Can a 8 month old be fussy??

[ruthyless1]

Hi,

my DS is 8 months old and already showing strong preferences for certain foods and I'm worried he's going to be a fussy eater! I've tried to introduce him to lots of different flavours and textures by doing a mixture of puree and BLW! He's always taken a lot of convincing to eat (lots of making him laugh and shovelling in in etc.) and generally prefers finger food! At the moment he would quite happily survive on toast and baby yoghurts! I.e. for tea tonight I gave him sticks of pepper and cucumber, alongside pasta in creamy veg sauce! He ate some of the pasta and some of the finger food then got fed up... but completely wolfed down a whole yoghurt and wanted more!!!

Should I keep giving him the foods he loves or cut them back and encourage him to eat others instead!! Don't want a fussy child in the future- but he's pretty small so want him to eat!!

Any thoughts????

Unless he is really refusing something, I would keep going on a very mixed diet. If you only offer things he loves, you may find yourself in a corner later!

I found it best to stick to the sort of tastes you generally eat at home yourself, so it is easy to switch to family meals later.

Of course, you can also offer toast, yoghurts etc, but only was you would do yourself.

So, breakfast for us was cereal, fruit, toast. Lunch was a meat/fish/chicken dish with pasta or potatoes and veg, and a fruit based pud. Tea was often a finger food based meal or pasta.

Honestly, much easier to stick to it now, IMO.

Not at all fussy, just learning about tastes and textures.

It can take 10-15 tries of a food before a child accepts it - some foods they just won't ever like in the same way as adults have food they like or dislike.

Just keep offering a variety

He possibly knows (in an innate sense) that pepper and cucumber don't have the things that he needs to grow stronger, and yogurt does. Which is pretty much the case, the pasta in cream veg sauce and veg are low in protein, the yogurt at least has some so he favours the things he knows that he needs and is "fussy" over the things that he doesn't.

But you should keep offering the variety - since his needs may change, but don't get too hung up on him refusing certain foods as part of the mix.