Does spoon feeding lead to fussy eating?

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My toddler is practically on a hunger strike right now. He's stopped eating stuff he liked before, almost overnight. I can get him to eat toast, yoghurt and pasta and not much else.
Won't try anything new. He'ss also eating small amounts no matter what I try. He's too young to understand logic or bribery!
I spoon fed him for weaning and am starting to wonder whether I've broken him because I didnt do BLW.
I couldn't do it as I had anxiety too badly and couldn't bring myself to give finger food for quite a while.
Is this salvageable?

My mother, now deceased, once said to me that kids have control over only two things. What goes into their mouth, and what happens when it comes out. And if we make a big deal of either (ie feeding or potty training) we were definitely going to lose. My mother had many batshit opinions but this is/was sound advice I think.

My strategy has been to offer varied food and make NO COMMENT on what gets eaten. No praise. No cajoling. No criticism. I offer, I take away. I do snacks but at a set time at the table (as they do in nursery). Both of mine have gone through fussy phases (DS2 is just emerging from one) but making no comment on it really helps. I also within their earshot never ever discuss their food habits. I have a friend who I thought had an excellent eater. And I told her this. And she pointed out that actually he ate very little but I didn’t know because she never ever commented on it esp when he was around. And she never cajoled, never bribed. So I never noticed he only ate a limited range of food. This approach has in many ways really taken the stress out of feeding.

I have a very little one who enjoys her purees and also the new finger foods (kindly advised here on mumsnet on what to do). I know this will change as she gers older/fussier

My mum had a lot of difficulty with my oldest sibling as a baby on purees/finger foods/limited intake as a toddler etc

Health visitor always told her never to force him to eat, always allow them to take what they want and just keep at it. Mum always felt like she was trying to force xyz on him because "all babies should be doing this".

Hes a strapping very adult male with no food issues now and his child was the exact same- sandwiches (jam) and smiley faces and that was it. After she went to nursery, it all changed and she began to take more of an interest in food itself but they had at least a year of screaming and crying in cafes and restaurants if there was anything on her plate that she didn't know.

Good luck OP!

It's got nothing to do with spoon feeding. My son was spoon fed and ate everything and anything except peas which he still hates. It's just a phase.
My sister only ate rice and peas and literally nothing else until she was 5. She's an adult now and eats anything.

No.
It's got nothing to do with being spoon fed or BLW.
Some kids are just fussy eaters. FACT.

Not in my experience.

2 spoon fed babies, 2 adventurous, non-fussy eaters (and always have been).

Mine did blw (nearly 14 years ago for those saying it's a new thing, was huge on here then!) and was a dream eater until she got to about 2 when I effectively made meals and chucked them straight in the bin. Went on for months, I was beside myself. Now a teenager who eats anything. Try not to worry, it's a crap phase!

What PotolBabu says with bells on. I truly believe that fuss reinforces fussiness.

My four have all been fussy at certain points, particularly the younger two. One of whom was baby led in the true sense.

Dd was spoon weaned and ate everything that came her way. Ds was not at all interested in food and finally did his own version of blw. Both had a fussy phase aged 2, the difference was that dd had a wider range of food to restrict within, so she didn’t seem too bad, whereas ds was a nightmare, and to a degree still is even now. Dd is back to eating pretty much everything. I don’t think the method of weaning was anything to do with it, it’s just their nature. Keep offering, don’t make it a battle, there will be an end eventually.

My oldest Dd started to refuse things that she'd previously loved at 3ish. Before that she ate everything, honestly, I couldn't name 1 thing she turned her nose up at. Then about once a month she'd point blank refuse something. The nearer she got to 4 (at which point she knew she was going to be a big sister so was majorly into being a big girl) we started a narrative of "4 is special! Do you know DD, everything you like at 4, you will like forever (4ever geddit). You won't have to tell mummy & daddy you no longer like things because you will be a big girl." Our delivery must've been Oscar worthy, it did the trick.

My kids were both weaned by spoon feeding and ate almost anything as children!

Although as adults they have chosen to be vegan

Nah, I've weaned all three of my the same and Ds1 is so fussy we are under the Dr.. He eats very little. Ds2 eats anything and everything, ds3 eats OK, some fussiness. I don't believe it has anything to do with the way you wean at all.

I have four DC although youngest is only eight months old so will discount him from this.

With DC1 I had absolutely no idea what to do so bought into the whole ‘must purée everything and spoon feed’. Spent hours meticulously blending fruits and cooked veggies then spooning them in. With DC2&3 I could not be arsed so fully BLW.

DC1 is by far the fussiest eater and always has been. He’s nine now and still pretty fussy, not quite as bad as he was at one stage but still the fussiest in the house. DC2&3 will eat pretty much anything.

No clue whether it’s linked but it’s all I’ve ever been able to put it down to.

Its because toddlers are proper knobheads So true!

BLW dd1. Felt suitability smug about her excellent eating until she hit about 2 and a half. From then til now (5) it's been a steady downwards slope! We are only just now starting to get improvements.

Toddlers (and older) are, indeed, proper knobbers.