Can anyone offer any advice to help me encourage my baby to try more and new foods? Meal times becoming difficult.

[mrsm22]

My baby boy is just 13 months old and has always enjoyed eating the Hipp Organic range of jars and Cow and Gate smooth jars as well as SMA formula milk. As everyone does, I started my baby on the smooth jars and he seemed to like them all. Gradually I tried and tried to move him on to the more lumpy jars and tried him with my own food but blended down. Sadly my baby just couldn't eat the lumpy food at all and any time I would try he would cough and choke and usually be sick. I would leave it a couple of weeks and try again but he has never got to the stage where he can eat lumpy jars. As a result and up until recently my little boy has still been eating smooth baby food jars that are meant for babies of up to 6 or 7 months. We have made some progress as he will now eat bread and butter and toast, grated cheese, weetabix, porridge, yoghurts, any fruits such as bananas which he loves and fruit pots. The problem is that meal times are becoming very difficult as he no longer wants the smooth baby jars if I heat them and put in front of him. He won't eat our food. Anything I put in front of him such as spaghetti hoops in a bowl, he just plays with and throws about. I'm getting to the stage where meal times are stressful as I have no clue what to make him each day. He shuts his lips and turns his head away at anything I try and pulls faces and ends up crying to come down from the table. I know meal times are meant to be fun but I don't know how to make it like that now that he refuses to try anything. Has anyone else come across this sort of problem or can anyone offer me any advice? At the moment he ends up having a petit filous yoghurt and a fruit pot and a banana and that ends up being his tea. Why is he not wanting to try anything new? I'm not sure if I should go back to the young baby jars.

He wants to feed himself but doesn't know how.

So let him throw it around, he'll start putting stuff in.

Have meals with him - dong treat his mealtimes like a show where all the focus is on him.

With mine I find that either concentrating on my food means they want to grab mine or they'll eat theirs.

Give him more finger food, colourful stuff. Put one thing in there you'll know he'll eat plus one new thing. Try home made burgers, strips of roast chicken thighs (which are nice and soft), cubes of fish. Put a few bits on a plate for him, let him play. He'll make a mess but that's how he learns.

He's coming to the age of wanting to do stuff himself. Have someone feed you - get your DH to come at you with a spoon. It's pretty stressful!

Great advice from Iggly already. Was just wondering if he's still on formula and how much does he have each day? Also, when you say he ends up having a petite filous, are you giving this if he refuses a meal? If so, I would stop offering alternatives otherwise he will play you for years.

You might also want to ask Mn to move this to the weaning section. You might get a few more posts

My boy just did not eat properly until around 18 months, he hated lumpy foods for ages and only now that he s almost 2 he starts enjoying those. For long time he was only interested in pureed fruit or rice crackers! I never made a big deal out of it and waited until he was ready...he now eats pretty well including some vegetables and meats, loves his spag bowl, bless him! .... The issue with food is never to turn it into a frustration for both you and baby... Some children just take more time .... I myself have refused to eat vegetables until I was a teenager! And I m still alive and well :) although of course had to take multivitamins for a while....just wait and keep on trying but be prepared to throw everything away all the time ! If he smells your fear he ll use it as a power struggle... Food is very tricky for babies psychology...

sam the Chikd should be on vitamins anyway as should all children between 6 months and 5 years. Have a look here

Does everyone in the world REALLY feed their children vitamin drops? Just curious (and sorry for the hijack!)

I would give vitamin drops if I could get the syringe past my DS's firmly, firmly clamped lips and jaw

Thanks Iggly and Jilted - Both your advice makes perfect sense and today and yesterday I have seen a big improvement. We all sat down together for lunch time and tea and my DS had a bowl of pasta in tomato sauce which he was happy for me to spoon in if he could help and he wanted bread and butter with it to feed himself. He seems very content feeding himself toast and bread and walking round with a banana. And yes tonight he made lots of mess, pasta got thrown all over but he's enjoyed playing with the food as well as eating it. I think the main thing is to keep mealtimes fun and relaxed. He also had his mmr injections on Monday so I think he may have been feeling a bit off his food. My DS still has formula milk too. He usually has one in the morning, one at bed time and one during the day.

Jilted, that s interesting... I give him vitamin drops, although I m not 100% sure I should... His pediatrician says that if he has a balanced diet they do more harm then good... I think the vit d is the real issue....