19-month-old keeps spitting out food

Hello,


I'm well aware that toddlers have all sorts of feeding issues - which is why I've never been troubled by my daughter. So I just want to ask advice on:


1. Should I be worried?

2. What to do about the problem?


My daughter is very healthy and has no problem with eating. She can feed herself rice and pasta and noodles. She eats crackers and biscuits and can eat a banana and grapes.


When she feeds herself these foods, she doesn't eat much. So in order to fill her up, we still blend her food - so she usually has congee for lunch and whatever we eat for dinner, blended. Even fruit is blended. If I chop up pieces of apple for her for eg., she spits them out.


So this is the problem: I want to chop up her food because I think she's too old for blended food. But she just puts it in her mouth, chews it and then spits it out. She rarely swallows it.


Any advice on how to get her to eat more chopped up food? Should I give her the chopped up food first, and then when she's bored with it, then feed her her blended dinner?


Or is it no cause for great concern... she'll figure it out eventually?

Make sure she is properly hungry before eating. Remove any snacks between meals (including juice boxes) except one small one mid-morning and another small one mid-afternoon. The only thing she should have between meals is water.


Find something that she really likes and start with that.


Definitely give her the chopped food, but don't give her the blended afterwards. She'll figure out in two seconds that she can hold out for blended. Kids don't die from being a bit hungry, despite crying like they are about to die.


It's all about control. She knows that she can get the blended food by essentially calling your bluff. You break down and give it to her. Kids are expert manipulators. She knows you don't want to see her suffer, so she becomes a bit theatrical about it. Don't get me wrong, she is hungry and wants her blended food, but the threshold for her actually suffering is WAY higher than you think. Let her skip a meal and you'll see that she eats at the next one. Perhaps not best to let her skip the evening meal if you value your sleep. And yes, there will be seemingly endless whining. It will take a day or two for her to figure out that things are changing.


Yes, it will sort itself out.

Sigh... I was REALLY hoping someone would say, don't worry about it, she'll grow out of it!


What about meat though - it still needs blending right? I don't think she'd be able to chew it enough to swallow it?


Thanks guys.

Meat does not need blending. Our #2 would hold in her hand a whole grilled chicken tenderloin and chew it all up before she was 1. Note that this was with ZERO teeth! Maybe cut it in small pieces but many kids like grabbing hold of bigger pieces and chewing.


Most kids don't really like the stronger meats like beef until they get older. Chicken fingers normally go down well though. Also steamed fish. Remember flavoring. Just because they're small doesn't mean they like bland. Our #2 also likes curry since she was about 18 months, especially the mouth-wateringly strong Indian ones. She'll have a bit, look like her head will explode, gulp water, then have the next piece.


The things to watch out for are things like hot dogs and grapes. Those are choke hazards. Halve the grapes and cut (don't blend) the hot dogs into little pieces.



While we are on the eating subject, it is high time you introduced your daughter to a fork. If you do it too late she won't be interested. Now she will love the challenge of picking up pieces.


Also, real glass (plastic if you must) instead of sippy cup at the table. The early spills are well worth the payoff in table manners later.

cara hits the nail on the head. Unless you start challenging your daughter now, things will just get more and more difficult. It's much easier to fix a troublesome behavior at 18 months than it is to try and fix the same behavior at 36 months if you have just kept accepting it. There is no "we'll deal with it tomorrow" when it comes to these things.


Children can do a surprising amount of things at 18 months if they are encouraged to do so and their parents accept the bumps (in the form of messes mostly) along the way. They love to learn and thrive on praise for good behavior. Sometimes you do have to drag them along kicking and screaming but it is well worth it in the end.


Look on the bright side. At least you are asking the questions and listening to the answers instead of just accepting and getting a nasty surprise down the line.

Wow Axptguy, your #2 sounds amazing! hahahah


My daughter knows how to use utensils, even our big metal ones, although she has her own little plastic ones. She also drinks from a cup by herself (never used a sippy cup), and can also drink with a straw. So she's fine with self-feeding - the only problem is she chews the flavour out of food and finally spits out the leftovers.


OK, I know what you are both saying is absolutely right. I know she won't die of starvation. Just a couple more questions...


1. So obviously I don't want her to go to bed hungry because she'll wake up. But... if she knows she can get congee at dinner, is there a risk that she'll just go hungry all day until dinner? and congee doesn't need blending because it's already soft.


Or the other problem might be that she'll just demand more and more milk to fill her up if she doesn't eat her lunch.


Her routine right now is:


Few ounces of milk when she wakes.

Breakfast. (weetabix or porridge)


11:30am lunch. Followed by 5oz milk and then 2-hour nap.


After nap, little snack, like vegemite on toast, which she'll eat a few pieces by herself.


5-6pm: dinner.

8oz milk, bedtime.


Due to this routine, there's a big chance she'll just cry for more milk before going to bed?


Is it time to drop the lunch-time milk, or should I not do everything at once, otherwise she'll be really hungry!

Don't worry too much about it and don't overthink it. An 18-month old may be stubborn and manipulative, but she does lack one crucial quality: strategic thinking. Kids that age simply can't plan very far ahead. You can. My point is this: if you lay down the law things might be tough for a day or three, but then it is over and she will have forgotten all about it. She won't hold a grudge and wreak her revenge two months later.


Wow Axptguy, your #2 sounds amazing! hahahah"


Well, she is amazing to me, but every parent thinks their kids are amazing. I wouldn't say she is unusual. I cited some things she does that are positive. She also has a few exasperating quirks like any other child. ;)