Limbo land in the solid foods department

[Emma-Rose's mom]

I feel like I'm in limbo land with regards to my DD eating solids.

She's currently 11 months, and she has a very varied diet since I make all of my own baby foods. Up until recently, she has eaten pretty much anything and everything I've put in front of her, but lately she's been refusing both the spoon and lumpy vegetable purees. (She's better with the fruit purees.) I'm a bit confused about this because she does eat finger foods and has experience with lots of textures, so I'm not sure why she's refusing her lumpy purees. She eats chicken, eggs, all types of meat as long as they are really small, bread, cheese, crackers, steamed soft veggies of all kinds, noodles, cheerios, etc. BUT, she only eats the finger foods if I feed them to her by hand. The only finger food she will pick up on her own is cheerios.

Unfortunately, she doesn't really eat enough finger foods to fill her tummy. She looses interest in them after a while because they take longer to eat (especially since she only has two bottom teeth), and gets fussy in her high chair. At least before I was able to offer finger foods first then "top her off" by offering her purees, which she would eat until she was full. Now she doesn't want the purees or the spoon, even though she's still obviously hungry. She has started to clamp her mouth shut and shake her head when I offer her the purees. If all else fails, I can offer her fruit purees, which she will usually eat, but I am trying not to give her that too much because I don't want to reinforce her obvious preference for sweets.

I was wondering how other moms transitioned their kids from purees to eating only finger foods? And at what age did you stop giving purees?

Or am I being overly concerned here? It's hard to know that line when DD is my first baby!

Mika

[lilmonkey]

Sounds like she really wants to feed herself.  It is very normal for babies to decline the purees/spoon at around this age.  Some start earlier some later.  Have you read this?  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=70142.0

You could continue to give her finger food and then try to top her up with purees or just forget about purees.  Remember that there's not much water/liquid in the finger food as compared to purees so it might seems that she is eating very little.  As for holding her food for her, have you tried giving her a fork with the food on it?  Or just leave the food on her tray and wait?  DS went through a phase where he didn't feel like feeding himself (even though he's been doing it since 8 mos) and I found that if I give him a fork with the food on it, he will take and eat it. 

As for the lumpy food, some babies don't like the lumpy stage and goes straight to finger food/table food. 

HTH

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Yes, thank you. That does help. I guess I was a bit reluctant about giving up the purees because it's so hard to gauge if she's getting enough. I think I will try to leave her food on her tray and see if she tries to pick them up. Lately, she just swipes them off her tray, but I guess that's normal?

Also thank you for the link. I did read that before, but rereading it again gave me some new perspective. Sometimes I have to look at things twice, I suppose. The suggestion to dust the slippery foods with cereal was a great suggestion in that link. DD loves to eat kiwi, and it's always been too slimy for her to get a good grip on the food.

Thanks!
M

[lilmonkey]

Oh yeah the swiping or dropping the food onto the floor is VERY common and completely normal.  She's a budding scientist and learning about cause and effect can be very messy during mealtimes.  You could try to give a few bits of food at a time.  Then as she understands more then give her a plate or bowl.  It is only recently that I have the courage and patience to give ds tomato sauce again for dinner. 

M

[Emma-Rose's mom]

GRRRRR  I just tried to feed her breakfast, and it was a complete flop. I even went through the trouble of making DD french toast made with formula milk and egg, and cut the toast up into teeny tiny pieces that she can gum. I also offerred her favorite kiwi fruit and cheerios.

What did she do?

She picked at her cheerios, ignored the rest of the food on her tray.

That link you sent me suggested that I pick up the food from her tray directly to feed her so that she can associate the tray to mouth. So, I did that. We struggled with this. Sometimes she would refuse the food, and othertimes, she would decide to go ahead and gum the food. But, the few times she did decide to eat, she was taking a really long time so I tried soaking the food in her purees to soften the pieces up.

Then I noticed her impatience. Grunting, squirmming, obviously wanting out of her chair. I thought, uh oh... I better try to top her off with purees since at this point, all she really had were a few pieces of cheerios and about 5 teeny tiny pieces of french toast and maybe 5 teeny tiny pieces of kiwi. Of course, with my luck today, she refused the spoon and the purees. 

I feel like I only have a short window of time before DD is tired of the eating business... Ugg! I will try again for lunch, and presoak her toast...although I'm not sure why she's acting differently with the toast this morning when she usally eats toast given to her off MY PLATE just fine...

[lilmonkey]

...although I'm not sure why she's acting differently with the toast this morning when she usally eats toast given to her off MY PLATE just fine...

Maybe you can try feeding her of your plate?  Food always looks/tastes better when someone else it eating it.  It is frustrating but don't give up.  She will eat if she's hungry.  If she sees/sense your frustration then she may associate that with eating and be put off on it.  Just keep offering and if she decides not to eat then try again in 30 min or the next meal. 

Hugs.

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Thanks, I'll do that.

Honestly, I don't know what the heck is going on with DD right now. She's just all over the place. This morning she didn't want any food of any kind (neither solids or purees), and only drank 3 oz of an 8 oz bottle.  It makes me wonder if this is a totally different issue, like more teeth coming through, although I haven't seen any...

I just have to remember that she's average weight, so she's obviously not starving. So, I just have to take these blips in stride...

xxoo
M

[lilmonkey]

Teething and illness can affect appetite so don't feel that her lack of interest in eating has anything to do with you or your cooking.    Both dd and ds always decrease their intake a few days before and fo rthe duration of any teething or illness.  I have learned to relax when this happens.  It is frustrating but I can't really make them eat if they just feel awful, kwim?

Hugs.  Just tell yourself it is a phase and it will pass.  Until next time.