11 month old suddenly very fussy eater - at my wits end

[hopingforapeainapod]

My 11 month old has suddenly become very fussy - for the last few weeks he has absolutely refused to be spoon fed, and will only consistently eat fruit, peanut butter on bread, and veggie straws - everything else pretty much gets thrown on the floor. I am trying to not get frustrated and to keep offering a variety of foods, but it’s really testing my patience - I have absolutely zero motivation to make something homemade and healthy when he’s just not interested. It’s even more annoying because he used to be a fantastic eater - would eat pretty much anything I gave him!

He is teething - he is getting his molars through - and so that may be the cause, but I’m at a loss what to do.

He is also still drinking quite a lot of formula - 3 x 210ml bottles a day, and one 120ml bottle. He is a big boy (90+ percentile) and I want to cut back on his bottles but until he starts eating a bit more he just then gets hungry - the couple of times I have tried to drop the 120ml bottle he has then woken up in the night (he normally sleeps through like a dream, so I should at least count myself lucky in that respect!)

I should also mention that I go back to work on Monday so I think that’s also adding to my worries.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Molars are very painful, so IF it's teething, there's not much you can do although if it's been weeks, it's not necessarily that. And if he's sleeping through the night, that's very unlikely to be teething.

I would cut down on the bottles and ride it out.

Is he going to nursery? They tend to copy what other babies do so that might help.

It's very normal for babies that ate a wide variety to suddenly cut down to almost nothing. In the wild it would have stopped them eating poisonous berries etc, so evolution hasn't really caught up with modern living. I would just keep on giving him what he will eat, with something to try on the side every time. Also, sit him on your lap as you eat, so he can grab some. If it helps, my kids were excessively fussy as toddlers and are currently having chilli burritos for dinner. It gets better.

@AnimalFarm567 I think teething could definitely be playing a role, but I wonder if he’s also just becoming more assertive / independent / opinionated in general but doesn’t have the means to communicate or verbalise it yet…! He’s going to a childminder so will be with 2 other kids, so I’m hoping he might learn some good habits there. I just really don’t want to come back from a long day at work and cook up something that just gets thrown on the floor!

@HarryVanderspeigle thanks for the reassuring words. I know I just need to keep it low stakes and lower my expectations but it’s just the prep / mess / washing up for so little reward!

Mine went through something similar at 11 months. It seemed to be a phase that passed. I visited a friend with a baby the same age and got them sitting opposite each other to eat, which seemed more motivating than sitting watching us adults eat?!

I've also tried things like making the portions of new food smaller, and taking them away if baby won't try them and then getting them out again 2-3 minutes later (and not offering other food until they've tried a bit). Depends if this really upsets your baby. Seemed to work for mine.

Swapping from bottles of formula to cups of whole milk naturally reduced how much milk mine drank and it definitely improved DC's lunchtime appetite.

Don't take it personally and keep your patience. This is a long game. It's a completely normal developmental stage, but don't let every meal turn into a battle zone. Been there, done that, and my child will now willingly eat broccoli!

Honestly I think they all go through phases like this. I now don’t stress about it. I just serve up whatever we are eating (within reason) and if some gets eaten then great, if it doesn’t then I just clear it away and don’t think anymore of it. My eldest is a pretty good eater now. My youngest seems to go days surviving on just nibbles of food but i don’t let it bother me and I just assume/hope that one day he’ll be a better eater too.

If you have time could you try batch cooking for him? Then at least when you get home from work and you're tired you can just whip something out of the freezer - and you don't feel as annoyed when it gets thrown on the floor in my experience 😂

If he won't be spoon fed then let him feed himself! Mine HATED being spoon fed and started to eat much more once I just let him do it all himself / taught him to use cutlery. I agree about cutting back the milk though, what times are you giving the bottles?

Be careful with the veggie straws, if they are the kiddylicious ones they are salty!

Agree that he’ll probably drink less of you swap to a cup. If he’s having a bottle first thing in the morning i would try and swap this to breakfast with a cup of formula.

If you think it’s teething, what is he having for pain relief and have you tried him with some things like cucumber or a frozen Panama to gnaw on?

At the moment he’s having roughly 300 ml more formula a day more than the recommended amount at his age so it does sound as though it’s time to drop a bottle

Leave him to it and don’t cook separate things for him. That’s demoralising when they just fling it. Cook for yourself and he can have some of what you’re having.

And yes to switching to a cup throughout the day.

Hi @hopingforapeainapod sorry to bring back a bit of an older thread! But I'd love to know how things are with your little one now and if this phase lasted long? We're going through the same thing with food atm with my 11 month old. Do you happen to have any tips? 😊

@AnIncandescentGlow Hello! Was definitely a phase and definitely coincided with teething - he got a hell of a lot of teeth between 10 and 13 months and really went off food because of it. He’s now 17 months (and basically has all of his teeth!) and of course he still has phases where he goes off his food (for example when he’s feeling poorly) but generally speaking he’s a pretty good eater. Afraid I don’t have huge amounts of advice other than be patient, keep offering food and experimenting with letting them feed themselves - our son is really independent and definitely prefers feeding himself with a fork / spoon than being fed…

@hopingforapeainapod I'm so glad things improved! Thanks so much for getting back to me 😊