lumps

[Portlypenguin]

My son is 1 this weekend and is now a reasonable eater. He eats a wide range of finger foods well now and has 7 teeth. He will munch on things which are hard/dry like biscuits or breadsticks no probs.

HOWEVER when it comes to 'main meals' he will only take things which are still pretty squidged up and moist. I mush up to some extent our meal (or use jars/pre-frozen portions from leftovers on some crisis days) and often need to add extra fluid to get him interested?

I've tried just offering the food 'straight' but he won't eat it either from a spoon or picking it up!

Is this normal? I suspect he is just being stubborn.

What happens if he doesn't eat it? Will you offer him much instead??

I don't think it's normal to want a roast chicken or stir fry with water! I'm struggling to see how it will help. Or do you mean he wants roast with more gravy?

What I mean is that is there any harm he wants more gravy or sweet and sour sauce? Maybe he just prefers his food to have more sauce than others?

If he won't eat it I try my best then give up and move onto the next part of the meal. If I have more of the same thing then the next day I mush it up more and frequently he will then eat it!

Re fluid - for something like a pasta dish I have to chop up the food really tiny and add more water/milk to make it much more saucy then he will usually eat it. Basically he likes it the consistency of baby food from jars! Last night it was sausages, mash and various veg. I cut up 1/3 of a sausage into little pieces, cut up the veg and tried it like that. He completely refused it. So I got a bowl, added everything, mushed it up a lot more, made a little gravy to moisten it and then he ate most of it.

Suspect he is just a bit of a difficult one! The frustrating thing is that I know he can physically eat more 'adult' foods. Just moving onto that stage is proving challenging. At nursery they say that they often add some warm water to his meals to make them runnier and then he eats them. I guess it doesn't matter as long as at some point he moves on.

I see. I wasn't imagining milkshake/smoothie consistency when you say adding liquid! So was really confused what's the problem with adding more sauce to pasta.

They say babies' taste buds are most receptive between 7 and 12 months. After that they get really suspicious and can become very picky and fuzzy. So just keep offering and he'll be fine one day.