Frustrated! LO won't eat anything but bananas

[Bella28]

I know I shouldn't get frustrated....but I do. My DS won't eat anything but bananas and freaks out when he sees the spoon coming. I'm pretty sure that's my fault for shoving food into his mouth - I've since stopped this and am despretely trying to remember that food is for fun. He's 6 months and has been on solids since 4.5 months because he was HUNGRY but now it seems that he hates to eat at all. What am I doing wrong?

[rach321]

Have you tried finger foods? Neither of my kids would eat anything of a spoon but if they could feed themselves then they were happy. Remember at this age food is just for fun and exploring, most of his nutrition will still be coming from milk. Difficult I know but try not to stress about it - he will pick up on it and that will make things worse.

[Bella28]

Thank you! What kind of finger foods do you suggest? I'm paranoid about choking...but think that he would love this! I just let him have the spoon and a bowl with a bit of fruit in it to play with and he was quite happy but would love to give him finger foods. Amazing how this is my second lo but I feel like a newbie again as my DD was such a great and enthusiastic eater.

[rach321]

There's a really good book called baby led weaning by gill rapley - I think there is a group on this site as well  - loads of good advice there.  If he's into bananas then why not give him a piece of banana - if you break them apart by hand then you can see that they naturally break into 3 pieces - keep the pieces quite long - you want him to be able to grip it in his hand but still have some sticking out so he can eat it - sometimes they get fixated on the fact that they are holding it in their hands and forget they can actually eat it too! Same goes for any fruit and veg - broccoli florets can be steamed ( make them soft but they still need to hold their shape) and eaten by hand - best way to test  a food is to see if you can break it up and eat it just by using your tongue and the roof of you mouth - if you can't then he's probably not ready for that food yet.  Really important to know the difference between choking and gagging - when you start feeding in this way a small amount of gagging is normal as they get used to controlling how far food should go into their mouths so expect a bit of hard swallowing and coughing! Don't rush in too quickly  - 95% of the time they will clear it on their own and carry on eating as if nothing happened - whilst you are having a heart attack on the floor somewhere!!  Small foods like rice krispies and cheerios are really good for developing hand eye coordination and easily turn to mush in their mouths so little risk of choking.

[Bella28]

I think that a light bulb has just gone on! Thank you again! This sounds like what he is needing as we are both frustrated and close to tears during meal time. I will wait for my DH to get home til I attempt the larger chunks of food (again, my paranoia!) but he attacks the Baby Mum Mum in the mesh bag and is happy to have the control over it so I think that he'll love BLW I'm going to go prep some food right now - I'm excited now!

[rach321]

Cool!! Good luck!!

[Buntybear]

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=224254.0

You will find loads of ideas and support here.

[Bella28]

Thanks Buntybear!

[Lemonthyme]

I've got loads of finger food recipes on my blog.  

http://mamacook.blogspot.com/search/label/Great%20Finger%20Foods

I think your story is a really interesting one.  No parent (traditional weaning or not) should shove in a spoon I don't think (that's not a dig at you, it's just some people think traditional weaning is shoving in spoons and it's not).  I think it's really obvious when a child is full even when spoon feeding and I think we should listen to that.  I hope you have more success with an alternative route.

[*Ali*]

If you do chose to offer mashed foods on a spoon, you might like to try avocado mashed with banana. My DS1 loved that. You can always start off with more banana and less avocado and then change the quantities as he gets more used to the taste.

Look forward to seeing you on the BLW thread. We are doing that with DS2 since that is actually what HVs are recommending here now from 6mo.

[Bella28]

Thanks! And no, shoving food in just wasn't working for anyone (not my style) but I was pretty confused and frustrated as my DD was such an enthusiastic eater. Things have been going SO much smoother now with my DS. We are doing a combo of spoon feeding when he's willing and interested (so long as it's fruit!) and BLW (I've been a bit hesitant as I'm still a bit worried about choking) as he's willing to try so many other food this way. The little mesh bag/feeding thing is wonderful for this transition. Finding fruit and veggie mixed recipes is pretty helpful!

[rach321]

Yey great update!!!