The story of the fussy eater…

For the first few months of weaning, Jaxson was brill. He ate pretty much everything I gave him. Anything from butternut squash to avocado. However, when it came to moving on to stage 2 and 3, things went down hill.

He is nearly 1, so I thought I would share my experience with weaning, and what I might have done differently to prevent him becoming so fussy, (although there is no right or wrong way of weaning – every baby is different – keep telling yourself that Alex…)

I’ve called this post ‘Baby Weaning -Tips and Advice‘, but really i’m just sharing my journey with you, in the hope that I reassure other mums that are finding themselves with a fussy eater.

Right now, Jaxson will eat a little bit of porridge for breakfast, or if i’m feeling generous I’ll let him have a HiPP Organic Breakfast Tropical Cereal with Yogurt (he would live off fruit and yogurt if I let him, so I try not to give it to him too often). For lunch he will will eat some sort of finger food, like cheese on toast or crumpets. He likes lumps of cheese, the stronger in flavour the better! For dinner, I try my hardest to get him to eat my own food. I love cooking for him; I feel such a sense of achievement. Unfortunately, most of it goes in the bin. I wouldn’t want to guess at how much money I’ve spent making him food. But, I always tell myself it’s totally worth it.

It was tough…

It’s Jaxsons 1st birthday in a matter of days, and it has been my goal to improve his eating before his birthday party. I really feel we have achieved a lot over the last month. It was from the age of around 10 months when we realised Jaxson had totally gone off food. He would eat pouches, but only certain ones. Then when I tried to give him stronger flavours or bigger lumps he would scream, lock his mouth shut and push my hand away. I can’t tell you how many tears I’ve shed over this. It’s been extremely worrying for us.

If you find yourself in a similar situation to us, my one bit of advice is don’t let your baby know you are stressed. Stay extremely calm and happy at meals times, even if on the inside you are bubbling. I wasn’t very good at this, and if i’m honest, the struggles with weaning really got to me. I became quite down and this definitely brushed off on Jaxson. He would even cry if my other half tried to pass him to me. I don’t wish that on any mum.

The sun is starting to shine again

I am happy to say, that after a few chats with our health visitor, the dark weaning cloud has passed, and I am feeling much more confident at weaning Jaxson. The happier I am, the more he eats or at least picks up and squishes between his fingers, which is good enough for me! There are still a lot of things he won’t eat yet, like meat and fish, or lumps of veg, but I am slowly finding ways of getting around this. I have also found he only eats well every other day, other mums have told me their children can be like this. So it doesn’t worry me if he goes a day without eating much, if he ate well the day before.

Alex’s weaning tips:

• Sit your baby in a highchair for every meal, so they know it is time to eat.
• Try and eat as a family (or you and the baby) to make meal times fun, and so they pick up on what you are doing.
• Try to avoid giving them too many pouches. I recommend a mix of finger food and purée (homemade if you can). Pouches are very sweet, and although it’s great to see your baby eat lots, if they are anything like Jaxson, they will develop a huge sweet tooth, and refuse savoury food!
• If your baby refuses food, they may not be hungry. Take the food away. Meal time is over.
• Leave the finger food on the highchair tray and walk away (obviously to a place in view of your baby, so you can watch for choking etc). Sometimes babies don’t like to be hovered over when eating.
• Put on their favourite programme, so they are happy while eating, and associate eating with fun times.
• If your baby spits food out and refuses any more, make sure you try it again a few days later. It is said a babies taste for food changes every 10 days.
• Don’t stress about the mess! Vicky and I are both guilty of this. As I’m a few months ahead of her, I think I’m a bit more chilled out – It will get easier Vicky, I promise!
• Be clever with your meal choices. Jaxson loves cheese, so I found an Annabel Karmel recipe with lots of veg and cheese which Jaxson loves! Success! You can find it in
  Annabel Karmel – Top 100 Baby Purees
• TRY NOT TO STRESS! (Easier said than done, I know).

(Every baby is different, so do not expect every technique to work.)

Share your experiences with us

I still have a long way to go to get Jaxson eating what he should be at his age, and would welcome any advice to help us get past this fussy stage. I’ll write some more posts over the coming months to update you all on our weaning journey.

Until next time… Alex x