11 month old now refuses food, used to eat like horse. Grrrr!

[madaboutcows]

Can anyone help please?!
My 11 mth old little chap used to eat absolutely anything (and tons of it) including finger food and took food from the spoon fine, so I did a combination of both. However for the last month he has refused the spoon with much throwing and whingeing. he also won't eat half the different finger foods he used to and seems to have gone off fruit altogether. He will eat sometimes with just his hands if I put messy wet food on his tray, and will accept the spoon for puddings/ fruit purees. Is it OK to just let him use his hands for wet food? He refuses to even pick up the spoon to try himself. I try and eat meals with him but it doesn't seem to help at present. I worry because when he refuses to eat anything he just fills up on formula from a bottle as he also refuses to accept a cup, sometimes it is all he has for days except for perhaps a yoghurt and a cheerio... sorry if I sound like a neurotic mum but I am scared of him becoming a fussy eater in toddlerhood which is too fast approaching!! I am also fed up of standing in the kitchen fuming at all the wasted food All the books seem to say he should be off formula and drinking cows milk from a cup by 1 year... fat chance! How do people do it? Am thoroughly confused. Any tips very much appreciated

How much formula is he having? I would cut back maybe on the milk to see if that helps. No baby/child will let themselves starve and if they are hungry they will eat. Also try and keep mealtimes fun and relaxed, if you are worried that he hasn't eaten enough try don't show it as kids are very good at picking up on your anxiety.

Is he on the move much yet as well?

Im my experience babies and toddlers go through phases where they will either eat everything in front of them or just not be bothered!

You can get cups that are half way between being a bottle and a cup and that is where I started when trying to get my dd to drink form a cup, it helped a bit but think eventually (once over a year) I offered her the milk in a beaker and if she didn't want it I took it away again and she did make up by then eating a varied diet.

Hope that helps a bit! XxX

agree with girlie in that you need to chill a bit. otherwise he will get too much attention/fuss for refusing food. serve up the food, if he doesn't want to eat it leave it there till he does. don't serve anything else (apart from some drink and it does sound as if he's filling himself with milk). if he's hungry he will eat, but you don't want to teach him that by refusing things he's not mad about you will provide something else instead.

my ds is now 3.5 and about that age he got very gussy having happily eaten anything at all until that point. I got very stressed (like you) and i think it made the whole eating thing a bit of a disaster for quite some time and i wish i hadn't stressed so much , we had a loooong few months when he mostly survived on weetabix but was happy and healthy anyway! I would say that its only in the last 6 months that he has become a "good" eater again and actually will pretty much try anything. It was just a long couple of years to get to this point! Whatever happens, your ds WILL be fussy about different foods in toddlerhood - unfortunately its just par for the course for them to try and establish independence so i would just roll with it for a while.
he will certainly pick up on your anxiety and that won't be good for either of you! all the best
ps now i am doing BLW with 9 month old dd and although she is loving everything at the moment i am waiting for that fussiness to kick in!

also YES let him use his hands to eat anything if that will help! Messiness does pass with time..