Hi everyone, need some advice!
We started weaning DS when he was 6 months old - he's now 9.5 months. From 6 to 7 months, we did mainly baby rice/potato mush plus veg/fruit puree with finger foods at each meal (i.e. traditional weaning) and by 7 months we'd moved to 3 meals a day.
At 7 months - or well, probably before - DS started getting pretty agitated with spoonfeeding at lunchtime (breakfast was and is always fine) so we started doing fromage frais and then only finger foods for that meal and he got on much better - threw a lot around but no tears or tantrums and started downing some of the variety of interesting foods laid on - we were much less stressed at lunchtime as well! Evening meal was then fine - something more substantial like pasta or rice being spoonfed with finger food of fruit as dessert - and hardly any refusals of food for that meal. We frequently ate the same meals as him (with added salt for us!) which is of course how we want to do things altogether in the long run. DM looked after him recently for a couple of days and was delighted with how unfussy a baby he was; she made dinners that I wouldn't have made and he ate everything without a fuss!
Now at 9.5 months, something has changed. Two weeks ago, I returned to work and DS has started 3 full days a week with childminder (spent about 3 weeks doing half days and is generally getting on fabulously). She has other children there and while she tried finger foods at lunchtime for a while, she (and I) noticed that it's a new game to start throwing food around and watch it fall from the highchair etc, and so she's started spoonfeeding a proper meal at lunchtime instead (and he fits in with the other kids this way). I've no problem with this - she notes what he eats at lunch and often tells me he's eaten loads, which is great.
Problem is - on the days he's at home, he's become really fussy both at lunchtime and dinnertime! Tears and tantrums and refusals have returned. I've started just last week to branch out and start doing more interesting meals - more suited to an older baby, as per the couple of recipe books I have on the go. I enjoy cooking them - but we seem to be back to the 7 month stage of me spending time cooking and him refusing and whining at the high chair! Refusing to be spoonfed beyond a couple of tastes and finger foods are still thrown around. So in summary, he's not eating much at home - but apparently wolfing down food at the childminders'!
I'm loathe to keep making new meals if he refuses what's been offered to him - I feel it's a slippery slope. And I do have the mantra 'food for fun till the age of one' in the back of my mind - he's getting 600 ml of milk to drink each day, apart from dairy in food. But frankly - the fussiness is driving me mad, and after I thought we were doing so well!
Any suggestions?