Help me feed my fussy eating 11 month old

[silverrr]

I need some advice from the mommies on here in feeding my 11 month old boy. He *hates* to be spoonfed unless it is fruit and even then he sometimes rejects it. He seems to hate baby food, but won't eat enough finger foods to be full.
He slaps the spoon out of the way and screams. he doesnt' try to feed himself with the spoon either. He is only happy eating a few finger foods he likes (waffles, pancakes, meatballs, spinach pancakes, broccoli pancakes, banana).
I need ideas of dealing with this and foods I can try to offer him that he'd love but that are healthy.
Does anyone here have a fussy eating baby??

[newtricks]

It's been a while but my youngest wouldn't eat baby food either. She only ate finger food from a very young age. At 11 months the solid food is still a supplement to bottle/bf so I don't think you need to worry too much that he's not getting full. Your pediatrician can probably reassure you on serving sizes - usually much smaller than we moms think they should be eating :) .

The foods you're giving him sound very good (broccoli pancakes! who knew?) Some others my kids liked:

Cheerios
cubed melon, ripe pears, kiwi
cubed sweet potatoes, zucchini, potatoes, etc.
scrambled eggs (don't know when you're allowed to intro this nowadays but my kids *loved* eggs)
grated cheese
ww bread
pasta

I know this is easier said than done but don't get too stressed about it. All you can do is present a variety of foods. He will eat enough. Even if it's exactly the same thing every day for 3 weeks!

[LaraW]

I just posted this over on the Wobbler thread, but my DS (he is a little older - 16 months) has recently become very interested in silverware and feeding himself. Maybe you could try a baby spoon/fork and help him eat by himself.

[Bawstinn]

When you say fussy ... are you referring to a fussy eater (will only eat a few things) or fussy when you try to feed him?

I have a very "healthy" eater (e.g., eats basically anything), but I thought that I’d chime in with some of the things that she eats to give you an idea of what my 11 month old is eating.

Madeleine self-feeds everything except for yogurt and applesauce and I let her have a spoon ONCE (not to be repeated for a while). She also pretty much eats everything that we do, with the exception of spicy foods, so I am not making meals specifically for her. If we are eating something spicy or seafood, she gets leftovers. She is very aware of what we are eating and gets pretty ticked if we have something she doesn’t.

Vegetables: basically any frozen bagged vegetables that do not have sauce. Also discovered that she’ll eat peppers – red, yellow, orange – raw or roasted. I can find raw carrots here that are cut into ‘chips’. She likes to gnaw on those for a snack. I just keep a close eye on her. Cucumbers are also a favorite of hers.

Dairy: string cheese, yogurt and any cheese in general
Fruits: pears, peaches, mandarin oranges, tropical fruit all packed in 100% juice. Bananas, seedless grapes cut into quarters, fresh pineapple and mango cut into small pieces.
Meats: hamburgers, pork and beef if cut thinly, chicken
Fish: She likes white fish – cod, tilapia. I bought some breaded cod at Sam’s for sandwiches. She scarfs that up – she removes all the breading and only eats the fish.

Not all that thrilled with bread, but she loves mini bagels with cream cheese. Waffles, pancakes, Cheerios and Kix. Last night we had some kind of packaged Whole Grains side dish from Near East – roasted garlic flavor and she thought that was great. Pasta with a touch of butter and parm cheese is also a winner. Not a fan of potatoes unless they are the Alexia fries. She likes rice too.

Meals she has shared with us: lasagna, stuffed peppers, meatloaf, tacos

Meals she has eaten out: chicken fingers (she peels off the breading) and cheese quesadilla. I usually ask for a veggie in place of the fries (which, thankfully, she won’t eat anyway).

Daycare also feeds her things like pizza burgers, chicken tetrazini and other ‘mixed’ meals and she does very well with them.

I think it is Gerber that makes the teething cookies that are like melba toast. She loves those things. Of course with the 2 new teeth they don’t last as long as they used to.

There are times that she’ll eat something one day and not want it the next. It depends on her mood. I just keep trying. I also only put one food item on her tray at a time and when she is almost done with that one, I add another.

As for ‘non-healthy’ food choices, I noticed some orange drool stains on her shirt the other day. Turns out daddy has created a Cheese Ball Monster. Sigh.

[lbd]

Maria - how are you offering all the "grown-up" food to DD? mashing, cutting into bitesize pieces, or large pieces for her to deal with? (since I assume she's not getting a knife and fork :p )

Silverr - the stuff you mentioned that he does like, does he eat that happily? I don't have much advice because I have a very sporadic/unpredictable eater myself but we try to always have something we know he likes but keep offering the new or less-favored items with a no pressure approach. We work really hard at not pressuring him to eat anything we doesn't want, which was really difficult when his growth started dropping off. On a low food day, I just keep muttering to myself all the good things -- it's only a phase, he won't be 20 yo and only eating O's and crackers, and that he's very active and happy so he must be getting enough. I know you said he doesn't like to use the spoon himself either but that's one thing we have had some success with - either offering the spoon or just leaving it on his tray to do with what he likes. My DS really likes using his spoon and his skill is slowly building.

And btw, it sounds like the stuff he eats does have a good if not widely varied amount of nutrition. Could you post your recipe for spinach and/or broccoli pancakes? They sound tasty.

[TKay]

Silverrr - Sorry your'e going through this. It can be so frustrating. As someone who's on the other side of it now (ds's are 5 and 7), I can say that it sounds like your ds is doing pretty well food-wise. I know that's easy for me to say since I'm not in the thick of it. But I made the mistake of giving my boys baby food far too long. They liked it, so I figured they might as well have it. You are smart, IMO, to just keep offering table food as long as your ds will eat it. Let him feed himself and don't worry about it. Supplement with milk/formula and he'll get what he needs. I kept my kids far too dependent on me because I really didn't know any better. My SIL let her kids eat whatever they wanted when they were small and they now have a much more varied diet than mine do. That could be personality or it could be my early training.
I know it doesn't help you much that I'm not giving you solid advice, but all I can say is don't worry too much. To me, it sounds like things are going pretty well. Keep offering more and more choices. It seems wasteful, but if it opens up his options, it's well worth it.
Good luck!
ETA: Have you tried frozen foods? My nephew loves frozen peas (they don't even heat them), frozen blueberries and other fruits, frozen waffles. He eats them right out of the freezer. I also used to give my kids meat sticks (for lack of a better term). They were full of protein but much easier to eat and digest than real meat. In the baby section. What about cheese sticks? Or even just shredded cheese? My niece eats that right off the spoon. Scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs. Whole wheat toast. Grilled cheese sandwiches, cut up.

[Bawstinn]

Maria - how are you offering all the "grown-up" food to DD? mashing, cutting into bitesize pieces, or large pieces for her to deal with? (since I assume she's not getting a knife and fork :p )


I am amazed at how she grinds everything up, considering we just got teeth #3 and #4. At the beginning I really cut things small, but then realized she was't learning to chew (or grind) she was really just swallowing.

If it is soft, like pasta, I give her larger pieces and she takes bites off of it. That is how she gets it at daycare - so I just did it that way at home (one of the requirements for moving to the next room is being able to self-feed small pieces). Lasagna I just chop away at it with a fork and she picks it apart. Chicken I cut into small pieces too. White fish flakes so that is easy.

Meat, like beef and pork, I found needs to be thinly sliced then cut into smaller pieces. If it is cut too thick, she has a harder time with it due to the lack of teeth. I almost try to shred it.

I forgot about pizza. I was cutting it into bite-sized pieces, but at daycare they give it to them a little larger. I tried that and she basically dissects herself, which is good. The crust must feel good on her gums cause she likes to gnaw on it, not really eat it.

She does eat a wide variety, but she does have her moments - the other night we had cheeseburgers and she picked the cheese off to eat and threw the beef over the side to the dog.

[silverrr]

Thank you so much for all the great ideas!! If anyone has any other ideas, please feel free to offer them up too.

Bawstinn-
You asked if DS is fussy with what he's eating or fussy when I'm trying to feed him...the answer is BOTH :eek:
Basically, he starts to cry when I put him in the high chair. Then when he sees me reaching for the spoon, he *really* goes crazy (as in crying). Often I can let him play with something new and fun (a spatula, measuring spoons, etc..) and he lets me shovel food in...sometimes.
He likes feeding himself, but he's very selective in what he'll eat. He'll try anything almost once, but if he doesn't like it, he spits it out, then throws the rest of it that's on his tray OFF the tray. What a mess!
The things I mentioned that are finger foods are ones he willingly eats.
He seems to have veggie and fruit radar and knows to not eat those (except for bananas)
With some newly introduced finger foods, he'll eat a few bites, but that's it.
This morning I offered him apple for the first time and he sucked on two tiny pieces and spit them out. Then threw it all off the tray.
He seems to hate the veggie/meat combo dinners in jars or those table time ones..but I keep feeding them to him because he ends up eating a whole one and won't eat more then just a few bites of his finger foods.

LBD-
The broccoli or spinach pancakes are actually store bought!!!
Dr. Prager's spinach pancakes or broccoli pancakes in the frozen food section (sometimes with the organic stuff). I get them in Shoprite or Stop n' Shop. he loves em. I wish I had a recipe though!!

[KathrynY]

So many good ideas already - I'll offer a few more suggestions (my DS is 13 1/2 months old):

grape/cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
fresh blueberries, halved
wheat toast, cut into strips (can also top with cheese to make cheese toast)
English muffins, buttered and cut into small strips
mild firm cheese, cut into small strips/chunks
canadian bacon, cut into small strips
frozen veggies (peas, carrots, broccoli, corn) thawed and cut smaller as needed
whole wheat waffles, toasted and cut into strips
whole wheat tortilla strips spread with hummus
soynut butter on wheat bread - a real favorite!
macaroni & cheese - can mix with a thawed frozen veggie and shredded meat to make a "casserole"
applesauce
cubed jarred fruits - pears, apples, peaches
veggies - roasted with a touch of olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper! sweet potatoes, baby red potatoes, broccoli, green beans, etc. For some reason these are much more appealing than plain veggies. We just save our dinner leftovers and so far they have gone over very well.

silverr - we just tried the Dr. Praeger's spinach pancakes for the first time this week and DS loved them, yay! Will have to try the broccoli variety soon. I used to give DS a spoon of his own to play with at mealtime - he was perfectly happy to let us feed him with another spoon as long as he had a utensil of his own to bang around too. :)

[lbd]

1
This morning I offered him apple for the first time and he sucked on two tiny pieces and spit them out. Then threw it all off the tray.

Ben loves applesauce but last week he finished off a jar toward the end of meal and I didn't feel like opening a new one. Since he seems like to biting into crunchy things, I offered him an apple half leftover from something. He took several bites out of the edge then, with each one, pulled it back out of his mouth and put it down on his tray. A couple times he even tried to replace the chunk in the same part of the apple he'd bitten it from. :D With each bite he made a face like it was really sour but he kept going back for more. Maybe someday he'll actually ingest some.

I'll have to look for the Dr. Prager's, thanks!

[krhm]

It's been a long time since I had this issue (DDs are 13 and 9) so I don't have any specific suggestions. But DD2 is a very strong-willed child, and feeding times were tough. She wants to do everything herself. Obviously some things were not negotiable, but meal time was easiest on everyone if she went at it herself.

I would move her high chair to the middle of the kitchen floor, put newspapers or a shower curtain or vinyl tablecloth on the floor, and strip her down if weather permitted. But that only lasted a few months...she gained some skill and the fact that it was no longer a battle of wills eventually made it much easier!


And she loved foods I never thought she would...beans, cubed tofu, avocado all come to mind.

[Kerri]

silverr - just wanted to give support. This is a common problem. My DS1 did the same thing, but really wasn't old enough to eat a lot of finger foods. I just would continue to give him some of the things I knew he would/could eat and continuely add some new things or recently refused things. I tried not to make a big deal out of it, but it was very nerve racking. Your baby should still be getting some formula, so he won't starve. Everything will come together soon!

[BucknellAlum]

Ummm . . .this thread is almost 3 years old. The OP's kid is now probably in preschool! :)

Not sure how it got resurrected?

[Kerri]

Ah, man, I hate when I do that! I thought that this thread sounded familary and/or that silverr's kids were older.