hi~
I’m sorry – you must be very stressed! Please know that you are NOT alone. There are MANY children who have feeding difficulties. I have worked with children who have feeding difficulties for close to 10 years. Some of my main questions to think about are:
• has there been any testing for GI issues?
• Reflux?
• Have food allergies been ruled out?
• Was the “ready to feed” formula milk protein free formula (e.g. alimentum)
• Since this appears to be a long standing issue has the doctor made a referral out to other disciplines or just told you to “wait and see. When he is hungry he’ll eat”
• Are the gerber foods pureed or cubed (e.g. cubed pear or pureed pear)
I have seen kids who are 4 YEAR OLD and 7 YEARS OLD who only eat pureed foods and others who at 8 years old and ONLY eat peanut butter sandwiches! When the child is older it is MUCH harder and takes MUCH longer to work through feeding issues. The earlier the better!
I would strongly recommend that you take your child to a pediatric feeding clinic/ "Feeding Team" (doctor, speech therapist, occupational therapist, feeding psychologist, dietician/nutritionist) – there is one in Buffalo NY http://www.wchob.org/services/services_display.asp?SID=25...
“Feeding Disorders Clinic
The purpose of the feeding clinic is to enhance and monitor health, nutrition and oral motor functioning for children and young adults who have feeding problems. This is done by providing interdisciplinary diagnostic, treatment and consultative services for children and young adults with feeding and swallowing disorders. Patients to be served include: children with bottling problems, chewing, swallowing, gagging, coughing or trouble breathing during feedings; children with delayed development or specific disabilities associated with poor growth; children with behavior problems during feeding; children with genetic conditions impairing oral motor functions. A physician's referral is requested.”
The team will be able to tell you if your child needs any further testing (e.g. swallow study, upper GI, etc), offer suggestions, recommend therapy or just home program ideas.
If this is not an option then I’d encourage you to talk to your pediatrician for a referral to a pediatric speech therapist or pediatric occupational therapist for feeding therapy (either discipline can work on feeding but it depends on the area you live in - sometimes speech works on feeding, sometimes occupational therapy works on feeding). The therapist should be able to give you suggestions to assist you with transitioning to other foods/increasing amount and types of foods eaten.
As far as vitamins – I am guessing from the list of foods you gave (all soft foods) that he would not eat a chewable. If one of your main concerns in Vit D you can try http://vancesfoods.com/ (provides same amount of vit D as milk but it is potato based and is supposed to be good – I think they have premixed and powder mix). I would be careful about hiding a vitamin in a food that he eats (since his diet is so limited) – you don’t want to have him refuse that food. Here is a previous mamapedia post with responses to good tasting children liquid vitamins http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/16937203748302749697
If there is a Whole Foods near you, you can buy the vitamin there and then return them if your child doesn’t like it (yes you can return it even if you used a dose!) :)
I hope that helps! Good luck!