HELP: Refusing bottles & still gagging on table food

How/when did you start eliminating bottles? We are still a week shy of 11 months and the boys are refusing bottles.

I think it's normal for kids to be less interested in bottles as they start to take in more solids. However, we are not doing too well with table foods yet. We certainly are not at the point where we can make enough calories from a missed bottle with solids.

This has me sooo stressed out...I don't know what to do. I'm hoping it's just a phase due to teething (both boys are cutting 1st 2 bottom teeth at once).

Would love any advice. Our schedule: Bottles: 7, 11, 2, 7 Solids: 8, 12, 5

 

How/when did you start eliminating bottles? We are still a week shy of 11 months and the boys are refusing bottles.

I think it's normal for kids to be less interested in bottles as they start to take in more solids. However, we are not doing too well with table foods yet. We certainly are not at the point where we can make enough calories from a missed bottle with solids.

This has me sooo stressed out...I don't know what to do. I'm hoping it's just a phase due to teething (both boys are cutting 1st 2 bottom teeth at once).

Would love any advice. Our schedule: Bottles: 7, 11, 2, 7 Solids: 8, 12, 5

 

Are they doing OK with purees, and just not with solid table foods? You can get pretty far with baby food, yogurt, cereal, etc. I know it is a pain, but it might get you through the transition time. My DD Sarah only started eating table foods recently (around 13 months), even though I started offering them at 10 months and Amy took to them really well. The ped said not to worry about it and she'd get there eventually, but in the meantime just keep feeding her purees, so she gets enough calories and nutrition.

Also, how long have they been refusing bottles? If it's only been a couple of days, I know that is scary, but it could well be teething, as you suspected.

 

Honestly, up until a few months ago mine were taking bottles every 3-4 hours. Solids were just always a no go with these 2. Around November they finally started to increase their solids but still not enough for me to take away their bottles for good. Joshie does horrible with cups...still.

Table foods were a problem, I had the gagging, choking, puking kids and that increased my desire to keep up the bottles because it scared me so bad. My 5 yr old had severe reflux that didn't go away until 18 months and he was my everyday puker so I guess my fears were even greater.

Sat night I went out to eat with my parents and that is the first time Josh ate a whole fry without choking. Katie chews her food much better so I trust her a bit more. I would say keep up the puree as long as you like until they are just ready for table foods.

Mine went on a short bottle strike around 11 months or so. It was short lived and I chalked it up to teething.

 

quote:
Originally posted by Minette:
Are they doing OK with purees, and just not with solid table foods? You can get pretty far with baby food, yogurt, cereal, etc. I know it is a pain, but it might get you through the transition time.


YEah, they are fine with purees, but not big eaters. Our pedi said NO DAIRY until 1 year (yes, he reiterated no yogurt/cheese). This really bummed me out, but whatever, it's one more month at this point.

quote:
Originally posted by Minette:
Also, how long have they been refusing bottles? If it's only been a couple of days, I know that is scary, but it could well be teething, as you suspected.


It's only been 2 days, I know it's early to panic, but I'm still so obsessed with their intake (damn NICU).

 

Are they gagging because of the texture? You don't mention. I just want to say that maybe you could give them some fruit, bananas maybe(don't cut it, hand them a peice & see what they do with it. try the toddler meals too, mine still love those. They could be going through a phase, I think mine did a t that age. Keep trying different things. If you want to stay away from dairy give soy products a try, they make awesome yogurt, milkshakes, cheese, gardenburgers, etc If they refuse bottles try giving them cups instead, make smoothies or shakes with soymilk. My MIL always said that the girls didn't like stuff if they made a face while eating, well they made faces because they never had food before! Keep trying, they'll picck up the solids soon. (then they'll eat you out of house & home like my 2 year olds!) Good luck!

 

Have you tried offering sippies? Or are they refusing those, too? My girls started refusing bottles around 10-11 months, and we just switched to sippies. Yeah, there were a few days where their intake was down, but it was down when we were using bottles because they ere refusing them. After a few days they were back up to a good amount. In our case it wasn't teething; they just didn't want to use the bottles anymore. They had never really learned to hold them themselves and they liked using the sippies instead.

 

I'm right there with you (and have been "following" your posts!)

My guys are 11 months and refusing bottles pretty regularly (or just drink a couple ounces). They do just fine with purees (really well), but anytime we try any finger foods (even puffs or mushy stuff), one or the other chokes/gags and up comes a huge spit up with the formula that we tried so hard to get into them, plus whatever solids they had. It does seem so discouraging.

I called the nurse at our pedi's office and she basically told me that (except in rare cases) infants/toddlers don't starve themselves but will eat/drink to appetite and that you can't (shouldn't!) push them to eat or drink -- all you can do is offer the food/bottle/sippy and let them decide if they want something. And, she told me that it may take a while for our babies to get the hang of finger foods -- to keep offering them the mushiest ones periodically and see how it goes.

She reassured me that, eventually, they will "get it" but on their own time frame and not mine and that its a waste of mommy's time/energy to keep stressing about what their intake is each day. (That is really hard for me to let go of, since I've been tracking their daily intake since Day 1!)

Anyway, hugs to you and please keep posting so we can support each other through this phase!

40+mom
Carter and Fiona -- 11 months