What age to start shaped sandwiches, smiley faces etc??

[Zeeky]

What age do babies start taking an interest in what their food looks like and prefer funny shapes etc?

DS is nearly 10mths and when given a selection of fruit or veg, always picks out the brightly coloured things like broccoli or strawberries, while the cauli, banana or apple gets left. I was wondering if I should start making his food a bit more interesting to look at, and then maybe he will eat more, as he as been rather fussy for the last month or so.

Sorry, but i don't think it will make a jot of difference at his age.

Izzywhizzy - I thought it was a bit young too, but was hoping it would work as struggling to get him to eat much at the moment!

they pick the bright things at this age because they tend to be the things with the most goodness. a rainbow diet it's sometimes called.

I never bothered until they can help you make things into a smiley face etc

i don't think smiley faces etc work. the child might be marginally amused before stuffing in in their mouth or chucking it on the floor but not worth the effort.also you might get stuck in about 2 years with a child that will demand everything is in teh shape of a smiley face.

Life is too short to make smiley faces...maybe for fun at a party or a craft thing at playgroup but for everyday? No!!!

I have yet to come across any picky eater kid for whom it made a jot of difference, either

god above
don't start that nonsense.
talk about a rod for your own back.
DS1 is 15 tomorrow, 5 ft 9ins and fit as a butchers dog. He eats what is put in front of him. Its good for him. he eats it
Doing the same with DD because I never mess with a winning strategy

rofl

I always thought the goal of weaning was to help them eat the same (healthy, varied) food the rest of the family does - DH and I don't eat many things that are funny shapes. Have you been reading AK?

would putting things on a coloured plate make the pale stuff look more appealing?

oh god never
do it for a game or at a party or something
PLEASE don't get hung up on trying to make a 10 month old eat lots of stuff by doing all that Annabel Karmel bonkersness

oops repeating MrsB there re AK
I am sure we are programmed to prefer vivid and strong coloured foods more, anyway
they usually contain more nutrients

Never! That way madness lies! Although Miriam Stoppard does a book on how to turn fishfingers into space rockets if that's really your bag....

I agree re smily faces.

How about giving him less choice? Ie, banana on its own, rather than with strawberries. Would that work?

their hen night and need a willy shaped cake?
btw tiktok you are wanted on this thread

this one tiktok

zeeky - I agree with giving him less choice at one sitting. Get him used to a food then introduce new foods gradually. Too many options and he will be overwhelmed.
Also, don't be disheartend if it takes a long time for him to be enthusiastic about it.
Some babies chow down straight away and love it, but my own DS was extremely hard work to wean and even now at 18 months is more fussy than I would like. But he is getting there, and will try new things everynow and then. But when I try a whole plate of new stuff it just gets thrown on the floor!
Good luck x

It's food, not a toy...I won't get into that with Dd. Didn't with Ds and he eats everything he's given.

Yup you got it right - I've been reading Annabel Karmel !!

Glad to hear that the smiley face thing is a no-no. Was rather dreading having to turn fish pies into faces!

DS started off weaning really well - ate everything I gave him and loads of it. Then about 6 weeks ago he started being really fussy and refusing food from a spoon. We think it was teething as he has had 6 teeth come through in the last 6 weeks and another 2 nearly through. It's now a real struggle to get him to much in quantity at all - nowhere near what he was eating 2 months ago. I'm trying to give him as much finger food as I can, but so much of it just gets chucked on the floor, so not convinced he's getting an awful lot of it inside him. Last time I had him weighed at the clinic he had lost 9oz, so am a little concerned that he is not consuming enough calories.

He has just started crawling too (on Sunday) so is burning more calories but not eating any more. Thought the smiley faces might entice him into eating more!

My ds is 10m too. I tried making sandwich shapes to see if he'd eat them. Worth a go hey? Made no bloody difference whatsoever, he still does not like bread!

zeeky, i think at around 10 mos dd developed what i was appalled to note was A Mind Of Her Own... so where previously she'd thought 'ooooh what's this ? broccoli!' and 'ooooh, what's this? a sandwich!' by the time she got to 10 mos she knew what things were and had developed preferences. it's human nature, i think.
if it's calories you're after, add cream and butter and nut butters to his food, and up the milk again if he'll take it.

My top tip for adding calories is mascarpone cheese. You can shove it in loads of things... in pasta sauces for fusilli is good for finger food.