Give me your fool proof recipes that my little girl will like! Meal times are like Afghanistan!
She likes one thing one day and the next its the most hated food in the world!! getting her to even try a spoon of food is hell some days. But when the seal is broken she is ok.

Tips greatly taken on board

you feed her seals? aren't they a protected species?

EDIT: sorry – is that poor taste?

We're going through the same thing with our 10 month old.

Wife in tears and food all over the place. Not a happy existance for any of us at the moment.

Seriously though – let her eat what she wants. Our lass is super-independent, and hates things to be done for her. If you give her food on a plate and then get on with your own meal she eats, in her own time.

Sometimes you just want to get on with stuff yourself, don't you?

http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/199970/Annabel-Karmel-New-Complete-Baby-and-Toddler-Meal-Planner/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518|cc:|prd:199970|cat:Books+%3E+Food+%26+Drink

this book has loads of good ones, lots of goot smells we find works. that and a bit of distraction and realising sometimes he just isn't that hungry

molgrips has it too, bowl and spoon for him with a little food in it and a bigger bowl and spoon for us to get the quantity in.

wife in tears rings a few bells though

Littlelegs eats whatever we eat, but we would chuck it through a blender first when she was that age I think.

Roast chicken dinner always went down well.
Risotto
Homemade soups
Chilli (the gfs logic was that indian people must give their babies curry so of course she can have spicy foods, she was right)
Shepherds pie
Fish pie
On a lazy day she would have a fish finger, or salmon fish finger and a potato waffle, chopped into bits, not the healthiest but you can leave her to get on with it and its not too messy.
Petit Filous for pudding.

Can't help. We have to hide the food in our house as the kids just won't stop eating.

It's normal. Don't fret it. I found stealing food from the kids bowls helped!

We stopped worrying about how much our kid actually ate. If she's hungry, she'll eat – wouldn't you? We stopped making a big deal out of it, and she sometimes doesn't eat much – but she's still looking as pudgy as ever (even slightly more so than recently) so I guess she's ok.

She's also been eating non-blended food since at least that age. It allows her to pick it up with her fingers or a spoon/fork as well, further empowering her.

None of my 2 were fussy eaters they still aren't. But if they try or tried to refuse a meal it was put to one side and they were told to stay were they were or they'd get nothing else. Of course they need to be old enough to understand but that's easily art 11 months.

Hunger soon beats the most strictist of will powered kids, even more so if there's a good pud waiting.

Just keep serving up what you want them to eat, this fussy period does end to an extent, although some will have a preference. One of our twins loves protein, the other carbs. But don't fret, really Hungry kids will eat whatever is put in front of them in the end

I would advise against trying to force them to eat, since you run the risk of giving them a complex about it (like what happened to me).

Serve up stuff you know he likes, if he doesn't eat it then fine. Next mealtime he'll be more likely to eat it. Just don't make a big deal out of it. Mealtimes should be happy times regardless of how much he eats. If he gets hungry then he can wait til next meal.

really Hungry kids will eat whatever is put in front of them in the end

Unless you've become entrenched in a real psychological battle. Some kids would rather starve 🙁

You HAVE tried "here comes the aeroplane", haven't you?

molgrips – Member
I would advise against trying to force them to eat, since you run the risk of giving them a complex about it (like what happened to me).

Serve up stuff you know he likes, if he doesn't eat it then fine. Next mealtime he'll be more likely to eat it. Just don't make a big deal out of it. Mealtimes should be happy times regardless of how much he eats. If he gets hungry then he can wait til next meal.

really Hungry kids will eat whatever is put in front of them in the end

Unless you've become entrenched in a real psychological battle. Some kids would rather starve

I totally agree. I was going to post something similar, but molgrips has phrased it better than I would.

Finger food of any kind was always well received by my kids.

Seriously though – let her eat what she wants. Our lass is super-independent, and hates things to be done for her. If you give her food on a plate and then get on with your own meal she eats, in her own time.

Agree 100% – Unbelievablebowls are good – almost impossible for an adult to move, never mind a little kid so the plate stays put. Still doesn't stop them from throwing the food off, but it is a start.

Give the child finger food as well as the spoon-fed food.

Try distraction techniques – give them a toy/wooden spoon/bowl/cardboard tube to play with whilst you feed them.

Try different foods – things like noodles/spaghetti are good as they can pick it up and it is interesting.

Give her small portions of lots of different food – our twins get nibbles (cheese/biscuits) followed by a 'main' meal (anything from baked potato with beans to Spanish omelette – sometimes homemade, sometimes supermarket stuff), fruit (grapes, blueberries, apple, banana), a fruit pot (if they haven't eaten much fresh fruit) and finally a yoghurt. Some days they eat every last bit, other days they nibble.

And as above (Penrod) our twins are very different – Izzi loves cheese and chicken, Evie loves peas and grapes. They both get the same meals though and just eat more of the bits they prefer.

It is never going to be easy but you can make it easier by mixing things up so they aren't bored.

Yes what the others have said…
Little bowl/spoon to self feed and then bigger one for you to use to shovel it in when they're not paying attention.
Finger foods to pick up and explore/eat themselves
If they like toast or something in particular which is easy, offer the meal you've made first and then after a bit offer the liked food…
Let them do as much of it as possible themselves, to do this:
-get smock bibs which cover their clothes (or take their shirts off)
-find out what types of cutlery they might like to use (if any) -we had major break-through when we started offering a fork (not a spoon) which daughter could poke the food (even cheerios) and put in her mouth
-try not to stress about the mess -in a few months they stop being so messy, it's just a phase like the leaky yellow poo was, and the screeching at the top of their lungs…

Take heart, not too much longer… 😉 🙂 You can get through this. 🙂

Also, lil Meggie likes to just what Mummy and Daddy are doing – so we got some tiny real cutlery from Ikea that she could use, and we tend to give her the same food too. I think she feels patronised if we give her silly kiddie stuff. Half the time she would rather use a full-size fork.

Is she still drinking plenty of milk? If so I'd try not to stress.
If you're spoonfeeding I'd be tempted to put that to one side and just try finger foods and let your daughter feed herself.

By finger foods I mean anything that can be eaten without cutlery, even if messy, e.g. Spaghetti 🙂

Another interesting thing we have just found out – we normally feed the girls without eating ourselves, but when we eat as a family they are much better at joining in.

Yesterday we went to Wagamama (surprisingly child-friendly) and we got their food first (they were hungry) but we were having hell getting them to try all these new colours, flavours, shapes etc. Then our food came out and we started to eat – the next thing we knew, they were both happily eating and had pretty much got through two full sized child portions – then still had their fruit/yoghurt afterwards.

The other thing I remember we introduced at about this time, which was/is a life saver, is 'More' and 'All Done' signs (sign language). For 'More' we just used fingers from one hand into the palm of the other, and for 'All Done' we used wiping hands together, like one would on a napkin or when you are washing your hands.
She picked these up very quickly and it soon helped us to understand when she was done, or didn't want something, or wanted more (without screaming, throwing food, spitting, etc.)

+1 for eating as a family. Our 14 month old eats what we eat, hoofs and all, sometimes she won't eat but we dont worry about it and let her got on with emptying cupboards/climbing futniture/etc. We don't try and give her anything else if she doesn't eat her meal though.