A Different Kind of Dinner

So, we have been struggling with the fact that our very petite little girl has been stubbornly refusing solids for weeks now. From us. By Spoon. These last two items are the operative concepts here. We have discovered that our girl is exerting her independence and has been trying to tell us she doesn't NEED, or more importantly, WANT us to feed her anymore. After all, she is a whopping and mature 9 months adjusted age, and can do things for herself now.

We started by letting her play with her dinner without wiping her face and hands in between and trying to stay too tidy (which she hates). After the third meal where the plate of pureed mush hit the floor (on purpose) we decided "no more purees". She isn't using the spoon except to play with, and all purees do is get ground into the highchair, her skin, and her hair. She doesn't eat any of them, as far as I can tell. So, no more "baby food" purees. Gillian has decided they make better paint than food.

We have opted for soft or quickly dissolvable food for breakfast and dinner, resist the urge to wipe her off till the end, and don't try feeding her anything (she will turn her face away even if you try to feed her a piece of something off your finger, but will fish it off the tray to feed herself). The result? No more fussing when we strap her into the highchair, and more food getting into her than when we try to feed her. That's not to say she's eating a lot, because she is still incapable of super efficient hand-to-mouth activity, but more is getting in there.