HELP 9mth old DS suddenly mroe independent

[Jen1978]

My DS is 9 months and has previsouly been a great eater, all of a sudden he is exerting his own independence and often refuses to eat off the spoon, pushing it away and turning his head away. Have tried giving one meal a day of completely finger foods which is fine, but he doesn't eat enough food this way to sustain himself because it is such a lot fo effort to chew for such a long time! I know this is a natural progression, I would just appreciate some ideas on how to smooth over this phase as easily as possible and maybe combine purees and finger foods? I esepcailly need ideas fo rbreakfast that don't take ages (I am going back to work full time as a teacher on thursday this week and he will be going to nursery so I don't have long in the mornings).
Any help gratefully recieved.

oh, I remember this well! what a pita.

I just gave in and offered finger foods (well, he wasnt going to eat anything off a spoon anyway) and upped his milk a bit.

meal times started off taking about an hour with him not getting a lot in his mouth. but now he is 12 months, I can let him just get on and feed himself, and he is a good eater.

for breakfast, ds ate cheerios, then toast, followed by fruit. and I found giving him a whole peeled pear was better than giving him slices - he could hold onto it better.

good foods to try are jacket spud (I quartered them), toast, sandwiches, fish fingers, mixed veg, veg chips, any fruit, and pasta. If you use pasta shells, you can scoop purees into them and he eats loads more.

hth

jen - i make pancakes for brekkie - with different fruit in them. a batch made in advance that i pop in the toaster to defrost - quick and she manages them herself. sometimes dip them in yoghurt for her as well.

Thanks, I will have to try something, just sat here at the table following yet another totally unsuccessful breakfast with DS having eaten nothing, tried weekabix - wouldn't open his mouth, tried rice crispies - wouldn't open his mouth, tried toast and he has just squidged it around on the table (usually he eats some of it so don't know whats happened this morning). I am so frustrated, I can't bear the thought of him not having anythign to eat but also don't want to turn him into a fussy eater by offering the world when he used to be so good. And its all suh bad timing with me going back to work on thursday. Ggggrrrrr!
Ok rant over now.

Aitch's blog www.babyledweaning.com has useful tips for how to introduce a huge range of foods and lots of pictures of babies happily self-feeding (mine's the one with the roast potato!)

i totally agree with bunnyhunny, this isn't a battle worth fighting, just up the milk if necessary and keep offering the finger foods.