not eating much meat...

[brenda2]

dd2 (12.5 mo) was doing really well with finger foods and was eating a variety, but now she has gotten much picker and mealtimes are mostly her throwing things onto the floor.  i would like her to eat finger foods and not need to spoon feed her at meals but i'm finding that if i don't spoon feed her she doesn't eat a balanced diet so i've started again.  is this right or should i stop and let her do it herself.  she's certainly able to chew things - she has 6 teeth and can chew most things.  it's like she chooses not too.  but it's not really a tasted thing either because she'll eat it off the spoon when i mush it up and mix it with a bit of applesauce or yogurt.  she is definitely picker than dd1 and i'm struggling with ideas.

things she'll eat willingly herself: fish crackers, avocado, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, nectarine, cheese, cottage cheese, raisin toast with cream cheese, waffle, kiwi, crackers, rice (fruit is not a problem)

things she'll eat if i mush it up and spoon it in (i usually mix it with applesauce or yogurt):  beans, egg yolk, fish (a little bit), yogurt, carrots, applesauce, brocolli, sweet potato

i was feeding her chicken and meat puree when i was making baby food but i kind of stopped because she was eating little bites herself and i thought she would continue to get better at eating finger foods.  but she's not, in fact she's worse and just spits it out.  would you go back to pureeing meats and spooning it in?  i know she would take it...i'm worried about her iron intake.  i feed her lots of beans and egg and dairy because it's easy to just fork mash and spoon.  feel like we're going backwards here.  wwyd?

[Tweakster]

Hi there Brenda, is she teething?  Finn goes funny with his eating when his teeth are coming in.  Certain things bother his teeth more than others and it limits what he will eat.

Other than that, personally no I would not go backwards and back to purees, it may send a mixed message?  Dunno.  I think if you want her to continue to eat finger food you need to offer it that way so she doesn't think there's an alternative.  Could you put it on the spoon or fork and then help her to get it into her mouth that way? It takes longer but Finn is having great fun using a fork now, we load it up and he eats from it.  Then he practices loading it. Also we use dips when Finn is funny about his meat, tzatziki or honey mustard or applesauce or even the dreaded ketchup - he loves dipping it, even if he doesn't eat a lot of it, he will try it with dip just because he was the one to dip it. Or just find other iron substitutes for now until she's back on the meat. 

To be honest, after going through reflux and major feeding struggles we have completely gone the other way in our house in that we just trust that if we keep offering Finn good foods, he will eat them at some point.  He's not going to get all the required nutrients in one day perhaps, but maybe over the course of the week he has gotten most of what he needs.  We just put our faith into the human system, it really does work if we let it.  We stopped worrying so much about how much and what he's eating and just focus on our job of offering the good stuff.

Finn's the same with fruit, I think he would like every meal to be just fruit and nothing else.  But we aim for the protein and veg mix every meal, he's not big on grains so he normally gets those at breakfast only.  I try to offer meat and veg at every meal in some capacity...he doesn't always eat it but it's there on offer and I figure, eventually he will take it.

Hugs because feeding struggles are such a PITA, you just think you have it all sorted out and then they throw another spanner in the works!

[LeeLeeMelis]

Sending you patience! I've found that everything is a phase for these kiddos. Continue offering the meat and make sure she's getting good protein other places. Wesley has never been a big meat fan. He LOVES beans and eggs though so I dont get too worried.

I agree with Wendy, I wouldnt bother with going back to purees, this is just the way some kids eat!

[koe2moe]

Hi Brenda, what I noticed with DS was that before he had molars, it's not always easy to chew on meat.  Because unlike crackers, bread which would soften when it's moistened by saliva, meat stays hard and stringy.  He would eat and chew on everything but spit out the meat pieces (from jarred baby food).  He would eat very soft/tender stewed meat I make.  Not sure how the texture of the chicken was.  AND like pps said, when teething, the gum can be very tender and sore.  Perhaps you can try making chicken patties, burger patties type thing which would be much easier to gum.  HTH and hope she eats better soon

[Mom to M&M]

When DS is teething badly he sometimes goes off meat (and most foods LOL). I don't offer purees anymore (only spoon fed stuff is soup, yogurt and applesauce) but I DO finger or fork feed him - since he doesn't like finger feeding himself certain things (guessing a texture issue). So I can generally feed him something like bites of chicken while he's feeding himself fruit or homemade sweet potato "fries" or the like. He also really likes (and will usually self feed) the meatballs from Sneaky Chef - recipe posted a few threads down on this forum. Brisket in the slow cooker tends to go down well too...