8 month old picky eater - is this normal?

[DarknightDawn]

My 8 month old has been slow with weaning. Gagged a lot and wouldn’t try much in the beginning. He’s made a lot of progress and will now sometimes shovel certain foods in but most foods he still seems disgusted at before he even tries it. He’ll always eat toast and fruit purée without fail and some days he loves whole pieces of fruit, but the next day he’ll seem to hate that same fruit. He doesn’t like any veg. Half the time won’t even try it. Just picks it up, appears disgusted and throws it. I’ve never been able to spoon feed him as he’s fiercely independent so he turns his head, fusses and refuses. But he’ll hold the spoon himself if it’s something like yoghurt or fruit purée so we’re mainly doing BLW.

My concern is that he doesn’t seem to like any dinner foods. Has hated things like Bolognese, pasta, cottage pie, chilli, salmon and roasted vegetables etc. I’m lucky if he eats one mouthful of something at dinner. Breakfast and lunch are generally more successful as it’s more the foods he likes (we’ve only just introduced lunch) but it means he’s mainly eating sweet foods (I do serve veg at lunch but he only eats the fruit).

Is there anything I can do that will help him eat proper meals or will he eventually just “get it”? I know he CAN eat, he’s just too strong willed to try certain things.

Let me know when you find out, DD is 2 next month and still the exact same!

@MrNook Oh god, 2 years! How do you do it?! It drives me mad. I just want him to eat well and healthily! Any tips with anything that has worked a tiny bit?

Same as @MrNook...my little one is 18 months. Seems to eat everything at nursery though 🙄

It took over my life for a while I was so stressed by it, every single meal getting chucked on the floor with tears and it would really frustrate me.

She doesn't eat any vegetables, the only fruit she'll eat is raisins. She lives off pesto pasta, breadsticks and hummus, raisins and cereal. That is all she will eat. I still offer normal meals that we're having but she just won't try them.

My first was like this and a total nightmare until about 3.5, then got slowly better. She's still not the best and eats like a sparrow but her range is is broad enough that I'm not worried about her diet anymore (she's now 5.5)

Just keep offering a variety of foods.
Don't worry if he appears to dislike something one day, just offer it again another day. Adults don't always fancy a certain food on a random day!
Also, sometimes babies don't like 'mixed up' food - so maybe sauce and pasta separately rather than spaghetti Bolognese, meat and mash in different places rather than cottage pie etc

I wouldn’t worry too much at 8 months, he’s only been on solids for 2 months. They say food before 1 is just for fun, their main source of nutrition is still milk at this age. The idea is just to get them used to different textures and flavours.

I think just keep offering a variety of foods but don’t stress if most of it ends up on the floor for now. Think of it as a fun learning activity. Plus babies are always going through phases so something they might love/hate can quickly change!

OP I could have written your post ~4 years ago. I found it so disheartening watching everyone else wean their babies who were in the eat anything stage. DS was always fussy from day 1 of weaning and simply wouldn't open his mouth for a spoon. I had to accept that I didn't have any control and that all I could do was keep providing variety. He ate lots of fruit, and enough other things that I wasn't too worried about his overall diet, and he's always been healthy and tracked his centiles etc. He's just stubborn and had to do it in his own time.

I think he started to get a little better from around 3/3.5 and honestly now at 5 he's not too bad, certainly no worse than his peers. He's often happy to try new things and sometimes likes them. Today he decided he liked boiled eggs for example (after progressing from refusing to try, to tentatively nibbling just the white bit, over the space of a few months).

He's still rubbish about "meal" type stuff. Likes everything separated out so we have plates with lots of sections which has helped. He'll eat a few vegetables now (carrots raw and boiled, corn on the cob, cucumber sticks) and I don't despair for his future any more! The best thing you can do is be as patient as you can, take the focus off what they're eating, ie make dinner time about chatting / connecting (when they're a bit older of course). I remember reading a really good quote which was something like "measure your mealtimes in the number of laughs, not the number of vegetables". Don't lose hope OP! I have reconciled myself that it's probably going to be a long time before mine will try anything (like I would as a child) but he's healthy, active, growing well and we have lovely chats over dinner, so I just have to tell myself these things count for a lot. I do find it hard as I have always loved cooking and cooking for others and I was so looking forward to sharing that as a family but hey ho.

My first would try pretty much anything and would eat all veggies put in front of her (apart from broccoli she has always despised that and refused to eat it) and has always loved fruit as well.

She's now 3.5 and for the past 1+ year she's only eaten beetroot, cucumber, avocado, baked beans for her "veggies" and won't try others nor eat all of the ones she used to love like carrots, parsnips, peas, sweetcorn, peppers, sweet potatoes, but will still eat pretty much all fruits.

So don't be too put off if he's not eating much of them now as he might get into them as he gets older.

To go against other comments, DS was really slow with weaning. He too was fiercely independent and generally quite a fussy baby (not just with food). He couldn’t abide anything wet (so nothing with sauce, no cereal and milk etc), hated being messy and used to get quickly frustrated and lob food off the high chair. It was pretty soul destroying.

Around age 1 he just seemed to get it. It coincided with being able to use cutlery (I really recommend Doddl) and generally just being a bit more settled and calmer. He’s still a very reliable eater now at 3.

As hard as it is, just try and keep reminding yourself that weaning is a process, not a competition of whose baby can shovel in the most food. Stay relaxed and go with the flow and just keep offering a variety of things in a low pressure environment. How a baby eats at age 8 months doesn’t necessarily equate to what they will be like long term.

Up to one, food is fun (or similar)

You are stressing unnecessarily imo

Chill out. He will be picking up on your anxiety

Maybe try giving him what u have for tea at lunch time and what he likes for lunch at tea time and see if that helps