Only eats solids at daycare
My daughter is 13 months old, at around 8-9 months she really started to take to solids and was eating 3 meals a day.
She then got a cold a few weeks ago after starting childcare, she goes twice a week.
She has absolutely hated solids at home since then, she will be at worst be crying when we try to feed her but will gladly literally guzzle down a bottle or she will have a couple bites before spitting it out, throwing it etc. However at daycare she is eating 2-3 serves of morning tea, all of her lunch, having a bottle and 2-3 serves of afternoon tea.
I know at daycare she is eating with the other kids and probably modelling after them but I’m at my wit’s end trying to get her to eat at home the other 5 days a week. But we end up giving her bottles because she’s clearly hungry and will not eat solids.
I don’t want her on bottles really as I worry about her nutrition and health, we had worked our way down to 3 bottles and 3 meals a day before this.
I eat with her, I model chewing. I don’t know what to do 😭
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It could be that she isn’t feeling the greatest yet? I know my son’s first few colds and sore throats dragged on for aaages.
For Daycare I would put it down to seeing the other children eat. At home maybe take the solids back a few steps and see if she’ll take things like custard or yoghurt, some of the fruit and vegetable pouches.
we’ve been offering yoghurt and fruit for breakfast which has always been a safe and favourite food. And making a plain rice soup for dinner which again has always been a safe and favourite and still rejecting those 😭
any chance there are teeth coming through as well? Always caused a good strike in our house.
I personally wouldn’t worry, and just keep going about things as normal. Offering food and having the bottles there if need be, but not defaulting to them. She is still getting food at daycare and will pick back up at home eventually as well I’m sure!
Does the daycare provide the food? I ask because I've had two kids go through childcare where they provided the meals and compared to my meals at home, theirs had more flavour (including salt and sugar, which I avoided). Adding more spices or trying to replicate some of what they offer, might help.
At 13 months I would ditch the bottles and offer full fat cow's milk in a cup as it is likely you may be in a perpetual cycle where you're offering a bottle of milk to fill up your daughter but then she doesn't have enough appetite/hunger to eat at home. The social pressure of conforming to what others are doing at daycare is probably making her eat well at daycare, but then she doesn't have the same at home. The Raising Children Network website has some useful info on weaning off the bottle and also explains the various reasons why bottles need to stop once a baby is 12m+.
The main meal for toddlers is lunch, not dinner so it's often the case that they eat less solids in the evening.
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