Does anyone have a fussy eater despite having done baby led weaning?

[Davespecifico]

Just wondering, as my 12 yr old DD has a limited diet. If I'd BLWd, I wonder if she'd eat a broader range now.
I think maybe not as she had a very definite distaste for veg from the very horrified look she gave me when I gave her a first bit of carrot.

I did BLW with DD who’s nearly 6, she ate anything up until she’d just turned 2 then became fussy, recently she’s started asking to try new foods and does alright with school dinners. I’ve never made big deal out of food, she’ll try new things when she’s ready and I’ve never forced her to eat anything, she’ll try things in her own time. Recently my dad was eating a really hot chicken curry and she asked to try some, she can’t get enough of the stuff but can’t stand a mild or creamy curry (I’d been making korma type curry for her which is where I was evidently going wrong).

generally a take it or go without system means children eat most things

Except for the children who just go without. DD2 is happy to eat cereal and toast for breakfast and a sandwich/fruit for lunch so she isn't completely starving but she will easily leave an entire meal at dinner time if she doesn't like it. Even if she's really hungry. I serve her whatever the rest of us are having but always make sure there's something on the plate she will eat, either rice/bread/pasta/baked beans. She does try everything on the plate but won't eat the rest if she doesn't like it. I think forcing a child to finish food if they didn't like it would be a fast track to creating food-related anxiety.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar she's eight not one.

Wow. Well I didn't let her be fussy as I didn't want her to have issues with food that I had when I was younger (due to a medical condition). I wasn't encouraged to try new foods and the GP just said let her have what she wants, so ended up malnourished and underweight.
And as regards to my daughter I certainly never starved her, as always have her food that I knew she likes alongside new foods to try.
Unless there's a medical condition or SN most 'fussy' eaters are probably not actually fussy. They are just being normal! The more issues the parents make over food and eating the more the child will play up to it. Often we give too much food and they will stop when they are full (or if they know there's dessert!) and parents assume they are being fussy when actually they've just had enough. Also they learn by example, so if you are giving them a plate piled with veg and you have none, they won't eat theirs.

And dd eats a much better and varied diet than I do- she eats things like jellied eels 🤮 and all veg apart from brussells and tomatoes.

So maybe I got my word choice wrong, but you don't all need to jump on me. I've just not pandered to the whims of a toddler and now she's older she eats really well.

Azul yes you are correct. Everyone seems is a shit parent and we should all now down to you.

Do you really think we allow our children to be fussy by cooking them a second meal when they refuse the first?

Dd1 is now 9. Ears only beige food which doesn't include pasta. She was blw and used to eat avocado and asparagus washed down with sucking mushrooms....

Dd2 is 5 and was spoonfed v early due to medical insistance as she was v prem and refusing milk feeds. Anyway. She is the opposite of her sister and will happily try everything (doesn't always like them though).

I agree it's nothing to do with the method of weaning. I loved blw.

What I also find amusing is dd1 still gets food everywhere when eating. She comes home from.school with food down her shirt and even I'm her hair. Dd2 is always immaculate!

I apologise for all the typos! It's all the cooking of several meals I've had to cook tonight. Knackered me out

azul you just keep digging yourself in a bigger hole. Kids might not eat because of a physical problem or diagnosed San but also because fthe many other reasons. A bad, chocking experience can create a phobia, a sensory issue falling short of SN, a desire to control one part of their lives, stress and anxiety, etc. Indeed there is no clear medical definition of the difference between a mere picky eater and a child with food avoidance issues. The issues can also be complex, some having to do with what food looks like, others with what it feels like, or the mixing of foods, or new foods in new environments.

You are making things up from your experience of one.

@NigellasGuest

What exactly is the point of baby led weaning?

As far as I can work, to make money out of selling books to new mothers who are vulnerable.

I'm so bored of all the BLW evangelists. It make a fuck all difference.

DS was blw'ed. He's 9 now, and eats about 3 different meals. Massive aversion to anything that isn't solid, no sauces, nothing sticky, oozy. I wish I'd bloody pureed.

DD was blw and ate most things as a baby, although she never ate fruit at all. She's now 8 and seems to exist on approx 6 meals rotated through the week. Breakfast is porridge every day. Lunch every day is a cheese spread or ham sandwich with a yoghurt and crisps. Dinner can be pasta with cheese, filled pasta, risotto, pizza (only plain cheese), sausages or chicken nuggets. She won't eat any sort of potatoes, including chips!!!!

She does eat some vegetables, so there's carrots, broccoli, sweetcorn on her plate every day and she'll occasionally eat mushrooms. She still won't eat fruit, but will drink smoothie.

Her older sister was weaned with baby mush and she was much the same at the same age. I chose to do blw with dd2 to avoid these fussiness issues, but they are who they are so if they're fussy they'll be fussy no matter how you wean them.

All 3 DCs had what we had to eat (this was before I heard about the concept of BLW) and were breastfed for an average of 3 years.
DC1 and DC2 are horribly fussy (but each in their own way, to make meal planning even harder). DC3 eats almost everything.

BLW wasn't even a "thing" when DD was a baby.

Neither was "attachment parenting" or "baby wearing" or any other ridiculous label parents use when trying to do their best at looking after their babies. You just do what is best for both of you.

lonicera I know. None of that was a thing when dd1 was little. Funnily enough I did a lot of the attachment parenting stuff with her even though it wasn't called that. She used to cry in the pram but loved a sling, so that's where she stayed most of the time. She refused to sleep in a cot, but would sleep in bed with me, so that's where she slept. She refused bottles so she was bf til she was 18 months. We didn't do blw, because it was recommended to wean on baby rice at 4 months, but by 6 months she was pretty much eating finger foods.

When dd2 came along, I did most of the same things, but now it had a name. I did BLW with her because by then the advice about weaning age had changed so we just missed out the mush stage.