Did anyone have a kid who ate solids late (one year +)?

[hokiegirl82]

I'm starting to worry about my son's lack of progress in eating solids. He will be 1 on June 4, and I'm concerned about his complete disgust when it comes to eating anything other than formula or 2nd stage purees.  He's been eating solids since about 6 months old, and he's done very well with the 2nd stage purees, but anything other than that he hates and spits out.  We've tried finger foods (puffs, mums, banana, avocado, cheese, chicken, green beans, scrambled eggs) and he mostly gags on them and then spits them out.    Even the 3rd stage purees that are chunkier, he gags on and either spits out or vomits because of his horrible gag reflux. He is finally starting to drink from a sippy cup, and he seems to like water, but I am worried that at 1 year old he will still be eating just purees, and I won't be able to wean him off formula because he won't be getting enough calories from real food. At his 9 month well check the doctor made a face when she asked what foods he's eating and I said he was only eating formula and 2nd stage purees (she also made a face when I said he's still waking up 1-3 times a night, but that's a whole other story).

Am I worrying for nothing? I know babies do things at different rates, but it seems like after 5 months of trying he would like at least some real food. We just keep giving him different things to see if he'll like them.

And he has now moved on to hulk-smashing any finger foods I put on the high chair tray, and then he throws the food on the ground (the dogs love that part).

[lynn07]

This was us with Ds2 at one year (although in addition to puréed, he also ate certain crackers). When it was still going on at 15m, we called EI. He started speech and occupational therapy for sensory and oral motor development. It was invaluable. DS is now 4.5. He still has a limited diet, but it is leaps and bounds better than it would have been without the therapy.

[mainelyfoolish]

So he's not eating anything that isn't a puree or formula? My DD had a hard time transitioning to table foods but she did eat puffs, crackers, yogurt melts -- her problem was more the types of food than the chewing part. She had some feeding therapy and at a year and a half and the therapist did mention that stage 3 foods can actually be quite challenging because of the mixture of textures. Anyway, if I were you, I would seek out an evaluation by a feeding specialist or a speech language pathologist who can see if there is physical reason your DS is having trouble eating.

[karinothing]

DS didn't really eat solids till 15 months, but he just wasn't interested. He just wanted to nurse, and got 7 teeth from 9-15 months so i think his mouth hurt. He ate fine after that, so sounds like a different issue. We did not have issues gagging or vomiting

[dcrunnergirl52]

DS2 was like this. He had low muscle tone (crawled late, walked late, etc.) so we were already in EI when he turned one. At that point, he was like your LO and only eating purees, and even that brought on a huge screaming fight some nights. I talked to my pedi and we agreed to move him from formula at 1 to pediasure. It has more calories per ounce so he wouldn't have to eat as much volume to get the calories he needed, and so his stomach wouldn't be as full all the time. And then, the pedi and our PT said to just let him play with foods as much as possible.

They also said not to show our frustration or anything b/c young toddlers just take that as a form of attention and playtime. We got him nutrition with the pediasure and over time, he just started eating more and more. By 18m, he was eating normally, although he's still much pickier than my older two.

[cajunmom]

My best friend's son (whom I babysit every day) had that same issue. He had a tongue tie that was being treated as well, so she was very worried. He gagged over everything, even stage 2's. But one day, it just clicked. Now he eats anything you give him. He just turned one this past Saturday.

[hokiegirl82]

Apr 28, 2015 17:42:41 GMT -5 mainelyfoolish said:

So he's not eating anything that isn't a puree or formula? My DD had a hard time transitioning to table foods but she did eat puffs, crackers, yogurt melts -- her problem was more the types of food than the chewing part. She had some feeding therapy and at a year and a half and the therapist did mention that stage 3 foods can actually be quite challenging because of the mixture of textures. Anyway, if I were you, I would seek out an evaluation by a feeding specialist or a speech language pathologist who can see if there is physical reason your DS is having trouble eating.

Sometimes he will take a bite of a mum mum, but he usually stops after a bite or 2.

He's doing well with other development - crawled at 7 months, pulling up at 8.5, he is walking with a walker now and can stand on his own, it's just the feeding thing he's behind on.

Is it ok to wait until his 12 month well check to ask about a therapist? I want to give him some more time.

[dcrunnergirl52]

Yup, it's totally okay to wait. Things can click so fast at that age. And, food before one is just for fun anyway.

[mainelyfoolish]

I don't think there's any harm in waiting until the one year well check to see if he starts to become more interested in solid food. Maybe he's just taking his time!

[kylerules]

Neither of my boys ate much more than stage 2 purees at a year. I posted about it on here and everyone told me that something could be wrong. I thought so too and I stressed a lot about it with DS 1. But he was just picky and at 13 months he started eating stage 3 when I distracted him with a toy or something he usually wouldn't get to play with so that I could feed him. He is almost 3 now and with 2.5 years of persistence to get him to eat things, he is no longer what I would consider picky- in fact he eats things I wouldn't. DS 2 is 16 months and super picky as well and didn't really start even eating baby food until he was a year and he was not consistent and I have seen improvement, just not over night.

What I wanted to say is that I know its frustrating, and I feel for you but I wouldn't stress too much. Changing eating habits for my kids took time, and I wasted way too much time stressing. I think its okay to wait till the year appt to talk to the doctor, that's what I did with DS1 and we ended up making an appt with a specialist and then ended up canceling the appt BC we started to see small improvements in what he would eat.

[chickadee77]

I just want to commiserate. L is about the same age, and is just starting to get better about not gagging or spitting all the time. She's like me, I guess, with a very healthy gag reflex. Some things I've done that have helped:
- No longer offer a bottle at wakeup. It's breakfast (sometimes just Cheerios, since that's one thing she has consistently loved) and then 6oz formula in a sippy before her morning nap.
- I make sure I time the solids so she's not completely ready to nap/sleep. For instance, if I know she's going to want a 1pm nap (she's on a 2-3-4 schedule), I give solid lunch at noon, formula in a sippy at about 12:30, then down for nap.
- I feed her bits of what we eat, and make sure she sees me eating it. This has helped the most, I think. I've learned that she likes foods with spice to them, and won't touch a lot of super-bland stuff that you'd think kids would love.
- I've gotten rid of bottles completely, and all drinks are out of a sippy or an open cup. According to my pedi, this makes her drink formula a little more slowly, so she will drink less before being ready to sleep, this making her hungrier and more apt to eat solids when they're offered. I only give formula immediately before naps/bedtime.

Keep at it - we're not there, yet, but things have gotten so much better even just this past week.

[loreleigilmore]

My friend's kid had this issue. It took therapy to address it. It was mostly a texture issue.

[bananapancakes]

bricco's son had similar issues. Maybe she can chime in.

[barefootcontessa]

I would give it a few more months before worrying. Like maybe by his 15 month appt.

[hokiegirl82]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone!

[MadamePresident]

My daughter was just not interested in eating food until about 13.5 months. One day she decided to start eating and she has never stopped and is a good eater. We didn't do purees, but I would half heartedly give her table foods.

[hokiegirl82]

Thank you bricco ! That is some great information!

DS did have horrible problems with reflux from when he was just a tiny newborn, so he was on Similac Alimentum and Prevacid until he was 4 months old. I never thought the eating problems now could ever be from reflux, I'm so glad you found that out with TJ.

I am going to take your list and if DS isn't improving in a few weeks, I'll talk to his pedi about all of this. Again, thanks so much for such a detailed answer!

[Birdie]

DS was a late solid food eater. At least in his daycare room. He's the oldest and was one of the last to stop slurping and drinking his food. He started eating "real" food here and there close to his birthday and a week or so after he turned 1 I had them switch him to the "real" menu. Seeing the other kids eat helped. Plus it just clicked. In combination with drinking milk instead of formula and peer pressure (good things at this age!) he started eating table food. We still keep it within reason. He's not eating steak. But he's also not practically drinking his food either.

I would talk to your pedi at the 12 month appointment or bring it up if you go in for a sick kid visit before then. I asked ours during a sick kid visit and she said she personally wouldn't start to worry until he hit 15 months and still was refusing table food.