picky eater..help!

[WillowsTree]

My DD is 13.5 months. She was weaned at 6 months, was an amazing eater and everything was great.....

...3 weeks ago she stopped letting us feed her and will only eat finger foods. Wouldn't be such an issue if I could get a balanced healthy diet down her! She still lets us feed her weetabix for breakfast and yoghurts etc but nothing else. The biggest problem is she won't eat home cooked versions of supermarket processed foods. She will eat birds eye fish fingers, but not homemade ones. She won't even eat fish on it's own only if it's from a frozen finger or frozen fish cake.

She is very picky with veg and will play with it, put it in her mouth, then spit it out. Fruit wise, can only get her to eat banana and ripe pear. I've made homemade meals for her and she refuses them all. I really don't want her to live on rubbish and be picky all her life.

She is at the stage where sometimes she can sleep through the night, but when she does wake, I'm worried it's because she's hungry!

Really struggling with what to do as I want her to eat, but don't want her only eating rubbish any suggestions at all would be greatly received.

[missusmrs]

My DS was the same. Not much to offer but after many weeks Of stressing I stepped back from the idea of a 'traditonal meal' and instead offered up on the high chair tray selections of things like granary/brown bread, plain pasta, cheese cubes, meat/chicken diced up, sweetcorn, diced grapes etc all at once and let him get on with it which he inevitably did, picking and tasting and squashing and dropping and also eating! I would try and sneak on something new every few days' sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't!

[wiltingfast]

She's 13.5m! She's not doing the shopping. Only offer food you are happy for her to eat.

If she doesn't eat one meal she'll eat the next or the one after that.

Keep offering the variety of food you always have. V bad idea to reduce her diet to what you think she "likes". Offer everything. Trust me, otherwise they just keep reducing! Great she is still putting veg in her mouth, keep offering it!

Whatever else you do, do not fight with her about it, do not appear concerned. Encourage a little then leave it.

But this is key, do not offer alternatives.

As she gets older structure is good, eg eating at table, no snacks, no distractions such as tv etc.

Personally I wouldn't reduce her diet to finger type food. I'd let her at her dinner with a spoon! Messy and tiresom, I know. My daughter was the same. But nb to try and keep up the variety and keep her used to it.

Hth.