Need Advice on Feeding My One Year Old

A.,

My little one just turned a year in November as well. Anyways, I have found the key is giving him his own spoon and putting just a tad of whatever I'm feeding him. He is really into feeding himself (spaghetti is a HUGE mess!) Oatmeal with a little applesauce and some brown sugar works well. Sometimes I give it to him for dinner. We were doing great with veggies and then he decided that he didnt want them anymore. So I think its the phases...he is my first child so its all a learning experience. Some meals are smooth and others are a battle. As long as he is growing you are fine. Try peaches in a can that are in 100% juice instead of syrup. Also natural applesauce I found taste good if you are worried about sugar. My biggest suggestion is to try giving him his own spoon and see how that goes.

Good Luck!

S.
Madison, Wi

Can you try and wait until he is REALLY hungry? Myabe 15 or 30 min past regular eating time. My son is almost one and we wait out our meals to make sure he is really hungry to get him to actually sit still AND eat. My little guy is going through a carb phase...everything is carbs and wont eat fruit or vegetables except green beans. Try a child plastic fork, poke the food and let him bring the fork or spoon to his mouth. Max is wanting to do this more on his own, can be messy but makes a great picture :)
Here a few things my little guy loves:
Cottage Cheese (large curd if you can find it)
Cheese crumbles
mashed potatoes
mac and cheese
yogurt
He also loves the toddler cuisines the chicken and stars
Good luck and hope some of this helps.

I would just continue to offer the same foods that you are eating for meals and have the things he likes mixed in as well. I am infant/toddler child care provider and I have dealt with many children with this same problem. I had a little boy who hated sitting in a highchair and he would only eat certain foods. Through a lot of patience, he now eats almost everything that is put in front of him. I just continued to let him feed himself but gave him the lunch everyone else was eating but I still had the foods that he liked to eat for him, so he would have something in his stomach. He hated the highchair so much that I put him at a small table and chair with the rest of the kids and that really seemed to help him eat and try foods. He saw everyone else eating what was on their plates and eventually he started to. If he sits with you for meals and sees you are eating what he is eating, it might help show him how to eat what he is given. It will just take a lot of patience, but I am sure that this will pass.

Hmmm, one is pretty young to be a fussy eater. Any one else in the home just eat those few things he does? Does he have stomachaches at all?

As a mother of ten...do know...they do grow out of most of these things. Mine are 25 down to 5 now so they are growing up one by one.

Picture your son ten years from now...sometimes that helps getting through the day to day struggles knowing that "this too shall pass."

B. in Eau Claire, WI

I had similar problems with my son. He wouldn't eat or would only eat particular things. We found out that he just wasn't as hungry and didn't want to eat as much as he did. Our doc advised us that a toddler should eat between 1 & 2 Tablespoons/year of age of cooked food per meal. That helped tremendously!! Our little eats now (he has his preferences), but we see him eating 3 Tablespoons a meal.

Your little guy just might be cutting down on the amount he eats, which is perfectly normal.

Sometimes when kids have food preferences like that, it's because they need those nutrients more during that stage of their growth. So maybe he's just doing what he needs.

Also, I noticed the things he favors are rather bland. Might he be having stomach troubles or a small cut in his mouth? He's also at a teething age, that could be contributing.

If there are certain foods he seems to avoid, like fruits and veggies, offer those first, by themselves, before he sees his favorites.

As far as the high chair, maybe try doing some other activities in the high chair like coloring, playing with toys, banging pots and pans or finger painting with pudding. It might make him more comfortable being in there.

The beans,rice,cheese, yogurt doesnt sound bad at all just not a huge variety. I know alot of parents who will let their children live off of frenchfrys and fruit snacks so the power to you on that. I would just give it time and keep giving him a variety to choose from on his plate or tray. I've noticed if I sit down and eat with my daughter she eats alot better than if I walk around and clean up the kitchen and am distracted. Try and sit down and sing songs while you eat or do something fun. Also before meals I'm strict about snacks and sippy cups, alot of little ones will fill up on juice or milk and therefore not eat.