dd 9mo refusing food at nursery

[June2009]

heya, dd is pfb and has recently refused food at nursery.
She is supposed to have breakfast and lunch there but the last two times she has refused it (puree/finger food, they tell me they have tried several things.)
She did have milk today (whereas she refused that as well last time.)
WE just came back from holiday so she hadn't been for a couple of weeks.

The staff at nursery say that they think dd is "testing" them. I am not convinced that's true, I don't think she is old enough to be manipulative like that.

Now I feel like shit and guilty for having to leave her there

Is this normal behaviour for a 9mo? Some kind of protest?

anyone?

dh called the nursery to see if there was anything else they could do and he says the keyworker sounded offended and said "don't think we're not trying hard enough or anything".

really not sure what to do appart from feeding her before she goes so at least if she misses lunch she only has one hour to go before coming home.

I would give it a week as she may be unsettled after the holiday. Chances are that within a few days she will be eating happily again. Is she eating Ok at home? Is she teething?

My dd did this when she started nursery at 9 months. It turned out that she had an ear infection.

Nursery is a scary place for babies to start with, but my daughter settled after about a month.

Its probably worth speaking to your GP to rule out any infection.

Nursery Manager here....
This is quite normal for some babies. They do soon settle though. At my nursery we have an excellent key person system which really helps the babies form an attachment. Once they have formed this attachment they will happily take food from their key person.
If staff from another room come in to help they wont take food off them.
and it was unprofessional of the nursery worker to say what she did.