17 Month Old Would Rather Eat His Pick-up Food, than Most of His Spoon Foods

It sounds to me like he wants to feed himself, and is really enjoying the tactile experience of solid food. I would let him feed himself with his fingers and forget the spoon foods for a while. If he's in his high-chair, just put the food in small, safe pieces on the high chair without a plate, and let him have at it.

If you think he's not getting enough calcium, require that he drink milk before he can have his meal. (My mom had the opposite problem with me - I needed to eat first or I would drink my milk and eat nothing - I LOVED my milk!) It would be better right now while you are having trouble getting him to drink his milk to not give him any juice. The water is great, but substitute milk for the juice. Lots of juices are mostly sugar anyway, and he doesn't need them.

After a few weeks, try giving him a spoon and let him try to feed himself one spoon food a day. He'll make a gosh-awful mess, but that's okay. If he starts throwing food, tell him he must be done and take him out of the high-chair, whether he's finished or not. He's healthy as a horse at 90th percentile and it won't hurt him to miss some of his food in order for you to keep him from throwing it. (It's normal for this to start around this age.)

Have fun!
D.

2 moms found this helpful

At this age, he is ready to be done with baby foods. My son eats food he can pick up with his fingers, and is feeding himself with both a spoon and a fork. Sometimes I still feed him myself, mostly when it is a really soupy-soup or oatmeal, but as he gains confidence with his spoon/fork I let him feed himself more and more challenging things. He will eat regular yogurt sometimes, once in a while applesauce (this used to be his favorite thing, and now he hardly ever wants it), and whatever else Mommy and Daddy are eating. :-) We sit at the table and eat with him, so he is used to regular meal times. I rarely give him juice, because there is so much sugar in juice. He loves it when I cube up fresh orange for him; it's like his candy.

Kids this age will also start going through stages. For a while my son loved to have a midmorning and midafternoon snack of animal crackers. They were such a treat! Now he never wants them. Sometimes he wants scrambled eggs for breakfast and bites of a cheese/turkey sandwich for lunch, and other times he just wants a monstrous bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and nothing for lunch, except for 2-4 bites of something.

Right now we are in the stage of "Is it okay for me to spit/dribble my food out of my mouth, Mother?" There is always something they are testing the boundary with!

He sounds perfectly healthy and normal. Cut back on the juice a lot, give up on the baby foods, encourage his self-feeding, and don't worry. Kids enjoy trying different foods. Remember how much there is out there! He knows the yogurt, applesauce, and sweet potatoes. Now he is discovering the joy of chicken, grapes, noodles, cheese, etc. and also feeding himself!

Next week he will probably not want said chicken, grapes, noodles, or cheese, and instead will like something else– cheerios and pickles, for example. My son loved pickles but wouldn't touch a grape if his life depended on it. This month he switched.

Kids! :-)

God bless!
M. D

2 moms found this helpful

I can't read all the answers right now either... but will say this: instead of mashing a sweet potato, just bake it with the skin on (about an hour at 375-400ish). I cut my ds's into disks and then 9 pieces from the disks. It does take awhile to cool, so plan for that time. And enjoy the freedom from having to feed him! And for yogurt, I put about 1/3 of the yobaby container in a small bowl and give her a spoon. I've found the take and toss spoons the best, they have a deeper bowl than baby spoons, but not as big as the Ikea spoons, and they wash quick!

1 mom found this helpful

This is normal. At his age, he should be feeding himself completely. He no longer needs to be fed or needs baby foods. When it is meal time, just give him his plate of food, all of his foods, and let him feed himself, in whatever order he wants. Also, just put his cup of milk in front of him with his foods and he can take a drink when he needs. Again, at his age, he is going to be getting more nutrition from his foods than milk. It is all very age appropriate. :) It sounds like he is showing some independence and possibly some likes/dislikes.
S.
mom of 3 and daycare provider

1 mom found this helpful

My kids were always more interested in the foods that they can do themselves. Its my guess that its about what is easiest for him and what he enjoys. Independance! Honestly they will go through things they will like and then decide they are done with it. Try something new that he hasnt had before then try rotating it so its something new. It just might make it more fun. As far as milk goes I was told that although its important for them to have as long as they are getting enough calcium from cheese or other sources that its not to big of a deal.

1 mom found this helpful

My ped said that at this age, they just want to cruise and may go on a hunger strike because they are more interested in what is around them than food. She said that food should be served at the table, rather than giving them the option of cruising with it. Do you feed the spoon foods, or does he? It is messy, but he may want to do it himself. Otherwise, I say, let him eat the fingerfood, and pick your battles. This may just be one of many trends.

1 mom found this helpful

Yep I agree with most of the other moms. He's more excited about using his fingers to eat rather than using his spoon. Next week or so it might flip the other way around haha. Nothing to worry about, he is perfectly healthy. Like you said... he lets you know when he is done. He has a preference and those will constantly be changing. Just be ready to except those changes as they come.

once babies can put food in their won mouth they do not like to be spoon fed.. give him a spoon and let him try.. it will be messy.

He's being independent and wants to do it himself. My son stopped letting me feed him around that age and has only recently started letting me put food on a utensil and hand it to him so he can put it in his mouth. Currently he thinks this is a blast and has been eating like a little piglet.

how about giving him sliced apples or sweet taters instead? he may just be done with baby food.

I haven't read all the responses, but I'd just say that you've done well to spoon feed this long. My daughter refused to be fed as soon as she figured out how to pick up food and my 7 month old is taking the same path.

As long as there are no other sensory disorders present, they won't starve quietly. I read recently that an 18 month can survive on 8 tbsps of food per day. We think they should eat much more than they need. In fact, it's a pretty new idea that babies need purees, it used to be that they ate soft mushable food and gnawed on harder things. Google baby led weaning!

There were a few months that my daughter would only eat peaches, yogurt and cheese plus milk and water. She's two and 31 pounds.

Your son sounds like he's doing fantastic!
Why worry?
Between now and 3 years old, his habits and routines will REALLY change and there's nothing wrong with that. It's normal.
At this age, my children wouldn't eat anything that even resembled baby food. They either used their fingers or their own little spoons to feed themselves.
He's doing great in my opinion.

He wants to feed himself. Let him.

Best wishes!