What to feed toddler fussy with textures?

[sharkstale]

My toddler has become fussy with food, and I've recently realised it's down the texture.
He seems to mostly only like 'dry' foods and no longer touches anything with a wet/squishy type of texture. E.g. he used to eat pasta and omelette, but will pick them up now, squish them and turn his nose up at them. He'll bite the corners of breaded chicken/fish, but won't touch the inside of it, whereas he used to love fish. The way he reacts to the 'squishing' indicates to me it's a texture thing.
He's fine with things like croissants etc, but it makes it hard to feed him proper meals.
Strangely, he'll eat yogurts, fruit, and some veg.

I'm at a loss as to what to do. I've posted about this before but received no responses and have only just realised it's a texture thing.

What can I do to get proper food into him?

Should add he's 16 months and this has been going on a few months.

A few thoughts - can your DC use a fork? If not then maybe introducing it might help. I had toddler cutlery which was a huge distraction.

Don't give up putting down the food for them. If they eat it great, if they don't eat it then dont make a fuss but don't offer anything else. The option is "if you are hungry you can have this" if they say they dont want it then say "oh you must not be hungry then!" Don't give it but offer them some toast at a later time once the dinner table has been cleared and a short break. This way they will not associate complaing with getting to choose their dinner.

Pay attention to if they really dont like something and if they genuinely dont like it then dont serve it to them. Maybe they will learn to like it in a few months or next year but dont start a battle about it.

Maybe try some new recipes with textures more appealing to your LO. If you want your DC to like food then you need to consider what they like now and build a more varied diet from there.

One thing that really helped my DC explore new textures was a 'picky' lunch or a 'picky' dinner. Picky lunch would be maybe oatcakes, cheese, grapes, cucumber, sweetcorn and then say if they were fussy with tomatoes I would put half a cherry tomato on their plate and consistently put it there for months until they would eventually pick it up and eat it. Then I would choose the next thing, maybe peppers and so on and so forth. Picky dinners would be lots of dishes on the table and DC gets to spoon their portion onto their plate so could be mini roast potatoes, salmon, side sauce like salsa Verde or tzaziki and a vegetable option like broccoli. Making it fun can help entice them to eat.

I definitely believe consistency is key. They all go through fussy stages at different points but if you are consistent then it will work. Don't get upset about it is the best thing you can do.

Could he be teething. My 3yr old sometimes goes off food when she’s teething

It’s classic at this age and he’s likely to come back round to all the previously loved foods again eventually, so don’t stop exposing him to them.

It’s a bit soul destroying but put a little of everything on his plate even if you know he won’t eat it currently. It needs to remain ‘normal’ for him to see they are common foods for your household.

Keep serving things he will eat alongside things he won’t currently do that he’s always got at least one thing to put in his tummy.

And don’t put any kind of pressure on eating.