I need some advice from the awesome moms out there!
Does anyone have a kid who spits out every single bite of food at every single meal, every single day? I DO! Lucky me.
Stephen’s spitting performances have become quite a debacle in our home. It is one of my main sources of frustration with him. If I never had to spoon feed him again, it would be too soon!!
He has 2 different types of spits that he likes to show off. One is pursing his lips together to blow raspberries and spattering the food everywhere. And I’m talking EVERYwhere. Blah. The second spit type is when he just pushes the whole spoonful of food out of his mouth with his tongue. All down his chin and the front of himself. If he sees that I’m not annoyed enough by the spitting, then he starts putting his hands in his mouth and smearing the food everywhere. If he sees that doesn’t bother me, he takes his glasses off and puts those in his mouth. Why?
He is a year old now and the kid is not starving, but only because I fight with him until he finishes his meals. I feel like I’ve tried everything and can’t figure out how to make him stop. Maybe I can’t make him stop! If that’s the case, I need to know. And I will just have to suck it up. I really don’t want him to develop bad eating habits and while most days, I (barely) tolerate it, some days I just can’t. I can’t stand it!! Today was one of the days where I got so angry, I had to put him in another room so I could cool off. That didn’t necessarily help either.
*I’ve tried just saying “No no!” in every tone possible from sweet to sour. But he hates hearing it so much, it makes matters worse. He starts crying and spitting more. Except now, there’s snot involved. Ugh.
*I have tried taking him out of his seat every time he spits and saying “All done!” But it honestly just delays the inevitable and drags out the process too long. I end up feeding him many, many, many times just to get through one jar of baby food. Ugh.
*I have tried distracting him with toys. He puts them in his mouth and food ends up everywhere anyway. Ugh.
*I have tried entertaining him with Elmo videos. This tactic works the best, and he only spits out like once every 3-5 bites. It still is annoying though. I turn off the video once he spits and he has to earn it back by taking “big boy bites”. Then he’s good for a minute before it starts all over again. Ugh.
*Praising every single good bite. Somewhat effective, but highly annoying. Ugh.
*I’ve even waited until I think he’s practically starving, but after 2 excited bites, he is back to his old tricks. Ugh.
I wish this was something he did just when he was tired or in a bad mood. But like I said, it’s every single day and every single meal. I have not had a break from it in MONTHS. And I’m just frazzled. If he was playing with his food and feeding himself, I have no problem with him making a mess. But I’m almost convinced he does it just to piss me off! I read a post on another blog where someone said “He’s a year old! How can you be mad at him?!?”
Well I’m here to tell you, it ain’t that hard!
Please don’t be shy. Help. Me.
I’m with Lori. Try solids. Toddler puffs melt in their mouths. Try that first then other stuff. However, I might try yogurt and pudding and see if he spits that out. If he spits out the good stuff maybe he has a hard time swallowing, or has a reflux type of something going on, and you can ask your doctor about it. If he can keep solid food down though, he is probably ready for it and ok with swallowing. Good luck. Love your photos Jana!
I already feed my 6 month old some real food. Judge me if you will but I started my oldest on real food that young as well. I’m talking graham crackers, cheerios, those baby puff things that practically melt in their mouth, small pieces of bread, nilla wafers, teething biscuits.. he can even eat rice. It started out as soon as they could sit I would put them in a high chair and place something in front of them. They’d sit and stare at it and only eat it if I fed it to them. I would be busy doing dishes or whatever else. It doesn’t take long for them to learn they can grab it an eat it when they want, instead of waiting for me. My baby now hated baby cereal. I just let him snack on the real food, but I do feed him the baby food to fill his stomach. He still nurses too. He loves to be holding a graham cracker or to have something like a few cheerios in front of him while I’m feeding him. That way he doesn’t reach for the spoon and when he needs a break from me feeding him, he’ll grab for the cheerios and eat one. Or sometimes I’ll give him a different spoon for him to hold so he leaves the one I’m using alone. He chews with his gums (no teeth yet)and has never choked on anything. By the time it’s in their mouth forever, it’s basically mush. I would say get rid of the baby food! He’s old enough for you to place food in front of him and for him to grab it and feed himself. Try breaking up nutri grain bars.. those are really easy to eat. Yogurt tastes better than baby food.. maybe pudding? You could make waffles for him..eggs.. basically anything you can cut up and put in front of him. I also used the mesh pouch mentioned above for any kind of frozen fruit. I’m not there with my baby yet, but I’m sure yours will love that. Frozen blueberries were my oldest one’s fave. It keeps them occupied for a while. I’d refill that pouch 2-3 times for one feeding. It’ll be messy, but he’ll learn to feed himself one way or another. It sounds like the mess couldn’t get much worse than it is already anyway. Good luck!
Oliver – thanks for the suggestion! A few people recommended that I try some new foods. I guess I have been so comfortable with the baby food because I know exactly how much to feed him to fill him up. I will give him a little sandwich or cheese once in awhile and I’m letting him take bites of other foods. He still chokes on solids half the time and that makes me nervous, but he does seem to enjoy it more. So I think I will just have to keep experimenting with new foods! Thanks again 🙂
is Stevie still on a mushy diet? try giving him something more solid to munch on. Once Alex got on some harder soft foods, he would just enjoy munching on different stuff. Also, I might recommend a pacifier style food strainer. you can put soft foods for him to taste, but he has to work at it to get it out. http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Pack-Fresh-Feeder-Colors/dp/B000GK5XY2
hang in there.