Eating (or lack of)

I’m starting to get really disheartened by my daughter’s eating and just wondered if anyone had any advice, words of encouragement or is in the same boat. She’s 11 months next week. Breakfast is usually porridge or weetabix with fruit mashed in. She eats all of this most days. Lunch is almost always a failure. I’ve tried sandwiches, toast, crumpets, quesadillas, spaghetti hoops, beans etc and the most she will do is nibble on the bread etc. Beans and spaghetti gets spat straight back out. So most days all she’s having for lunch is a yoghurt. Tea will be a serving of some kind of puree/mash with a finger food. It’s a struggle to get the puree/mash in her (won’t open her mouth for the spoon) and finger foods are similar to lunch, one nibble then that’s it. I also offer fruit with breakfast and lunch which she plays with but refuses to put in her mouth. Oh she also throws most of these things on the floor! I’m finding it really stressful, especially when you see posts about how much some children are eating or at least trying! Apologies for the long post, I just feel at my wits end. This has been going on since we started weaning so can’t blame teething/illness.

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I dont have any advice but I have to say its very similar for us, porridge, weetabix and yoghurt more or less on rotation, sometimes she will love her fruit, pancakes, crumpets, toast etc but other days she hardly touches other things. I always try and add in other finger foods like veg, pasta, rice, cheese to try but she would just live on yoghurt and fruit puree if she could. Im really hoping day care will help

Honestly my little girl is exactly the same, she used to eat loads but recently she’s been very much hit and miss as to whether she wants anything at all, I just allow her to eat whatever she wants, if she eats it she eats it, if she doesn’t she doesn’t, I used to stress myself but honestly, there tummies are so small at this age they don’t need big amounts

Mine is the same, Wheatabix/cerelac for breakfast then lunch will be bits of cream cheese toast or few cucumbers. I’ve found she’s less interested in food we offer her and more on what is on my plate so putting her food on my plate and offering it to her in between her playing does help a bit.

*case in point, just tried lunch and she ate nothing- one bite of cucumber and one tiny piece of pancake. I gave her calpol in case its her teeth and waited half an hour, managed to get her to eat a few spoonfuls of weetabix, but only by sitting her directly on the floor, and letting her play with a toy so she was distracted. Im sure thats a terrible habit but I cant let her eat nothing at all especially when milk is dropping

Focus on offering a variety of foods, and then the choice is hers whether she eats or not :) have you found solid starts on Instagram, that’s really reassuring. are her feet supported in the high chair? A step for the feet makes a big difference! With my current baby, I’ve totally changed tack and it’s been so much better for us. I offer him literally everything we eat, including the ‘naughty’ things like Nutella and nice cream in tiny amounts, with the aim of getting him excited and interested in food. He’s now way more receptive to all foods that come his way, and will eat anything at all. The more relaxed I’ve been, the more he’s eaten. I was the polar opposite with my first baby, desperate to get it right 100%, and now he’s the MOST PICKY toddler you can imagine!!

Have you tried any of the pouches? Is it the same effect?

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