BLW established, now a couple of questions...

[lurcherlover]

DS is 9 months and BLW is going really well. Just a couple of things I'd welcome opinions/advice on:

• he used to tackle any food in front of him, but now he's more aware of what's going on and has wised up to things he likes he's getting fussy (eg if I give him tomatoes with something else, he will only eat the tomatoes and refuse anything else). As a result I don't think he's eating as much now as he was at say, 7 months, when he'd just jam anything in his mouth as it was such a novelty. Eg today we had a roast dinner so I put him a bit of everything on his tray and he ate only the carrots. Is this normal, and is there anything I can do to help him be less fussy? I've tried only putting one type of food in front of him at once, but if he can see other things on the table (as obviously he can when it's a family dinner) he stares at the food he wants and cries until he gets some!
  
  
• he is obsessed with fruit, especially berries, and always polishes it off. Is it OK for him to have fruit 2-3 times daily? I'm just a bit worried it might be too acidic for his teeth.
  
  
• and regarding the fruit (and other things he likes) - is it OK to offer him such "treats" when he hasn't eaten anything else? Eg if he just plays with his chicken or potatoes or whatever, should I give him the raspberries that I know he'll wolf down or wait until another meal and see if he eats more? I feel this is a daft question as he's just a baby, but I'm worried that I'm setting him up for bad habits in the future (ie I don't have to eat my main course, I'll be getting fruit in a minute). Is this a daft concern at this age? Sorry if it is but I have no idea!

[TittyBojangles]

No help but sort of having similar issues here with DS also 9mo, its probably 'just a phase'. He would LIVE on fruit if I let him!

[CosmicMouse]

We had the "Ooh, I can pick!" stage, where they realise they can choose what they do and don't eat! Completely normal. At 24mo, DD still often eats things in order...so favourite thing disappears first, then next favourite, then next...and then if she's really hungry, the boring bit goes last [gring]

We often ended up offering dinner and "dessert" simultaneously, as we found it was the best way to make sure she got a variety of food. If she decided she was in the market for fruit or yoghurt, giving it to her in addition to what was already there meant she switched between the 2 quite happily.

We purposefully didn't go for "pudding" and just treated food as food, so we didn't fall into the Eat Your Dinner camp.

[AGCG]

My 10mo ds is much the same - but I would be careful of labelling this 'fussy' - we tend to see it as, some days he wants something and some days he doesn't. ds was mad about broccoli, then for a few weeks he completely ignored it, as if he couldn't even see it - then this week, he can't get enough of it again.

One of the reasons we went for blw was wanting to present all foods as equal - he doesn't know that fruit/yoghurt would usually be a dessert, or 'treat' - that could only come from us framing it in that way. Like CosmicMouse, we present everything at the same time - so, ds will grab a mouthful of fruit, followed by some meat, followed by some pasta, then a spoonful (which he holds) of yoghurt, then more pasta... Sometimes it seems to be that he needs to whet his appetite with something he knows he likes (and that he knows how to eat - can take him a few goes to really get the hang of new things, and then sometimes he seems to 'forget'), then he'll get on to other things - and there have been quite a few occasions when I leave something on his tray and he ignores it all meal, and just when I think he's finished (each meal usually takes an hour!), he picks it up and eats it!

I don't know about the fruit - ds is the same with it though, can't get enough - we brush his teeth everyday, but might be worth checking with the HV?

Everything I have read and witnessed about blw shows that it is the best way of avoiding bad eating habits in later life. Provided he is eating, and you continue to offer a range of food for him to try, without attaching values to individual foods or whether or not he eats certain things, pretty sure it'll work out. Good luck!