Weaning was going so well but not anymore. Problem is, I think it might be me!

[verycherry82]

I'm going to baby clinic today to ask this question but I have a feeling the MN advice will be much more useful!

DS1 is 10 months and seems to have turned into the fussiest eater ever! He used to have 1.5 weetabix with fruit for breakfast, a home made and food processed roast dinner or cottage pie or similar for lunch followed by a yoghurt and pasta with vegetable sauce and rice pudding for dinner. For the past couple of months, I have tried to introduce finger foods with varying degrees of success but we are now at the point where he will eat hardly anything off a spoon.

He now has a slice of toast with low sugar jam for breakfast, a cheese spread sandwich and yoghurt for lunch and pasta with pesto for tea. He won't eat any kind of cereal or any of the meals he would before but seems to love pasta with any kind of sauce.

What else could I try him with? What can I do to get him to eat some different things? I'm worried he's not getting enough nutrients and is basically eating the same processed carbs everyday!

Help please!!

Should also say that I'm finding the whole process so frustrating so end up giving him the same meals because at least I know he'll eat them but this could be creating a vicious circle.

I just plonked food like cottage pie on his tray a bit at a time and left him to get on with it with his fingers. Many a sloppy dinner has gone down this way. Almost total spoon refuser here from the start and its only since a year that he has let me give him a loaded spoon.

Is he feeding himself from the spoon or are you feeding him? I can remember my dd suddenly refusing to eat her porridge/ cereal. When I gave her the spoon she started eating it again, feeding herself.

I'm currently trying to feed him from the spoon. I've tried letting him feed himself but it hasn't gone very well and he's ended up throwing it all over the place rather than actually eating it. Any suggestions on teaching him how to use a spoon?

Can you load it first and give it to him to put in his mouth himself, (while still holding the end and guiding it at first)? Have another spoon loaded ready to swap after each mouthful and it becomes a bit of a game.

I would give him his own spoon to explore with and hopefully that wud distract him enuf for u to feed him?

DS is going through a phase of refusing anything apart from carbs (pasta, ryvita, bread, whatever), and is 9 months, so I have an inkling of what you're going through.

I just put down the same meals I always have done, and leave him to it. He's a spoon refuser and throws most of it around so we have a bit of 'spoon time' with him faffing about with the spoon, so hoping that will take over soon.

Keep at it! I find not watching DS does wonders - you turn your back for a second and the sausage has disappeared!

If he skips one meal he is not going to fade away so I think it is worth giving a wide variety of meals even if they don't always get eaten. You don't want a seven year old that only eats 3 meals right?

Health visitor told me give them normal family food and then you can give them a bit of what you know they will eat as well ie side of pasta with fish pie. If you are eating it too atleast it doesn't feel such a waste of effort if its rejected. I also found letting him eat off my plate, my fork interested him a bit more.

Ds also couldn't use a spoon at this age, now 16 months and he is getting the hang of it, he just needed to practice. Give thick soup etc that are sticky and use another spoon yourself to shovel some in if they let you.

Get some cookbooks out and make whatever, they have to try things to work out what they like. Or if you don't like cooking maybe just try and vary what you are giving now - different bread, cheese, adding ham etc to widen the current meals.