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Won't Eat Chunky Food / Feed Himself

KristinM426KristinM426
in Babies: 9 - 12 Months

Hi Everyone,

My boy is 10.5 months old now...and according to books and everyone that I talk to, he should be feeding himself finger foods and eating chunky foods or small pieces of food. Well my little guy just will NOT do that.

If I attempt to give him something chunkier, he may eat a bite or two, and eventually he doesn't want to deal with it any more and then will gag and refuse to eat more. If I put cheerios / soft cut up veggies or pasta on his highchair, he just plays with it, but he won't eat it. If I put a piece of food in his mouth - he might eat like two pieces, and then refuse. He only wants pureed food.

What do you all think? Have I maybe just been not trying hard enough? How long will you spend with your child trying to feed / get them to eat a meal? If he doesn't eat what I give him should I just not feed him the puree? (that seems too harsh to me).

 I mentioned it to my doctor at his last appointment and she said all babies grow at their own pace and I should just keep trying, and that it wasn't a big deal - but he doesn't seem to get better at it or care to try to get better at it.

Anyone have this same problem? Any ideas / tips / advice would be greatly appreciated!

 Thanks in advance :) 

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Re: Won't Eat Chunky Food / Feed Himself

  • sarenu1sarenu1 member

    Have you tried puffs, yogart melts, or the lil crunchies?  My little girl doesn't really feed herself, unless she knows she really likes the food.

    My little girl still isn't big into feeding herself veggies and fruits all the time.  But she loves the lil chrunchies and the yogart melts.   

    Have you tried thickening your puree?  Not chunks.  More like mashed up chunks?  I moved to a thicker consistancy of cereal in the morning, so she didn't just swallow it.  Same with the puree, I added less water and brown rice cereal to make her process the veggies rather than just swallow the food.

    I would just keep offering solids and follow up with a smaller amount of puree. 

    Also, are you eating in front of him?  We will sometimes put her in her highchair for a snack when we are eating.

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  • chasensmommychasensmommy
    It seems every week or so it's different for my LO. Right now he won't eat purees or anything from a spoon. And barely will eat from the pouches. He'll only eat finger foods and it's such a mess and hard to find good options for him. But I'll keep trying. Just mentioning this because it seems their likes & preferences change all the time. So maybe just keep trying with small pieces like the comment above?
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  • KristinM426KristinM426

    He will eat those puffs - but only a couple per sitting. He just seems to not really care about food at all (I wish I had that problem ;)).

     I have never worried about his progress or sweated the small stuff - so I don' t know why this is bugging me so much!

    I will just keep trying. I probably haven't been as diligent as I should about eating in front of him. Normally I would feed and (my husband works late) and then we would eat later - when DS would be in bed. This week I have had more free time so I have been having my lunch with him. Cutting up small pieces or what I have been eating, and putting them on his high chair and helping with a piece now and again. He is by no means getting a full meal but at least it is practice.

     

      

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  • MomtoHMomtoH member

    My best advice is not to worry.  He will learn to eat foods with textures.  My son literally ate purees until he was over 18 month olds.  My pediatrician told me to stop them and "make" him eat finger foods.  Well, I didn't listen and by his 2nd birthday, he was a great eater and now at 3 years old he does great. No texture issues or anything. 

    I personally would just offer finger foods at his meals, but let him play with them and explore.  Make sure you let him eat a meal with you and make a big deal about how good your food is and offer some to him, but don't push him.  He will get to where he want those foods, but for now, purees are good for him.

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  • sp212sp212
    We switched to Stage 3 foods a couple weeks ago and DS has not been a fan of the thicker/chunkier ones. He loves puffs and the slightly thinner purees though.
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  • Jmcmahon21Jmcmahon21 member
    My son is pretty much the same age as your's and we're having the same issues. But he loves puffs, waffle wheels, yogurt melts anything that is a snack type but as soon as it's an actual food I make or we're eating he's not interested. Like everyone else said I would just keep trying, that's what we're doing. My pediatrician said he only needs formula till he's a year old and this is just practice so I wouldn't worry unless he's losing weight and refusing the bottle too. I also think some of our's is related to him teething, he has yet to cut A tooth but think his bottom 2 are trying to come through. He likes anything really hard so I think it helps, he ate a crust of a piece of pizza of all thinks and flipped out when we took it away, I know how you feel, I feel like I'm doing something wrong but everything I'm reading sounds like we're both doing the right thing :)
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  • sistarsistar member
    This is my 10 month old exactly! She will eat some stage 3 foods, but most she gags on it. I just continue to introduce different finger foods to her & eventually she'll catch on. She did fall in love with the pizza crust I let her chew on recently, so there's a start!
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  • contourhandscontourhands member
    I could have written this post word for word! THank you guys for sharing, I have been worried about this for the last week.  My Lo will NOT swallow anything besides his stage 2 pureed food, he spits out most of the little puffs I give him (every now and then he will swallow), I am offering him chunkier pureed but he gags and hates it and won't open his mouth.... yep, it's the one area he is just not wanting to progress in, and it's a slow journey, I am doing what you guys are doing, just going day-by-day trying to keep offering new things, eating with him (which does help him actually swallow the puffs btw)...it did take my lo about 3 weeks of practicing to swallow pureed foods when we started that so I try to keep that in mind.  HTHs ;)
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