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Original poster

Fussy babies- do they really exist?

31 replies

LissyD · 23/05/2008 19:44

I'm just wondering, as our baby has never completely refused anything, if shes unsure about something I just leave it on her plate, maybe eat a little bit myself, but generally don't make a fuss, keep putting it back when she throws it and eventually she eats it and the next time theres no problem. This makes me think that when shes acting like that it's just because shes in a daft mood. Maybe its just because there is no food that me and dh don't like, and we tend to give her whatever we eat.

Are people who say they have fussy babies just being soft or am I really lucky?

OP posts:

aviatrix · 23/05/2008 19:51

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Roskva · 23/05/2008 19:52

I read somewhere ages ago that babies will always pull a face when introduced to a new flavour or texture - it doesn't mean they don't like it, it's just not familiar. So if dd pulled faces or chucked something out the first time, like you I just gave her some more, and let her play with it, and probably eat some myself (she usually has what dh and I have). She eats virtually anything now, including lots of things she wouldn't put in her mouth initially.

However, she is becoming more suspicious of new foods as she gets bigger (she's now 21 months). So I wonder if babies who aren't introduced to a wide variety of new foods when they are tiny are less open to new foods as toddlers, and get labelled fussy.

blueshoes · 23/05/2008 19:55

Just to be clear, parents of babies are not soft. I would in any case never force food on a baby that did not want it.

All babies are different and frequently change as they get older.

If you wean before a baby is ready (as I did with dd), they will reject the food. dd was still a very poor eater subsequently. My niece was a GREAT eater as a baby, then became very very fussy after she turned one. This happens to a lot of babies. Today, at 4.5 years, my dd is now more adventurous with food than my niece who will only eat baked beans and sausages on a good day.

FranniesGroupie · 23/05/2008 19:58

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blueshoes · 23/05/2008 19:58

parents of fussy babies

FranniesGroupie · 23/05/2008 19:59

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constancereader · 23/05/2008 20:00

You are very lucky imo!
I offered my ds every type of food and he simply will not eat green veg unless it is disguised in a cheesy mush. I keep offering it in the vain hope he will try it, this has been going on for nearly a year now.

WilfSell · 23/05/2008 20:00

Lissy, sorry to be all full of schadenfreude but : just wait till she goes to school...

WanderingTrolley · 23/05/2008 20:00

You are very lucky.

Do not count your chickens.

SwissCheese · 23/05/2008 20:07

Ds ate moreorless everything - including picking very fresh shellfish from our plates until he was about 2.5........now he only wants certain things and shapes. He does still eat 'mush' with gravy but everything identifiable is 'yuck' - a word picked up from a certain pink pig on TV (grr)

MuffinMclay · 23/05/2008 20:10

You might be lucky, but I wouldn't count your chickens just yet. Ds1 was quite adventurous in the early months, eating all sorts of veg (even kohl rabi, celeriac, butternut squash - foul stuff, IMO). Now he eats bugger all. The closest he comes to veg is baked beans.

WilfSell · 23/05/2008 20:15

Babies are adventurous; it's their five year old friends that aren't.

My 9 year old ate (when he was 2): hot, garlicky lentil dahl, okra, cabbage, sweet chillis, mushrooms, broccoli, onions...

It all goes downhill when they hit the outside world and kids next to them start going - completely irrationally - 'ugh, you actually eat breadcrusts?'

So don't be too smug.

fannybanjo · 23/05/2008 20:18

Ohhh YES, there are fussy babies, mark my words, as said above, you are lucky! My nephew ate very little from the day he was weaned and is still the same now, just like his dad.

Have to say DD1 ate EVERYTHING but age 5, is more fussy but that is to be expected, we all have likes and dislikes.

DD2 has only just started to entertain being weaned (at age 8 months) but seems to be eating most things. As with DD1, I make her fresh food from scratch and try to vary it everyday but it doesn't mean that by age 2 she will be eating lentils like she is now.

Roskva · 23/05/2008 20:21

Dd has been known to nick toast crusts off the plate of the child at playgroup who won't eat them...

GColdtimer · 23/05/2008 20:28

how old is your baby lissy? I once said the same as you and now I am eating my rather smug words whilst my 2 year old eats nothing but fruit. And I mean, nothing.

annoyingdevil · 23/05/2008 21:23

DD ate everything until she reached two. Now she'd happily live on fish fingers, bread, bananas and chocolate

Original poster

LissyD · 23/05/2008 21:28

Shes 14 months. So am I doomed?

OP posts:

Laugs · 23/05/2008 22:07

I was very proud of my DD (and myself!) who never rejected anything, loves weird stuff like olives and balsamic vinegar and eats the same meals as DP and me.

Then she turned 18 months and became a real fuss-pot, all by herself.

So wait and see...

I'm still trying to plough on and not attend to her whims too much (she changes what she'll eat daily at the moment), so fingers crossed she'll get over it soon. Who knows?

colander · 23/05/2008 22:25

tee hee...I bet you live to regret boasting about this...

DD2 (who is a fantastic eater - unlike DD1...don't get me started...) spent yesterday afternoon saying "I'm a fussy eater" and when I said, "no you aren't" she said "yes I am a fussy eater" over and over again.

Habbibu · 23/05/2008 22:28

Lissy, I believe it's a rule that the minute you write/type something like "my child eats/sleeps/behaves well" the world turns upside down and your child is replaced with an opposite changeling. To think I once said dd was a great sleeper...

TREBUCHET · 23/05/2008 22:33

I guess I must just be soft then, at 10 months old my ds refused ANYTHING off a spoon. Since then every man and his dog had ideas/suggestions/criticisms but funnily enough none of them made the slightest bit of difference.

It makes me feel a total failure that I can't nourish my son.

It feels shit enough having a child who refuses every last bloody thing that i have carefully prepared when every cell in me aches to feed them without the suggestion that i might just be being soft.

Habbibu · 24/05/2008 19:47

Oh, Treb, that is hard. How old is ds now?

MilaMae · 24/05/2008 22:28

I am convinced some kids just have a more sensitive sense of taste or just like less chewy foods so in effect are born fussy.

I have non identical twins and a dd with a 15 month old gap. DP and I adore food, I spent my early years abroad and ate the local food off street markets and have always eaten anything and everything, my sister on the other hand was a nightmare from day one. Dp was the same fab eater from day one his sister a nightmare. Both subsequently became veggie as they just never liked eating meat.

Now my twins were weaned on exactly the same food, I bombarded them with new tastes from day one. As dp and I love exotic foods(pretty much any food actually) we always said we would never tolerate a fussy eater!!!!!! Errrrm one of our twins has always been fussy from day one,he used to filter out baby rice and wouldn't eat food he didn't like.

As we bombarded them it hasn't been too much of a problem as he has quite a wide healthy diet. He detests veg except peas, and corn (doesn't like trying anything new) but adores fruit,lentils,beans,humus,meat,mature cheddar,yog his familiar foods etc.

The other two dc have eaten anything and everything from day one and are sooooo easy to feed. They eat things with really strong tastes like olives,cabbage etc and will try every new thing I give them. My other twin on the other hand doesn't like anything too salty or sweet,anything extreme the blander the better.

We've always eaten together,the same food,if they don't eat it they go hungry but I never force anything on them and never stress about it so there is really no reason for ds to be different from the other two other than he was born like it.

He has quite conservative tastes in everything else too and just likes what he likes whether it be his favourite shoes,books etc. Each to their own.

I'm presuming this baby is your 1st child as you won't have gone through the various food stages. They can all get fussier around 2 and improve around 41/2 well all my 3 have in different degrees as have a lot of most of their friends so I wouldn't be too complacent. There is still time yet for you to have a toddler who only eats enough to fill a bird

TREBUCHET · 24/05/2008 22:37

He is 19 months. I bloody love cooking, too. I had these visions of us sitting round the family table lovingly watching him as he shovelled some nutricious feast in, but in reality I smile encouragingly, trying not to cry as he bats the spoon away from me regardless of whats on it. I don't tell him off or heave and sigh, i try to be easy going but its v hard.

I feel like we're way behind developmentally as well, in the food stakes. I still have to feed him as he is so disinterested he would just scream to be away from the table if i wasn't trying him on the food.

He basically won't eat anything wet, this just came from nowhere. Just one day he refused and that was it. Every day I still offer him things that i know he won't eat but i feel that if i stop that might be the day he actually tries something.

he hates the touch of things on his hands too. He'll eat a slice of cake but only if it's cut up and given to him on a fork. iF i encourage him to pick it up he touches it and then looks disgusted.

Sorry Hab, the floodgates have opened!!!!

MilaMae · 24/05/2008 23:06

Treb my son was v similar at that age(he had other little querks too numerous to mention)even my dd (who is a fab eater) dipped coming up to 2 too. It sounds like normal 19 month behaviour they're supposed to be fussier at that age( a survival thing I read somewhere). I used to moan to friends about ds and nearly all my friends said their dc had suddenly got harder to feed at that age too.

My fussy son very slowly improved,he's still not fantastic and we eat a lot of nursery food(not eating Thai Green Curry just yet sigh)but I'm not binning his entire tea every night and he's trying new things. I've noticed a real improvement in the last 6 months(he'll be 5 in Sep and funnily enough a couple of my friends have mentioned it with their kids too).

I think the fact you're eating together is great. Make sure there are no distractions and concentrate on your food and he'll eventually start to copy,could take months though. I had the same dream as you and it's taken 4 years of hard bloody,teatime at the zoo type meals to get to where we are now.

I just don't think kids are born knowing how to polish off a plate of food sitting beautifully at a table it takes training and a lot of it. Don't get me started on mealtime antics, my lot are all nearly 5 and 4 and we're just starting to have family mealtimes that last longer than half an hour and haven't resulted in dp and myself suffering from chronic indigestion through constantly putting bums back on seats and picking up cutlery

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