One year old refusing to eat!

I need some advice, I'm starting my day home in October and I've been making meal plans for the kids...I think I'm going to have my hands full between eating and napping these children! One of my kids is a vegetarian with lactose intolerance, so his meals are pretty limited and now I'm finding out a 1 year old I am getting is only eating formula. His mom says he cries the second he's put in his high chair. I'm wondering if he will just adjust and eat for me, since I'm not his mom. Any suggestions? His mom says she's tried every texture and letting him eat on his own, with her help, etc.

Thoughts?

is there something wrong with him? tummy trouble? maybe he feels sick when he eats. maybe he's just picky, keep trying, if he's not eating for Mom too, keep going. If he is not eating just at your house? I would give it so long and discontinue care, I am in it for the child first...improper nutrition is a NO GO for me!!!

I started a one year old last month on formula only and refusing to eat foods. He was on four 8 ounce bottles of formula and in care from 7 - 4:30.

Since I make up the bottles as I need them the first thing I did was cut down the number of ounces and put him in his chair with fingerfoods - there are some in the baby section that seemed like a good idea to start with so tried them. He is gradualliy eating more and more foods for me but not at home and I haven't figured out how to tell the parents yet that I went against their instructions and changed his eating menu so for now just keeping it to myself knowing in my heart I am doing what is right for him.

Don't they see his poop? I would be worried they'd ask what you've been feeding him. I can always see what the kids have eaten the night before, in their diaper. :)

I have a boy here who is lactose intolerant and I have a clause in my contract that all specialty foods must be sent by the parents. That would include vegan meals. I'm too overworked to have to prepare special food and I'm not making enough profit to pay for special food. My family in care send the lactose-free milk and cheese weekly for their son.

Yes his poops are green and one of the causes is lack of food. The parents have tried foods but say he won't eat them. If you hold a spoon near him all he wants to do is suck it off the spoon. I am working at getting the spoon actually into the mouth and making great progress. It wasn't that they said I couldnt' give him food but that he didn't like it so they just weren't bothering. I am more willing to put up with his protests and make him eat it anyways and it is working.

Playfelt, that's helpful - thank you.

Momof4, the mom is under a LOT of pressure right now, so I told her I'd give it a try and if it wasn't working, she'd need to provide at least his lunch meal.

As for the one year old, I know that he has always had a LOT of trouble with GERD, and the pediatrician swore it would be gone by now.

I had a child that at 18 months was so severe with GERD that he was put on the p rescription version of prevacid even though it says not for under age 2. The way the doctor explained the problem to the mom is have you ever stuffed your mouth full of potato chips and then not chewed enough and swallowed and there were some sharp edges that hurt on the way down. Well that is the way every food this child ate felt like his throat was so irritated. At age 3 we were beginning to progress beyond puree. Up to that point he could not handle any chunk at all and that included commercial applesauce - it had to be pureed finer. The miracle blender became my best friend.

He is 6 now and last reports from his mom say he eats a lot of foods especially starchy stuff ok if they are slippery such as noodles need a sauce on them. Warm foods much better than cold foods. And he needs a lot of water to drink while he eats as in a sip between bites.

Ya if the child suffers from GERD than it is going to take time and patience to find foods that are tolerable to his digestion and do not aggravate it ... I would opt for homemade foods that you can control the consistency and additives / preservatives that will aggravate the acid in the stomach.

I would certainly keep trying and being patient ... it is not that he is trying to be manipulative to hold out for something more palatable in this case but the fact that he is just plain 'afraid of food' due to the association of pain while eating it will take time to help him realize that is not always so ... I still would not cater to the 'starchy stuff' they tend to prefer though and keep up with fruits / veggies / meat just in the blander less acidic versions for now to avoid turning this into a picky eater issue later!

Do they have him adjusted? I know it sounds new age to some people but I swear that chiropractic adjustments work wonders with this ~ I had an infant in care whose parent started taking them at my suggestion and within 1 week of daily adjustments at first almost all the symptoms were gone and as long as we did not offer anything too 'acidic' the child was awesome with meal time! Eventually they weaned back to weekly and than biweekly visits and than monthly to maintain.