1 Year Old Feeding Issue

My daughter gagged on stage 3 foods when we started them. What worked for her was to mix in some stage 2 to thin it out a little. Find a consistency (sp?) that works for you. You also might try a different brand of baby food. Some are chunkier than others.

Just keep doing what you're doing. My oldest stopped breastfeeding at 10 months and didn't take a cup so I mixed everything I could into that cereal! She eventually got it has had no problems. As far as the eating, that sounds like my third kid. He was a big gagger. We went as far as having a speech therapist from Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) come out and evaluate him. With her input and encouragement, we just gradually introduced new things til one day it clicked. He was around 15 or 16 months old when he was gradually adding table foods to his diet. He got 4 servings of cereal mixed with whole milk a day just to make sure he was getting as many nutrients as possible. He liked it when I let him use the spoon. It was MESSY but it helped a bit. All that to say is kids seem to do things at their own pace even if it freaks us out. You may want to talk to your pediatrician for some additional advice or possibly for a referral to ECI (it's free and they come to your house). I think time is the key, though.

The symptoms sound as if the problem is his ears, however, if the ears are fine then I would consider an evaluation by ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) team. You don't need a referral from your pediatrician, it is free. Some kids have tongue thrust movements that make it hard to manage solids and the evaluator can give you tips for exercises to fix it.
I would google it for your area.
Good luck,
K.

You can continue to breast feed until he can eat other foods or likes them. I have been trying to wean my son at 2. The dr said it was fine, that he was practically weaned if it's only to go to sleep. My son did not like milk much either..i put one splenda in it to sweeten it up, sometimes even some vanilla, he likes it that way. He has been very healthy, I think due to the breastfeeding.
There is also a soy chai or soy chocolate drink made by Bolthouse, you usually find it in the produce area. If your son is not allergic to soy, he will probly love it. Good Luck

My now 16 month old did the same as your son but after she self-weaned while we were on vacation at 14 months, then all of the sudden, she is a cow drinking machine! At one point, I was really worried about her intake of "healthy" stuff but I just kept putting a little cup of milk there with her water or juice at least once a day.

Also, I still take stage 3 foods and add some milk and she will eat them or I mash them up some more and tell her "you have to chew chew chew". She started eating pasta one day because I was having a plate of pasta when she was eating - she reached for a piece and from then on added pasta to her likes! Same thing with pizza - we were out with a friend whose kids were eating it and poof - now she loves pizza.

You are being a great mom with the breast feeding and being concerned - just hang in there... he is still getting a lot of nutrients from your milk and will pick up the rest of the stuff in time. My husband and I used to joke that our daughter would need to take a blender to college with her because she still wouldn't be eating solids....

Good luck and follow some of the advice from other moms.
blessings,
stacy

Hi Amy,
I had the same issue with my son not liking milk. He will drink soy milk with calcium added or dha added for brain development. Have you tried the drinkable yogurt? I found that my son loves it especially the strawberry "Dora" flavor. I also give him those yogurt melts by gerber. One other thing you might try is drinking from a straw. Good luck! I know how frustrating eating issues can be. Cole is now three so it obviously has not affected him too much ;-)

You can try adding Duocal to your son's baby food. It's a tasteless powder that you mix with the food and each small scoop gives them a lot more calories and nutrition including calcium. I think it's great you're still breastfeeding.

We had a lot of trouble at this age as well. For us it turned out to be ear infections causing the problem. Nursing won't bother them, but that fluid in the ears causes them to not suck from a bottle. An ear infection can also affect appetite as well. We also went through a slew of different bottles at that time and finally settled on the Dr. Brown's. He seemed to be able to take that one even if his ears were having some problems. After we got the ear infections situation resolved we were smooth sailing again. So you might just want to get him checked to make sure that isn't the problem. Our boy didn't show any symptoms except not taking a bottle and decreased appetite, no fever etc. If you do get his ears checked, ask them to do a tympanogram(sp?) this will measure the fluid level in his ears, a visual check will not always work. I had the doctor tell me that his ears were fine, and then had a tympanogram done a couple days later only to find they were just full of fluid. Best wishes, hope you get this resolved soon:)

If your son is used to breast milk, it is alot thinner than whole milk. I would try 2%. My oldest (the only one I weaned to milk) would not drink whole and the Dr said it was okay to try a lower percentage. They do not need the extra fat anyway. Their big growth times are done until the teenage years.

Try real table foods, not the baby food. See how he does with plain chunks of meats and veggies. My boys mostly skipped those jarred #3 foods. They didn't like them. Do not worry if he does not have teeth. Those gums are very powerful!

Good Luck!

Your milk has a lot of calcium, and it's better absorbed than cow's milk anyway. When he does wean, he will likely take to dairy products better. My son was 2 when he self-weaned (he nursed several times a day before that) and finally took cow's milk after he weaned!

I can't help with the food, as my children were the opposite: they HATED baby food and would only eat small bits of table food/finger foods they could feed themselves, and loved yogurt and cheese! Good luck!

Try drinkable yogurts. We call them milkshakes and my kids go through them like crazy!!

Any, I have a 21 month old that still eats stage 2 foods. He also gagged on stage 3! and on most table food. I have heard from different moms, ALOT of babies do not like stage 3.
My baby eats some table food, but still gags on certain foods. The older he is getting the more he is trying different table foods & doing well not gagging on most.(but this has just started) I guess he now feels he is ready for it. The strange thing is, he can eat Gerber cheetos, crackers, soft french fries, mac & cheese, the noodles out of spagetti, the Gerber baby fruit bites along with other things & not gag nor choke! & Has been for almost a year. It worried me but I knew as long as he was eating stage 2 he was getting plenty of vitamins & nutrition so i've just let him keep eating it. He would actually gag to the point he would throw up so bad it gushed out of him!
I have 7 children age range from 34 years old to 21 months old & he is the only one I have experienced this with. So my advise is let him eat the stage two until he is ready for table food. It will come believe me, it just may take another yr! As for yogurt, I buy yoplait creamy peach & creamy strawberry & mix it in his milk, he loves it! I but the vanilla yogurt & mix in the v8 fusion juice also :) (the blueberry pomegranite & the strawberry banana) About 2-3 teaspoons to each 8 ounces. We been doing this since he was 9 months old adding it to juice, & then after he turned a year we put him on whole milk & because he did not like milk, we added the yogurt to it. I also buy Horchata Rice milk found by the cold juice isle in walmart. It is very tasty! I like it & so does one of my 18 yr old daughters :) I have a friend that doesn't like milk & she uses the rice milk over her cereal :)
One walmart near me doesnt sell it but the other one close to me does, strange huh?
If you live in the Pasadena are the one on Spencer has it.
Good luck & hang in there....as the saying goes...this too shall pass! Just maybe not when we think it should, I have found out the hard way.....it's when baby is ready :)