almost 9 months..all of a sudden picky eater

[gogomama]

Hi there,

my LO used to be a huge eater eating about a pot of baby food each meal. Now he's scaled back a ton, taking just a couple tablespoons and turning his nose up at basically everything. The only things he will even touch are eggplant, sweet potatoes, cereal and sometimes yogurt. He's not a fan of finger foods or anything with texture at the moment, so I'm not sure what to do. Is this a pretty normal phase where they get choosy all of a sudden?? He's also started asking for an additional milk feed which I am guessing has to do with his decreased solid intake...any suggestions? thanks

[Canadian_Mom]

DS does the same thing when he is teething.  All you can do is keep offering the foods and usually they go back to their normal selves.  He will eat if he is hungry

From what I have read in some of the threads here, some LOs go back to normal within a few days, others can take a lot longer.

Just keep meal times fun, and don't force the food if they don't want it!

[Spandanna]

Hi

I just wanted to add that it's totally normal...my DS is a big baby and has always had a good appetite but he sterted going through different funny phases around 8-9 months onwards too. Teeth definitely affect feeding even when you can't see any obvious signs in his mouth, things could be on the move.

We had a phase of only eating sweet things for a couple of weeks at 8 months then at nearly 10 months he had a whole month of completely refusing anything off a spoon, wouldn't even try it not even his beloved fromage frais!!! So I was beside myself and started making chicken balls, sausage balls, vegeatble balls lol!! Anything he could feed himself...then bang a month later he decided all he wanted was stuff off a spoon!!

Now he's 12.5 months and this week he's barely eating anything. A mouthful each time at best!

At these times I try lots of chopped up fruit, especially melon out the fridge as if it is teething this soothes the gums. Try offering toast or cheese on toast or a steamed piece of carrot or some cucumber or something he can feed himself maybe?

[Spandanna]

Also meant to say i totally agree with Nadia not to force it because this can make matters soooo much worse. If he turnes his head away repeatedly maybe offer something else and then try the first food again.

The other thing DS does is sometimes refuses his main so i give yoghurt and then he finished his entire meal...crazy boy!

[gogomama]

Thanks for all of the replies ladies The first time he started being picky I stuck the spoon in when his mouth was open and he then proceeded to throw everything up So you can say I learned the hard way to not try to force anything.

Sounds like I just have to wait it out and keep trying to be creative with the food choices.  I just hate having to make all the food just to end up throwing it away, ynwim? I'm happy to hear its a pretty normal phase tho. Did you both also experience more milk intake during these times as well? Thanks  again for all the advice

[Spandanna]

Yes definitely not unusual for them to up the milk intake especially when they still take milk from a bottle because it's also a comfort thing.

Just sit it out and be patient and make up really small pots of food to minimise the waste. try offering yoghurt/fruit/biscuit then go back to the main and see if that helps and if not just persevere and keep trying every day. it may be that in a week or so a tooth pops through and answers the big question of WHY??!!

good luck x

[kermit_o]

I just wanted to say my DS did the same thing at 8 months - when teething.  I think the spoon hurt his teeth a few times and he took a dislike to it.  I found finger food worked.  Making him things he could pick up seemed to bypass any teething pain.  A while later I would feed him food while he had something to feed himself.

He has just turned 2 and eats everything in sight despite my worries that he would be a fussy eater - keep with it.

Also try eating at the same time as him, I found it helped me to be less stressed about meals and gave him some company.  (I remember flinging a pot of food across the kitchen because I was so miffed that I had cooked it and he wouldn't even try it - that was what it took me to take a step back and put myself in his position thinking if I didn't want to eat, having someone stressed beside me wouldn't help.  I made myself a cuppa and a piece of toast to calm down, then gave him a corner and he chomped his way through it with me much to my amazement.)

Try to keep trying foods and work through it - its probably just a phase.

Kath

[Little toes]

Glad I'm not alone here....dd has been a great eater until recently. She's had 4uppers cut thru within the last month, now just keeps turning her head. Hoping this'll pass. And yes, it does get frustrating when she doesn't eat, but I just let it go. She's still getting calories from bf and formula, so it's not like she's starving herself...just giving her mum some extra work, that's all.

[blitz]

I'm just wondering if anyone else has this problem: dd is 10 mths, she refuses to eat baby food anymore, which is fine, but the last few days she starts to eat the finger foods I give her, and then pulls them back out of her mouth.  She plays with it, puts it back in, then spits it out again.  She is drinking about 22-24 oz of formula, but has swallowed barely any solids for the past three days.  She doesn't even want her faves!

[gogomama]

Thanks for all the advice everyone I am happy to report that a few days after the post, he started to get his appetite back. I implemented some of your suggestions; I started offering some finger foods with every meal and he took to it like a pro overnight when he previously wanted nothing to do with them. I guess he was just ready for some change..but I also think teething had a lot to do with it. Blitz I haven't had that problem yet, but I do remember seeing another post on that topic...I will see if I can track it down. Hopefully Its just another phase that will pass soon. Good luck!