Everyone tells me not to worry about his eating habits as it wont be forever and that he wont be eating like this when he is 18. All well and good but he doesnt seem to be making any progress.
Just for backstory. When we started weaning him we did a mix of BLW and spoon feeding. We followed the advice and would give him food to play with and that is exactly what he did - he played with it. He showed little interest in eating it and would just throw it on the floor. When it came to anything on a spoon he would either whip is head from side to side to avoid the spoon, try and knock it out of our hands, grab the spoon with his hands to try and fend it off....you get the idea. The HV kept saying dont worry - food is for fun until they are one. Well my son was taking this literally. When he went to nursery full time at 10 months old I thought it would improve. Sometimes I would watch him from the door sat at the little table wth all the other little babies and they would be eating their fruit and my DS would just be tipping the bowl upside down and playing with the food. Again HV said not to worry, he will get it eventually.
Fast forward to when he turned one. The only reason he started to actually eat more was because he had got the hang of a spoon. He started to improve. But only with stuff like jacket potato with cheese and beans. He did develop a taste for peanut butter sandwiches. and a few other bits. We kept him on the menu at the nursery, hoping that exposure to the different foods would naturally lead to him eating more. It didnt. I was paying nearly £6 a day and he wasn't touching the stuff.
I just started sending him in with a packed lunch. I would put fruit, sandwiches, homemade banana bread. He would devour the banana bread, not touch the fruit. Sandwiches he would eat sometimes.
Fast forward to now - he is 20 months old. We now have a DD who is 3 months old so I am on Mat Leave. Breakfast is no concern - he will devour porridge, or weetabix or toast. Fruit wise - he will only eat banana. The amount of fruit that has ended up not he floor was not funny. I just stopped trying. Lunch isnt too bad - sandwiches, or french toast, or eggs hidden in beans and cheese, or cheese on toast, jacket. it is dinner that is the struggle. He just wont even try anything or if he does he just spits it out. Once he sucked the juice of some duck and then spat the meat out (this was in wagamamas). He essentially has a handful of meals that we just rotate through. 1 - tiny pasta from boots with tuna and homemade tomato sauce. 2 - potato, swede, carrot, blitzed chicken and gravy. 3 - jacket beans and cheese. 4. blitzed mince beef pie with mash, carrots and gravy. 5. two Ella's pouches - the only for 10 month olds...he needs two as there isnt enough in one. I have tried fish fingers, smilies and beans - dont really want to feed him the regularly but i just wanted to add some things he will eat. He actually moved the food around to get to the beans and didnt even try the other stuff. If we go to pizza express or somewhere similar he will eat dough balls and pizza.
Anyway, I am worried about his eating - or lack of variety and the fact that he will only eat a bowl of near mush in the evening for dinner. I just dont know what to do. Should I just leave it and hope that slowly he improves?