One year old suddenly fussy what did you do?

[doadeer]

My son was always a great eater (I thought!) we did a mixture of baby led hand held things and mushed meals. Recently he is having what I can only describe as a tantrum when I try to give him anything that isn't fruit, porridge or yoghurt. Things he used to love like pasta or beans on toast. It's so frustrating.

What did you do in this instance? I don't want to just keep giving him fruit and sweet things

Keep offering a full range of food. Make no comment on what he eats. Accept he will tantrum.

So just keep making other things for him? But he will keep wasting them

This is totally normal. They don't eat huge portions anyway but yes you do have to accept the waste. Continue to offer your child a variety of foods (even ones he is turning his nose uo at) and repeat. If you stop giving him things he doesn't like soon you will find he has a very limited diet. He's still learning and you need to understand that this is a long game.... a really long game. My child loved rice then steadfastly hated rice from about 18 months old to 3.5 years old. Now she loves it. I didn't cook it all the time for her but i did make sure we had it often enough for her to change her opinion of it. It is frustrating but just keep going and offer a good variety. Don't force the issue and keep portions smallish to minimise the waste.

So tonight I tried beans on toast with cheese, homemade soup and bread (he ate yesterday), pasta. He hasn't eaten any of it he has sobbed in his highchair. I know he would eat a satsuma or grapes but that's a rubbish tea. And he has his milk at 6.45pm for bed so this has thrown all the tinings off

I remember this; I thought I’d cracked the whole food thing then suddenly my DD wouldn’t eat things she always used to eat but I’d find that she’d refuse something twice then eat it on the third time when I was about to give up and just be very random about if she’d eat something or not. It was very frustrating but my main thing was not to make a big deal out of it and keep offering a variety of foods. She grew out of it to an extent in that she does still refuse meals randomly but on the whole eats well.

Thanks for the support... Can I ask how many different foods would you offer, can anyone give me an example?

I made the mistake with my eldest of just cooking things he liked and then we had about 3 years of problems. When my youngest got fussy, we just carried on as normal. Dinner was on the table and he ate it or not. He wasn't fussy for long. (If he ate nothing at all, I would give him a banana and milk before bed as I didn't want him to be hungry).
I still gave fruit and yoghurt for pudding as I didn't want to create the idea food as a reward. Just keep it really low key, try not to seem worried or over interested and accept that for a little while, there will be food waste. Both of mine are good eaters now.

Same as Bobbi. I feel I pandered more to my eldest and only gave him what I knew he’d eat (granted he’s not super fussy, but he used to eat anything!). He’s started to grow out of that now he’s 4 and can usually be persuaded to try new things. My DD is 2 and is less fussy, although goes through the usual random toddler phases of refusing something she ate tons of the day before. She gets served it anyway and if she doesn’t eat it then that’s it. She just gets a bigger cup of milk and maybe some weetabix before bed.

Thank you that sounds sensible. I just don't want to keep offering 5 different things because he isn't eating things he had eaten loads before! But I also don't want him to go to bed hungry at all as we've just cracked no night feeds. He's quite slim so maybe he just doesn't have a big appetite or its just a phase or teething... There's always something!

Agree with Bobbi73, with DC1 we fell into the trap of giving her things we knew she’d definitely eat... the result was a year of scrambled egg, Greek yoghurt and strawberries.
DS is 1 and he gets fed the same meal as everyone else. If he doesn’t eat it, I assume he’s not hungry.

DD is only 14 months but did the same thing a couple of months ago. I made sure all meals had a mix of things she liked and things I wanted her to try. We still have the odd bad meal or day but she's so much better now. I always offered a yogurt for pudding as I knew she'd always eat it and it was a nice solid quantity before bed. I also was more adventurous with lunches and went more reliable in the evening to minimise messing up sleeping with hunger. Good luck and try not to take it personally when he rejects things.

Might he have a tooth coming? That certainly made a difference when my boys were little, would explain the preference for easy, soft, sweet foods (comforting, no challenge)

I definitely wouldn't make lots of different meals for him in one sitting. Just serve one and if he doesn't eat it then leave it and make sure he has a good milk feed before bed and maybe some fruit. But i would space it out so that there's a good hour between him eating or trying to and then having milk. Just try a basic meal with a good balance of protein, carbs and vegetables so maybe a small portion of pasta with a homemade bolognaise sauce, grated cheese on top and then some veggie sticks e.g. cucumber, peppers etc.

Agree, just serve what you are having. If he doesn't eat it let him have a small pot of yogurt or small piece of fruit. If he seems hungry later re offer the dinner. Let him have milk before bed. No pressure, no emotions no consequences. I agree it's the long game.

I went through this with my DS,he is 14 months now and is back to eating everything again. It seemed to be a phase luckily as he refused everything he used to eat. I gave him what I wanted him to try but also something else that I knew he would eat alongside it so he was having something