9 months old and suddenly become a massively fussy eater - help!

[MrsMong]

DD is just over 9 months and seemingly overnight has become a fussy eater.

She always ate well whether it was home cooked or out of a jar. She had a bit of a diarrhoea (but no sickness, and happy as larry!) bug about 3 weeks ago and was off her food for 4 or 5 days.

She went back to normal eating, but has now stopped.

She's gone from eating a whole jar (or thereabouts) and sometimes a tub of fruit too, to only eating two spoonfuls and then shutting her mouth. With a lot of bribery (ie cheerios to play with) and distraction, I can usually get something "nice" into her, like a petit filous, fruit tub BUT it's a battle.

Finger foods are slightly better received, but again she eats very little.

Any suggestions on how to handle this? I don't want to start bad habits this early!

She's still having 3 BF a day 7am, 3pm and 7pm and I was hoping to drop the 3pm feed, but can't see how I can do this if she's not eating much. She feeds well (when not too distracted) from the breast.

Any tips?

[brightongirldownunder]

Bet its teething. Mine did the same pretty much at 9 months too. I wouldn't worry too much she'll eat when she's hungry and maybe finger foods are the route to take. I became so obsessed that I sat with DD for hours trying to get a few spoonfuls down her. She was pretty much like this until she cut her final molars (sorry) but is now loving eating again. As for b/f, 3 feeds isn't that much at 9 months but you could always try and cut the 3pm one and see if that leaves her hungry. there's no rule to say you then can't reintroduce the feed if that doesn't work.
Try cold bits of fruit before attempting anything else to sooth the gums - it acts a bit like bonjela and they can sometimes then feel a bit happier to try and eat.
Maybe try snacks more often too - yo don't have to focus on 3 meals a day if she's not into it.