Is anyone currently in this / been in this scenario?

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Permalink Reply by Fizzle on November 3, 2008 at 15:02

You poor thing there nothing more stressful than your baby not wanting to eat as it must make you very anxious at mealtimes. i'm not in the same situation but wondered if I could help in any way anyway.
it's hard to know exactly what the situation is, but has she gone through the pureed food onto lumps or has it been all food in general? if it's the lumps she's taken to badly then try taking a step back and going back to the mussy food. Theres a brand that the pureed food comes in squeezy pouches so no spoon etc if she refuses with the sight of a spoon. She might then think its a drink and she can do it herself as she's probably getting to the independence stage.
When and where does she have her milk? Does she eat when you're or when others are eating as that usually encourages kids. My daughter wants whatever is not on her plate but what's on everyone elses!
it's so difficult as she will be filling up on her milk, as you know, but I can understand that you don't want her to have nothing and milk is better than nothing. if it's possible try giving her her milk in her high chair (some recline) or will she have her milk from a spouted cup which is easier to tip for her if sitting up in a high chair? Perhaps if you give her half her usual milk then something she will eat like bread or the organix things and something else new like a chunk of banana that she can do herself. Try to have your breakfast at the same time and perhaps try and eat the new thing with her so get a banana and with lots of ooo and ahhs peel it and eat a bit yourself to see if you can get her attention then see if she wants a bite of yours. if she refuses try not to get stressed (easier said than done I know!) and say in a lovely warm voice 'ok i'll leave you a piece here' and put it on the highchair or table etc. Try to ignore her and get on with your own food and just see what happens. If she doesn't try it just take the food away after a little while and try again tomorrow.
it depends how much of a highchair aversion she has as you may need to work on that first with getting her used to being in there even if its to watch her favourite tv programme with a spoon to play with and toys but no food.
Another thing is to maybe get some little friends round of a similar age for a picnic and see if that will encourage her to eat if the others are tucking in. Perhaps try splitting her usual milk to a bit before some food and then a bit afterwards and trying to feed her only at speciifc times such as your breakfast, mid morning, lunch, mid afternoon and tea then before bed bottle. if after a bit she starts to eat some food after half the milk then you could maybe try food first once shes a bit more used to it. Also you could try a squeezy yoghurt or puree first and sneak it in as a drink!

Hope these ideas help, they may be things you ve tried already. They're all just ideas but some of the things have worked for my little one in encouraging her to ry new things.

Also have you got a nice health visitor as they will help with this. The most important thing is to hide your stress and anxiety at mealtimes - we have all been there in one shape or form and it's impossible not to feel stressed but if you can hide it well all the better.

Nic xxxx

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Permalink Reply by Emma on November 3, 2008 at 15:50

Hiya

Thanks for your long reply!

I am feeding Fraya slightly thickened purees and small bits of solid food (ie bread, pear etc). She gags with lumps and vomits her food plus milk from up to 3 hours before.

I feed Fraya her milk up in her bedroom as she has to be fed next to a plastic sheet & bucket as she often vomits all of her feed (and has done this nearly every day since she was 13 weeks old). I feed her her purees/solids at the same time that I eat my meals so that she always sees me eating. She is never particularly interested in what I am eating and prefers to stare out of the window. If she will eat a little bit of bread it is ages before she swallows it so I don't get time to give her much in the amount of time that she is happy sitting in her chair. This is the second highchair that I have bought her and she prefers this one a lot more than the old one which she would moan in as soon as I strapped her in!

She does eat a bit better when others her own age are eating but the problem is that most of my friends have now gone back to work, leaving me on my own! :(

I have to give her her solids before her milk because she often gags on her solids and is sick a lot so if I give her milk first and then solids what has happened in the past is that she vomits her milk in her high chair and then she has eaten nothing!

I have never tried the squeezy pouch food so that could be worth a go!

I have never tried to give her milk in her cup because she only sips her water in the cup and hardly has any so I presumed that she would do the same with her milk.

Unfortunately my HV is absolutely useless and when I asked her if she has ever known of a baby having such a fod aversion she said "no" and had no advice other than to "keep trying" Hmmmm.... helpful!

It is very hard not to get stressed with the little amount of "proper" food that she eats and I wonder how she will ever get to eating proper meals when she has no interest in food. :(

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Permalink Reply by Ginny S on November 4, 2008 at 12:11

Emma - this is the first time I've looked at the site in 2 months as we moved house, no internet access etc. Woul,d love to talk to you if you want to - do you still have my email? I will email you from this site if you don't. I've had a dreadful time too. Stella started vomiting food at the end of August and didn't stop for 6 weeks, wretching and gagging and vomiting. You must get referred to Great ORmond STreet or Chelsea and Westminister. We are at the clinic at Chelsea and Westminster - the first place they really know what they are talking about and are doing all sorts of tests on STella. Endoscopy in 2 weeks. She is now on ranitdiine and losec. They say wrethcing and vomiting cause of pain etc. She drinks milk ok. I am on to a food allergist as well. The top top man is at great ormond street. He is called Dr Peter Milla. Call him up and try and get an appointment? He discovered food intolerances and is the guru of reflux.

Stella now eating again although with major distration at eveyr meal. only luncvh and dinner
sorry she has woken up

please get in touch maybe we can help each other
Ginny xxx

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Permalink Reply by Fizzle on November 4, 2008 at 12:53

Hi Emma,
This sounds so difficult both for you and her. Half of my ideas don't really help then really but maybe the squeezy things are a new angle to get her interested as you said. I think they're called grandmas kitchen or something. and the yoghurts are just those Tubes thingys which can go in the freezer and then keep cold while travelling.
My little refluxer is a silent screamer so completely different but a friend of mine has a daughter who sounds similar to yours and she has been told by the health visitor to just take a step back and go slowly. I know she does lots of things with cheese sauce to get the calories etc You can get the really tiny pasta shapes which when cooked for longer than the stated amount go really soft and your daughter might be less likely to gag on them. i got some for my daughter as she too seems to have a sensitive gag reflex and preferred to have these kind of lumps than purees with lumps in them I don't know why. I've also tried roasted sweet potato which if you can get it to stay soft and not go crisp it means they can hold it as finger food but it mushes pretty quickly in the mouth. my friends daughter also loves skips ( my daughter too!) They have no added horrible things like they used to and are just an alternative to those organix things to add variation. As you said you want to keep her/or get her interested in food, even if she doesn't have a lot.
As the lady says above perhaps a referral to someone who really knows what they are talking about would be good if you have had no luck with the local health dept.
Good luck, i f i think of any other variations in food I will let you know.
let us know how you get on.
Nic :)

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Permalink Reply by Steph on November 4, 2008 at 15:07

Hi Emma just to say the pouches are called Ellas Kitchen and they arew from Tesco and are brilliant. You know trhe problem I have will molly and eating her food, she now eats no fish at all, and only wants to eat cookies, but she has had a few pouches, we give them too her and she sucks it from the pouch, very messy. Emma too has them. They are organic and there is no added rubbish too it, I highly recomend them.
Sorry to hear you are still having a battle, I understand as Molly is very simlar. I dont know what to do ither! Hope you are well.
all the best love steph and Emma

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Permalink Reply by Emma on November 13, 2008 at 20:17

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Things have not improved since I started this discussion and are pretty much the same still. However, the good thing is that Fraya put on 10oz in the last 3 weeks (on her milk intake) so she is now 17lb 10oz.

We are seeing the SALT again next week although I doubt she will be any help as she hasn't been so far!

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