Nearly one year old preferring smooth purees again during teething

[Puddings2108]

Baby boy is just shy of 1 year and for the last 1 to 2 months has completely gone off food and even changed his eating habit. He is teething, only just cut his first tooth (bottom, front tooth) and i think there are more on the way judging by the lumps under his gums, so this is most likely why.

My dilemma is that he has gone from 100% baby led weaning from 6 months where he would only feed himself finger food (purees and a spoon were the devil) to now just wanting very smooth purees to be fed to him! Not only that, i have always given him home cooked food without salt and sugar etc but he refuses this now, and when we brought some Tesco baby food jar out of desperation he wolfed that down! Over 2 days that i offered it along side home cooked food he ate the baby food jar.

I really don't want to give him baby food jars especially when he is coming up to a year, he seems to enjoy and eat his porridge and yogurt for breakfast (only meal which isn't a struggle) so i am thinking it is the smooth texture he is preferring due to teething discomfort and if i should just puree his lunch and dinner for now?

But i worry that he will just want smooth purees and become lazt, when do i reintroduce lumps, finger food etc?

Any advice welcome!

It’s a long time ago for me but I was quite anxious about my little ones eating at that age so I didn’t want you to go unanswered.

I expect he has a sore mouth with the teething bless him and quite understandable that he doesn’t want pressure on his gums right now. I think you’re right just to give him what he’ll eat happily for now - much more important to fill his tummy with whatever is wanted. He won’t be on smooth soft foods forever I promise you, teething isn’t forever, children are curious and inquisitive and he’ll start to explore food again, and even find that gnawing on something textured can relieve the teething, back in the day babies were given rusks so they could help the teeth through 😄 they were actually very nice! But sugary… carry on with the soft comforting foods for now, he’ll be fine.

Thank you so much @ArielHawksquill for replying. It is a very anxious and stressful time, you just want to do what is best for them.

For lunch i blended up some chicken, veg and rice and it seemed to go down much better, granted still needed a bit of diatraction but he ate it as opposed to clamping his mouth shut. I offered some finger foods alongside it and he did munch on a potato wedge.

I think you are right he will eventually go back to exploring food again once he feels better, and if he is eating home cooked food rather then store bought then im happy 😊

That sounds like a great balance, he can fill up on easy food and also have the opportunity to try something more “interesting” alongside. Things change quickly with tiny ones. Enjoy your little darling 😊