12 Month Old Not Eating Well

Hey N.,
Don't forget that at about 1yr kids' metabolisms slow down so they don't need the high calorie intake as much as they did before. My son did this at around 1 and still doesn't eat as much as I would think he needs, but then again he has plenty of energy to run and play so he must be getting enough. I heard that children automatically know when they are full and they (unlike adults) will stop eating when they are full. I agree with the other post, offer a variety of good foods and leave her be to eat what she wants, forcing her will only cause worse issues. Good luck!

Ask yourself these questions: Is she a healthy weight? Is she sickly? If no don't worry about it. If you force foods she will just fight it. I don't know too many children that have eaten anthing but table food after baby food. They just don't like that other stuff. Just offer her a balance diet and let her pick what she will eat if it's only cheeios all the time then so be it. Just make sure you always give her a protein, 2 fruits or 2 veggies, or a fruit and a vegetable and a grain and milk.(cheerios can be the grain). She may decide one day to try something else on her own. She will not die from only eating cheerios. You can't force it wouldn't be worth the effort if you did.
What ever you do, don't go through 10 different kinds of foods at one meal until you find something she will eat. That is a bad habit to get into. Then she will always expect you to do that.
Lonie
47 year old mom
14 years in the daycare business.

I am a SAHM of 3 yr old and a 20 mo old. YA I tried that mac n cheese and they wouldn't touch it. It smelled funny anyways,
and it taste yucky. I just tried the reg mac n cheese we had as kids and they loved it. They even have the little singles
you can make in a few minutes and then I put it in the freezer for about 30 sec to get to to cool down. You can get the small diced Ham at Albertsons or your local store and put in with the mac or even throw in a few of the Gerber carrots they come in a jar.

The reason why they don't want to eat from a spoon is they
are wanting to feed themselves.

Other things they liked the Gerber Mini Fruits, Finger Puffs they have Banana, Strawberry, and Sweet Potato. All the little ones seem to like them especially the sweet potato.

I have a 12 mo old I watch and he is eating the Fishes crackers,cherios,mac n cheese, diced ham, the lunch size singles of applesauce. Small pices of Banana.

Just use small and diced of anything you think of.

My parents told me they didn't have all the stuff they have now. So we were on solids sooner.

Hope this helps !

The Gerber

My daughter now 3yrs old went through the same thing at that age. She has actually started to do it again. They grow out of it!!!! I finally found some of her favorite things and then mixed some of the things she didn't like in with the meal. She finally let it go!!!! Good Luck!!!!

First of all, one-year molars are a major event. Both my kids had trouble with them. Secondly, welcome to toddlerhood! You MUST tell yourself that she will not starve herself. Just offer the foods you want her to eat at regular times (probably 3 meals and 2 snacks) and let her eat what she will. The minute you start making it an issue is when she'll stop eating.

I have an 11 month old daughter and she did the same thing. One day, she decided out of the blue that she was not eating baby food anymore. So, I tried several things and she just had a hard time adjusting for a couple of weeks. Now, she is eating more, but I still feel like her main staples are grilled cheese, mac n cheese and hot dogs. She also likes chicken and dumplings (made by Dinty Moore), cinnamon swirl bread (or any bread for that matter), american cheese slices, bananas, diced peaches and pears (or fruit cocktail). I also gave her an egg and she didn't like it much the first time or two, but now she loves it. I cook it in the microwave so that it congeals a bit more than when cooked in a pan and then cut it into pieces that she can pick up herself.

Her main thing is that she wants to feed herself, so just keep trying to put things in front of her that she can eat by herself. Also, the one thing I noticed is that if I sit right in front of her and watch her eat, she tends to fight it a little more. So, I put her food on her tray and then walk away and do dishes or something else in the kitchen so that I can still see her, but am not focused solely on her.

Best of luck. I know how frustrating this power struggle over eating can be, but it gets better.

My son is turning 1 in a couple of days and is doing the same thing. I have found one thing he'll eat aside from Cheerios... Farley's Rusks. They are hard to find, but they are great. Basically they are iron and vitamin fortified cookies made especially for babies. They are actually British, so you should check the International foods section at your grocery store. I get them at Kroger.

I have been in the same boat myself. My daughter is 11 1/2 months old, and about a month ago she quit eating all baby foods as well -- and yes, it was basically anything from a spoon that turned her off. We went to all table foods. Haley used to be very eager to eat anything as well, but she has since became very picky. Sometimes all she'd eat was either cheese or cheerios. I just had to keep trying things. Now, she'll also eat only yogurt and oatmeal from a spoon, but to me, that's progress. I also make her mac and cheese with just regular elbow macaroni, and she loves that -- she can pick up each piece easily. Maybe you could try that. I found that she also likes bread now because she can tear it apart herself and eat it independently. Have you tried the Gerber fruit dices in a jar? My daughter likes those. I've found it also helps Haley if I put her food on an adult plate at the table (of course I just put the food pieces on her high chair tray though) and even eat some with her. Then, she thinks its a more "grown-up" food or something. Its pretty funny how eating it with her helps her to eat more. Same with using adult plates and spoons. If she sees her pink bowl or her baby spoons, she doesn't want any part of it. Funny. Just a thought. One other thing -- I've had the same experience Valerie did. When I am cooking dinner or doing dishes while Haley is eating, she will eat more when I'm not sitting there watching her. Though of course, I am watching her from the corner of my eye.

Well, my daughter is a little over 12 months and just started to do this the other day. She will eat some baby foods, not much, yogurt, oatmeal, puffs, yogurt melts by gerber graduates, cheerios and maybe some toast with a little bit of peanut butter. She could be teething also which is what happened when she stopped eating last time a few days later she had a tooth. She has 4 top and 4 bottom so now she could be working on her molars. I was getting so frustrated but realized that she will eat when she is hungry and also she needs so extra TLC if she is teething, especially if it may be her molars. Hope this helps out