If a 10 month old refuses the food you are offering...

[NorkyButNice]

Do you give them an alternative? DS has been refusing food for the last 2 or 3 days that he normally eats no problem. I'm sure he's hungry, and if I offer a yoghurt or some fruit then he eats that - I really don't want to get to a point where he refuses his meat/veg because he knows he'll get something sweet instead.

So - should I not offer anything if he won't eat what he's first offered? I keep telling myself he's only 10 months and too young to be that devious

[pinkspottywellies]

At that age I would have offered something else savoury rather than going straight for fruit/yogurt (if it had been going on for a few days).

I found that sometimes she didn't want a big meal but would eat breadsticks and philedelphia/cheese and oatcakes/tomato. Snacky bits rather than proper food. I think it's too young to be devious. Perhaps if they know they're getting sweet then that could become a habit, but if they just don't fancy what you've cooked then they don't.

He might just not be that hungry or be teething or a bit under the weather and fancy comfort food. I wouldn't go to any great lengths to cook another meal, but try something else - leftovers, sandwich, crackers or whatever.

[NorkyButNice]

Great - thanks for that. I'll have to start getting more creative with the dishes I'm serving up I think - he's probably getting bored of having the same old things time and again!

And will hold back on the fruits - I start panicking about him going to bed hungry (yes PFB alert!).

[pinkspottywellies]

I didn't like to think of dd going to bed hungry either hence the alternatives but without going to too much effort - lazy mum and pfb if difficult to balance .

[Naetha]

DS does this at 7 months - rams his mouth shut at anything other than yoghurt when he's in the mood.

I've started letting him feed himself when he gets like that - if he isn't accepting the food I offer, then he can have finger foods instead. If he doesn't want them as well, then that's his fault .

[UmSami]

I'm thinking the same thing as Naetha...have you started self feeding?
At about that age my son started to refuse everything unless he could feed himself (or was really hungry)...i found that if I put his usual foods on toast soldiers suddenly he'd eat them...it also worked really well for introducing new favours...good luck!