Misconceptions
Babies must eat the exact amount the clinic sister/doctor/book says.
Every baby/toddler is an individual, even babies of the same age and weight will eat different amounts at different times.
Babies must eat directly after finishing their milk feed.
Some babies may quite happily eat soon after finishing their milk feed but many would be better off with a half-hour or longer break between the two.
Babies must eat more than the day/week before.
The amount your baby eats may stay the same for a few weeks before he has the next growth spurt.
Babies must eat when they are ill or teething.
Many babies eat far less when they are off-colour, keeping up their fluid intake is far more important than eating solids.
Babies must eat at scheduled times.
There may be times when the schedule does not work, for instance when your baby is tired, has just woken up or has been snacking.
Reasons for a poor appetite
The most common reason for babies having a poor appetite when it comes to eating solids, is that their fluid intake is excessive.
Milk versus solids:
Until the age of six months milk is more important in your babies diet than solid food.
It would be expected that once your baby is having solids, he or she would drop one or two milk feeds by six months. However, should your baby drop more milk feeds, one needs to offer less solids.
On the other hand your baby may be six months or older and still only having a few spoons full per meal.
One could then start decreasing her milk intake accordingly:
- Breast-fed babies could still have four to six feeds in 24 hours.
- Formula babies could still have 600 - 800ml in 24 hours. More milk than just mentioned is likely to inhibit your baby's appetite.
Juice versus milk or solids
Another common reason for babies having a poor appetite is an excessive juice intake: it may be that your baby prefers drinking to eating and therefor satisfies his or her appetite by continually sipping juice.
- A 6-month-old baby needs 200ml of juice or less in 24 hours. Even this may be too much for some babies.
- It is also preferable for your baby to drink the juice from a cup and not a bottle. This limits the juice lover's intake and helps prevent tooth decay.
- Avoid substituting milk for juice at night. Once a baby no longer needs milk at night he does not need juice either: water will have to do.
- Babies who eat too much cereal won't eat much else.
- Babies who sleep well at night may be exceptionally hungry at breakfast and eat large portions of cereal for breakfast and not be hungry at lunchtime.
- Fussy eaters should have cereal once a day only or they would be more likely to refuse other foods.
The sweet tooth
When starting solids, it is best to start with vegetables rather than fruit, as some babies may refuse vegetables once they have got used to the sweeter fruits.
The same could be said for other sweeter foods like yoghurt or sweet biscuits in the case of older babies.
Few babies would refuse sweeter foods after starting on vegetables. Vegetables are also more likely to meet their nutritional needs.
Snacking
Snacks between meals should be small, not close to meal times and healthy.