10 month old refusing to close mouth when food in there

[Eileen101]

My 10 month old is weaning (sort of). I'm offering a combination of purree, thickly mashed food and finger food based around what we're having.
She won't eat any of it. When I spoon it in, she sits with her mouth open and her tongue hanging out until it falls out.
I'm quite stressed as she starts nursery in a few months and needs to eat as she also won't take a bottle/spout cup. If it's not from a boob, she's not interested.
Are there any words of wisdom please?

I really wouldn't worry about nursery, especially if it's a few months away. Most of them just get it at nursery and eat with all of the other children.

Don't forget as well that the amounts that she needs to eat are actually quite small, think of the size of her palm. As long as she's following her centiles, you don't have to worry about her eating.

I'd just put the finger foods on her high chair tray for now and eat your own dinner and ignore her whilst she smushes it into her hair and throws it at the dog eats it

Don't worry too much. My daughter ate next to nothing until she was over 1. Litetslly teaspoons of food at each meal, and she would often sick it up mid meal. She was obviously getting enough from milk.

Once she started childcare, she would drink a bit from a bottle during the day and just made up for it by having more breast milk in the morning, evening and days when I wasn't at work.

She is nearly 4 now, still following the same centile and eats most things now, although she still has a smler appetite than average.

How are you getting on today @Eileen101?

Thank you all for contributing and @BunnyRuddington for checking back!
Breakfast of porridge was refused, lunch of toast spread with thin nut butter was certainly chewed a great deal but I'm not sure how much if any, was swallowed. Strawberries smushed and thrown in the floor. Dinner was attempted to be some of the toddler's casserole but mashed up. A small amount sampled from the spoon and separate veg played with on the tray, but that's it. Even though a few small spoons of the casserole were accepted earlier in the week

Have you tried Ella's kitchen pouches, OP? My eldest went through a stage where she'd just stick the actual pouch in her mouth and suck it until it was empty. It was all she'd properly eat for a while, then she grew out of it.

Thanks for the suggestion @WineInTheWillows I haven't... I used them occasionally for toddler and thought them quite expensive for what they are. We have to be careful with DD because she is allergic to dairy and wheat, but we brought some reusable pouches which I will definitely fill up with allergen free food and give that a go!

The fact that she's putting the toast in her mouth and chewing is brilliant. She will get there with swallowing it. I'd keep going with more finger food - some babies just don't like purée.

Honestly @Eileen101 don't stress it. Food at her age is about learning what it is for not for sustenance.

Ditch the puree and just give her finger food...Google baby led weaning...

She honestly doesn't need the food to survive as she will get everything she needs from milk. She will learn over time. As a pp says, give her lumps of food, whatever you are cooking, on her plate/highchair tray and leaves her with it whilst you all eat. She will learn from watching you.

The worst thing you can do is only give food to her...she needs to see what other people do with it to learn herself

What are her nappies like? It might not look like she's eating much but unless her poo is exactly the same as when she was in just milk, she is eating.

Also, what she's eaten doesn't actually sound that bad. It's about the same as my DD would have eaten at that age and she's survived

We have to be careful with DD because she is allergic to dairy and wheat,

Allergy babies are often quite fussy anyway as they can be wary of new or certain foods because they associate them with pain, can you tell that I've got a dairy allergy too?

My boy (CMPi) did great at weaning at 6.m, and then from 9-13 went right off eating anything. Don't stress about it. Keep offering and don't make a big deal of what she is or isn't eating. She'll get there.

Obviously disregard if she's loosing weight, not drinking milk, poor Nappies ect. But if she's otherwise fine let her crack on at her own pace.

Also refillable pouches are amazing- mine went through a vegetable rejection phase but loved a smoothie packed with greens and veggies

Thank you everyone.

@BunnyRuddington her nappies are pretty much the same as milk nappies, but starting to get very slightly paste like, as she's happily eating oat yoghurt for breakfast.

I'm taking the advice to put stuff on the tray and leave her to it mostly, obviously less the yoghurt from a spoon for breakfast. I've been researching BLW and finding some recipes, especially seeing as my toddler loves to help cook.
She's starting to bring some stuff to her mouth and explore it a bit, it's just a whole new thing for me as my toddler was spoon fed (happily, he needed no persuasion, and I had incredible anxiety with him).

I really don't know what she weighs, I took toddler religiously to the clinic every month, but due to covid, the clinics are cancelled until further notice and she won't stay still for the scales in the bathroom the fact she's so energetic must be a positive thing though.

Thanks Bunny, allergies are an entirely new kettle of fish for us...