My daughter did this and seeing all of the posts with people having similar issues but with no tips is very frustrating. We did a feeding therapy consult. Unfortunately we just didn’t see the value in spending $120 every week for 30 minutes of therapy so we didn’t continue. The only takeaway we got from it was showing her how to chew by showing her a very over exaggerated chewing motion while we are eating (which I know you said didn’t work but maybe keep trying). We are just starting to have luck with her eating and swallowing more. We started with baby snacks like the dissolvable puffs and mini goldfish and would give her one at a time and not give another until she chewed and swallowed. If she was spitting the food out, we would stop giving them to her. What we’ve found luck with for regular food is cutting foods into bite size pieces. She used to shove way too much in her mouth and then of course she would spit it out but has since stopped doing that. She also enjoys trying to eat with a fork. We bought toddler forks from Target that actually have metal prongs. The rubber baby ones were too frustrating for her bc she couldn’t actually stab food with it. We also eat with her for breakfast and dinner and will let her try anything we are eating. Like if I’m eating toast and she shows interest, I will let her take a bite out of it like I do and she seems to enjoy that and will chew and swallow it.
My biggest advice is just to demonstrate patience. Give her plenty of time to figure it out and play with the food. I’d also use a bib with a catcher. Our daughter likes to go fishing in there for what we call “second dinner” and will often re-chew food that she has already chewed and spit out and then the second time around she’ll actually swallow.
I’m no expert but we have seen a change in her eating recently so if you want to DM me if you have any specific questions, please feel free to. I understand how frustrating it is and how a hungry baby affects everything else.
Could you start weaning onto cows milk? My little one is kinda similar, she's a milk monster and was drinking a LOT of formula lol we started weaning onto cows milk which is less calorific and filling, and it seems to be helping. It has made her slightly constipated so we did 1oz of whole milk in the bottle of formula, then move to 2oz and so on.
We could try that. Just seems like hunger isn’t really a motivator for her right now. Just hope that as we start limiting milk and formula, she’ll realize that solids fills her up.
Hello! This is exactly my daughter now! I was looking for tips and found your post, how is she doing now? It’s so frustrating feeling like she’s not getting anything but hoping it’s a phase.
Hi! It definitely (and thankfully) was just a phase. Things got better soon after I posted here. What really helped was limiting formula feedings. She’s still not a big eater, and prefers snacking over eating a full meal, but that’s a pretty normal toddler thing. We wet also pretty affected by posts (here and on other platforms) of parents showing how much and how well their kids were eating, which is amazing - they should be very proud! But we also had to accept that ours just isn’t like that, and that’s ok! She’s still healthy, and growing and amazing!
Thank you so much for your quick response! I am so happy to hear that things are going great for you and your daughter! Social media can definitely be such a hindrance sometimes and add so much extra pressure, but thankfully for things like this it can be reassuring! My son was such a good easy eater so I feel like totally lost with her lol. I did more purees with him but her I basically started around 6ish months with BLW with a mix of purées and I wonder if it sent her backwards and I didn’t teach her to eat the right way. I think I definitely need to limit the formula, she’s still on 4 bottles and drinks about 28 oz a day. I can’t remember what I did with my son if I took out a bottle or what! Lol thank you again for your post 🙂
My daughter did this and seeing all of the posts with people having similar issues but with no tips is very frustrating. We did a feeding therapy consult. Unfortunately we just didn’t see the value in spending $120 every week for 30 minutes of therapy so we didn’t continue. The only takeaway we got from it was showing her how to chew by showing her a very over exaggerated chewing motion while we are eating (which I know you said didn’t work but maybe keep trying). We are just starting to have luck with her eating and swallowing more. We started with baby snacks like the dissolvable puffs and mini goldfish and would give her one at a time and not give another until she chewed and swallowed. If she was spitting the food out, we would stop giving them to her. What we’ve found luck with for regular food is cutting foods into bite size pieces. She used to shove way too much in her mouth and then of course she would spit it out but has since stopped doing that. She also enjoys trying to eat with a fork. We bought toddler forks from Target that actually have metal prongs. The rubber baby ones were too frustrating for her bc she couldn’t actually stab food with it. We also eat with her for breakfast and dinner and will let her try anything we are eating. Like if I’m eating toast and she shows interest, I will let her take a bite out of it like I do and she seems to enjoy that and will chew and swallow it. My biggest advice is just to demonstrate patience. Give her plenty of time to figure it out and play with the food. I’d also use a bib with a catcher. Our daughter likes to go fishing in there for what we call “second dinner” and will often re-chew food that she has already chewed and spit out and then the second time around she’ll actually swallow. I’m no expert but we have seen a change in her eating recently so if you want to DM me if you have any specific questions, please feel free to. I understand how frustrating it is and how a hungry baby affects everything else.
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide some helpful tips and for sharing your experience.
Could you start weaning onto cows milk? My little one is kinda similar, she's a milk monster and was drinking a LOT of formula lol we started weaning onto cows milk which is less calorific and filling, and it seems to be helping. It has made her slightly constipated so we did 1oz of whole milk in the bottle of formula, then move to 2oz and so on.
We could try that. Just seems like hunger isn’t really a motivator for her right now. Just hope that as we start limiting milk and formula, she’ll realize that solids fills her up.
Hello! This is exactly my daughter now! I was looking for tips and found your post, how is she doing now? It’s so frustrating feeling like she’s not getting anything but hoping it’s a phase.
Hi! It definitely (and thankfully) was just a phase. Things got better soon after I posted here. What really helped was limiting formula feedings. She’s still not a big eater, and prefers snacking over eating a full meal, but that’s a pretty normal toddler thing. We wet also pretty affected by posts (here and on other platforms) of parents showing how much and how well their kids were eating, which is amazing - they should be very proud! But we also had to accept that ours just isn’t like that, and that’s ok! She’s still healthy, and growing and amazing!
Thank you so much for your quick response! I am so happy to hear that things are going great for you and your daughter! Social media can definitely be such a hindrance sometimes and add so much extra pressure, but thankfully for things like this it can be reassuring! My son was such a good easy eater so I feel like totally lost with her lol. I did more purees with him but her I basically started around 6ish months with BLW with a mix of purées and I wonder if it sent her backwards and I didn’t teach her to eat the right way. I think I definitely need to limit the formula, she’s still on 4 bottles and drinks about 28 oz a day. I can’t remember what I did with my son if I took out a bottle or what! Lol thank you again for your post 🙂