So, all of Tru’s life I have felt quite at liberty to brag a bit about his good habits because, we all know good habits in a baby aren’t going to last so we might as well enjoy them while we can. For instance, when he was a newborn he never cried. He cried only a few times in the hospital (like getting circumcised – ouch!!!) but then we came home and it was literally DAYS before he cried again. I was worried he had something wrong with him. He would start to fuss and I would leave him to work himself into a cry and he just never would. Well, naturally we joked about it; the Embryologist left the cry function out when they injected the sperm, hahaha. But eventually he learned to cry and he is quite fluent in “cry” now. Quite, very, astoundingly fluent. So I guess I should have known that his good eating habits couldn’t last forever but he has been such a good eater since day 1, it just seemed like he was a hungry boy with the healthy appetite of a man and that was that. He ate so much that I know he ate more than me at some meals. He ate until everyone around us freaked out and told us that maybe he didn’t know when to stop. He was going to barf for sure!!! But no, he never barfed from eating too much. He NEEDED that much food.
The last few months have changed all that. It started when Tru began eating less at his meals once he switched from purees to table food. But the pediatrician assured me that it is normal for babies to start eating less as they hit toddlerhood. Their caloric needs are lower and the amount of food they need will adjust accordingly. No big deal. Tru would still eat every kind of food we offered him. No pickiness. Nowadays? That’s a different story. He either pushes away every food we offer him or he takes a bite and immediately spits it out. It doesn’t matter what food we try. All his favorites are promptly spit out. There have been a few meals that he only ate just a few bites of food and then he was done. Mouth clamped shut, hand in front of mouth. Nothing going in there. I read some pediatric website that said not to force the issue. If they don’t want another bite, it’s time to be done with that meal. Offer more later. But what if he eats 5 bites at supper and goes to bed an hour later and never eats another bite the rest of the day? Is that ok? It doesn’t feel ok to me. But what can you do short of force feeding him which wouldn’t work because he would just spit his food out even if you could cram it in that little mouth.
He is taking his bottles of milk still but not as much as before as even his milk intake has been cut back by him. I have tried mixing his milk with melted organic coconut oil to bring the calories up since coconut oil is a healthy fat and 1tsbp is 120 calories of pure healthy fat. But he doesn’t like his milk warm and coconut oil hardens when cold.
I’m definitely seeing some texture issues going on too. I think that he generally still likes most food though but it seems like he has no appetite. I know there was some study done (not going to try to dig it up right now) on low zinc levels and lack of appetite. Just not sure on how to get his zinc levels tested or if zinc levels ever are tested or how much to supplement with a baby vitamin. The liquid vitamin that he is on now doesn’t have zinc in it.
One last little thing, he had his iron tested and it came back low at 10.6. I am not at all happy about that. I can’t help him eat more iron rich foods when he’s not eating. His iron has never been low before so I have to assume that it is low now because he isn’t eating enough of the right foods. His liquid vitamin also doesn’t have iron in it which I don’t understand. Maybe it’s because iron can cause constipation or something. Tru could use a little constipating here and there though as ever since he started on milk, things have been a little on the loose side. Not that I can get anyone to tell me what to do about that. Should I switch him to Lactaid milk or put him back on sensitive formula? I just don’t know.
Sorry this is so long. If you read to the end, bless you. I just needed to get it off my chest and hopefully we can come up with a good game plan on how to proceed from here and how to keep him from eating even LESS! I guess our “My kid is seriously the best eater ever!” bragging is over. At least for now.
What a bummer! Kids… They always throw you for a loop! I’m no expert, but had a few thoughts. Will he take formula still? Lots of vitamins and iron included in formula. Even just one bottle a day would be beneficial. Another thought: do you think he might possibly have a dairy allergy, since you mentioned the loose stools? Perhaps his tummy is upset? I know it’s rare for young kids to have a lactose intolerance (usually it’s a milk allergy instead), so lactaid milk most likely won’t help. The milk in formula has the proteins broken down so most babies tolerate it well.
Unfortunately, other milk substitutes (almond, coconut, soy) just aren’t high in protein. You could try goats milk but I’m guessing he’d gag on that.
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I didn’t know that about the dairy allergy vs lactose allergy. Glad you told me that! Thank you. I have been thinking that a bottle of formula here and there might benefit him. I’m not sure if he would still take it or not but it’s certainly worth a try.
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This may not be any comfort but I was told that little ones are excellent self-regulators when it comes to eating. It’s terrifying as parents watching them eat so little, but amazingly they’re fine and just don’t need so much. The problems come wen you force them to eat at this stage as it blocks out the self regulating thing in the brain that stays with us into adult hood.
As long as he’s got plenty of energy, is happy and active then you don’t need to worry, honestly!
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Thank you for this. 🙂 It’s reassuring to hear that for sure. I definitely don’t want to force feed him for sure because I feel like he should be allowed to at least choose what he eats right now. I don’t want him to eat something that makes him feel sick for example and I’m sure he knows that even if he can’t communicate it.
I’m glad to know that other parents have gone through this and their babies have been just fine. 🙂
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Was the doctor worried about the 10.6 iron level? Gus’ was only 10.2 and our doc said he’s no concerned about it — that he only worries about kids who come back in the 6-7 or under range.
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No, they weren’t worried. They just said to try to get him to eat iron-rich foods and we would retest in 3 months. No need to start supplements yet, it’s just something to be aware of and watch. I found out that oatmeal has 45%DV of iron in it and he’s been eating that almost every day, plus beans have like 10-15% so I’m trying to get him to eat more beans since he usually likes them.
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I can’t get this kid to eat beans to save my life. He does love meatballs though (but I just realized the brand I’ve been giving him for weeks is pork, not beef, doh!) and he eats oatmeal as long as I don’t try to give it to him every day. Hopefully that does the trick!
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I go back and forth between feeding Tru the packets of oatmeal (like strawberries and cream, peaches and cream etc) and the oatmeal baby cereal with fruit mixed in. He hasn’t been eating beans as much as he used to unfortunately, so I heated some refried beans with cheese and sour cream on it and I think he liked that better. I should try feeding him meatballs… I bet he would like that!
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Will he eat ice cream? For sure give him whole milk not lactaid. Beef is high in zinc and protein.
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I’m sure he would love ice cream but we don’t eat it very often because we both like soft serve and the boxed kind always freezer burns on us, but it would worth buying Tru his own little stash! 🙂 I’ll try to get more beef in him. We haven’t been eating a lot of meat lately because of my summer-time cravings for garden vegetables and that is definitely something I need to work on for Tru’s sake… And DH’s. He claims he needs more meat lol.
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Don’t worry about it! A kid is not going to starve themselves.
He will eat when he’s eventually hungry. Don’t let it stress you out. They don’t want to eat? Fine. Be picky
Good luck!
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Thank you. That’s reassuring to read. I guess it just freaked me out because he went from being mr piggy to being mr picky. Kids! 🙂
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My niece was the same way. She never wanted to eat anything. But she’d drink her milk all day. That’s what the doctor told me. Was calm down. She won’t starve herself. Haha.
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Wow, that’s a big change. I’ve always told myself I won’t get upset if I have picky eaters but that’s what moms do. My doctor mentioned an iron supplement, called tri-vi-sol I think. Something-vi-sol. I saw some at target one time but I haven’t needed it. Yet.
But don’t you really still have the best kid ever? I hear all parents do. 😉
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Lol. Yes, he isn’t losing his best kid ever award! Even if he does make me freak out. Thanks for the tip on the supplement. I may give that a try if his iron stays low.
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[…] my last post about Truett’s eating, things got a lot more […]
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