13 month old refuses to eat everything

Hello, all,

I tried to post this message several hours ago, and although I got a
"Your message will appear in a few minutes" note from google, the
message never appeared, so I'm trying again. I appologize if this is a
double post for anyone.

Having said that, here is my situation:

My 13 months old son refuses to eat anything from a spoon, and refuses
majority of finger foods. He will only take the bottle, and maybe some
cheerios, soft cheese, and tomatos. Sometimes, he'll eat a fruit.
Other than that, it's a total food strike.

I think the major event that lead to it was his cold 3 weeks ago. He
had no appetite, and we bottle-fed him bit by bit throughout the day
and night. I think he grew to like that, and now expects liquid food
only. We do not give him juices/milk during the day (only water and
unsweetened tea) hoping that he'll get hungry eventually, and will eat.
However, that does not happen. As a result, he's hungry through the
night, and we end up feeding him up to 3 full 8oz bottles of milk (and
sometimes formula, for nutrition) at night. I tried to give him only
water at night, but this results in him screaming for hours
(literally). That is not a solution I prefer. Besides, I think he's
lost some weight at this time, and I use these night feedings to get
some calories into him.

We tried toys/songs/games during meal time, we tried feeding him at the
table with us, we tried feeding him on our lap as opposed to a high
chair, but he's just not interested. Shuts his mouth, turns his head,
and that's it.

On the side note, I must add that my son still does not sleep through
the night (and never has). As he was approaching his first birthday, I
hoped that his night wakings would get better. And at some point it
seemed that they were. However, with night feedings now a habit, I'm
wondering how many more months (years???) we have to go without sleep.

What are your ideas and suggestions?

Thanks.
Elana

I'm wondering what your reason is for wanting him to
eat solid food. An alternative would be to feed him liquid
food. Almost any food can be ground up in a blender and
fed to a child via a bottle, perhaps mixed with water, milk
or juice.

It seems possible that he has a mild flu-like illness
(when I say flu in this case I mean common viral gastroenteritis,
not influenza).

13-month-olds don't digest ordinary foods as easily as
older children do -- especially if they're sick.