I have a little personal experience with this. My current 17 mon old boy is very small and up until this week seemed to be refusing all solids. He wanted to sit at the table with us and play with food but he very rarely ingested any of it. He seemed to have had a bad experience with carrots a few weeks ago. I think they made his mouth itch or hurt judging by the way he ripped at his mouth after forcefully spitting them out. I also suspect some other allergies and possibly asthma ( the child coughs all night all the time) I removed all solids and denied him food to play with for almost two weeks, and now he seems eager to eat. I really think it was the bad experience that turned him off to solids. So have this baby checked for allergies! If his mouth itches or hurts who can blame him for not wanting to eat. I should note however that Ben is still a huge nurser, and although he is very small ( 20.5 lbs now at 17 Mon) he is very developmentally stable - speaking, running, climbing, etc. :)(o) Jenni - [log in to unmask] Wife to Jay, mom to Paisley-8, James-6, Mariposa-3, and Benjamin-1, LLLL "When you are dealing with a child, keep all your wits about you, and sit on the floor." -Austin O'Malley http://www.geocities.com/heartland/park/5219 http://www.paisleysplace.com You write: I had a call yesterday from a nurse on the "Feeding Team" at our local Children's Resource Center (CRS) regarding a 17-month old child who refuses to eat solids, and will only breastfeed. This child is receiving 5-6 ounces of pediasure per day in addition to "constant" breastfeeding. He will take no solids, and is close to being hospitalized due to Failure to Thrive. This child was referred to CRS by the pediatrician, who didn't know what to do. The GI physician at CRS is telling staff that this child needs to be completely separated from the mother for at least one week - the Dr. says he doesn't care how the separation takes place, be it hospital, even the Crisis Nursery. The point is, this child will be forced to eat if mom is nowhere around. Mom is an educated woman of mexican decent, and I'm told she is very quiet and compliant when she is at CRS. Last month the Dr told her she must completely wean her baby, and she nodded her head and said OK, no problem. At the follow- up call one month later, she told the staff that her child cried for 2 hours, and that her husband said to feed the baby at the breast because he didn't want to hear the crying anymore. Evidently, all medical and behavioral issues have been ruled out. They called me for advice. I suggested that one of the public health nurses from the health department be contacted to conduct a home visit to this mother, and assess feeding/behavioral issues in a new way. CRS thinks that might be a good idea. I personally can't believe they haven't done this yet, but I guess they don't have resources to do it. Have any of you dealt with this type of issue before, and can you help me offer other suggestions? Thanks so much. Brenda Phipps, BS, IBCLC ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]