1 y/o refusing table food

[immrbill]

Does any one have any advice on how to get my baby to eat table food?! He’s 15 months old and only eats baby oatmeal with yogurt, apple sauce or baby food.. any time I have tried to feed him any and fruit, veggies, pasta, even cake! He won’t eat it as soon as the food hits his mouth he spits it out. Kind of at a loss.. not even sure when babies are no longer supposed to eat baby purée foods but it’s literally the only thing he will eat I also want to mention he loves puffs and crackers and chips anything crunchy and dry is okay

 

[matos]

@immrbill Still pretty young here, no cause for distress. Try mac n cheese or other transition foods. What have you tried?

 

[immrbill]

@matos Mac and cheese was not a hit, neither was buttered noodles or spaghetti o’s

 

[matos]

@immrbill Maybe oats or rice cereal?

 

[lalynx]

@immrbill Keep trying different things. Sometimes it's about the texture of the food. Just keep offering your little one new things. Eventually, he will get the hang of it. Don't lose hope, I think what you're experiencing is pretty normal. Much love

 

[twip7]

@immrbill So I just met a nutritionist today that went through that subject and overall don't stress about it. What she says was it's important to try and offer one of each group at every meal: fruits/vegetable, grain, protein (animal or vegetal). Offer three meals and three snack per day. And then, let them pick the quantity and what they eat. If you have a toast with peanut butter and a fruit puree and he only twiddle with the toast but ask for more and more fruit puree, well give him fruit puree until he's done and that's fine. She said it's important to expose them to new food that they might not like or want to eat but if you don't offer those food they will never eat it. Kids are scared of what they don't know. So, pour the food in front of them, let them eat what they want, let them play with the rest of the food as it helps them discover it and eat the same things as what you give them (not necessarily the baby food) but if you make Mac and cheese, eat the Mac and cheese in front of them. Offer at least one food meal that you know he'll eat and the rest is up to you and whatever you feel like making that day. If your toddler doesn't have any health problem, that's the main advice she gave. If there's concern about iron level, you can try to add baby cereal (fortified with iron) to soup to make them a bit more solid and manageable to eat for a toddler. That's pretty much what she said.

If he like fruit puree you could try to make soup with pear or squash and try that trick so it's a bit more solid but still soft. And then, if he likes it, try to not blend it as smooth the next time and see. At that age it's hard to tell if it's the taste of the texture that is the problem so play around with different things and again, don't stress too much.

Edit: I forgot to mentioned, she said that it might take 15+ exposure before your kids accept to eat the food and then another 15+ of trying before they actually eat it and like it. That's why it's important to expose them even if they don't eat it. Also, they usually will only eat one good meal a day up until 4-5 years old, often if they go to daycare that's where they'll eat more because everyone is eating and they will have to seat until all baby are ready to leave the table so instead of being bored and wait, they might eat. To that point, the nutritionist also said to try to keep them during at the table for maybe 7-10 minutes at that age to make sure they take the time to consider the food. If they know they can just push it away and go back to play right away that's not gonna work. Ok I think that's all she said now.

 

[twip7]

Also, I met that nutritionist because I was concerned like you are. Yesterday I made a quesadilla with sweet potato, black beans, corn, fajitas bread, guacamole, salsa and sour cream and my 16 months old only ate corn and asked for more and more corn, never touched the rest. She picked out the peas from the Mac and cheese I made her and asked for more peas and would throw the pasta to the side. So... Yeah. You're not alone. When she was younger I was so stressed, I would mix plain yogurt with fruit puree, baby cereal oatmeal, a nudge of nut butter and vitamin d for her breakfast to make sure she has the iron, and she'd eat that and that was her breakfast for the longest time.

 

[immrbill]

Wow you guys are great thank you so much!