Why do I even bother feeding this child?!

[Sassygirl]

So I have this little guy who started with me in August. He is now 12 months old. He still has formula bottles 3x a day here one 8oz before morning nap (8:30), lunch is served at 11, one 8oz before afternoon nap (12:30) and a small 4oz on with afternoon snack (3:30ish). He is here from 7-4:30. He arrives here without having been fed anything and drinks his water from his sippy cup and basically throws or smears anything else I offer him. Same goes for lunch and snack. Sighhh. I am so annoyed by this. He is barely in his highchair 5 mins and I get him down. Food throwing and smearing makes me crazy!!! I am at the point where I am just tempted not to even bother offering him anything except his bottles of formula and water in his cups. I feel like its a wasted effort, work getting him into the chair, work cleaning up his smearing throwing mess and hes not even eating.
Any advice ladies???
I have mentioned this to mom and she says he does it at home too. Although she will offer him pureed baby food still... Groan... Which I will not do here.

[AmandaKDT]

HE needs his formula cut way back if he is going to be eating better. He is too used to just drinking his food. I would be getting the mom and yourself not offering more than 4 ounces of formula at a time, and not until after solids have been offered. He likely isn't that hungry and makes him less interested in trying the food. I have had two fussy eating daughters, so know your frustration!

[Fun&care]

That sounds like way too much formula if you ask me. Most of my 12 month olds come with one 8 oz bottle of milk that they get AFTER they have eaten lunch. And that's it for the day. It's no wonder he isn't hungry. Also, at my house no one is allowed to get up from their chair until everyone is done or almost done eating. So if a picky kid just eats one bite and is done within 5 mins, he still has to sit and wait for the others to finish, sometimes up to 20 minutes. What happens then is that they get bored of waiting, will start playing with their food a little, and eventually try a few ore bites without me having to ask. So my advice is, ask mom to cut back on formula, and leave him in his high chair even when he seems to be done, but ONLY give small portions to avoid throwing. If he throws everything on the floor, delay getting him another serving, eventually he will learn that throwing food=not eating or having to wait a while before getting more.

[JennJubie]

I'm with the other ladies here. Too much formula. I had one little guy who wasn't very interested in his food either, and talked to mom about moving the formula away from lunch or snack times. It helped a lot.

[playfelt]

If he can take water from a sippy cup he should be off bottles at least in the daytime too. It takes more effort to drink from the cup than the bottle.

He probably gets a bottle of milk at home when he wakes up - so of course doesn't need breakfast then has another one at snack/nap. He should be given some dry cereal like cheerios and a sippy of 4 oz of milk before his nap. And offered the other 4 oz in a cup when he wakes up. At lunch he gets just the sippy of water and some food - no puree cause he is going to smear it since he has no idea what to do with it if he is fed at home. If he isn't eating table foods you will have to feed him if you don't want the mess. The other bottle should be used 4 oz after lunch and other 4 oz when he wakes up and the extra 4 oz sent not used unless there is a late pick up.

When the amount of milk he is given at a time is reduced he should start to eat more.

[Crayola kiddies]

At 12 months he shouldn't even be on a bottle never mind formula unless there is a medical reason. I wouldn't give him any bottles at all. Put water in his sippy cup or homo milk and don't give it to him till after he eats. Put food on his tray ( no purée) and when he picks it up to throw you take ahold his hands and go close to his face and with a very serious face and tone you say " no throwing food" and keeping doing it over and over ... If he manages to toss something then pick it up and put it on his tray and say again no throwing food ..... I don't have any food throwers and when I start a young one I jump on it right away. I have one here now that I have had since he was 12 months and I stopped the food throwing right away but I know that currently he at 23 months is still allowed to throw food at home. I have a 12 month old starting in nov and i sure ill be jumping on that band wagon again.

[Momof4]

I have a 9 month old who is on one bottle a day before his nap, then he nurses morning and night. But I've only had one family who kept the naptime bottle past about 14 months of age. The child in your care isn't getting all the nutrients from fruits and veggies that they need to grow. I know all parents have different ideas about how to feed their children, but maybe you could research and find some articles that you could email to this family? You know your clients best. A face to face talk is usually the best method when the issue is this big.

[mickyc]

I hear you. I have an 11 month old right now and the mom was sending 3 8-oz bottles a day (only here from 7:30-3:30). I only ever fed her 2 - 1 for morning nap and 2nd for afternoon nap. I have no idea when the mom expected me to feed her all these bottles. I think the bottles are just milk and not formula. The 11month old barely eats anything and I know it is because she is too full from all that milk. I just give a very small portion of food. I don't allow her to make a mess. I give a firm NO and squeeze her hand slightly when she throws food on the floor. If she makes a mess with her sippy cup of water (she sticks her finger in the hole until it pours out) then I take it away.

[5 Little Monkeys]

If it were me, I would give him his milk once a day. I personally would do it at afternoon snack and I would put it in a sippy cup. I would give him finger foods for morning snack and lunch with a sippy cup of water. He is most likely smearing the food because he is full and it gives him something to do while the other kids eat. At 12 months he is more than capable of eating soft finger foods and I wouldn't puree his food either. I think if he decreases his milk intake the food smearing will stop.

[Sassygirl]

I have no idea why he has so much formula... Probably a cycle, hes not eating properly so she gives him a bottle to compensate and back again to the not eating because hes full.
I am the mom of soon to be 5 so I know this issue quite well. What I will do is start cutting his amounts at nap to 4 oz then nothing all together and get rid of the snack bottle may have some screaming at naptime for awhile. Funny, he does well at snack since its usually outside while we are in the backyard walking around playing so I give things like rice cakes, pitas etc.
He is basically in the highchair for maybe 5 mins at a time before I remove his tray because he just sits there and looks at the food for the longest time (no matter what I make) then he starts smearing and throwing. Drives me nuts!
I do make him sit in the chair without his tray buckled in. Although to be honest, depends on my patience level, some days I just get him down and put him back in the playroom.
Really wish parents would have their children better prepared for daycare nowadays grrr.