15M very interested in food but won’t touch it

knottieaf1a5e1f73553428

Baby girl is our first. She eats yogurt drops, puffs (broccoli or tomato flavor only) and these beet brown rice snacks I found just fine on her own. And she’ll eat a good variety of purées out of pouches. She doesn’t like the spoon unless she’s holding it so we give it to her to hold and get used to but she won’t actually use it as of yet. But the biggest concern, Any solid food - she won’t touch it. If she does, she immediately melts down. I’m talking everything from oatmeal to mashed potatoes to eggs to gerber ravioli. She’s really interested in what we’re eating but she won’t actually try it. She’ll take it, squeeze it and throw it.

Any thoughts on how to get her over this? We really want to see her starting to more solids. She does eat a few - she’ll eat shredded cheddar cheese and figs. But only if she’s allowed to feed it to herself.

annemarie96

Let as many meals as possible be a sensory activity. Each meal time give her a safe food that you know she eats, and one or two things to expose her to. Small portions, because she probably won’t start eating those things for a while, she’ll just play with them. Try to offer lots of unsweetened fruit foods, and veggies and meat, like a balanced diet, but then don’t freak out if what she’s eating isn’t perfectly balanced. 

annemarie96

In general with feeding kids, please, please don’t tell them to eat, finish their food, “just eat one more bite”, things like that. Toddlers eat all different amounts and could even eat almost nothing one day and a ton the next day and that’s completely normal. And that advice I got from a children’s dietitian online and it was very true for my kids. 

Just offer plenty of healthy food, and after plenty of no-pressure, relaxed exposure where they’re allowed to not finish it, she’ll start eating more foods. Just don’t go get other things from the kitchen if she asks for other things. Offer safe foods with every meal but don’t allow her to just throw foods on the floor and demand other foods. 😂 Most kids try that. 

And then after a few months you can change to giving her good portions of the safe food with a tiny portion of a couple foods she’s still not loving, and only if she wants a second serving then she needs to finish the food on her plate. If she doesn’t want seconds it’s okay if she doesn’t want the piece of broccoli, but if she wants seconds she needs to finish what she already has. I would words it like that, never saying “finish your broccoli first”, singling out the food. Just always state the rule, and the more chill you can be about this the better it will go. The more you can be relaxed at the table and not be stressed about her eating the better. You don’t want eating to be a stressful time every day where she’s constantly told she needs to eat. That doesn’t help, it makes it way worse! 

I hope the length of this isn’t annoying haha

nuggetsma

I’m in a similar boat. My 14 month old, however, is still at the “sometimes tasting” step. She doesn’t like EATING eating yet, and certainly not if you try to feed her. She must do it herself and she plays with it 95% of the time, then ultimately drops/tosses it on the floor and likes to see how far it went lol. Has her pediatrician given you any guidelines on when she should be taking better to solids?

knottiea6175286aa091e9b

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nken20

We have a similar story. What I did was I kept offering him the same food repeatedly which led to his acceptance lol. Anyway, don't forget that it's a process and every child is different. I know one day your patience will pay, mum. Sending love here.

knottiec24a4777fce847e6

It sounds like she has a strong preference for feeding herself, which is pretty common at this stage. Since she’s okay with some solids like cheese and figs, maybe try offering very soft, easy-to-hold pieces of food and let her explore at her own pace. It might help to keep offering new textures and flavors without pressure. Sometimes, just seeing and playing with the food can be a big step towards trying it. Also, it could be worth discussing with a pediatrician if you’re concerned about her progress. You’re doing great by being patient and supportive!