Please help me with my 10 month old fussy eater!

[Highlander01]

DD has never been a fussy eater - until now.

We started weaning at 5.5 months, just giving baby rice on top of breast feeds / formula feeds. At 6 months we combined spoon feeding with baby led (more spoon than baby led) and up until about a week ago it was going OK-ish. She would eat (or at least try) most things we put in front of her, favourites being things like bananas, sweet potato and anything bready-based (crumpets, bagels etc). All of a sudden, she is refusing everything I put on a spoon (except yoghurt, porridge and fruit purees), and will only eat banana with her fingers. She still likes crumpets too. Milk is hit or miss now aswell, sometimes she refuses to take a bottle (I stopped BFing a few months ago). Yesterday she only had about 150ml of formula, along with a few snacks here and that was it!

How worried should I be? Is this a phase? She has two bottom teeth, and I don't THINK she currently teething (but if she is, could that be a reason to go off so many foods?) She has been a pretty easy to manage baby until now, so this has floored me slightly! Can anyone suggest anything or point out anything I could try differently? I always sit her up at the table to eat with me (and DH in the evenings) in her high chair and try and involve her as much as possible in meals.....

PS. as writing this she has just popped a raisin in her mouth, chewed and spat it back out.... Argh!

Teething always puts ds off solids, even now at 21 months. He makes up for it once the tooth is through.

Best thing you can do is relax, offer plenty of different foods including the stuff you know she will eat (but don't panic if she also drops some of these favourites) plus what food you are having. She may surprise you and pick up things you thought she didn't like.

Its normal for them to cut down their food range once they get the hang of solids, all part of their personality and independence coming through. Some people think its when they get mobile, they get very cautious about food to stop them eating random poisonous plants or rotten stuff they might happen upon, that might make them sick. Then they will broaden out their range again, with individual dislikes just like an adult.

It could very well be teething. I'd check her mouth again and try ibruprofen and a teething gel.

At this age the solids aren't really important but he milk is, so try to offer the bottle an hour before the solids. If she refuses solids don't worry and just clear away when you've finished eating.

Haven't read this book myself but it has some sort of legendary status amongst parents of fussy eaters .

Just put the food in her reach and leave her to it. Don't make any fuss if she eats anything and don't try to persuade her if she doesn't.

No matter what the reason behind it is now, the more you try to get her to eat, the more you are risking food becoming a control issue and the child always wins that battle.

Putting food in her mouth and spitting it out at this age is experimenting not rejecting. Don't worry about it. Let her keep doing it and offer her lots of different textures to do it with.

Lastly leave the spoons in the drawer for a while and let her feed herself.