Stuck on fork mashed, help us progress please

[jaybirdsinginginthedeadofnight]

DD is 22months and generally a great wee eater, although cutting her canines at the mo so has been a bit off food generally for a couple of weeks now. That aside I cannot get her to eat anything that is not mashed up with a fork. So she will eat what we are eating to a point, for example cottage pie, chilli and rice, spaghetti(have to blend the sauce), stews and casseroles as long as it's well mashed up. I have tried serving her the non mashed version but it gets refused

I would appreciate advice on how to get her to try a 'proper' dinner like a roast dinner or something. She will be really interested in what we are eating so I will always give her some of ours on her plate but generally she will just poke it/play with it but has yet to try it. All advice welcome. TIA

[sharond101]

Have you tried cutting it into small pieces and offering it on a fork?

[MyNameIsSuz]

Does she eat any of it as finger foods - peas, broccoli, that kind of thing? And yes, poke it with a fork and hand it over to her.

[jaybirdsinginginthedeadofnight]

Yeah tried that, I think she looks at food and just decides on the aesthetics that there is no way she's trying it, I guess it's just a waiting game.........

But meanwhile we are remaining indifferent to it all and not creating any battles etc etc

[jaybirdsinginginthedeadofnight]

suz she will not eat anything 'healthy' as a finger food! She will eat a slice of toast or a breadstick that kind of thing. She is very interested in peas at the moment but will just play with them, I just feel like we are stuck in a rut. Maybe I should have done BLW . Too late now. She used to eat anything she was given as finger foods fruit, veg, pieces of meat, potatoes etc cut up. Then 18months came and bam! We took giant steps backwards I've no idea why, nothing triggered it that I'm aware of.

[ExBrightonBell]

Is she feeding herself with a spoon, or are you spoon feeding her yourself?

What happens if you give her a spoon and fork and leave her to it?

[jaybirdsinginginthedeadofnight]

ExBrightonBell she will happily spoon feed herself a yoghurt, but when it comes to dinner I have to help her she will do it but at a snails pace. Sometimes I need to leave the house and don't have 3hours to let her do it herself I said in PP nothing happened to tigger the change but we did have major event around that time - DS arrived, forgot about him in my sleep deprived state! Could his arrival made her regress?? Is anyone else having similar issues? Or is DD the only one?

[ExBrightonBell]

Maybe your new ds might have had an impact on things like this but it's hard to tell. Has she regressed in other areas?

What would happen if you let her feed herself, and after allowing a fair amount of time, you tell her that mealtime is nearly over and then after a minute or two clear her plate away?

[jaybirdsinginginthedeadofnight]

It wouldn't fizz on her, I think if she had her way she'd never eat. I'm going with the 'it's a phase' theory and it will pass........,