Trouble feeding 20month old (finger food)

[kitten_uk2]

my 20 month old has just started walking, and would rather do this than eat at the moment, he wont eat off a spoon anymore only when i feed him by hand(which gets messy) im trying him on finger food but hes just not interested, will his appitite get back to normal or do i have an awkward eater? any ideas on finger foods would be good too. thanx

[Sparkles3]

I would suggest just not worrying about him. Put foods in front of him that you know he likes (and perhaps some new ones) and let him help himself, either with a spoon/fork or his fingers. Don't worry about the mess and if he doesn't eat anything, remain happy and cheerful and get him out of his high chair and let him go walking! He will eat when he's hungry and his stomach will beat his need to walk eventually! - but sounds like he's getting a lot of attention because you're (understandably) worried about the food thing - and we all know how great they are at getting our attention one way or another!

As for finger foods, I have done my little ones a plate of finger foods from about 9-10 months, including little sandwiches, small pieces of fruit (banana, strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, satsuma), breadsticks, chunks of cheese, cucumber, cherry tomatoes (quartered), chocolate buttons etc. They obviously have favourites (chocolate buttons rarely last long!) but all the different colours and tastes help to keep their interest. I believe that provided most of it is healthy, it doesn't really matter if they don't eat the sandwich first (but no doubt some will disagree with me on that).

[lady_p_gold]

Well as the others have said, just don't get worried, offer the food and you can do things like make a face with the food, the eyes and hair and nose and mouth, that makes it a lot more fun and they are more likely to feed themselves .... try not to be tempted to keep feeding him, just ignore it if he leaves something and clear it away matter of factly until next time.

[EssJay1]

I would recommend a high chair - or somewhere where your child is restrained - so that distinctions are made between eating and walking. It sounds like you are offering food on the hoof, so to speak, and while I agree with comments telling you not to worry, I do feel it is important to make the distinction between play time and eating time.

[Hamish]

I wouldnt worry. Our son goes through times like this still (2 yrs). We put the food infront of him an if he cries to get down we ignore him for a bit - generally he starts eating within a few mins. (we try to have food together wich I think helps). As he is now talking, he will often eat some of the food and push most of it away saying 'fullup' we then move it out of reach and carry on eating - generall he asks for it back and starts eating again! I think he is just testing the boundaries, but being firm seem to be important. If he eats most of his main, he gets yogart (the Y word), if not no Y/taste of mums/dads. It perhaps seems a little cruel but he always is happy to come to meals and eats well, occationally he gets upset, but this is usually beacuse hes not getting his own way.

Good Luck, our No2 is on the way and I have a feeling that we are going to have to learn a whole new set of tacktics!