nutrients from the milk.

Sorry, can't say I've got any help as such, but all the best whatever you do!!!!

thanks for all the help smile last night i couldn't be bothered fighting with him over it so he BF 3 times over night but this morning he had 1 feed just before we got up at 8:30 then he had a bit of a crossont breakfast about a hour later then at 11 he had some chicken then some cheese and crackers (2) then half a big apple and a little bit of mashed potato so heaps he a BF at 1:30 for his nap and he's asleep now

he did want to BF between those times but i just distracted him or let him whinge so doesn't seem to bad so far i think i'll tackle the day feeds first then the night ones

thanks all