Hi all,
I'm at the end of my rope with this and feel like a total failure as a mum!!
Findlay is almost 16mths old and still won't eat finger foods! This will be a long post so I'm sorry in advance!
Fin's a reflux boy and has had severe reflux since he was born, he was on meds for a while and I'm just weaning him off the last one now as the sick problems and acid seem to have calmed down however he's still got a very pronounced gag reflex so won't eat very lumpy stuff as he will gag on it and then it all comes back up! Once he's gagged thats the ball burst and he wont touch another thing!
I've been making him home made food since he was about 9mths and although there are lumps in it, it's still mostly mashed apart from small bits like peas, carrots and sweetcorn. The other problem I have is that he won't eat finger foods unless it's a biscuit or rice cake, crisps etc. I've tried him with everything, toast, cheese, mini sausages, fish fingers, chips, fruit, veg sticks (he has 14 teeth so it's not like he can't chew!) but he just refuses point blank and will not eat a thing! It usually just gets played with and then flung on the floor! He'll only eat if I feed him it. I've been giving him a spoon for ages and he's slowly getting the hang of it but will only try it a couple of times and then waits for me to give him the rest. He's not a big snacker either so doesn't usually get stuff in between meals so its not like he's not hungry when its mealtime.
On the plus side he's starting nursery in a fortnight (only one day a week) so I'm hoping that when he sees the other kids eating he'll copy them but I'm also really worried that he just won't eat anything because I don't think the nursery will make his food mushier than they would normally! I'm probably just being paranoid but I'm terrified that they'll leave him with nothing to eat all day!
Have you any advice on how to get him to start eating other foods? I give him something at every meal and he gets toast every morning when I'm eating mine but he won't entertain it at all!
It's really starting to get me down as it's really restricting what I can do with him as I can't order anything from a kiddies menu anywhere cos he won't touch it and I have to take his meal with me wherever I go and if he gags on it then its all over! I feel like a total failure cos every other kid his age that I know is happily munching away on finger foods or self feeding - my mum says not to panic over it and that my little brother was the same and wouldn't entertain very lumpy and finger foods til he was about 2 but I feel like a freak!
Thanks
Donna xx
