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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

At wits end with 9month old

15 replies

Cookiemg · 07/01/2010 19:50

Hi

My 9 month old daughter used to be a great eater and now refuses anything savoury from a spoon but will most times take dessert from me. I thought she was perhaps exercising her independence and so I started giving her finger foods and whilst she shows interest in them she is just playing with them and sucking the cream cheese off toast. I know that she is holding out for pudding but I am concerned that she is getting very little nutrition at the moment apart from formula.

Could i put this down to a phase or do i need to exercise tough love?

Help please!

many thanks

x

OP posts:
winnybella · 07/01/2010 20:02

My 11 mo started doing the same thing recently! So now I don't bring the pudding to the table til she's finished with her lunch/dinner and most of the time it works.

Original poster
Cookiemg · 07/01/2010 20:04

I have tried all techniques and even if I don't give her a pudding she'll not eat savoury food. I can't withold formula surely? She gets a bottle after every meal

OP posts:
MyCatIsABiggerBastardThanYours · 07/01/2010 20:08

My 10mth old was a bit like this but is now eating more savoury things. My DD went through a similar phase.

I just keep offering the savoury stuff and as long as he has had 4 or 5 mouthfulls then I'm happy.

SummerLightning · 07/01/2010 20:12

I would say try not to worry too much. Keep offering the savoury, and persist with it a bit, before offering something for pudding. My DS is a total pain in a similar way (he's 12 months) and I just think it's not worth getting wound up about.
What do you give for pudding? If it's fruit/yoghurt rather than cake/biscuits I would say it's fine. My DH started saying DS didn't get his yoghurt if he didn't eat his savoury stuff, but tbh, I think he is too young to understand this and it's a bit silly! Also I want DS to eat food cos he likes it, not just so he can get pudding!!

BambinolovesBeccie · 07/01/2010 21:10

Cookiemg, my DS was the same - started off great then got really fussy around 9/10 months. In the end I would put a variety of savoury finger food on his highchair tray and at the same time feed him a "sweet" pud, such as yoghurt. More often than not, he'd carry on with the savoury food once the pud had gone. Keep offering it and try not to worry (hard I know).

Original poster
Cookiemg · 07/01/2010 21:20

Thank you so much for the reassurance. I'll try to persist with the fruit and yogurt as I guess it's better than nothing. I'll try the finger food technique alongside it. Did this phase pass with your wee ones?

OP posts:
SummerLightning · 07/01/2010 21:26

It hasn't passed properly yet, but my DS has always been a dubious eater unlike yours. Many babies the age of my DS have gone through bad eating phases and then pick up eating again. Often teething or illness related

My DS eats:
Nasty Organix jars, they are all red tomatoey sauces and taste disgusting. He will not eat any attempt to make similar ourselves.
Ready Brek
Rice cakes
Fruit
Yoghurt
Naughty things like biscuits and cake (not given often!)

That is about it on a regular basis. He is just not that interested in food generally. Lots of babies seem to be desperate to eat what their parents are, mine is just not bothered. I just try not to worry about it.

mrsflux · 07/01/2010 21:43

Try alternating savoury and pudding. It sounds awful but does trick ds into eating something he might be fussing about normall. Once you have his eating the savoury stop giving the sweet - chances are he won't notice. My ds doesn't! ;)

SummerLightning · 07/01/2010 21:51

I acutally used to mix the savoury with the yoghurt (the alternating didn't work). Disgusting but he ate it.
My friend used to do similar and said that her DD learnt to scrape the yoghurt off the top of the mixture with her top lip!

Sidge · 07/01/2010 21:58

She doesn't need the nutrition from food at 9 months old, her main source of nutrients is her milk (whether breast or formula). Eating at that age is about tastes, exploration, sensory development and the development of the muscles and nerves in the mouth, jaw, face and throat.

It's not so much about how much babies eat but about trying to offer a good variety of foods of different textures and tastes.

Babies naturally have a sweet tooth and will generally prefer sweet foods over savoury. Don't get into the mindset of 'main course' and 'pudding' as to a young baby food is just food, but obviously avoid too much sugar. Yoghurts (especially baby-oriented yoghurts) are incredibly sweet and loaded with sugar and/or sweeteners so maybe try fresh fruit chunks that they can handle themselves, or offer fruit salad or flapjack. Or even don't do pudding at all!

My girls loved chunks of mango, pineapple, satsumas, berries and melon. Not so easy to get at this time of year though!

Original poster
Cookiemg · 07/01/2010 23:42

Thanks again. I recall reading that they can survive on milk up to a year and any foodstuffs are a bonus on top of that. It's good to rethink the 'pudding bad' attitude and to remember that it is all just about taste at the moment.

OP posts:
fruitstick · 07/01/2010 23:49

My DS is 11 months and exactly the same. Resists spoon feeding except yoghurt when he turns into a baby bird.

I give him finger food or actually, his ordinary food but allow him to eat with this hands - broccoli and cheese sauce at lunch was messy!

Often I leave him to it for 10 mins, then give him yoghurt, and often he'll have a bit more of his main course once he realises the yoghurt or fruit puree is over

dilbertina · 08/01/2010 19:26

I have been known to dip spoonfuls of savoury meal into fruit puree to get dd to eat it...her tastebuds must be mightily confused but it seems to work...

BertieBotts · 08/01/2010 19:46

I have always just offered DS whatever I have made for dinner and not worried whether he ate it or not. Things that go down well I tend to serve up more often (mashed potato and baked beans are his current favourites) but I don't avoid things he won't try (if he tries something and makes a face a few times I avoid it for a while - egg, currently) - their tastes change a lot as well. I find if I offer small portions of lots of foods he is more likely to eat more, even if it does mean he is eating similar things every day.

One thing I have found excellent is bags of frozen mixed veg from the supermarket. No preparation and plenty of choice, in handy baby-finger-food size pieces. He picks and chooses what he wants from the mixture but he always seems to eat loads more than if I had only served 2 veg e.g. carrots and broccoli. And if he does throw the lot on the floor I'm not as upset as I would have been had I spent hours peeling and chopping

I was not offering pudding unless he ate a decent amount of dinner but my HV advised not to do this, especially if he is a small eater - just always give healthy things for puddings like fromage frais, full fat yoghurt or fruit. Witholding puddings can make "sweet" foods seem more desirable.

They do get the bulk of their vitamins from milk until 1 year anyway so keep offering that as well

BertieBotts · 08/01/2010 19:48

Also - I would probably suggest separating the bottles from the solid food, and giving them at different times rather than after a meal.

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