20 month old very picky eater

[Glitterypinksam]

Hey there all, this is my first post on here so apologies if it is an essay hahaha!
Up until about 15 months my 20 month old daughter was a fairly good eater. When I say this I mean she would eat most things in a puréed but lumpy texture. We then had about 3 months of not eating anything but baby cheese puff crisps. Then all of a sudden she started eating baby microwave meals as well as homemade meals. She is slowly attempting to feed herself with a spoon but I still feed her to make sure she eats more, she doesn't ever finish a bowl though. This is followed by yoghurt.
Other than this she won't eat any other type of table food, apart from, toast, cereal, popcorn, yoghurt coated dried fruits, baby crackers, yoghurt, chocolate (very rarely give it to her) and biscuits again these are limited.
I have tried everything, I put a couple of pieces of food to try on her tray but if it's anything she doesn't normally eat then she throws it across the room. I've persevered with picking it up for days, I put it by her mouth and she won't even open her mouth to try it. I have tried hundreds of different foods but she just won't have them. Even finger sandwiches get thrown.
She goes to nursery half a day a week, and she doesn't eat there either she will just go without. She still has milk (when she wakes up with her breakfast, for her afternoon nap, sometimes mid morning and mid afternoon, but if not then just to go to bed on). I have tried the taking her dinner away if she won't eat but she wakes up in the night wanting milk cause she is hungry. She will have fruits/veg puréed in the baby pouch.
I'm really starting to worry now because (I know we shouldn't compare children, and in don't usually, but on this I am starting to do this) lots of children I see her age are eating such a variety, I would be over the moon if I could just get her to eat a little more variety but she won't even try let alone eat them. I've have tried disguising fruit in yoghurt etc but she just picks it out her mouth. She will steal my apple and chew the pieces she bites off then throws them on the floor.
Please help.........swiftly pulling more of my hair out.
Sam x

[LindsayS79]

My dd was like that too, she's still not great at 23 months but is better.
Is she having too much milk? Maybe worth a try to cut it down to morning and night. I replaced dd's 3pm milk with yoghurt.
I also get her into eating table foods by sitting next to her highchair and eating the same as I put down for her. I completely ignored her and just ate my own and she copied me. I started with quorn sausage as it was extra soft (I'm a veggie and just tried it on her).
I really think sitting and eating the same did the trick

[Glitterypinksam]

Thank you ever so much, I didn't think of replacing the mid afternoon milk with yoghurt, I tried with other foods like crackers etc but then she wouldn't eat dinner so I will definitely give yoghurt a go. I sit with her when she is eat but not eating the same so I will try that too.
I didn't think it would be this difficult because she ate home cooked meals really well. Saying that tonight she had half a bowl of bolognese with chunky carrots and cheese crushed new potatoes and I was over the moon.

[LindsayS79]

Great!!
I kind of went cold turkey on the 'mushy' food as I was so sick of blitzing everything. I just offered the table foods for a week, with the only soft stuff being mash etc, but only after eating the sausage etc. I prepared myself for crap sleeps but it didn't turn out that bad. It just takes perseverance. Could she be teething? I do notice a difference when new ones pop through.
My dd is currently storing food like a hamster but she's got more teeth coming through so I'm hoping it's just teething

[Glitterypinksam]

She has most of her teeth now, just waiting on the back molars which I'm told are the worst. She hardly ears at all when its teething. The problem I have is constant ???? haha. Just wish she would eat a bit more variety. I've stopped blitzing like you say it's more mashing that I do. X

[Goldmandra]

Stop thinking of this as something you need to change. Her behaviour is developmentally appropriate and will change naturally as she matures.

She doesn't have a problem with the range of foods she will eat and there is no problem with the nutritional balance so why are you worried?

Just stop stressing about it. What other children eat isn't relevant.

Don't give her more than you feel comfortable to give her of the less healthy food like biscuits. Otherwise, just make sure there's plenty of food around that she will eat and leave her to it.

Don't try to put food she doesn't want near her mouth. What goes in her mouth is up to her, not you.

Don't show any emotion about what she does or doesn't eat. Don't offer incentives or try to distract her. Just make the food available and back right off. If you're feeding her the mashed up food, let her have complete control of when she stops. Don't ever try to get her to have one more mouthful or anything like that.