11mo refusing finger food suddenly

[Chelly71]

Hello wise MN'ers,

I've got a healthy happy DS who is coming up to 11mo. Eats well and has always had a combination of mashed food (eg shepherds pie, fish pie, veg and pot mash etc) and finger food with each meal (toast, banana, pear, rice cakes, cheese). The last couple of weeks he has had less and less finger food preferring to be spoon fed.. it got to the point where he would eat the finger food if I put it in his mouth (not quite the idea eh?) but now he won't even do that.... is this a phase? He is teething and a top tooth cut through today so is the more 'solid' food too much for tender gums.. I just feel like we are going backwards, should I persist or leave it a few days and then try again. He won't hold his bottles either which is concerning me for moving to a cup/beaker in a few weeks..

Any experience truly appreciated x

Maybe try offer the finger food first? Leave it on the tray of high chair whilst you are doing something else. he might like the spoon thing because he gets your full attention of course. I think that he also could get some food in a bowl without a spoon. I wouldn't worry about this becoming a habit if it helps break the cycle as he might be wanting to feed himself completely and they can eat rice/beans etc with their hands. I agree the teeth could have been very painful and led to change of habit.
Also do you eat your food at the same time so he sees you eating eg. toast...he may try to grab it out of your hand....

Ps
My babies also rejected bottles completely when teething really bad; you may have to spoon fluids directly into mouth if this goes on, eg water with a dessert spoon. Could be time for a beaker now as the harder spout will be nice pressure on the sore gums and he might play around with it in his mouth and get used to it gradually

Mine is only 8.5 months so no personal experience, but here are 2 things I have heard:

If he's having a growth spurt, he might be extra hungry and find finger food too slow, and prefer to be spoon fed as it's quicker.

He might think spoon feeding is a fun game at the moment, in which case I guess it'll just be a phase and he'll be on to the next thing soon enough.

Just ideas, HTH

I know lots of babies who refuse finger food when teething (or when having a developmental spurt). It's only temporary.

My BLW DS rejects all sorts of foods when teething / developmental, but always goes back to them after a few days.