My 13 Month Old Boy Has No Interest in Eating

I sometimes put a full meal in a ziploc and let him go outside. He walks around with his baggie and barely pays attention to what he is eating. Sometimes he takes it on the swing with him, or sits on the porch, Sometimes in the stroller. Put things that he likes to start in the baggie and then add stuff to the mix. Healthy dry cereal, fruit, dried fruit, even frozen fruit or veggies are fun(especially for teething). Good Luck. My 3 year old still will not touch meat! Will not even sit at the table with us if we are eating something he thinks is gross! :)

How long has this been going on? My 3 kids would always stop eating when they were getting teeth or had an ear infection. If that is not the case, I would only give him healthy stuff so he wouln't fill up on other things. Good luck!

You need to stop the battling and make it fun.

For starters, you also need to asset more control here. The bottle just needs to go. You also need to stop giving him food that makes him happy and get him to just eat what everyone else eats, or he will continue demanding his own separate meal.

Your only responsibility is to provide a healthy meal. It is then up to him to eat it or not. They will eat when hungry enough.

My younger son didn't take milk out of sippy until he was 2, so I wouldn't worry. It's really good he is taking it with water. After his 2nd b-day, my son didn't want bottles anymore. He pretty much gave them up with no trouble. I was stressing for nothing! :-)

Also, I would feed my son his food first and water and then do a bottle awhile after the meal so he wasn't full on milk. At first I was kind of stuck on eating meals at certain times (breakfast time, lunch at noon, etc) but sometimes when I spaced feeding times out a little more it would help with his appetite. Or offer him some food and if he doesn't want it, try later. Otherwise, it can be frustrating!

Do what works for you! You may have days that your son eats a bag of goldfish or you may try a new food in front of the tv while he is distracted - life is too short! Good Luck!

My older daughter Tara was exactly like you described. I learned to distract her with TV to get her to eat a bit more. After I had my second child I realized that Tara never had asked for food, never indicated that she was hungry at all. Even as an infant, I assumed she was hungry when she fussed but looking back she really wasn't fussing for that. The first time she asked for food was a week before she turned four years old.

I had to offer her food every hour when she was a toddler. The maximum number of bites she would eat was 5 at any sitting. I was lucky if I got 7 in her. I made sure that every food group had at least one bite!! I only put about 8 bites on her plate, two from each food group. Like I said by the time she was 1 1/2 I found that if she watched TV while eating she ate better, and would eat about double the amount.

I understand how nerve wracking it is! Hugs.

Tara didn't even drink her bottle or cup well. I had to work to get her to drink more then 8 oz in a day. We put her on a "weight gain cocktail" of equal parts whole milk and heavy cream (the liquid you use to make whip cream) and a packet of carnation instant breakfast. I was under doctor's orders to give her this if she woke at night too. When she slept through the night or I gave her nothing when she woke up, she lost weight. It was either have her die or rot her teeth, I chose the teeth rotting option.

What finally made her eat though was taking milk away. I stopped the middle of the night milk by age 3. But she still wasn't sleeping through the night by the time she was 3 1/2. After trying everything I finally followed what a study the year before had said - frequent night wakings can be a hidden milk allergy. So, I took her off milk. After 5 days of no milk she was sleeping through the night and eating so much! We were shocked. By now our second daughter, Elise, had been born and was eating solids and I realized the difference in Tara and Elise in eating. Taking Tara off milk made her finally tell me she was hungry.

I'll never forget the day that Tara told me she was hungry for the first time ever. We went through Wendy's. I got the usual fries, a 5 piece nuggets and my drink. I gave Tara the fries and nuggets, she usually would eat 2 of each and be done. She finished them all and said she wanted more, she was still hungry. I went back and got another 5 piece and she ate 3 of those. This kid went from eating two nuggets to finishing 8!! It was amazing. I cried so hard. I was so happy.

What I can tell you for now is to make every bite count. Give only whole grains, fruits, veggies and good meats to him. Try dipping, some kids love that. Keep trying. He is still only 13 mos old, so you just have to keep introducing the foods to him. If it isn't better in a month ask for a referral to a pediatric evaluation for early intervention. I wish I had done that with Tara.

this happened to my twins well actualy a lot worse and they got so sick they were so many issues. i am sure your son has a sensory problem steming from all this so you need to call the early intervention i you area and meet with a feeding therpaist not a speech therapist someone with actually feeding background and has done work with that, you might even be able to get your pedatrician to refer you into an outpatient one at a hospital which are excellent, where do you live by the way and i can reccomend so many! We have been to them all that is how mad my kids are. They are 4 and 1/2 and still on a bottle for many reason so please do not pressure yourself or freak out about what other people think you do what you need to do to make it work for your family at this point. Now you do need to rule out reflux and allergies and other Gi disorders that could be contributing to him not eating or having such trouble if not then it most likesly is the sensory stuff. i had both all of they above and then sme more so I cna answer many of your questions better than the drs if you feel comforatable telling me. After you call EI and get an evaluation make the appt with your pedatrician, it might take a month to get into EI (Early Intervention). Lets jsut go from there, are there any foods you think he may be3 reacting to becasue it hurts? does he gag or have trouble swallowing or cough or sneezee often, or always swallow, seeking oral motor stuff toys, paci etc? Let figure out what else is involved her after the dr and Ei do their thing or so we can have somehting to go on to tell them. Listen to your insticnts if you are having htis much trouble why not get some help here and not put it all on your shoulders, this is too much and complicated. He will be fine since you are such an aware mother willing to help him.
J.

I recommend this resource for more ideas...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030800.asp

Best wishes,
J.

On word Ketchup! you can put ketchup on anything and kids will eat it. I would keep giving him his milk in the bottle until he starts to eat more.Some kids still use it at age four so don't worry, he is still a little guy:)Does he like yogurt,cheese,pasta,mandarin oranges. At this age I would give my kids one thing at a time they would eat it then I would give them another item . Otherwise they would only eat the one they liked the best. I would stop having chips in the house because he will want them.I would never tell my kids to eat just say "how is your pasta"? Also, if he will eat if you feed it to him I would help him . They don't eat nearly as much if you just plop it down in front of them. Good luck :)

M.-
I feel your pain. My son has always been a picky eater. As far as the milk from a bottle goes, maybe try a different type of sippy cup with a soft spout. My son has been using the Born Free sippys and they are very much like a bottle. I would actually recommend using a straw cup over anything. I have several friends who are speech therapists and straw cups are best for the muscles that you use for speech. This is a tough one. My son never took a bottle so we have the opposite issue.

I like what the other mothers said about grazing and letting him move around a little when he eats. I insist that my son sits for at least one meal a day, but typically for breakfast and sometimes lunch he is able to move around a bit. Maybe try an activity that wears him out a little before he sits in the chair like bouncing him on a work out ball or having him pull a heavy bag across the room while walking or crawling.

I am in the same "boat" as far as my son's diet. He could live on crackers, fruit and milk. I tend to gravitate towards saltier foods as well. I have notice that my son will eat edamame with a tiny bit of salt on them, sweet potato fries and soups that have beans or noodles in them. He also really likes sweet apple chicken sausage from Trader Joe's. Because I cannot get him to eat a vegetable to save my life, I rely a lot on smoothies or juice that have vegetables in them. Trader Joe's has a couple and Whole foods has some too. They are pricy so I dilute them with water to make them last longer.

I hope this helps. If it does get to the point that you and your pediatrician are getting concerned about his weight, the Early Intervention program does have feeding therapists who may be able to help. Although it seems like the problem is not how he eats but what he eats.

Hi there,
13 mos is still really young. I wouldn't worry about the bottle right now. I mixed cereal in when my son was young, you can also add vitamin drops. One thing that is important though is to make sure he knows who is boss, or he will be from here on out. I would also consider adding something in the form of a nutritional mix in his milk, but only from a health food store, nothing with chemicals. As they grow they go through eating spurts. He will eat when he is hungry.

That's TOTALLY normal at that age. My boys both did the same. I gave in and let them eat while walking around the house, but that's up to you of course (we have two dogs who pretty much make sure anything left on the floor is GONE fast.) They slow down growing at that age, and it's completely normal for eating to fall off.

He will start to have days now where he eats ALL day, and days where he doesn't want to know from food. It's all totally normal.

My 17 month old was going thru this. She had developed a real affinity for ketchup and any other kind of dip. So I got the bright idea to dip her foods in it - anything from broccoli to eggs. We don't do it all the time. It was just when I couldn't take not watching her eat anymore. It totally brought back her appetite, thank God. It just took some creativity on my part. (Yes dipping food in ketchup is my idea of creative.)

Hi M. Try giving him some Pedisure and see if he like that. Also take to him peditrican to see if there's reason why doesn't want to eat. Pedisure is rich in vitamin supplements.

My daughter has the same problem. She's two and weighs under 25lbs. She was about the same weight as your son at his age. What has help my daughter a lot is multivitamins and pedisure. It's expensive $10 for 6 cans @ target. I only give her 1 can a day and put the liquid vitamin in her first bottle in the a.m. because that's one she always finishes.
My daughter hated the high chair at your son's age, so I stop putting her on it. I play with her while feeding her at the same time, slowly. We feed her every 2-3 hours a day. We play tea time so now she learn table manner and at the same time teaching her how to eat. I'm sorry but I too, am having trouble taking the bottle away. Since she doesn't eat I at least try to give her milk.

Throw away the bottles so it isn't possible for you to give in, that is exactly what I had to do when my daughter hit 13 months. He may need a little slower of a transition, try the Nuby cup with the silicone sippy top, you can get them at walmart usually. Like Jen said, keep offering it and soon enough he will take it. If he knows you will give in (I know you don't want him to starve girl, and he won't!) Of course he will refuse the sippy with milk if he knows that he will eventually get the bottle, so just get rid of them.

To keep food interesting, I would make for him what my sister-in-law calls a 'grazing platter' a little of a bunch of things so he gets a variety. Here is a list of things that my daughter ate at that age and did well with. Cubed bananas or any other soft fruit, cut up pieces of a whole wheat toaster waffle or cut up mini pancakes with butter, shredded cheese (we started with mozzerella because of the mild taste), green beans, peas or carrots right out of the can (no added salt is best or organic), lightly seasoned ground beef or turkey or cubed chicken breast, breakfast sausage pieces (I practically cried when my daughter discovered that she loved these because she was a little thing too!), vienna sausages, healthy shoice canned soups in a pinch, egg noodles that I boiled in part chicken broth and part water...the list goes on.. Be persistent with him and he will do better its all a phase, keep offering him the same stuff that you want him to eat, he will get over his little 'tude, its so normal =)

It's totally normal, but incredibly irritating and worrisome. I am going thru the same thing too with my 15 month old. He is a tall skinny guy too, and to top it off he is allergic to milk and hates soy, so not much fat in his diet.
But I would not worry about the bottle issue for now. Wait until he gets thru this picky state. Especially if he does not use a pacifier, he probably still desires the sucking and finds it calming.
Also, try not to give into the "junk" food. If his belly is full, he won't try the healthy stuff. It helps to offer that first. Or maybe start giving cereal for a snack, check the sugar content, but there are many tasty cereals with good nutrition.
Good luck.

My 13 month old screams when we put him in his highchair too. It's pretty typical for this age, they are asserting their independence! My three older kids did the same thing, and I was worried about my oldest who was in the 5th percentile for weight at a year. It's hard, but try not to worry too much about what he's eating, and still offer a well balanced meal. Don't let him fill up on fruit, milk and crackers, because most kids WILL eat that, and nothing else. As far as the bottle goes, just keep giving him milk in a cup. Honestly, when he is truly hungry and thirsty, he will eat and drink what you give him. Toddlerhood is all about battles, and food is a big one! Good luck!

Sounds similar...my 16 month old is also smaller(hitting all milestones, but only 19 pounds!eh, our families are short).
My issue has been nursing, and for some same reasons.
I have followed a friend's advice: she calls it "grazing". We sit down for meals in the highchair but when she's done (which I ask and she uses a hand-wipe motion to tell me) then she can get down. I then put some food in a small bowl and let her pick. She will often eat everything then over the next hour or so. Not everyday, but enough that she gained 3 pounds in 2 months.
Good luck. Making it less of a battle really helped us.

My daughter was the same way, she is now 3 and weighs in at 30 pounds. She is still a picky eater but they eventually start trying new things and liking them more. She will always choose a drink over food it still seems i have to monitor that, making sure not to give her so much to drink at meals. Just keep trying new things they surprise you sometimes at what they like. my daughter will not touch typical veggies but she loves avocados, pickles and olives. Hang in there it will get better.