How to Navigate Baby’s Loss of Appetite at 12 Months
Was your baby a champion eater throughout infancy, devouring bottles and first foods with a healthy appetite...only to reach about 12 months and start seeming to be satisfied after only a couple of crackers?
What happened? And should you worry about this shift in your baby’s appetite?
Why is my12-Month old eating less than usual?
It’s very common for a baby's appetite to decrease as they enter toddlerhood and for kids between 1 and 5 years old to seem less hungry. Infancy is a time of rapid growth - in fact, most babies triple their birth weight in the first year.
In addition, tiny bellies can only take in small amounts of food at a time, so infants eat more often which can make it feel like babies are always hungry!
Then toddlerhood hits, growth naturally slows, and babies’ once seemingly larger appetites tend to slow as well. There are physiological and developmental reasons for this shift in appetite as a baby reaches toddlerhood.
The natural growth rate slows at right about the same time toddlers recognize that they have their own opinions and taste preferences. Bouts of picky eating and appetite fluctuations are normal parts of this developmental stage.
As long as a baby is healthy and growing, a smaller appetite is usually nothing to worry about. Nutrient needs fluctuate depending on growth spurts, metabolism, and activity level.
But sometimes, a poor appetite might be a sign of something else going on.
Keep reading to learn about additional causes for a baby’s loss of appetite and how to navigate.
Feeling sick
It's not easy to prevent a baby from using their mouth to explore the world. Unfortunately, as a result, they come in contact with a lot of bacteria and viruses from being around other kids and touching everything!
Between sucking on their hands and their developing immune system, babies are vulnerable to common childhood illnesses such as upper respiratory infections, tonsillitis, ear infections, and sore throats. And like adults, a baby feeling under the weather may not want to eat. Ear infections and sore throats can even make it painful to swallow food.
Sick children must have fluids even when they’re not interested in eating. Consult with your doctor and encourage hydration as best you can. As long as it’s a minor illness and your baby is drinking and wetting diapers, acutely poor appetite usually passes quickly.
Teething
It’s common for babies to lose their appetite when they’re teething. Gums are tender and swollen. Any food in their mouth might feel uncomfortable or even painful.
After vaccination
Some childhood vaccinations cause minor reactions, including lethargy, mild fever, body aches, and a temporary loss of appetite that resolves on its own quickly.
Constipation
It’s not always easy to get a small child interested in eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. They may be missing out on fiber that keeps things running smoothly through the digestive tract. Parents generally know that constipation can cause belly pain, but another symptom of constipation is loss of appetite. If your baby is constipated, they might have belly cramps and feel too full or uncomfortable to eat.
Oral aversion & sensory issues
It's common for babies to reject food when transitioning from the bottle or breast to solids or breast to the bottle. It can also be an oral aversion.
Oral aversion is when a baby rejects food and refuses to eat. Gagging and refusing to touch or put food in their mouth are signs of this feeding disorder. Sometimes kids have an aversion to a specific texture or color. Oral aversion is more common in children with an autism spectrum disorder.
A food allergy or intolerance
Food allergies and food intolerances not only cause a loss of appetite, but your baby may be in too much pain to eat. For example, Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease and food intolerance that causes gastrointestinal symptoms and other issues in response to gluten, including a distended belly, cramping, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Not hungry
Maybe your baby hasn’t lost their appetite, but they’re full from the last meal or snack. Grazing on baby-led weaning favorites like Cheerios, crackers, and other finger foods can fill little tummies without parents realizing it.
And what a baby eats now can also affect hunger levels later. Meals high in fiber, fat, or protein are filling. So babies might be satisfied longer than usual depending on what they last ate.
What to do if a baby is eating less than usual?
Here’s an article with several recommendations on how to get your baby interested in food, based on my experience in private practice as an infant feeding expert. Reach out to your pediatrician for guidance if you're concerned that your baby's loss of appetite is related to a physical or behavioral reason. Pediatric registered dietitians, feeding therapists and pediatric speech-language pathologists are other health professionals specializing in this area who can help.
Don’t feed when babies are sleepy or distracted
Eating without distractions is good advice for both adults and kids. Kids tend to avoid the potty and food when they’re having fun. If young kids eat while playing or watching television, they might be too preoccupied to finish eating.
Don’t force-feed or pressure babies to eat
Force-feeding can have the opposite effect of what was intended. Meals can feel like punishment when parents force kids to eat. And they may lose their appetite.
Allow kids to feed themselves once they're able to. Once a child can hold a spoon and is ready to eat solid foods without help, it’s best to no longer spoon-feed.
Follow Ellyn Satter’s “division of responsibility.” Parents are responsible for what, when, and where children eat. Babies and children are responsible for how much and/or whether they eat.
Offer foods your baby likes
Offering your child's favorite foods is a gentle way to encourage them to eat. Try smaller portions if your baby is eating a little but not finishing the meal. Some parents overestimate their food needs, which can be overwhelming.
Watch the snacks (& drinks!)
While toddlers may lose interest in meals if they graze throughout the day on snacks, drinking too much milk and juice can also affect appetite.
Limit milk to 16 fluid ounces per day and consider offering whole soft fruits that are mashed or chopped, instead of fruit juices.
Create pleasant mealtimes
I know it’s hard, but try to avoid saying anything about how much or how little your child eats.
Family mealtime stress creates power struggles and may worsen picky eating and poor appetites.
On the other hand, pleasant and calm mealtimes help kids follow hunger and fullness cues and develop a healthy relationship with food.
Offer foods that help with teething relief
You don't need me to tell you that teething is painful if you've stayed up all night soothing a crying teething baby! Parents can help relieve teething pain by making "ice pops" out of formula or breast milk and offering teething rings as well as foods that are more comfortable to eat.
Soft foods like yogurt and applesauce are sometimes easier for babies to eat when gums are sore.
Cool foods also soothe swollen and painful gums.
Hard foods might also help ease the pain. For example, chewing or biting on harder foods or teething rings relieves the pressure of the tooth cutting through the gum.
When to call your pediatrician
It can be tricky to determine the line between “wait and see” and “call the doctor ASAP.”
Babies can dehydrate very quickly, and even a minor loss of body weight can be significant for their little bodies. These are some signs when a baby’s loss of appetite might be more serious, and you shouldn’t wait to call your pediatrician.
Suspect a feeding disorder (oral aversion)
Falls off their growth curve or experiences weight loss
Lethargic or appears to be in pain
Loss of appetite with vomiting and diarrhea
Signs of dehydration
High fever or is very sick, especially for more than a couple of days
Baby has not been eating at all for more than a couple of days
Final Thoughts
It’s perfectly normal for a child’s appetite to fluctuate. Try not to compare your baby’s appetite to a friend’s baby or to how your baby ate a few months ago. As long as babies are energetic, filling diapers, seemingly satisfied, and growing along their growth curve, these temporary losses of appetite are usually not a concern. If your baby’s loss of appetite lasts more than a few days or you’re worried, talk to your pediatrician for more guidance.
If you’re getting ready to start your baby on solids, download my FREE Baby-Led Feeding Essential Checklist to make sure you have everything you need to get started. You might also want to check out my new online course for parents, based on my best-selling book which will walk you through the whole process of starting solids using a baby-led approach.
Alternatively, if your baby is almost ready to start solids and you’re looking for someone you trust to map out the entire first 12 weeks of your baby’s solid food feeding journey, check out my new Safe & Simple 12-Week Meal Plan! Over 30 recipes, weekly shopping lists, tons of balanced baby meals, a complete plan for top allergen introduction, & lots of guidance (with photos) on how to safely serve each food.
And if you're looking for personalized nutrition support for yourself, your babies, and/or your kids, I am currently accepting new clients in my virtual private practice. Looking forward to meeting you online…
