Questions to all moms.

My daughter began eating fried chicken at seven months. She never did like the baby gerber foods. Too little nutrition. Too few calories. You're the mom, so do what feels right for you and your child. Try bananas, peaches, fruit, etc. She may like the taste. Some kids like to feed themselves, and some want to be fed. So, try cutting things into small pieces and give her the spoon. See what she does. Just beware fruits like cherries and grapes, as they are choke hazards for small children and babies. Peanut butter is too. And, always cut hotdogs into tiny pieces so they don't get stuck in the throat. My trick was to set my baby into her round exercise saucer and then put cheerio ceral, macaroni and fruit pieces on the serving tray in front of her. Or, inside a small bowl in front of her where she could reach it and eat at her own pace. Some kids eat better while watching TV. So, maybe she could watch her favorite program while she munches on something. If she only eats a little at a time, try feeding once an hour. If she's only been eating soft foods till now, or just the bottle, it will take awhile for her to get used to food. My daughter always loved macaroni and cheese and such. It's an easy way to sneak lots of extra calories into them without them complaining too much. She was crazy about American soft cheese and shredded cheddar cheese and even pizza by the time she was one year old. It's very soft and easily digestible. Try soft breads, too. She can hold a piece in her hand and eat it herself. Just take off the crusty top part that is hard to eat, and give her the soft inner part. That worked for mine. Cereal, like Cheerios is not bad either, and most pediatricians recommend it. A nurse recommended that I try the generic version of Cheerios because it doesn't dissolve so easily, so the kid can hold it better. Ask your pediatrician about liquid iron or liquid vitamins that you can mix into cereal or juice for your child. Cows milk is very filling. And, I find that when my daughter drinks milk anytime during the day she eats less. So, it's possible your daughter is filling up on milk and doesn't feel she needs any food. Best of luck.

Shorva, I personally wouldn't worry about her being under weight. My son was like that and he just wouldn't eat either when he was 10 months old. But it was just a period he was going through, I think. He evenually started eating. Alot of times teeth coming in will make them not want to eat. Unless there is some other medical problem I don't think you should worry about it. My son finally started gaining weight but as far as what the 'standard' is for what a child is to weight at certain ages, I just don't pay any attention to it. My answers to your questions are (and this is going by my own experiences with my 4 children) I would feed them when we ate or if they wanted something in between and it wasn't to close to a meal. I didn't push it if they didn't want anything to eat. I would offer them pieces of apple or such if they didn't want to eat food. Otherwise I would feed them from my plate. Mine never cared for baby food. Sippy cups, mine started using them around 1 or so year and I would just offer it to them every chance I got and evenually they starteed taking it. But until then I continued to give them their bottle. I don't think there is a certain age to be off the bottle. Of course you wouldn't want her to be still on one at two years but 11 months isn't that bad.Some people want to rush babies...let them be babies! They are grown before you know it! I gave mine vitimins by drops in their mouth. This helped if they just didn't care to eat at the time. Mixing with milk, I think, would be fine. Sleeping through the night, well that differs with every child and again I don't think there is a rule for that either. One of mine started at 6 months, another 1 year..and another later than that it just depends on the child. I never let mine sleep with me and I would just put them down and evenually I stopped going everytime they woke up in the night. I would let them go back to sleep on their own, even if I had to lay in my bed while they cried for 20 mintutes. (Of course I made sure they were dry and weren't hungry) but if not then I left them to cry themselves back to sleep. Eventually they learned that if they woke in the night they should go back to sleep. Make sure you give her plenty of milk before she goes to bed and just try to get her to eat solid foods when she will. But try not to worry about it if she doesn't. Everything will pan out sooner of later. Most of all quit thinking yourself the worst mom in the world!! I was once "a first mom" too but I now have a 21, 18 14 and 10 year old that are healthy, suffer no ill effects from me, for not know exactly what to do. I didn't let Drs. dictate to me exactly how much my children should weight or how often they should eat or anything else....as long as they weren't sick..I just used my Mommy instincts. Sit back, relax and i'm sure your mommy instincts will kick in. You have to watch out who you listen to when you get advise, sometimes that can mess you up so bad that you try to hard and you end up being an unhappy mommy and your baby will sense that. So relax and let yourself be what God intended...a mother to your baby. Good Luck!