feeding challenges

[FlossieTreadlight]

Hi all
My almost 14 month old has been brilliant with food since we started weaning at 6 months. Before Christmas we had the norovirus and since then she has become really fussy with the food she'll eat and now spits out food that was once loved, hollers for banana and is a bit of a mare on occasion. She has a varied diet so I don't think it's boredom and although she has been teething she's been fine eating breadsticks/ricecake at snacktime which makes me think that other things shouldn't be a problem...

She has three meals a day, on most days has 2 snack sessions and has milk when she gets up and goes to bed. Very occasionally she has it at naptime but only 50-60 mls then so not enough to spoil dinner.

So, is she playing me for a fool? I would have thought she would have been too young to be conniving at mealtimes... I've tried to avoid getting alternative things out for her to eat if dinner is refused but have done this on occasion when she hadn't eaten much that day and I was fretting about night waking (during a particularly bad sleep patch)

Tips and advice would be gratefully received

The timing with noro could be a coincidence - my DD went through a particularly bad phase between about 13 and 14.5 months where we were down to bolognese, fish cake, pears and cream cheese sandwiches. It was doing my nut. Then all of a sudden she just got more amenable again. She's been pretty decen since then and range of foods gradually increased. Unfortunately she's now showing alarming signs of getting fussy again (any shred of parsley in a sauce and the dish is rejected, yesterday she wouldn't eat the bolognese in her lasagne because it had "carrots in it" and then polished off a plate of carrots this lunchtime. Go figure).

Anyway, I don't think toddlers are famously fussy for nothing. It comes and goes and is totally normal, related to suspicion of all sorts of things. I won't say it doesn't wind me up because it does, but my general tactic is the if she doesn't try it she gets nothing (has only happened once and by the way she slept fine). If she tries but doesn't like it she can have a slice of bread and butter. I usually try to make sure there's something she likes on her plate so we don't have a total refusal. I always offer her her pudding (fruit or yoghurt) regardless of what she's eaten, and if she's had very little I offer a glass of milk.

Sorry forgot to say she's 22 months

Really helpful thanks Fifi x