DaisyDoo

When I ask my mum (a mother of six) for advice if one of my two are having a 'not eating' phase, she just says, "just give him/her what they want...........!" as one of my brothers ate rice pudding only mainly for the firs 6 years (no family meals accepted) & the other had a LOT of jam sandwiches. They are both 6 feet + strong men now & all of us LOVE our food so kids can go through phases but if the parent remains calm & positive, they come through in the end :)

My sympathies wih you, its natural to be stressed as you want to be able to nourish your child as a parent. My daughter spent about 4 months from the age of 8 months or so just eating one soft boiled (!!) egg & a piece of chicken liver each day & a bit of wheatabix for breakfast. I was worried sick. She is the best eater I know now at the age of almost 4 & everyone remarks at the range of food she eats. I agree with others, going back a stage not armful in my experience so if just puree, just wheatabix or easy porridge work, so be it, my daughter ate wheatabix for breakfast, lunch, dinner for many many weeks (I would always try more stage and tiem appropriate food first of course). I offered that as was calorific. I also agree with others that try to make what she does have calorific not so fruity as she is taking in little at the moment. I did, in my desperation (not to say this is the right way), try lots of new foods - I just left them on her tray, tried them myself but NEVER put them to her mouth as she was always very independent & very upset if I tried to feed her. I just took all the food offered & not tried calmly & with a smile as i didn't want her to know of my anxiety. I also used TV but more than that, musical hard plastic books that could get messy & be cleaned. I agree it take stheir mind off. I sang LOTS during meal time & I found that it distracted me from being anxious infront of my daughter as well as relaxing her. I also taught her the sign for finished so before she could talk, she signed 'finished' to me & I always respected her wish to finish & as others advised, just try a little later. Wishing you the best. My experience showed me it was very important to stay calm and not be anxious or upset especially infront of my daughter. I have no doubt this phase will pass for your daughter as soon as she is well & as long as she did not experience negative experiences associated with food during her unwell phase, she will slot back into a good eating routine.

You are supposed to night & day train same time & once child is dry in day, take nappies off. That's what we did at 2:5 years of age for our daughter & bought a fab mattress protector same time, took her for a wee in her sleep at 11p.m. & a year & half later, we've had maximum 5 accidents. They get mixed messages if one rule for day & other for night & they have to get wet to realise.............. Good luck

What good advice & support you've had on this from the replies & how hard it must be for you & your daughter with such lack of sleep. If i were you, I wouldn't hesitate at all to refer her to the specialist sleep clinic, i believe its in the Evelina children's hospital within Guy's & St Thomas's??!!! They are the experts & will do investigations to find out exactly what is going on & what to do. Alos, do explore tooth, tummy, ear ache but don't let your GP take you off tangent, do have that referral made as well. Best wishes

Used neem oil, camomile oil, lavender oil & base cream put together by Neal's yard in Blackheath & did magic where nothing else worked - for an adult though.

Do see your GP. Your child could have GOR; Gastro Oesophageal Reflux or reflux as its commonly known. & yes, Speech & language therapists who specialise in feeding assess feeding skills. Good luck

EXACTLY the sam ething happened to me even though I introduced bottle at 3 weeks & he took it very well. You could just leave the bottle for now, introduce cup driking at 4 months as is the government guideline & have a break whislt she drinks from cup from your partner frm 4 months old? That's what I'm doing as my very content & happy baby was crying for up to 2 hours whilst we tried getting just 2oz down him through the bottle & now he is a happy baby for the whole day again :) I kno wits a very different advice to what you may have been looking for! But 4 months of age comes round SO quick.............

You need a referral to the community team as the King's SLTs see inpatients & caseload that have physiological swallowign difficutties as opposed to difficulty transitioning to the next stage texture. I should've said that by 'bite & dissolve' textures I meant anything that is like wotsits texture or kitkats/chocolate buttons (these more bite & melt but very safe to offer as well). Have such finer foods available as you prepare the meal so your child can experiment if wished to with no pressure. Good luck.

I agree with the finger foods suggestion; make these of "bite & dissolve" texture as very safe as dissolve in the mouth so no risk. Offer finger foods a lot, steamed fruit & veg as well as very ripe soft fruits all unpureed. You should also refer your child to your local speech therapy service, to be seen by a feeding trained speech therapist, usually part of the complex needs team but not always - hopefuly they see children who are having difficulties with moving on from a certain texture due to GERD. With recent cuts, services are offering les & less of course. It is really important that you remain very relaxed durign meal times & do no put any pressure on your child to eat no matter how positively it is done. Good luck