How I dealt with my fussy eater by @mothering.mine_

I wish someone had told me that the day we started Delilah’s weaning journey, life would never be the same again. From that very moment, everything she put in her mouth (or didn’t) completely consumed me. I felt immense pressure to make sure she was adequately nourished every day.

There were good days and bad days. On bad days, all she’d eat was some porridge and buttered toast, maybe a slice of cheese and half a bite of a banana. Meanwhile, the tomato, mozzarella and pesto pinwheels I’d lovingly made were thrown on the floor, the courgette and sweetcorn fritters secretly fed to the dog and the chickpea, sweet potato and spinach curry splattered all over the walls!

We’re BIG (vegetarian) foodies in our house, and food that’s tasty and nourishing is one of the most important things to us as a family. Meal time is our happy time. After a few sleepless nights, I realised I was putting way too much pressure on myself and Delilah to get it right. As soon as I recognised that I needed to relax in order for her to feel relaxed and happy around food, everything got easier and we started to really enjoy mealtimes again.

Here are some of the few key changes we made that completely changed the game:

Making food fun

Making food fun and appealing to Delilah made a huge positive impact on her eating habits too. I’m no food artist but simple things like turning a pancake into a smiley face with raisins for eyes and a banana for a mouth, or making a flower out of a raspberry and orange segments, made her plate of food appear more inviting.

Change dining sets

Changing up her dining sets every now and then, with different colours and styles of plate, bowl and cutlery, helped. I also found that serving certain foods and drinks on the same sets that we adults ate and drank from was particularly exciting for Delilah and made her feel more included.

Separating different foods on sectioned plates is another top tip. Delilah definitely eats more when she can easily differentiate a type of food that she likes from another that she isn’t as keen on.