custard girl

[abcde]

Hi there, my almost 10 mth old generally wont eat anything but custard (from a jar) at the moment (i do manage to hide some fruit in it).  She is teething at the moment and it is driving her mad.

Any suggestions on how I can get her to eat something else or is this just a phase.

[Samehere3]

Too funny!  My (now) 7 year old was the same at the same age.  She won't touch the stuff now.  

It is a stage.  Keep on offering other foods and she'll eventually find something else that tickles her fancy...

[wades]

Hi abcde, I am assuming this is your first child as you seem inexperienced at it. In my view its not a phase and usually at this age babies dont exactly have a specific likening for custard , they just like sweet things. It is us who introduce the custards and since they come in such convenient jars we are tempted to carry them always and feed them too cuz the baby finishes it!

But to be honest the jar of custards have very little nutritional value for your precious little one. At 10 months they need good foods and we all know what those are....vegies and fruits.

I have a 14 month old whom I started giving solids at 5 months and he too loved those custard jars but I only kept them for outings or where homemade food was a hassle to carry and feed.

So my genuin suggestion is that may be you should not bring out those jars at all and give sweet vegies instead eg. pumpkins, sweet potatoes, carrots.
In fruits try peaches, honey dew, papaya (the reason I am not saying banana is cuz my little one doesnt like it !! can u believe that ! ) etc.

I hope that when hunger will strike and the jar is not there and instead there is something else which is also sweet , She will take it.
And try to distract her attention while feeding her with either some new toy or some household small items in front of her , like plastic spoon or a stainer or an empty plastic bottle with rice grains/dry noodles in it or 1 or 2 ice cubes to play with ....something like that. I distract my lil one all the time with all such things while feeding him and it works !!

So good luck !

[breakaway]

<<I am assuming this is your first child as you seem inexperienced at it>>

That is not very nice.  There was no need to say that.  

Fairly good advice though wades I have to say.  the reason the baby wants custard is because you are giving it OP.  Stop giving the custard altogether and the baby will forget it ever existed.  You will probably have a couple of days of refusing food and sulking, but hunger will be the factor which overcomes this.

It is fruit, by the way, not fruits.  Saying fruits is like saying sheeps

[Dolt]

breakaway....you should go and check your dictionary before issuing pompous pronouncements on the legitimacy of 'fruits'.

[Friend]

Very rude Wades.  What are you - the globally elected supermum?  It's not nice to be sanctimonious and critical of other Mothers who are having a hard time.

Most people struggle with feeding issues at some time.  Hang in there OP.

My advice - get off this board full of would be experts and either get down to the Mother and Child Centre and ask a qualified Maternal Health consultant, or get a book - Gina Ford or something and follow their advice.

Personally I find the feeding battle just changes over time - you need to be persistent and not give up.

If your teeting baby likes the consistency of custard on sore gums, try making your own.  Egg custard, cauliflower custard, fruit custards, try stewed fruit and custard etc.  How about flavoured yoghurt?  Or homemade fruit jelly etc

Stick with it - and don't cave in to the demands of a 10 month old.

All the very best.

[fafa]

Just wondering, when can I start giving bread to a baby? Mine is now 8 months but has no teeth yet and he's on cereals, rice, stewed veggies and meats.

[Yes indeed]

Quite agree....giving into the demands of a 10 month old is really quite absurd. Try harder.

[wades]

Hey Hey hey ! ......abcde, I didnot mean to be rude at all, as some posters are suggesting.and NO i am not at all a supermum. I myself have battles & wars at feeding times, so I am just like any other mom
Just wanted to say what I thought would be good for you and your baby.
OP....excuse me if you think I was rude by calling you inexperienced !
take care.

[This message has been edited by wades (edited 27-04-2006).]

[jar head]

I agree with the suggestions that you could make up your own concoctions which look custardy and if need be, put them in an empty washed out jar.

I know it's crazy but kids can be creatures of habit and she may be reassured to have it out of the jar! Obviously better to have her eat from a regular kids bowl but one step at a time if need be and keep jar going if that helps get her tastebuds used to something else and then introduce bowls unless you think she'll be ok with bowls in the first place if the food looks appealing!

Sometimes with my kids I will make it look like I'm giving something from my plate when in fact it's from their plate but for some reason my food always looks more appealing than theirs!

They're at the age where I can usually share my food with them but sometimes it's a little too spicey for them so I have to try to make it look like it's mine but actually it's not! Yes you can stand up to them but I think a little bit of subtle substitution works better than creating an neccessary battle.

Kids can be pretty quirky!

But they have very short term memories at this age -you have to ride out any complaints but you can usually break a habit (yours and theirs!) over 2-3 days.

Cheese sauce can look like custard so you could try making that and putting a bit of grated cooked pasta and veggies in it and if need be serve it from a jar!

Or make it look like you're eating it and going to "Share" it with her -kids seem to love sharing food/drinks with their parents.

Another option while trying to break the custard habit is to offer some finger food which she can pick up herself rather than you feeding her. Or get some soft fruit like papaya finely chopped and let her get used to eating it by herself using her fingers.

Sometimes I can get my daughter to try new things if I encourage her to feed herself  rather than me try to feed her something that doesn't look familiar. I think children naturally like to pick things up and put them in their mouths so try offering things that she can try to pick up herself -just put it in a plate infront of her on the high chair and let her get on withit even if it gets messy. Grated cheese was an absolute winner for my kids at that age -very easy for them to pick up and eat on their own. From there you can extend the menu. Plus it helps them to be self feeders which is always a bonus!

[Breakaway]

<<breakaway....you should go and check your dictionary before issuing pompous pronouncements on the legitimacy of 'fruits'.>>

And you should check your English language.  A quote from a book on English Language that I studied for my degree:

"There are rabbits and cows and crows and rooks, but no sheeps or deers or grouses.  There are only fruit, not fruits, in your fruit-bowl, but the plural term fruits remain as a metaphor, as in the fruits of his labours."

Glad to help  

[Hahaha]

You should still check your dictionary. Relying on a kiddy's grammar book probably isn't the best idea.

[Hahaha]

So, breakaway, what are your favorite fruits?

[wades]

And Excuse me 'breakaway'.....Before commenting on anyones english, check out some authentic english language  books your  own self. I dont have a Dictionary in my hand at the moment but for reference I do have "What to Expect the toddler years" by Eisenberg & Murkoff, and in the Index it says "FruitS and Vegetables.....pg 459 and 471". what do you have to say about that ?

[Father of 2]

I think you'll find (traditionally) the word fruit can be singular, plural or collective singular. In the olden days (ie, when I went to school) we were taught to use the collective singular of fruit and the plural in the recognised idiomatic expressions (fruits of labour etc . Today, the plural use has leaped across to (often) replace the use of the singular collective. Doesn't really matter though, right? We all know what we're talking about which is what language is all about!
OK, I'm off to enjoy some fruit. (Now does he mean just one type, or lots of different types?).