Refusing Solid Foods at 9 months

[twinmama2]

My 10 month old twin boys were always great eaters but a couple weeks ago they got hand-foot-and-mouth disease and solid food feedings went down hill.  I'm sure it's because of the sores in their mouths and they were uncomfortable.  But they've been over that for a little over a week and feedings have not gotten better yet .  Before they were sick we were working towards night-weaning and were making some good progress.  When they were sick they only wanted to bf, so they bf at night more often.  We have not been able to get back on track since that.  They refuse the spoon and only want some finger foods (but not sure how much they're actually getting).  Then, they're waking earlier at night to bf because they didn't eat much at dinner. 
Any suggestions on how to move forward with the solid feedings and night weaning?
Thank you!

[creations]

My LO was also ill at 10 months and had been a very enthusiastic solids eater until that point. I found it took much longer than I anticipated to get the solids back to how they had been, it was a very slow process and he was taking milk in the night like a new born (he hadn't had a night feed since being a NB and the dream feed had gone months previously). That was the first time I heard his hungry cry, he needed milk and let me know about it!

I really think after illness they know they can make up the lost calories with milk, it is nutrient and fat rich, easily digested and probably the best food for them whilst they convalesce.  Going on my own experience I'd consider the night feeds normal for a LO recovering, even a LO that wasn't previously having night feeds.
I would keep offering food at their regular meal times (IMO the routine aspect is an important part of getting back on track) and prob return to weaning the night feeds in another week or two rather than right away.  I found mine gradually took a very small portion of something simple/sweet that didn't take much effort such as a few sultanas (very sweet), a bite or two of a bread stick (carbsy sweet). It was pointless to give him a full meal as I had previously, I think it put him off even trying anything.
As your boys are accepting finger food I would just keep offering the things they like and recognise in that form, and gradually introduce some new/different foods as finger food for them to explore.

hope this helps

[twinmama2]

Thanks so much.  Your response put me at ease and I stopped worrying so much about their solid feedings.  They are slowly getting back on track and definitely showing more independence.  They want to have finger foods for more of their meal than pureed food.  Just when I think I figure things out, it changes!  We're figuring it out as we go and I thank you for your help!

[creations]

Good to hear they are making steady progress with getting back to their solids

If you find you have lots of pureed food stored in the freezer and they are only really interested in finger foods you may be able to use up some of those stores by using as sandwich or toast spread, sauce for pasta or add to soups or stews, fruit is great added to muffins or pancakes or other baking too.