Dreams of a foodie mum

My son was reaching six months of age. I was excited. And sad. It was a bittersweet moment. Soon my son was to start eating food and while I was excited to share my love of food with my son, it was a sign that he was growing up.

I started to read on weaning and it felt overwhelming. Purée versus baby lead weaning, fruits versus vegetables to start, and everyone had advice. Often quite contradictory.

After a week or two, I thought I’d do both, give him purée to make sure he was eating enough and some finger food to practice his dexterity and get used to it. And I would start with vegetables. I got excited. I was going to feed my son all the good nutritious foods and everything would be home cooked and all that jazz.

Lo and behold my son had other plans. He ate little and liked few things. We kept trying to force feed him and that worked till he realised he could spit food out. It got worse and worse till eventually he only really ate the same five things. Desperate, I went online to seek advice on what to do with picky eaters. Turns out we were doing everything wrong. Go figure.

In case you want to make sure you don’t do the same. Here is a really great source on how to prevent or reverse picking eating: https://solidstarts.com/10-steps-to-prevent-or-reverse-picky-eating/ . They also have guides on weaning and introducing food to your baby. But below are some tips that we now do:

1. Resist the urge to wipe the food off their face after every bite. We kept trying to clean the mess as it happened. I get it now, who would like having a tissue in your face every time you took a bite.

2. Don’t react. Easier said then done. Especially if you spent time making the meal. Be indifferent when they don’t like something.

3. Don’t force feed. Try again another day And keep introducing foods they wont eat, eventually they‘ll recognize the food and might try it.

4. Eat with your child. When we were feeding our son, we were so engrossed in trying to get him to eat, we ate later. So he didn’t get that eating could be social.

After researching and putting a few of these tips to the test, I’m proud to say, eight months later (yes, 8 months… it’s been an uphill battle) my son now eats half of the home cooked meals I make and on a good day MAYBE will try something new and MIGHT just enjoy it. Or spit it out. We’re just happy if he’ll try something new at the moment.

We’ve also loosened the reins. Did I say I would only give my son organic foods and no sugars of any sort? Not anymore, my sons favourite food is Thai street food BBQ pork, sticky rice and these banana oat cookies I make. Luckily his first purée was spinach so he gets his veggie intakes in the form of spinach pancakes.

However, he’s reluctant to try new dishes. I now present anything new in a form he recognizes. Anything in pancake form is a winner. So we recently introduced quesadillas. And he loves spaghetti, but only spaghetti. If it’s penne, that goes straight to floor. So we’re expanding taste through different pasta sauces and now managed Thai noodles and flavors. His menu intake is no longer only five things, it’s more like twenty.

These are only a few tips that I can give when confronting a picky eater. I’m still learning and looking to the professionals. What I hope you take away from this, is that even with the best intentions, and the best plans, it might not always work out and you might need to make some adaptations to your vision, and it’s okay.

Don‘t compare you or your child to those around you - comparison really is the thief of joy! Everyone’s food journey is different. If sometimes you need to feed them the same thing everyday to ensure they have some sustenance just do it because no one is watching or judging (well, no one you should take notice of anyway!).