13 months and still on mush - please help!

[edjo]

Hi,

I have read through some other posts and threads but still would like to ask some advice!

My 13 month old is not interested in finger food at all, we try everything from bread, banana, mashed potato, grated cheese/apple, soggy weetbix - she might put a tiny bit in her mouth but then she throws it on the floor. She's never shown any interest in the food we eat either and we do eat together.

My other problem (and it probably is mine rather than my LOs!) she will not eat ANYTHING with LUMPS in it or anything with any texture apart from mashed banana.  She gags and makes herself sick with the smallest of lumps and crumbs and it's making feeding time very very stressful for me.  I have had a couple of frightening moments with dragging her out the highchair and whacking her on the back, she is so upset, I am so upset and I am now scared to feed her anything lumpy.  She's really teething and cutting her molars at the moment which seems to make things even worse.

Apart from the lump thing she is a great eater and is in to different flavours.

Surely she can't eat mush forever, and it would make life easier if I could give her little snacks when we're out and also drop a bottle.  She still has 4 bottles a day but has reduced the amount to about 120ml per feed.

I know I can't force her to eat anything but I just wondered if anyone else is experiencing this with a toddler and if they have any tips.  PLEASE!

Cheers,
Jo

[elmarie]

I think you must not worry about it, when she is ready she will start eating food with lumps.  My lo is almost 18m old and still don't eat much lumpy food.  I still have to mush things for her.  I do notice however that is asking for our food if I'm eating something, I offer it to her sometimes she will try it and other times not-just go with the flow..

[taygensmom]

Hmmm, well sometimes this is something that a LO will "grow out of", but at other times it can be something where a little help is needed. So if you have a LO who just isn't that interested in finger foods yet, or doesn't want finger foods because prefers/gets too much milk, or it is a control issue, then they may grow out of it. But if it is a very strong texture issue (i.e. gagging/throwing up on any small amount of texture) , it may require a little bit of help. Not sure where you are, but in the US there are outpatient clinics who have feeding/dyshpagia specialists (usually this is a speech or occupational therapist) who can evaluate your LO and see if there is an issue that would require their help or if they think she will truly grow out of it. Not sure if this is something youw ould want to do, but it really doesn't hurt to get an expert opinion and at the very least it will put your mind at ease! HTH