DD won't touch meat and struggling with table food

[LindsayS79]

Hi all
I've been on here many a time before with the issues I'm having with my DD, 15 months. My HV isn't interested at all.
Basically she's still on chunky baby food (home made) but I'm losing the will to live trying to get her onto table foods. Should she be on that now rather than the chunky food?
She also won't eat meat at all. She'll put it in her mouth then spit it out immediately. She's fine with softer foods like baked potato, ravioli and pastry etc.
She'll eat about a square of a sandwich then give up.
How did you get your fussy eaters onto table foods? Should I try it every night? Or every second night? I'm losing the will to live making my own goujons etc and getting them rejected.. Also sick of making this chunky baby food too!!! All tips are really appreciated!!!

Can't remember your previous posts sorry Lindsay? Has she ever been checked for tongue tie? My DS was very similar and he has tt and upper lip tie.

She has upper lip tie and a speech therapist (visited us at about 9 months) thought she might have slight TT but not enough for it to affect her eating..
She'll happily munch on softer foods and also rice cakes/bread sticks etc. but the minute I put chicken etc near her she won't have it!
Should she be on table foods completely by now? I'm not sure what method to use for a transition. I'm going to try some quorn with her to see if that's successful!
I know you need to try a food several times before they might dive in so I was wondering if offering her the same dinner a few nights in a row might work..
How did you manage it jilted with TT?

Can't see how the speech therapist could say it shouldn't affect weaning. It often does and she is struggling. Could you investigate getting it divided?

I know. They just don't want to even talk about it. Speech therapist just blames reflux but she doesn't even gag anymore! My dentist said she's going to wait a while re the lip tie. However I would have to go private for the TT, which I would be fine with, I just don't know anyone who's had it done in my area and would be concerned over who does it!
She actually ate half a quorn sausage, a large new potato and some sweet corn last night, I was so chuffed! She was still a bit hungry so I gave her a banana and yogurt for pudding (don't normally do pudding). I didn't want to give her any 'baby food' after she did so well with her 'big girl' dinner!

I think meat takes a lot of children longer to get used too

Dd 18 months is happy with chicken but will spit out anything chewier e.g pork lamb or beef

What do you mean by table food?

My DD didn't eat meat until she was almost 2 so don't worry about that. Just make sure your child is offered a good variety of food.

Can you all sit down as a family and eat the same food? I take it your DD doesnt go to nursery? I find my daughter used to eat better around other children.

No need to be obsessed with meat, some people never take to it, and nutritionally, it's easy to find substitutes.

It's so hard when they won't eat what you make and one of my solutions was just to put less effort in. Not to feed DD any less nutritious food. But not to make things that were so labour intensive. It was just so hard to see it rejected! It's fine to cut up and avocado and cheese and make some toast, or scrambled some eggs, or grill fish with steamed veggies - whatever you find easiest.

Another way to do it is (if you prefer to cook from scratch for the family) not to cook separately for DC. There are lots of soft, meat free things you could incorporate into the family diet (thick soups with pulses, veggie curries with paneer or tofu, risottos, pasta bake, veggie gratin) so that you could cook less and, importantly, eat the same things.

Does she eat when you do, and does she eat the same thing?

Thanks all. By table foods I just mean whatever I'm eating I guess! I'm a veggie so giving her the same as me is no problem. DH works nights so it's just me and DD every night. I don't normally eat a dinner with her as I'm rushing to get her dinner ready as we don't get in till 6pm and she's crying to be fed! I'm going to start eating with her every meal to see if that helps.
She is at nursery but that doesn't seemed to have influenced her. Her key worker thinks she's just a bit lazy!!
She used to try anything but she's fussy after a couple of bad tummy bugs in the past few months. She was awful at even touching food for a bit there but that's improving.
That's good to know meat can be difficult. DH had food sensory issues (MIL was puréeing his food at 5 years old..!) so I'm particularly paranoid that I make sure DD doesn't go down the same route!!!

My 16 month old DS will not eat any meat that is too chewy, he will happily eat processed chicken (in nugget or goujon form) but won't eat anything that is what I would call 'proper' un-mucked about with meat - he has now even taken a dislike to mince.

He will however eat fish so I am giving him lots of different types of fish at the moment alongside baked potatoes and steamed veg.

I think as long as she is getting a balanced diet then I wouldn't worry too much about what form that comes in.

The other thing I'm doing at the moment is giving him dinners that take me no longer than half an hour to cook - that way if he decides he doesn't want what I have given him I find it less soul destroying as I haven't been in the kitchen for hours!

Thanks! What's a typical dinner and portion size for your DS then GothicRainbow? I'm not sure what I should be expecting of my DD..
Goodness how hard is it to spend time making dinner for it to be rejected?!

Sorry only just seen this! Typical dinner for my DS would be a piece of cod/salmon/fish cake/ 4 fish fingers/ haddock.

I then cook an adult portion of veg because he's obsessed with veggies and he'll eat as much as he can - anything that's left gets popped in the fridged and microwaved the next day.

Carb wise we would do a medium baked potato with butter or a small portion of chips done in our actifry.

Tonight we are going completely veggie and having gnocchi with basil pesto and grated cheese. Portion wise for this would be a quarter of a bag of gnocchi.

You feed your 16mth old 4 fishfingers plus adult size veg and a jacket potato?

Our 16YO would struggle with that!

My 10yo could manage that, but only just and he's a greedy sod!

Lindsay I think the best guide for portion sizes is the palm of her hand. So say if you give her veggie lasagne I'd give her a portion the size of her palm and the same again in veg, cooked or raw.

Have you thought of doing a bit of batch cooking for you both? It might make your weekday evenings a bit easier and you could both eat together

I should have said, a lot will end up on the floor - he's a chucker. I have to start big or he'd end up eating nothing as it would all be on the floor.

But yeh he could happily eat 4 fish fingers and an adult portion of veg! Maybe not with the baked potato as well but I do the potato to make sure he has carbs and to balance out the amount of fish finger and veg that ends up on the floor.

These portions suit him, he's not big for his age (under-sized in fact, only just going into 12-18mth clothes) each to their own.

Thanks all! Wow those are impressive portions!! I always batch cook but I'm just getting a bit bored of it now (sounds bad..) I'm running out of inspiration too while trying to make things as chunky as possible. My freezer is full of food for her but it runs out quickly!!!

Gothic just one perspective from experience, but when I dramatically cut portions on her plate down, DD ate more. Also I return what she chucks on the floor to her plate