14 month old - suddenly fussy eater

[Dee49]

My 14 month old has been a brilliant eater all along, but it seems overnight last week just started refusing any sort of food that requires to be eaten with a spoon. Things like weetabix, stew, mash with mince and veg, all things she loved up until now! Interestingly she’ll still allow me to feed her yoghurts, custard etc. She will eat finger foods she can feed herself but I don’t think she eats enough when eating this way and it’s affecting her sleep at night because I think she’s hungry then. She hasn’t yet got the skill of feeding herself properly with a spoon either. What should I do? I hate to think of her being hungry at night but don’t know what I should give her if she wakes then!

Will she eat it with her hands?

If not, try adding in a couple of extra finger food snacks. Or find a way to increase the calories she's getting from her finger food (avocado, houmous, peanut butter etc.).

She’ll pick at it with her hands but not eat as much as she would have done before. Really hoping it’s just a phase

Your baby is just very advanced. Most of them do this around 18 months give or take a bit. It lasts longer than you think you can bear and then they usually grow out of it. Keep offering a good range of food and don't panic.

PS just let her feed herself. She won't starve and 14 months is a bit old IMO to be being fed with a spoon.

I completely misread this at first! I thought she'd just suddenly got fussy as they all do around this age. But it's spoons. I think you just need to lose the spoons. She will soon learn to use them if she wants to.

Hi op my Baby is 15 months and started doing this a couple of weeks back, it's very annoying isn't it! I really hope it's a phase too as I was really pleased before at the variety she ate and now all she wants is baby finger foods, toast and mashed potato it seems 🤷‍♀️

Hi!

i’m having this very same thing at the moment with my 16 month old, did you find that it was a phase, if so how long did it last? I’m finding it really stressful, my little one has never been great with eating fruit and veg but recently he’s just not interested in food at all even things that were his favourites! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Hey! Yes it was a fairly short-lived phase from memory - maybe lasted a couple of months. A LOT of teeth appeared in that time. We just kept offering what we were eating and allowed her to feed herself. It will pass :)