16mo only eats babyfood & will not self feed...advice needed

At DD's 15 month Well Baby Visit, her pediatrician made a very big issue
of the fact that DD will only eat baby food. I'm looking for advice
concerning this.

DD (1 week shy of 16 months now) has only 2 teeth, and she only got them
1 month ago. I understand that babies can mash food up with their gums
alone, but DD doesn't seem to have this instinct yet...when I spoon feed
her she just swallows the food right down. No chewing or mashing. She
will eat "stage 3" food, but will occasionally gag and choke on the
larger chunks.

In addition to this, if I put small bits of food in front of DD
(cheerios, bits of soft foods, etc) she only plays with them. She
doesn't seem to have the instinct to put food in her own mouth. In
fact, she has never been a baby to put much in her mouth at all...when
she finds a crumb or lint or whatever on the floor she will analyze it
and play with it, but she never tries to eat it. She shows very little
interest in things like cookies or crackers.

DD has always had a very good appetite. She still breastfeeds 3 times a
day. She eats hot cereal with fruit for breakfast, vegetables, pasta
and yogurt for lunch and meat with vegetables for dinner. We don't give
her a lot of snacks, but occasionally she will have pudding, a bit of
ice cream or some fruit for a snack. I do give her table food where
possible...things like mashed white or sweet potatoes, soup, etc. And
we give her tastes of just about everything. She seems to enjoy the
different tastes, but not the textures.

Her 15 month Well Baby Visit took place about a week before Christmas,
and as I said, her doctor was very insistant that she not eat baby food.
She even said that we should "take it away" and that by Christmas dinner
she'd be eating table food along with us. I pointed all of the above to
her doctor (the fact that she doesn't self feed, chokes on lumpy foods,
etc) but she just went on about giving her shreds of chicken and noodles
etc. At that point we just nodded and smiled...we know DD better than
her doctor, and I KNOW that DD would not do well with shreds of chicken
at this point.

BUT, I would like to encourage DD to self feed and do what I can to
gently move her towards table food. Any suggestions?

Does anyone else have a kid like this?

DD has consistantly been a late bloomer. As I said, at almost 16 months
she has only 2 teeth (that she just got a month ago)...she still doesn't
walk (though she cruises, etc). She does things in her own time, and we
are happy with that. I just want to be sure we're not doing her wrong
by not pushing the table food.

Thanks in advance!
Kathy

"Kathy" wrote in message
...

At DD's 15 month Well Baby Visit, her pediatrician made a very big issue
of the fact that DD will only eat baby food. I'm looking for advice
concerning this.

DD (1 week shy of 16 months now) has only 2 teeth, and she only got them
1 month ago. I understand that babies can mash food up with their gums
alone, but DD doesn't seem to have this instinct yet...when I spoon feed
her she just swallows the food right down. No chewing or mashing. She
will eat "stage 3" food, but will occasionally gag and choke on the
larger chunks.

In addition to this, if I put small bits of food in front of DD
(cheerios, bits of soft foods, etc) she only plays with them. She
doesn't seem to have the instinct to put food in her own mouth. In
fact, she has never been a baby to put much in her mouth at all...when
she finds a crumb or lint or whatever on the floor she will analyze it
and play with it, but she never tries to eat it. She shows very little
interest in things like cookies or crackers.

DD has always had a very good appetite. She still breastfeeds 3 times a
day. She eats hot cereal with fruit for breakfast, vegetables, pasta
and yogurt for lunch and meat with vegetables for dinner. We don't give
her a lot of snacks, but occasionally she will have pudding, a bit of
ice cream or some fruit for a snack. I do give her table food where
possible...things like mashed white or sweet potatoes, soup, etc. And
we give her tastes of just about everything. She seems to enjoy the
different tastes, but not the textures.

Her 15 month Well Baby Visit took place about a week before Christmas,
and as I said, her doctor was very insistant that she not eat baby food.
She even said that we should "take it away" and that by Christmas dinner
she'd be eating table food along with us. I pointed all of the above to
her doctor (the fact that she doesn't self feed, chokes on lumpy foods,
etc) but she just went on about giving her shreds of chicken and noodles
etc. At that point we just nodded and smiled...we know DD better than
her doctor, and I KNOW that DD would not do well with shreds of chicken
at this point.

BUT, I would like to encourage DD to self feed and do what I can to
gently move her towards table food. Any suggestions?

Does anyone else have a kid like this?

DD has consistantly been a late bloomer. As I said, at almost 16 months
she has only 2 teeth (that she just got a month ago)...she still doesn't
walk (though she cruises, etc). She does things in her own time, and we
are happy with that. I just want to be sure we're not doing her wrong
by not pushing the table food.

Thanks in advance!
Kathy
Personally I would give her a small amout of the same sort of foods as you.
Like if you're having roast chicken + veg, give her a cooked carrot stick or
two. Let her play with them. Let her see you eat them. let her poke them
into your mouth and you eat it. Certainly wouldn't give chicken. Wouldn't
give anyone I liked noodles:-)
Have you actually tried finger food. #2 (14 months) won't eat lumpy food.
Goes into her mouth-and straight out again. But give her finger food and
she's fine. Just because she chokes on lumps doesn't mean that she won't
manage finger food.
The thing is that there is a theory that there is a window of time to
introduce your child to foods they need to chew. If you don't get them
eating in that period they may have a lot of trouble eating lumpy food.
Don't subscribe to that theory myself, but a lot of healthcare professionals
do.
#2's first food she didn't spit out was a crust of pizza when we were at a
pizza place. She'll eat the 4month slop, or finger foods but not the middle
ground. But everything goes in her mouth so getting her to eat was not a
problem. She didn't eat any solids until nearly 8 months.
#1 didn't put things in her mouth generally, but she ate everything and
anything-way before she had any teeth at all, so don't worry about the lack
of teeth.
I would encourage the finger food as it is so useful. Like if you're going
home and they're hungry you can give them a piece of bread or raisins or
something and it keeps them happy.
If you're worried about using a spoon (I'm not sure exactly what yo mean by
self feeding) then #1 didn't want to use a spoon until she was over 2. #2
wants to do everything herslef, so she has been using a spoon with lots of
mess for ages.
I would suggest to eat:
cooked carrot sticks
bread (crust)
pieces of banana

Debbie

I have to wonder -- given that she's a later walker AND a late eater
.... has she been evaluated for a possible minor motor delay? If she is
having difficulty physically managing lumpy foods or finger foods, and
she knows that she gags when she tries them, it's not suprising that
she isn't eager to self feed.

I WOULD keep encouraging more adult foods, but I'd also see about
getting her evaluated to see if there is a physical problem here.
Naomi

toto wrote:
On 9 Jan 2005 12:34:42 -0800, wrote:

I WOULD keep encouraging more adult foods, but I'd also see about
getting her evaluated to see if there is a physical problem here.
Naomi

I would also consider sensory motor problems. My dgd doesn't
like certain textures of foods either and had some definite sensory
issues though she is getting better about that.


I agree with this.

I just wanted to add that if the OP has no luck with the child
self-feeding with her fingers, try giving her a spoon. For some odd
reason, my oldest preferred the spoon to her fingers. Maybe because she
didn't like getting her fingers messy. She'd grab the spoon from me
from a very young age. She of course didn't have the motor
coordination, and made a complete mess, but I tolerated it and
eventually she was eating with a spoon before most kids got the hang of
it.


jen

Have you tried this? Put a bowl of baby food in
front of her. Feed her one spoonful. Load another
spoonful onto the spoon, and try to hand it to her.
Then leave her to do what she wants with the bowl
and spoon for, I don't know, maybe 10 minutes.
Then after that time, maybe spoonfeed her the rest
(or just take it away -- if she's eating enough altogether).

Or how about the gradual method: spoonfeed her,
but slow down and don't put each spoonful into her
mouth until she touches the spoon to help it in
(or put it in slowly unless she helps, and then
do the normal speed). Gradually get her to do
more and more "helping". Try to get to the stage
where you point the spoon at her mouth and hold
it right in front of her mouth and then she grasps
it and you let go and she puts it into her mouth.
And gradually move on from there. To get her
started on "helping" the spoon into her mouth you
might gently put her hand on the spoon, or
ask her to touch the spoon to help it.
--
Cathy
A *much* better world is possible.

Kathy wrote:

I understand that babies can mash food up with
their gums alone, but DD doesn't seem to have this instinct
yet...when I spoon feed her she just swallows the food right down.
No chewing or mashing. She will eat "stage 3" food, but will
occasionally gag and choke on the larger chunks.

My kids never had trouble with table food or chunks but I have heard that
some kids have trouble with the puree and chunks mixed together, like they
are in babyfood, yet have no trouble if the chunky stuff is separate from
the puree. It is like they just try to get it all to slide down if there is
any puree present at all.

My kids weren't frequent chokers so maybe I'm not sympathetic enough but I
wouldn't be to alarmed at an occasional gag/choke and I wouldn't let it keep
me from offering the larger chunks. Now if she is turning blue and not
getting air, this I would be alarmed about!

In addition to this, if I put small bits of food in front of DD
(cheerios, bits of soft foods, etc) she only plays with them. She
doesn't seem to have the instinct to put food in her own mouth.

My first never put things in his mouth either. He started solids late but
started right in on the finger foods, refusing to be fed entirely. Is she
hungry when you offer the finger foods or do you offer them at the same time
you are spoon feeding her? You could try different things like only offer
finger foods, offer one or two bites of spoon food then only finger food,
offer together, etc. to see if any combination of that encourages her. To
encourage her to feed herself you could also just give her the spoon and
that way she'd have preferred food but have to do it herself. My oldest was
using a spoon (messy but got food in his mouth) at 15mo because that is the
only way he would have it. With #2 we always both had a spoon. He was to
hungry to do it all himself.

She eats hot cereal with fruit for breakfast,
vegetables, pasta and yogurt for lunch and meat with vegetables for
dinner.

Since she has a good appetite, and a good diet, I'd work towards table food
but I wouldn't get to stressed out about it!

--
Nikki

Hi,

Original Poster here...just wanted to send a quick thank you to everyone
who responded. I appreciate your opinions and advice.

DH and I did a little research, and as it turns out we've found quite a
few other people online who have the same troubles with their kids. We
are feeling confident that DD will feed herself and eat lumpier solids
when she is ready.

We've gotten a lot of good advice about different foods to try,
encouraging DD to use a spoon, etc and we will try them all.

To the poster who mentioned that perhaps DD doesn't like lumps within
mashed up or pureed food, I have a feeling you are right. Yesterday I
made cookies and put a good sized chunk in DD's mouth...she "chewed" it
right up and swallowed it down. She doesn't seem to have a problem with
lumps in the form of chocolate chip cookie!

Concerning DD's walking issue...she is well on her way to walking any
day now. At about 12 months she saw a specialist for her hip...her
pediatrician wanted her checked for developmental displaysia of the hip
(despite DD's perfectly normal xray). Upon examining DD the specialist
said she is perfectly healthy and normal...and to not worry about her
walking (at the time she wasn't even crawling)...that despite what many
people say, the range of "normal" for beginning to walk goes up through
18 months. So we are feeling confident that DD will be walking
(probably away from us!) anytime soon.

Thanks again everyone,
Kathy