Big drop in solid intake

[~Emma~]

 Hi there,

 DS will be 10 months old in just over a week. He has always been pretty good with solids and pretty much up for trying most things.

 Lately though he is flat refusing to eat anything, apart from sweet things which he'll eat a bit of. He was eating quite alot of solids before this and his milk intake hasn't increased as a result of eating less. He still only takes about 18-20oz a day.

 Any ideas why? He is teething but he has been teething forever and its never affected it before.

[firsttimemummy]

Teething can affect their appetite.  My DS seems to prefer finger foods at the moment to purees .... maybe it feels nice on their gums to bite down?  Your DS wont fade away and will eat enough to keep him going ..... love the profile pic!

[~Emma~]

 I was actually pondering that. He has been on pureees for a while now so I have just made a batch of thicker stuff for him. I did make risotto for him last week and he hated it though!!

 I just feel that if I offer him finger foods only he wont get enough! Any ideas on finger foods I can offer with dinner? My minds gone blank!

 Thanks for the compliment! The pic demonstrates just how much he loved his solids!!

[~inbalance~]

You would be surprised at how much they can eat with finger foods!  I offered a variety of fruits and veg, usually cut into small pieces and steamed.  Plus small pieces of cooked chicken and meatballs, pasta, cereal (i.e. Cheerios), crackers.

I remember DS going through a bit of this at the same age, and I thought he was going off purees altogether.  But it was just a phase.  I agree that lumpier foods were better at that time, in fact I stopped pureeing altogether and just started mashing stuff up a bit.  Also, although he wasn't quite coordinated enough to feed himself, he still liked to hold the spoon and try, which I often found was enough of a distraction to get food into his mouth.

HTH 

[shivi]

yes...Emma loves pasta, any steamed veg and softer fruits such as pear, peaches, and her alltime fave is avocado...haven't tried her on meats unpulsed yet....but I am only mashing food other than meats now...and getting it into her in between her finger food-ing....

E went thro a phase of eating little or nothing solids wise in the summer but then once I dropped the DF we were back to normal....then she got fed up of the purees and we started her on finger foods (a LOT earlier than with Oscar...she can eat a whole adult handful of cheerios while she waits for her weetabix in the am lol).

I was obsessed with chances of him choking so didn't start so early....now not so obsessed. He had his first cheerio around 10 mths LOL!

S x

[~Emma~]

I am just going to steam a whole lot of veg for dinner tonight and see what happens. Thanks for the advice folks.

 I didn't realise that cheerios could be given to LO's but I'll def give it a go. He is not so much interested in the spoon at the moment but does enjoy feeding himself finger foods.

[firsttimemummy]

There are so many finger foods (Annabel Karmel has a book on them but not got round to buying it yet!). I make DS pancakes, fish fingers (hubby eats most of the breadcrumbs off them), veggies, lups of cheese or BabyBels sometimes (although cheese is salty so don't give it too often), slices of bread/toast cut into half or quarter etc.  It's amazing how well they manage to eat things themself.

Also, in the UK you can buy Organix finger foods (they look like packets of crisps but they are not full of junk!. DS loves the sweetcorn rings and the rice cakes).  The other day I dropped a bit of Weetabix (a little lumpy bit) onto his tray by accident and he picked it up and ate it, so I sometimes put food like that onto his tray and he loves it!  If you do, make sure you clean the tray straight after as Weetabix sticks like cement once dry!!!

[koe2moe]

I discovered something interesting with DS when he was around 7mo.  He would suddenly refuse to open his mouth when he sees the spoon approaching.  But when I give him some pieces of whatever, like crackers, bread, potatoes, banana, pear, something he can chew, he opens his mouth wide and then he would take a few spoonfuls. 

Good luck! 

[~inbalance~]

Another thing I remember with my DS around that age is he started to know the difference between foods he always got.  I thought he was getting picky, then I realized he was just bored with the same old same old.  Before that time he'd eat the same thing day in and day out.  Since then I've had to get more creative with changing it up! 

[~Emma~]

 Thankyou so much for all the ideas. I bet he'll love fishfingers!!

 I gave him carrotss and broccolli as a finger food option tonight as he refused his main meal but he refused the finger foods too!

 He absolutely loves the Organix carrot sticks already but the rice cakes are a wee bit too sticky for him. I also think he could be a wee bit bored too though. I'll just mix it up over the next few days and see what happens.

 Thanks again. xxx

[firsttimemummy]

The sweetcorn rings are the best (according to DS, not me as they look disgusting!!!) ..... also you can get original ricecakes in the range which are not as sticky.  Good luck - soon enough you will be complaining that he is eating you out of house and home!!! Also, a lot of babies eat well for a day or two then have a day or two when they hardly eat so parents are told to look at the food/milk intake over a week rather than daily basis.