Hi, my LO is just coming up to 27 months and over the part few months has become a really fussy eater. It coincided with when he turned 2 I decided that he should start using his fork and spoon more and having more independence with feeding himself. Prior to this he was mostly spoonfed although he could handle cutlery. He now will just sit there through an entire meal and expect to be fed. I know he can use a spoon well because he will devour an entire yogurt with a spoon and has no trouble!
Breakfast is usually either weetabix, ready brek or shreddies and a banana. He used to love the banana but will not touch it now. The cereal he's hit and miss with, he may try a few spoonfuls then refuse the rest. Lunch is cheese sandwiches or ham which is his favourite and he normally eats them up. Beans and toast, scrambled egg, tuna pasta, he used to like spinach and ricotta fritters which are a BLW recipe but he's gone off them. He won't touch any type of veg. Tea is curry, rice, pasta, chilli, bolognese but he's going off these meals and certainly won't attempt to feed himself. I have to load the spoon and put it in his hand and it's hit and miss whether he'all eat it. He doesn't mind fruit, with blueberries and raspberries being his favourite and he likes baby bel cheese. I can't get him to eat the usual kids favourite of chicken nuggets, sausages, chips, fish fingers. I don't give snacks or lots of milk. He hardly eats sweets or chocolate.
It's become very apparent how bad he is when at the last 3 kids parties he's been to every other child in the building was sat down eating party food (nuggets, chips, pizza etc) he refused and won't sit down on the chairs. He won't sit in a high chair anymore and is so distracted by anyone. I got so upset at his friends party on sat because it was only my LO who won't eat anything. It makes me feel like I've failed him or I'm useless. I tried so hard to home cook every food he ate when he was weaning. He's never ate any jars or pouches I was always trying to follow guidelines.
He's not a small lad and has always been on 91st percentile. At his 2 year check up he dropped to 75th but I think we probably overfed him by spoonfeeding him
MIL who is our childcare thinks he's too young to be wholly feeding himself she doesn't understand which bugs me too. Also the tv is a feature of most mealtimes which needs to stop I know
Anyway, has anyone got any tips for helping him eat better, how can I introduce new foods? How can we stop the constant battle and stress of mealtimes? I dread them now. Is making me feel really stressed out and worked up. It feels like a hopeless situation and like it'll never get better.
Sorry for the rant, any help will be much appreciated. Thanks