The trio recently turned 1 (adjusted 1yr will be next week). It seems that the feeding battles have begun and I am at my wits end. I am in tears atleast a few times a week and I know I need a new plan but don't know what. Here is the usual senario:

Bottles at wake up and breakfast about 1hr later. breakfast usually not to bad but my one daughter will wave her arms infront of her and not eat off the spoon. If I give her a spoon to hold she just throws it on the floor over and over again. We have oatmeal, yogurt and fruit. Still on the jar fruit. Cheerios will follow if they ate other stuff well.

Lunch is usually the worst meal. I give bottles before food- no break inbetween because they usually wake up from a nap so close to lunch time. I usually get alot of resistance with food. I try to do finger foods but they just would rather play with them than eat them. I am planning on getting rid of the lunch bottle today to see how that goes. (I am still trying the jar food first and then some finger food)

Dinner- if they wake from a nap early enough I will give a bottle then otherwise its bottle and dinner at 4pm. A little better because they are probably hungry from not eating lunch. I try some jar food and then some finger foods for practice. Oh ya- and one of the trio seems to gag and vomit atleast once a day during a meal. And thats even with just a bottle and jar\puree food. Doesn't seem to do it as much if we do table food.

Then a bottle before bed.

I wanted to keep formula till atleast 1yr adjusted which will be soon. I just dont feel they are eating finger\table food well enough to switch over entirely. Ive tried making it a thicker puree but they dont like that either.

Sorry to go on and on but I just dont know what to do anymore. Im so afraid to give up bottles cause Im afraid they will drop off the growth charts which they have usually been in the 60-75%+ range so far.
Any advice or suggestions??

If they are in the 60-75% range you have a LOT of room to play with. After 9m we were told to move to food first then bottle, and about the same time the trio decided they would only self feed finger foods. Your trio are doing great with their weight, so ease up a bit and go to more table foods. They may be more than ready for this which is why it is so difficult. It may have been a ton messier but the trio did much better with self feed than with us feeding them.


Susan

Parent to GGG born 31 weeks 4 days 4/26/07




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I'm going to agree; I think it might be time to move to more finger foods. Also, how many bottles and meals are they getting per day? Might be time to add in some snacks and sippy cups with either juice or water. As for the battle of wills, that's your call but if one of mine acts like that I just skip him and keep feeding his brothers. We have done this since starting food and the know I mean busines Trust me, they will want their food eventually. Also, is there a lot of variety in the foods being offered? Maybe they're a little tired of certain foods.

My beautiful boys born on 6/8/2008:
Rowan 2 lbs 10 oz
Elliott 2 lbs 7 oz
Finn 2 lbs 5 oz

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What worked for us was to feed them food first then a bottle a little later to "top them off". I had 2 that ate jat food and finger foods with no problem. Then my DD was NOT wanting to eat anything. We tried different texture, colors flavers, she was just not having it. I still offered her the same as the other two, finger foods then a bottle. My DD started eating just yogurt, so that is what she had for every meal before her bottle for about a month, then she started with the finger foods, but very slowly. So, I woudl try finger foods (try a huge variety) and then follow up with a bottle about an hour later. Good luck.

PS. I started to put 2 flat sheets uder thier high chairs for easy clean up after a meal, just take outside and shake, then you don't have to sweep and mop after every meal.

Zayn 3/6/04
Pari 8/30/06
Trevor 8/30/06
Larkin 8/30/06

Live for today, dream of tomarrow, remember all your yesterdays

I agree, either alternate the bottles and food at separate feedings every couple of hours (that's what I did), or give food first and fluids second.

Other ideas:

Give them a spoon to hold, and have your own for feeding. If they drop "their" spoon, oh well. They'll learn to hang onto it if they really want it.

If they aren't willingly eating, they might not need the food at that time. Yours aren't underweight, so refusing some food and not getting into the power struggle might be a good option.

More finger foods is a great idea to give them some sense of control.

Expect about 4-5 more months of messy eating and dropping things. It is a normal developmental phase, but it will pass.

Hang in there!
Sheila
GGB 10-29-06 (33 weeks)