11mo won't eat any dinner foods

[RattleAndRoll]

DS is 11 months and he won't eat veg/pasta/potato/rice or meat with dinner (he only eats ham in a sandwich). Basically he won't eat any dinner stuff except if we have garlic bread/naan bread/pitta bread/yorkshires with it, he'll eat those.

I'm stressing out that he's only going to eat weetabix and sandwiches for the rest of his life.

He will eat anything, if there's a blueberry on it. So a spoon full of mash, he won't eat, but if he can see there's a blueberry he will. Same with any other foods. We've done this for the last two dinners, sometimes missed a blueberry on that spoon and so he's managed to eat a few mouthfuls without a blueberry. Then yesterday I cut the blueberries in half so there would be less flavour of blueberries and more of the veg. As well as missing a blueberry out every now and again when he started not looking at the spoon for a blueberry. At least he's actually getting the taste now so in hoping he'll one day accept spoonfuls without blueberries? If I don't put a blueberry on he won't open his mouth and turns away for literally every dinner type food. He does hold food and eat it himself like cucumber, any fruit, sandwiches etc. and will take weetabix/yoghurt from a spoon. So he will take food from a spoon.

How do I get him to eat dinner food? Is he always going to not eat dinners? Or is it slow and in 6 months he will be eating dinner food? How do I make that happen?
Do I keep with the blueberries but gradually make them smaller and smaller til he can't taste them and is only tasting dinner food, then stop with the blueberries? If I should just stop with the blueberries how do I make him eat anything dinner wise?

He eats really well for breakfast (eg 1 weetabix and 1 banana) and lunch (eg 2 slice sandwich with cheese, Apple, yoghurt, cucumber) it's just bloody dinner food!

Help! Please!

Thank you.

Is it dinner food or is it dinner time food.

I'm assuming breakfast he is starving so wolf's down, lunch he enjoys feeding himself and dinner you try and feed him which he's less keen on?

I'd make the lunch the main meal with plenty of finger veg and meat strips maybe he would prefer to use his hands rather than be fed.

but really if he's eating ok I'd not worry. He's so small still and as long as yku are giving the opportunity to eat he's not going to starve himself. He might just not be that hungry.

Then give a snack tea(what you would give fir lunch)

Thanks for replying giles.
I've tried this before, though will try again. He's definitely hungry at dinner time as I don't give him a snack between lunch and dinner, though have tried that on occasion incase he's too hungry so won't eat.
I just don't want him to be a chicken nuggets and chips for dinner type of kid as me and DH eat proper dinners and wanted him to like proper dinners too. But I just don't know how to get him to eat it.
I have tried giving him veg he can feed himself but he throws them straight on the floor, same with meat.
It's so hard

What sort of food do you tend to try and feed him?

The important thing is to not make a big deal over it, I'm assuming he still has milk so he won't be going hungry. they pick up on stress and I know how stressful it cab be when they don't eat. you really do have to just try and ignore it.

do you sit him in a high chair or does he sit in a booster seat next to you or dh.

I think personally at this stage given he can still be topped up with milk I'd just serve tea and let him get on with it. of he chucks it say nothing. If he eats the bread he eats the bread and if he wants to pick off your plate let him.

Can you post his routine? that might provide an idea of whether he's too tired to eat or whatever.

Does he sleep well?

My Ds went through a phase at 10 months he would not eat anything that had to be fed. as he couldn't do it himself even yoghurts. We did some things like vegetable fingers sandwiches. let him use his fingers...Eventually he started eating normally again.. He is now 8 and eats a very broad diet.

I agree with the others don't get stressed about it though easier said than done ..I know..

Thank you again Giles.

He always eats with us, so sees us eating. He's in a high chair next to us. As long as I haven't added salt to ours I'll try him with what's on my plate. He's not interested. He just looks at it and refuses if on spoon or picks it up and chucks it on floor if it's a chunky item. Same with his own food.

Ok, routine at the mo is wakes around 5am and has about 7oz of milk and goes back to bed til 7.30/8.

He has breakfast around 8/8.30 which is usually 1 weetabix and 1 banana or a good handful of mini shredded wheat and strawberries.

Then around 10.30 he has around 5oz of milk and naps.

Then around 1.30 he has lunch of a sandwich (I do him a two slice sw and he'll eat anywhere from half to all usually it's half, rarely all) with cheese in, cucumber sticks, apple, sometimes a yoghurt.
Then has around 5oz of milk and naps around 2.30

Dinner is around 6/6.30pm, and I do him whatever we're having. So chilli, spaghetti bolognese, curry, casserole, pasta bake etc. which he won't eat. Then he'll have some fruit of some kind - if I kept giving him fruit he wouldn't stop, he is never full when it comes to fruit.

Then bath around 7ish, bottle of 9oz 7.30/8. And asleep.

He was 11lb7oz at birth and is following top centile for weight, and off the chart for height so I know the formula may seem a lot but it's not, he was on 5/6 bottles a day of 9oz.

Sleep wise he sleeps right through (unless teething pain) from 8ish til 5am for a bottle. But is never ready to wake up then, he wants a bottle and goes back to sleep.

I've tried doing his dinner all mixed up in spoonfuls or leaving it chunky for him to pick up so say chicken pasta bake, I give him piece of pasta and pieces of chicken and he'll throw it. So then I try to cut it all really small and try on a spoon, and he won't eat it.
I've tried giving him chunks of broccoli, carrot, asparagus etc, won't eat it. Tried leaving peas / sweet corn on his plate and he won't eat it. Tried chopping it onto a spoon, won't eat it.
Thing is I remember once he ate mash with peas and sweetcorn mixed in, this was early on in weaning so maybe 7-8month and then never ate it again. Same with brocolli and runner beans, he used to but won't now. And he's eaten chilli (a whole portion not one mouthful) and beef casserole (again lots of mouthfuls) once before and won't now.

I just don't get it. And he'll eat any of this if there's a blueberry on it so must like the flavour, otherwise surely he'd spit it out? A tiny piece of blueberry on a spoonful of chilli, you're going to taste the chilli surely? and he eats it. So he must like it. But this isn't normal behaviour on my part, I shouldn't be putting blueberry on everything but I'm hoping he's getting used to the flavours then?

Thanks starlight. I know I need to stop stressing but it's so hard.
It's nice to hear he's not alone and hopefully he too has a broad diet when older. Just how to get there...

hmmm

it's possible he's to tired.maybe bring tea forward and have it around 5/5.30. I'd possibly try and use breakfast and/or lunch to broaden his tastes a bit and keep tea simple and familiar.

would he eat say omelette with peppers/chicken/ham/cheese for breakfast or scrambled egg/ beans on toast.

or a jacket potato with tuna and sweet corn or some soup for lunch.

I'd definitely try reversing it again see of he eats more or will try hot food at breakfast or lunch instead.

would he eat porridge?

Then keep tea what he would normally eat for lunch.

My son was a terribly fussy eater. We used to try to give him something we knew he'd eat, and a spoonful of anything else we were having just in case he was tempted. We ignored what he ate/didn't eat and took the plate away without comment at the end of the meal. It took a very long time (years!) but he was always fit, healthy and active and has eaten perfectly normally since his teens.

I found that by the time dinner comes around, both mine are so tired that they barely eats. The only way around this is to have a cooked lunch. Then a high tea around 4, sandwiches, rice cakes, veg sticks kind of thing. I still sit them with us for dinner at 6, but don't expect them to eat much. More poking at the food.

DD1 is 4 and still struggles to eat the late dinner.

That's what they do at nursery and school (if having school dinners) btw.

Thanks all.

Yesterday I tried him with tuna/Mayo/sweetcorn with new potatoes and salad for lunch. Wouldn't eat any of it. I managed to get a bit of tuna in his mouth and he spat it straight out. Same with potato.,So I gave him half a bagel with cream cheese and he ate some of that.

Dinner was lasagne as already made two (we then have it two days in a row). He wouldn't eat any lasagne and ate a piece of garlic bread. Then he had a yoghurt.

Today he had weetabix and banana for breakfast again.

For lunch we had soup. He wouldn't eat it. He ate a few bits of buttered bread, so I thought I'd dip some in the soup so he'd get the flavour. Wouldn't eat it, only the plain buttered bread. He then ate a few piece of cucumber.

Dinner unfortunately was lasagne again. He ate a piece of garlic bread again but no lasagne. He then had an apple.

Tomorrow I'll try him with porridge for breakfast and eggs at lunch. He hasn't ever eaten porridge, even if I mix chopped fruit in it. He used to eat eggs either omelette or scrambled but he stopped, like with everything else.
I'll also move his dinner time to earlier, but I won't be able to eat with him then as DH doesn't get home til 6, that's why dinner is that time. I don't know if it's best tinting it forward and he eats alone or keep it later but eat together? I'm sure he can't be tired at dinner, today he didn't wake up from his afternoon nap til 5pm, dinner was at 6pm, and he went to bed at 8 as normal.

Does anyone think he'll start eating more of the dinner type foods when he goes onto cows milk because he'll be hungrier?

On days where I don't do something he'll eat (ie, no bread type thing with dinner) do I just let him go hungry? Do I offer him something else like a sandwich or even plain buttered bread?

Meant to say even if I swap the meals so dinner is at lunch, if he won't eat his food at lunch do I do something else?

I think if he has never eaten these foods at 11 months I would presevere with trying things but make sure he is getting enough. I would also get his weight checked by HV then you can monitor how he is gaining, It can give you an idea of whether he is losing or continuing gain.

Or just do him dinners I know he'll eat, which is anything bready/onion rings/fish fingers/fish cakes/nuggets or dippers etc with some of what we're having and hope one day he'll eat what we're having but until then at least he isn't going hungry?
We don't eat any of those foods often but sometimes if we need a fast dinner we do. Once a month or so. And as part of weaning he was given bits to try and has eaten them, though last time we had anything like this was a few months ago so he might refuse again, like he has with everything else.

Thanks starlight.
At the minute I have no concerns about his weight but will get him weighed soon so can start monitoring it. At his 9month check up the HV said he wouldn't gain as much now as he was so mobile and only a few months into weaning. So will be interesting to see what's happened since then.
I'm torn between just getting any food into him, and giving him variety. But when he won't even try anything I feel like the variety thing doesn't work so need to fill him up with something. But don't want him to only eat crap food and no proper dinners. He just picks things up and throws them unless it's bread/fruit or stares at them on the spoon and opens his mouth if it's weetabix/yoghurt. Turns away for anything else.